Beauty vs. The Beast
By: Liz Lieu

What happens when a guy calls you a fish in Swedish? You settle it across the green baize, of course. Here’s an exclusive from Liz Lieu on her recent grudge matches with Eric “123” Sagstrom.

Call it beauty versus beast; call it woman versus man; you could even call it live versus online. I like to think of it as two accomplished poker pros settling things the best way we know how – on the felt. The roots of our high-stakes match go back to an online meeting at my sponsor site, MartinsPoker.com. Erik Sagstrom, aka Erik123, sat down and engaged me at the $200/$400 limit table. I was running terribly that night, and combined with some miraculous suck-outs by Erik, I was left stuck about 32k.

Needless to say, I was unhappy about my performance and my stubbornness in not getting up from the game. What really got to me, however, was that I found out Erik had been chatting to other players in Swedish and basically called me a fish. This, of course, led to some verbal jabs back and forth in the following weeks, until we saw each other at the Bellagio Five Diamond Classic. Erik mentioned to Martin De Kniff that he would be willing to play me headsup anytime, for any amount. I definitely felt that I had the advantage if we were playing live, so I accepted the challenge. It was agreed the grudge match would consist of three $200,000 freezeouts at $2,000/$4,000 limits.

After looking around for a suitable date and location, we eventually decided on the Venetian’s new poker room on May 5th, 6th and 7th. After some pre-match interviews and formalities and promotional activities (in which Erik declined to participate), we made our way to the table at around 7pm on May 5th for the first match.

I quickly realized there were almost no cards Erik was willing to lay down early in a hand, or even late in the hand for that matter. He played about nine out of every ten hands and even had the cajones to call me down with queen-high and ten-high. I had been mucking my bluffs when he called on the river, assuming he must have a better hand, but after the call with ten-high, there would be no more freebies. From then on out, I was showing every hand, and I soon took one down with nine-high after he called me all the way. I decided to change my strategy by not raising pre-flop, as I knew Erik would call regardless of what he was holding.

About an hour into the tournament, we took our first break. Because we had a late start to round one, we discussed the possibility of calling round one at midnight, regardless of whether one of us had been felted or not. Because I was currently holding a small chip advantage, I agreed to the modified scenario, and Erik also agreed to make it official.

I continued to control the chips for the majority of the early going and had him near the ropes, down to $60,000, on multiple occasions. One huge pot went to Erik after my pocket jacks were cracked on the river by 9.10., after a board of 9.6.8.4.9., and another when Erik hit a two-outer six on the river to beat my flopped pair of queens. I just couldn’t deliver the knock-out blow.

As the night went on, I was starting to get good reads on him. I could tell when he was frustrated and anxious, and I could tell he wasn’t as comfortable with the slower pace of the live game compared to online. Despite my confidence and good reads, the chips just kept going back and forth; and when midnight rolled around, I was down $155,000 to $245,000. We had agreed to end the match as is, so I took the $45k hit and hoped for a better result the next day.

We returned to the table for Match Two at around 5pm on Saturday. I decided I would play more of my aggressive game today and take the lead on the betting. We were both extremely focused, and I’m not sure that we shared even the slightest dialogue throughout the entire match. I think we were really starting to disappoint the television crew.

I started the match with a good run of cards and, fortunately for me, Erik still didn’t want to lay anything down. I made a full house on the second hand of the match to win a big pot, and picked up another big one when I flopped a straight with 7-8. I was up to $300,000 within 15 minutes of the start of the match, and I decided to continue my aggressive play. Things were going my way, and I had Erik down to just $55,000 after 40 minutes. Erik made a comeback to over $100,000 in the next hour, but after a few lucky breaks, I had a strangle hold on the match. After two hours of play and with only $19,000 left, Erik raised on the button and I called with 8.-9.. The flop came J-6-7 with two hearts. I bet my draw, Erik raised, and I re-raised, putting him all-in. Erik threw in his last chips and turned over J-5 for top pair. When the A. hit on the turn, I claimed victory of the first full round. I felt good, and was ready to relax for the rest of the night and get ready for the third and final match on Sunday.

Later in the evening, Erik called me and said he wanted to play out the rest of the first round, the one we had called off the previous night. I am not big on playing more than one serious match a day, and I was under the impression the first round was over and done with. He had a good point, though. The challenge was for a guaranteed three $200,000 freezeouts, and I wasn’t about to pull back on the agreement. Plus, after my performance earlier in the day, I really had no reservations about playing him at all. I was very confident in my play and in my ability to read him.

As I was making way back to the table at around 10pm, I had a bad feeling. Something just didn’t sit well with me. I even mentioned to a friend that I didn’t think the continuation of round one would go well. The match was a complete rollercoaster ride. I had both aces and jacks cracked on the river, and although Erik had me pinned down to my final 19k at one point, I still managed to pull it back to even. Unfortunately, my gut instincts were right and Erik claimed my remaining 155k almost as fast as I had taken his 200k earlier in the day. It was now evened up and he was proving to be a formidable opponent. I had no doubt in my mind, however, that I could win the final round; and I was eagerly anticipating the final day.

I gravitated toward the table around 5pm on Sunday. This was it. I had no doubt, after playing the Beast for the past two days, that this match was mine; all I had to do was keep the disastrous, torturous suck-outs to a minimum. I was quick out of the gate, and almost immediately I was up 40k to 30k. Other than the initial few pots, the first couple of hours were pretty dull, with limited action. It seemed as if we were dancing with each other – just swapping the 40k to 30k chip advantage back and forth. After two hours of play, we were dead even, at $200,000 each, and I think the spectators were starting to lose interest. I took a short smoke break, and then the real battle began. We proceeded to pound at each other for four hours before the deck went ice-cold and I was in big trouble. I couldn’t catch anything and I was quickly brought to an almost pulseless 22k. I finally picked up A-J and decided this was going to be the hand. We got all in after a rag flop and I caught an ace on the river – finally it was my turn to catch the river card! Erik mucked his hand in disgust, and I knew it was my time. I immediately started betting and raising every hand; it didn’t matter what I was holding. When we broke for dinner I had reclaimed the chip lead, $219,000 to $181,000.

After flopping a set of threes to win a big pot, I went on a great run to get Erik down to just $36,000. Erik hit another miracle to win a $48,000 pot with K-8 against my A-8 on a board of 8-T-3-T-K, and from there he got back up to $132,000. A little while later, I won one of the biggest pots of the weekend; after flopping the nut straight with Q-J, and after hitting another Broadway straight on the river, I had him down to only $27,000.

With the victory in sight, I called a bet with A-2 on a flop of Q-4-8. The turn was a five, giving me a straight draw. Erik bet again and I called. The river was a three, and I had made my straight. I bet out, and Erik raised. I reraised, forcing Erik all-in for his last 3k. Erik called and turned over pocket threes for a rivered set.

I can’t explain to you how excited I was, as my Martins Poker team members had been there there supporting me and cheering my on throughout the event; and now they were there to share the victory. So, all in all, the final count is Liz 2 vs. Erik 1. Thanks to Erik for a challenging match. And thanks to the poker world for taking interest; I feel I’ve proved to myself and my peers that I can take on and conquer poker’s elite.