Trisha Webb at the 2008 WSOP(credit: TrishaWebb.com)
Trisha Webb is a web designer, entrepreneur, poker player, coach, marathoner and much more. The Nashville resident is always on the go, but we’re grateful she had a few minutes to spare for Tourneyblog to share some insights into her life and the game.
Tourneyblog: You mention on your web site trishawebb.com that your first passion was web design. How did you come to play poker? Do you feel that poker and web design are somehow linked? In what way do you combine your passions?
Trisha Webb: Web design was a passion in the sense that it was very lucrative in the early 1990s when no one else was doing them much. I’d been in the computer field since the 80s and found a creative niche in web design. Times have changed and, while I am very grateful for the success I had with it early on, I lost the passion for it long ago and now it’s just part of my corporate job. I do some favors for associates every so often, but I am not marketing myself as a web designer anymore.
My husband taught me the rules of holdem after I saw it on TV in 2005 and I started playing micro limits online. I became more and more hooked so I started reading strategy books as well. In the summer of 2006 we found a local free poker league called Tennessee Rounders that played in bars and we started playing with them. It was my first taste of playing live poker.
The only common denominator between web design and poker for me would be that, at least for me, they are both solitary occupations, and I mean that in a good way. I always worked best alone, just me and the computer, which is how I designed websites and how I play online. I have never been a 9-to-5 person and have always thrived in an environment where I was judged and/or paid by the quality of my work, not by my “face” time or how I played the politics game. Perhaps that is why I was drawn to poker and online poker especially since I can do it anytime, anywhere, for as long or short a period as I want to and the results are dependent on my skill.
TB: When did you start playing with the American Rounders Poker League? Can you tell us a bit more about the league and your association with it?
TW: The league was called Tennessee Rounders when we joined them in the late summer 2006 but they have expanded to other states so the name changed as well as the scope, to American Rounders. They host free poker tournaments in mostly bar settings, playing two NLHE tournaments a night. Since gambling is illegal in Tennessee, you are playing for points and rankings, and the top points-getters come together approximately every 10-12 weeks or so for a regional tournament.
We were playing up to five nights a week at one point but that much time spent in the smoky environment of a bar wreaked havoc on my health, as I’d had asthma since I was 5. I was starting to develop a smoker’s cough, so I made the decision to cut down the nights I was playing. Thankfully the Rounders were able to start playing in a couple non-smoking venues, and now I only play the non-smoking sites except for the regional which is still played in a smoking venue. I play two or three days a week depending on work schedule and have won 23 times as of this writing.
TB: You first went to the World Series of Poker in 2007. How did you win your way there? What event(s) did you play? What was the experience like?
TW: I had started playing Razz online and, honestly, I cannot even remember how I got started on it, other than I just observed some tables and thought it looked like a fun game. The more I learned about it the better I got, and I ended up winning a $26 tournament that was part of Full Tilt’s Bracelet Races, tournaments that awarded $2000 towards a bracelet event at the World Series of Poker. So that paid for my entry into the 2007 WSOP Razz event. Shortly after that I also won a $600 first prize in another tournament, which I decided to use towards the Ladies World Championship event entry fee. I had no idea if I would ever get the chance to play in the WSOP again so I decided to play the Ladies event as well as Razz since, while I loved Razz, all my live experience was in NLHE, which is what the Ladies event is.
This was our first trip to Las Vegas and we did the whole touristy thing and loved every minute of it. As far as the World Series is concerned, the excitement of the whole experience was thrilling. My first tournament was the Ladies event. I was a bit intimidated at first and played pretty cautiously since the structure of that tournament is the shallowest of all of the WSOP events. I won some pots and started gaining confidence. I won a huge hand that both crippled one of the chip leaders and knocked out another player and I thought I actually had a chance to go far. The hand was even written up on Pokerpages.com and I have a summary of it on my website at trishawebb.com/mostmemorablehandwsop2007.htm.
