The Bernard Lee Poker Show 11-25: 2019 USPO $10K Winner Lauren Roberts

February 27, 2019

Bernard Lee Contributor

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In this episode of The Bernard Lee Poker Show on the PokerNews Podcast Network, Bernard Lee interviews the recent $10,000 US Poker Open winner, Lauren Roberts. This win was her first live victory.

She discusses her professional career prior to playing poker regularly, starting out as a software engineer, receiving her MBA, and working in the stock market. Lauren later developed breast cancer, which entailed sixteen surgeries in three years. During this time, she began to develop her love of poker; beginning to play online and expanding to live cash games, and ultimately high stakes tournaments. Still considering herself an amateur, Lauren enjoys playing poker tournaments all over the world.

Show Time Stamps

0:00	Welcome to The Bernard Lee Poker Show as this week’s guest will be recent $10,000 US Poker Open (USPO) no-limit hold’em winner, Lauren Roberts.
0:04	The United States Poker Open (USPO) concluded last week at the Aria Resort & Casino. Bernard reviewed the winners of the remaining events including Stephen Chidwick, Bryn Kenney, Nick Schulman and Koray Aldemir. American David Peters won the $100,000 Main Event, taking home $1.32 million. Additionally, Peters captured the overall USPO Championship with three cashes, including his $100,000 Main Event victory.
3:13	Bernard announces his guest of the week, Lauren Roberts.
2:31	Kyle Kinder outlasted a field of 372 entries at the RunGoodPoker Series Main Event at Downstream Casino, just outside of Joplin, Missouri for $42,781.
3:54	RunGood Gear Ad
4:36	Bernard welcomes Lauren Roberts to the show.
5:14	Lauren joins the show.
5:48	Lauren describes her joy in winning the 2019 USPO Event #3 $10,000 no-limit hold’em, which was her first live victory. “I’m not sure I even realized what was happening…Not even sure what’s hit me at this point yet. I’m working on digesting everything.”
7:13	Lauren recalls her professional background which included a stint as a software engineer. Later, she attended Carnegie Mellon business school and received her MBA. “I didn’t come up through Wall Street. I worked in industry, I started companies all over the world.”
9:02	Lauren discusses how she became involved in the financial world. “The market has amazing similarities to poker and they both have lots of good lessons in other areas in your life.”
11:30	Lauren recalls a low point in her life including a difficult divorce and her fight against breast cancer.
13:53	Lauren reveals the silver lining when she got started playing poker online and how she eventually moved up to higher blind levels. “My Dad always pushed me to play poker…I started playing $0.01/$0.02 blinds online ‘cause my Dad told me you have to play for money ‘cause people do crazy stuff (when they use play money).”
16:02	Lauren reminisces about her grandfather teaching her how to play 5-card and 7-card stud and how her father encouraged her to play poker. “I loved games and puzzles…He (grandfather) was the one that got me into it.”
18:59	Lauren discusses her preferences to play poker live or online. “I love live (poker). I love tournaments. I love the poker community. I really enjoy playing in Europe and travelling…I do love to play live…(But) I play online all the time (for the experience). I do both and they complement one another.””
20:48	Lauren reminisces about her early forays in playing poker tournaments. “It’s a giant puzzle. What is happening in the hand? And to me, I just love that…That’s what I just adore about poker. It’s incredibly appealing.”
23:57	Lauren mentions her cash game experiences and how high she has played.
28:04	Lauren recalls playing in the 2017 $300,000 Super High Roller Event at the Aria, entering as the only woman in the event. “It was worth it because if there is one girl that sees me not afraid, if there is one girl that majors in math, if there is one woman my age who is inspired to go play at whatever stakes. Those are the things that are meaningful to me.”
30:35	Share My Pair Ad
31:08	Cabot Cheese/Creamery Ad
31:39	Bernard continues his interview with the recent $10,000 US Poker Open (USPO) no-limit hold’em winner, Lauren Roberts.
33:00	Lauren discusses her mentality heading into the 2019 US Poker Open. “I got a lot of experience over the past year…and played a lot of tournaments. So, coming in, I’ve been able to play with a lot of these players.”
35:16	Lauren answers whether she feels comfortable being one of the only women playing in these high roller events, considering she works full-time in a field also dominated by men. “Completely and totally comfortable.”
40:28	Lauren describes how she felt playing heads-up for the $10,000 USPO no-limit hold’em title and the penultimate hand. “I’m just going in to play my game.”
45:41	Lauren describes her thoughts when the cards were flipped over prior to the flop on the final hand. “I was ready for the poker gods to decide.” After the hand, Lauren also said “Because it was a smaller entry (field), I wasn’t even cognizant of how big a deal it was…It took probably until the next day for anything to sink in.”
47:42	Lauren discusses her 2019 World Series of Poker plans. “I always love the WSOP and played a lot of the events last year. And a big difference (for me) is I don’t have to play. If I feel like playing, I can play. And if I don’t feel like playing, I don’t have to play, which is a very, very big difference between me and these people that I competing with because they have to play.”.

Let us know what you think of the show - tweet about the podcast using #BernardLeePokerShow, and be sure to follow @BernardLeePoker on Twitter or Instagram.

You can follow Lauren Roberts on Twitter @PlayPokerLkAMan.

The Bernard Lee Poker Show is now available on iTunes.

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