Lea Nehme Wins LIPS Title
The 2009 Winnin' o' the Green series continued with the LIPS Tour/Luck Be a Lady event. 102 players grew the prize pool to over $8,500 with first prize just under $3,000 plus a $1,000 seat to a future Luck Be a Lady tournament AND a $330 seat/trip to Las Vegas to complete in the LIPS Tour championship event. The final table was set at 5:45pm after almost 7 hours of play. The excitement of the final table was evident with plenty of laughing and joking. The blinds were 1000/2000 with a 300 ante. One very short stack was surrounded by a few short stacks and the rest of the players were stocked well in chips.
On hand #1, the super-short stack player Annette Ledsema was at the wrong end of the button draw and was the initial big blind. Ness Carroll from middle position raised and the only caller was Annette with her last 1300 chips. Ness showed her pocket Aces and Annette showed her 9-6 offsuit. The board ran Q-7-3-Q-7 and both players had 2 pair but Ness's had the higher pair and Annette Ledsema went out in 10th place and collected $170.
It took a couple of more orbits until the next elimination. On hand #16 Linh Luong re-raised Gaylene Kingos all-in preflop. Linh showed pocket 9s and Gaylene had A-10. The race was on and the board came K-6-2-Q with a river 10. Gaylene takes the pot on the river and Linh Luong finished in 9th place and received $190.
On hand #19 Suzanne Seplow was all-in against Gloria Anderson preflop. Suzanne showed pocket 9s and Gloria had wired Jacks. The board came out Q-7-5-7-10 and Suzanne couldn't find another nine. Suzanne Seplow finished in 8th place and earned $215.
Just five hands later (#24) Lea Nehme called an all-in raise from Ness Carroll. Ness showed a suited A-7 and Lea revealed a dominating A-10. The board fell Q-J-9-2-Q and Lea's 10 kicker played sending Ness Carroll, from Santa Barbara, out in 7th place collecting $255.
It was a long stretch of fairly slow play until hand #59 when Leslie Grisham tangled with Lea Nehme. Leslie was almost all-in with Kh-10h but ran into Lea's Aces. The board followed with 8-6-5-A-4 and Leslie was left with a single 1000 chip.
After winning her next all-in blind hand, Leslie got caught in the blind and had her last chips in the pot with 6-4. She was up against Gloria Anderson's K-Q. Gloria flopped a Queen and Leslie trialed the entire hand. Leslie Grisham finished in 6th place for $300.
On hand #64 Jo-Ann Jennings was all-in for her last 10,000 chips. She got 3 callers and the entire hand was checked down to the river. Gloria Anderson's pocket Queens won the hand (board: K-K-J-5-4) and Jo-Ann mucked her hand without showing. Jo-Ann was eliminated in 5th place and took home $385.
It was a short 5 more hands when Deborah Fineberg pushed her last chips into the pot with a Q-7 from the button. Gaylene Kingos called from the big blind and showed her 7s. The board fell K-8-4-5-J and the absence of a Queen awarded the pot to Gaylene. Deborah Fineberg played some aggressive final table poker and earned a 4th place finish for $515.
On hand #95 Gloria Anderson pushed, from the button, with her suited K-3 and was called by Lea in the big blind with A-5. The board came K-Q-7-A-Q and Gloria flopped top pair but the turn gave Lea top pair took the sizable pot down. Gloria out in 3rd place and earned $815 in a well-played final table battle.
The heads up battle lasted for exactly one hand. Lea pushed from the button and Gaylene insta-called. Lea showed a suited Qd-9d and Gaylene revealed her suited Ah-7h. The flop was 10-10-2 and Gaylene increased her lead. The turn King changed nothing but the river Queen gave Lea the pot and the title. Gaylene Kingos finished in 2nd place and earned $1,541.
-- Jay 'Bugsy' Siegel
BIOGRAPHY
Lea Nehme is a law clerk from Winnetka, CA. She has been playing poker for about 2 years and was taught how to play from her brother. He was sweating her during the entire final table and was very proud and impressed with her play. Lea was not hesitant to get her chips into the pot. She picked her spots carefully and made her opponents make the tough decisions by pushing chips. She oscillated between shorter stack and big stack during the final table but overall her aggressiveness earned the title.
| 