After being moved to a table next to the 2005 Ladies Champion Mary Jones, and 13 hours after the tournament had started, the money bubble burst and I was happily still standing! I’d made my very first WSOP cash, placing 83rd out of 1286 players. I actually wept and my husband was beaming.
A few days later was the Razz tournament. Jazzed from cashing in the Ladies event, I thought this one would be just as successful but it was not meant to be. Nonetheless, I have to be proud of the way I played, considering I was sitting with and won hands off of both Humberto Brenes and Ted Forrest, arguably the best Razz player in the world. A couple times I made some tough laydowns to Humberto, and he kindly showed me his cards, to show me he did have me beat. I think Ted didn’t know what to think about me but I welcome the chance to play him again!
You cannot image the scope of the WSOP until you are there, being just feet away from all the pros you see on television and possibly playing with them as well. It’s a great place to just be a fan, too, as the overwhelming majority of the pro players are very gracious.
TB: When you returned to the WSOP in 2008, what did you do differently? Was the experience better or worse? How would you describe it?
TW: When we returned to Las Vegas for the 2008 WSOP, we didn’t have to kill ourselves trying to see all the sites so we had more time for poker outside of the WSOP. I played the same two events, the Ladies and Razz. The Ladies event was very disappointing; as I exited much too early when my pocket kings ran into a set of 5s. I banished that knockout as quickly as I could so I could look forward to Razz. I had a personal victory as I made it to Day Two in the Razz Event.
On Day One online pros Woody Deck, Tracy Scala, Larry Gold and I spent the evening aggressively eliminating players who moved to our table, including veteran pro Sam Grizzle. I was 25th in chip stack out of 104 players left from the original 453 entering Day Two. I finished in 80th place, the next to last woman standing (Vanessa Rousso finished just 15 minutes later). I admit it killed me to get that close to cashing and not make it but I know I did very well and just got card dead on the second day. I had one of the nicest compliments paid to me on Day One. Larry Gold leaned over to me during a break and said, “You have played brilliantly all night; I haven’t seen you make a mistake yet.” While that may not have technically been true of course, that was a very nice thing to hear. I felt respected and even a bit feared and that’s about as good as it gets as a poker player!
Outside of the tournaments, I had the best time playing $4/$8 Razz at historic Binion’s in downtown Las Vegas. Binion’s was running it’s Classic tournament that mirrors the WSOP, and it was the one time a year there were enough players to fill a Razz ring game so I played in it until it finally broke about eight hours later. I ended up making a small profit but the experience was the bigger achievement. I am positive that it helped me in the WSOP event that followed that week.
TB: Okay, we’ll take a bit of break for the Tourneyblog ‘lightning round’. This is where I ask you some quick questions. I’d like you to answer with the first word or thought that comes to mind, okay?
Do you prefer…
Tournaments or ring games?
TW: If it’s not a crazy ring game, I’d prefer that because I am very patient and will wait out the “action junkies.” Conversely I am a good tournament player because, while I may not be the most aggressive player ever, I know how work the structure to move up the ladder. Some people are amazed at what I will fold if it means moving up in money or points.
TB: Live action or online poker?
TW: I have a lot going for me in my live game, not the least of which is that I am a woman in a male-dominated sport. Even in this day and age, there are men who underestimate female players or get tilty when beat by one. From a strictly convenience standpoint though online beats live hands down. I have been in the computer field for 25 years so the computer interface is comfortable for me and live play just can’t offer the vast amount of game choices 24 hours a day.
TB: Hold’em or Stud?
TW: While my favorite game is Seven Card Razz (Stud low), Holdem is more profitable just due to sheer numbers of players who play it.
TB: Limit or no-limit?
TW: Both have their advantages. If it is a loose limit game where people chase to the last street, there may be more suckouts but then again, if you have the winning hand, you’ll tend to make more from the chasers. Obviously in no-limit you can use betting amounts in a much more creative way.
TB: Texas or Omaha Hold’em?
TW: I‘m better at Texas Holdem since that is what I have played most of, but I can hold my own in Omaha. I find most casual Omaha players chase way too much with hands that they should not have even played in the first place.
