Janet Fitzgerald of West Palm Beach, Florida, was recently selected by the PLONpower Investment Group to be sponsored in the October 13 WPT BestBet Jacksonville $1,100 NLHE event. Janet is the second player to be sponsored in Q4 by the investment group. 

We caught up with Janet this week to ask about her experience.

Q: Hi, Janet. Tell us a bit about yourself and your poker lifestyle. 

Janet: Let me begin by saying how thrilled I am to be a part of Poker League of Nations and The PLONpower Investment Group and to be chosen to go and compete for us in the WPT BestBet Jacksonville event.

I have always been a game player and poker seemed as fun as any.  At first, I played just for kicks (and some extra cash) and had never read anything or been taught anything about poker.  I played by the seat of my pants for a long time knowing nothing of position or bet sizing.

It all got very real in 2015 when I won my entry into a WSOP Circuit $580 event in West Palm Beach.  I played the first of two flights on a Friday and bagged — though I had no clue what that meant except that I was to come back Sunday to finish playing. I decided to play the ladies event on Saturday, where a friend said, “Wow, you bagged second in chips!” I had no idea – and still didn’t know what bagged meant.

 On Sunday, I finished fourth in the $580 event and left with over $22,000. I decided that poker was my new favorite game. 

With the help of a family friend, I set off to play six WSOP Circuit stops.  I had much success plus a circuit ring from the Tunica stop. Still my friend said to keep all the winnings, put them in the bank and get another real job.  I had just left a 20-year position that year after a bad fall on the job. But I did not like the idea of coming off the road so I decided to continue on and pay my poker dues.  I won two more circuit rings (New Orleans and Grosvenor UK) and had so much fun along the way that I have decided I really need a bracelet now! 

Q: How did the WPT BestBet Jacksonville tournament compare with other tournaments you’ve played?

Janet: WPT BestBet was very foreign to me mainly because the field was so small, and I am used to hundreds of runners. 

I would normally register late to gain that slight advantage. But when I posed the late registration question to PLON investors, more than one asked why and said they would start at the beginning.  This was not that tourney with dead money in the early levels.  These were mostly WPT road players, and I knew when many busted out of the Main Event after three or four bullets ($15K-$20K), they jumped in my event to recoup.  So, I would definitely play an event like this differently.

Q: What percentage of the field would you estimate were women? 

Janet: I believe there were four or five women total who played, but I never had another female at my table. 

Three levels in, I did get asked for candy by two of the players, though.  I used to pass out candy on the road to dealers (not players,) and it was fun to be “recognized” for that. 

Q: Talk about your play – what were you happy about and what would you do differently?

Janet: Looking back, I should have expected the hyper-aggressive play and the crazy Russian and German action from when I played in the PCA two years ago in the Bahamas. Very similar players here but, again, previously much larger fields.

I feel that I played very well and was quite in the groove until my KK got beat by A7 off. After that, I wasn’t playing my typical aggressive poker, and I started getting three and four bet whenever I tried to get in a pot. I would do it differently that is for sure. I saw the shock on many faces when I called someone with second pair after he triple barrel bluffed to me, and I won a very decent pot.  I believe it was then they decided to keep me out of the pots they wanted to play.

 I went out after going all in with JJ in the cutoff and got a call from A9 off-suit. An ace came on the river. 

Q: What did you learn for next time? 

Janet: My biggest lesson would be not to drive 4½ hours from West Palm Beach to an event like this without having a base close by. 

All in all, it was an awesome experience, and I learned new things — which is funny after being on the road for so long.

 We have opened a discussion with the investors and Review Committee on the selection of events and some guidelines such as late registration, etc., and plan to set up an online poker boot camp for players to strategize.

 Thanks again for the opportunity! I will continue to be involved in the PLONpower Investment Group.

Want to join the PLONpower Investment Group? There are more investment opportunities coming up . If you would like to be considered as a player, please join the group at the link below and invest a minimum of one $50 share to apply as a player. Learn the details at www.Facebook.com/groups/PLONpowerInvestmentGroup.