I am THE James

Barbara Enright is a legend of the game of poker. She has 3 bracelets and finished 5^th in the 1995 Main Event, which to this day is the highest finish by a woman in the Main Event. Barbara is also a fantastic person and a true pleasure to play with. I had the pleasure to meet her in April 2006 during an Omaha Hi-Lo event at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. She was very friendly and engaging. We sat there for about 20 minutes discussing things from Fremont Street in Vegas to proper Razz strategy. At this point in my life, I still had not been to Vegas, so she was giving me the lowdown about what to go see and do out there. She also gave me a little of what to expect at the WSOP that year since it would be my first WSOP.

I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to talk with someone with her track record, but I was doing my best to keep from looking like a kid in a candy store. Unlike a lot of people, I get much more excited with talking and interacting with the older poker players, such as Barbara, Mickey Mills, John Bonetti, etc. Players like those have been around the block more times than any of us probably will ever imagine and the knowledge you can gain can be invaluable.

After a while, people started to join our table as it was getting close to time for the event to start. Everyone that came to the table all of a sudden started just staring at me and checking me out. I figured they were just being astute poker players trying to get some type of read on a future opponent. During this time, I’m still talking away with Barbara just like I’ve known her for years, but at this point I had known her 20 minutes.

The event begins and we start going through the song and dance of a normal tournament. I started to notice something about the 3^rd pot I was in. People were playing extremely passive against me. If I checked, they checked. If I bet, they got out. After a few hands, I noticed they were doing the same with Barbara. Maybe this was just a very passive table I thought. The next few hands convinced me otherwise. The 6 seat and the 9 seat were raising and reraising almost every pot. They fired away like mad at the flop turn and river, unless Barbara or I was in the hand.

I was a bit confused about what was going on, but I tried to take advantage of whatever it was. I bet weaker hands and got a lot of free cards. The aggressive player in seat 6 finally decided he was going to try and make a play at me sometime during the 2^nd level. I was holding A, 2, 4, 6 with one suit. The final board was 3, 4, 10, 5, J. I showed down a 6 high straight with a wheel. Everyone at the table started shaking their head when I showed the hand and the six seat said, “I should have known better.” He had A, 3, 6, J.

The end of the level came as did a break and a woman in the 4 seat looks at me while Barbara was away and asks, “So how long have you and Ms. Enright been friends?” The other people all look at me intently for my answer. When I answered, “I just met her today”, they all gave me the “yeah right” look and started talking about different things they had heard about her.

It then finally clicked in my head what was going on. These people were convinced that I knew Barbara Enright well and therefore thought I was a player. Throughout the next level, I tried to put this to the test. Sadly, the only player that would give me any action was Barbara. She beat me every hand we played together but one. I raised with A, A, 4, 5 pre-flop. After the flop, she checked and I bet. She looked at me and said “You haven’t raised since I sat down here. You must have Aces.” She was right.

Barbara lasted through about half of the field before getting eliminated. Shortly after, I was moved to a new table. My table image was gone and it turned into a game at that point. Half of the players at my table were excellent players including Taxi Molina, Ronnie McMillan, and a couple other California locals. I busted out about 20 spots out the money, but the experience was priceless. It taught me a thing or two about player perceptions at a poker table and using their perceptions to my advantage. It also allowed me to meet and make friends with one of the great people in the game today.

I get the chance on occasion to play with Barbara out in either LA or California, mostly in Stud or Mixed games. She is always as friendly to me and others as she was that first time I met her. She truly deserves her spots in the Poker Hall of Fame and the Women’s Poker Hall of fame, not just for her poker ability, but for her class and charm as well.

Tags: Barbara Enright, Bicycle Casino, Omaha Hi-Lo, Poker - General, World Series of Poker, WSOP

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 2:07 am and is filed under Poker Personalities, Tournaments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.