TB: Low or high-stakes games?
TW: I have not begun to play at the limits that I would like to due to bankroll considerations but the higher I go (at least online) the less kamikaze the players seem.
TB: Tight or loose games?
TW: Most of my experience has been in free bar leagues and very low limit games so I am surrounded by loose play most of the time. It would be a nice change to play with tight players once in a while!
TB: Aggressive or passive play?
TW: I will try to gauge the play of the majority of the table and try to counter-act it although I won’t go too far in one direction or the other. As my husband tells me, just “play my game.” Sometimes it’s good to let the overly aggressive players trap themselves.
TB: Tilted or unemotional action?
TW: I have to say I have pretty good control over my emotions at the table. It takes a lot to outwardly faze me to the point where it would affect my play.
TB: Is there anything you’d like to add based on the above short answers?
TW: While I have preferences to games or styles, I believe it’s to my advantage to be able to switch between them when the need arises.
TB: I notice that you love Razz. Razz is also a passion of mine. However, I find that not a lot of players understand the game. Would you mind talking a bit about lowball stud?
TW: I don’t know why I was drawn to it, but for some reason I was and when I started playing it, it just seemed more fun perhaps. I got relatively good at it in just a few months and ended up winning my WSOP Razz event seat in 2007 from Full Tilt. I don’t mind that it’s not that popular; that actually helps me in mixed games like H.O.R.S.E. because almost every pro will tell you that they hate Razz so I use that to my advantage.
As far as the game itself, I play by a few rules that I’ve set for myself. I really don’t like to chase very far unless of course my board looks a lot better than my opponents’. Because I haven’t yet played deuce-to-seven lowball or other low draw games, I’m not worried about making straights or flushes (which count against you in those games) so I can make the cards “colorblind” in my eyes. I think there’s about 12 women in the world who play Razz. :)
TB: You sell some great merchandise on another one of your sites called razzrulespoker.com. Tell us where you got the inspiration for the shirts and if you’ve any new items coming down the pike.
TW: There’s not a lot of razz merchandise out there and I did it mostly for fun for me and our friends. I have some H.O.R.S.E. related items at horserulespoker.com as well. There is also a new design that I am working on for any style poker that I hope to have out by the end of the year. I have a funny story about DontTapontheAquarium.com which sells shirts with the Phil Gordon’s famous line. One day I got a notice that I had made a sale and when I looked at the sale record, THE Phil Gordon had bought a onesie for his newborn!
I met him at the 2008 WSOP and told him I was the person who designed those and I hoped he was happy with it (and hoping he wasn’t angry with me for using his phrase) and the only thing he asked was that, if I ended up making a lot of money on them to please donate some to Bad Beat on Cancer, and I promised him I would. I will also probably set it up so that there is one website that has all the merchandise in one place but for the time being, they are all linked on the front page of my personal website, trishawebb.com.
TB: What’s next for Trisha Webb? Where would you like to take your poker career next? Is a WSOP bracelet in your future? How would you most like to impact the poker world?
TW: I certainly hope that a bracelet is in my future but all I can do is keep playing and improving. Like so many others, I would love to be able to support myself through poker, but I have yet to make the jump to high enough limits due to bankroll considerations. I have the discipline and drive to do it, but I’m not at the point where I’ve made any life-changing winnings yet. Someone I admire is Linda Johnson and what she has brought to the poker world in the last 20 years or so. Most people don’t know she was actually the first woman to win the Razz WSOP bracelet, so I feel a kinship to her there. It would be an honor to help promote the sport in such as way as she has.
TB: How can Tourneyblog readers get in touch with you for lessons or just to chat? Is there anything else you’d like to let them know?
TW: Email is the best way to reach me, at trisha @ trishawebb.com (remove spaces). My main website is trishawebb.com and holisticpoker.net (same site for now but they may separate eventually). I am also on Twitter as “trishawebb”.
TB: Thanks so much Trisha for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with me. Best of luck and see you at the tables!
TW: Thank you, it’s my pleasure.