This week, “The Showdown with Jon Friedberg” welcomes one of the top up-and-coming females in the poker world, Lauren Kling. She’s fresh off a runner-up finish to Kristin Bihr in a $1,000 Ladies Event held during the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) for $18,000 and has been a force to be reckoned with online. UB.com sponsors “The Showdown,” so be sure to sign up for the CEREUS Network site using the code “UBPND” to support it.
The 2011 PCA Ladies Event drew 96 entries and the top eight finished in the money. “The weather was bad and it was an impulse decision to play it,” Kling explained. “I ended up getting second in it. I was a little bit frustrated that I didn’t win it, but it’s still definitely a great accomplishment and a great start to the year.” The tournament marked just the third Ladies Event she had ever played and her first outside of the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP).
Friedberg asked Kling how different the play in Ladies Events is compared to open tournaments. Kling commented, “If you’re a good poker player, then you’re just going to adjust. Initially, it was tough and I bled some chips. Then, I just sat back and saw what was going on. I adjusted accordingly and accumulated chips after that.” Her largest live cash to date is a $32,000 haul for taking 14th in the World Poker Tour’s Festa al Lago stop last October.
Kling has gained a tremendous amount of respect online and turned in a second place finish in the UB.com Online Championship (UBOC) Main Event in January 2010 for $163,000. “I definitely take everything I play very, very seriously and work really hard during the week playing online,” Kling contended. “I try to play five to six days a week. It’s extremely important to focus on your game and focus on becoming the best poker player I can be. Everything else will come with success.”
Kling remains a free agent despite her popularity and has not yet signed with an online poker site. Nevertheless, she told “The Showdown” viewers that she’d welcome the right deal in the future: “I would absolutely love to sign with a company and have gotten a couple of offers. They just haven’t been the right offers yet, but I’m definitely looking to sign with someone when the right sponsorship comes along.”
Kling lives in Panorama Towers in Las Vegas and is roommates with fellow poker pro Christina Lindley. “I work out five to six days a week and do Pilates,” Kling explained when asked how she keeps her game sharp. “That’s extremely helpful. It makes you play better and feel a lot better, and that’s important. I watch a lot of hand histories and discuss hands with friends.”
Kling has a core group of friends to talk strategy with online. She cautioned, “You really have to be careful who you ask [hand history questions to] because you could get 10 different opinions from 10 different people, so I have a select group of people I ask questions to.”
Finally, Friedberg inquired whether playing live would be easier as a male or a female. Kling asserted that it depends on your table draw: “It totally varies. Some guys want to give you their chips. Some guys can’t let you win a pot, so they try to bluff you.”
Check out the rest of this week’s episode of “The Showdown with Jon Friedberg” on Poker News Daily by clicking here. New episodes are released every Tuesday.
