Poker Player Evelyn Ng - Green With Ngvy

Evelyn Ng is little more than the Britney Spears of poker, a manufactured “poker celebrity” courtesy of Steven Lipscomb and the World Poker Tour. Beyond coming in second in a six-person, invite-only sit-n-go and allowing WPT to film her frolicking around her pool in a bikini, what else has she done?
—posted by “Ononimo” on rec.gambling.poker, July 6, 2004

Evelyn Ng knows what they’re saying, and she doesn’t give a damn. She knows she has haters. They roll their eyes. They harrumph. They snicker behind her back that she soared to prominence on old beau Daniel Negreanu’s coattails, her glamorous looks getting her noticed at his side.

When it comes to a poker tournament of any significance, what has she won?

You can’t spell “nothing” without “Ng.”

Yet there she is on the cover of magazines, on major network television, in coveted seats on the cable fun-time circuit. The statuesque Asian-Canadian, all 5’11” of her, is a star no matter her accomplishments on the green felt. Those striking good looks and big, dangly earrings and revealing tops and Gucci handbags and, when the mood suits her, dresses slit up to the ozone layer, have created quite a stir. ‘Evybabee’s’ aura has captured enough imaginations—and probably spawned more than a few fanboy fantasies—to make her a major poker commodity.

When asked what she’s best known for, Ng laughed and replied, “Probably for being cute.” She’s nothing if not brutally honest with herself.

“I’m still kind of in my infancy,” she continued. “I’ve been playing tournaments now for three years, which is pretty long in comparison with some players who have been starting out on the Internet, but I still think I have a long way to go … No, don’t write that. Well, I guess it’s true, though. I mean, I feel very confident in my game, but I haven’t won anything yet. There’s still a lot more than I want to do.”

Along the way she’s breaking hearts, although not always in the manner one might think.

Take the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, for instance. NBC invited Ng to play in the enviable field of 64. Some of those who didn’t make the cut were Phil Gordon, John D’Agostino, Hoyt Corkins, Michael Gracz, Robert Williamson III, and Kathy Liebert. All are considerably more proven than Ng, none as telegenic.

Ng hasn’t been too formidable in head-to-head competition, as evidenced by her 1-2 record in two seasons of the NBC event, but few can match her face-to-face.

“I wasn’t at all happy about being left out, but I understand the politics of television,” said Gordon, a World Poker Tour champ and former co-host of Celebrity Poker Showdown on Bravo. “It’s like the BCS in college football. Why does Notre Dame, with four losses on its record, get a bid to one of the best bowls every year? Ratings.

“Whatever you think of Evelyn’s skill as a poker player, given the choice of watching her play heads up or Paul Magriel play heads up, a majority of Americans would choose Evelyn despite Paul being the better player.”

Gordon, brilliant enough to graduate from Georgia Institute of Technology at 20, diplomatically measured every word when speaking about Ng. That’s why there was no mistaking his inference when he emphasized one syllable in particular.

“Who could have a problem with her using her given assets?” Gordon said. “Phil Hellmuth uses his ‘Poker Brat’ persona to get people to fold too much. Phil Ivey uses that ‘Phil Ivey Stare.’ Antonio Esfandiari uses the chip tricks. Daniel Negreanu and Mike Matusow use near-constant banter. The best poker players in the world are the ones who are allowed to steal more often than their opponents. Evelyn Ng uses her assets to get people to play more tentatively against her, and Evelyn obviously has great assets.”

There’s not enough beauty in poker, so anytime Evelyn’s playing, I’m watching. I’d even watch her play solitaire for seven hours straight easily. In my World Poker Tour video game, every time she speaks, I get goose bumps. “Check to the raiser.” Yes, please!!!
—posted by “Guest” on Full Tilt Online Poker Forum, March 5, 2006

It’s not easy, asking a lady if she’s undeserving of her status because of her sexuality. Such questions have a tendency to make a person defensive, hostile, embarrassed, or a combination thereof. Usually, the tough ones are saved for the end of the interview to avoid an ugly tone that could end matters too early.

Ng’s blithe personality, however, has a tendency to draw out the delicate inquiries much earlier than expected.

Disarming and self-deprecating, she freely and unapologetically admitted she receives an inordinate amount of lucrative media exposure relative to her modest poker accomplishments.

“Looking the way I do and being different from everyone else has opened a lot of doors for me in attention and sponsorships and endorsements and appearances,” Ng said, “and I understand the game. I’m in the game, and I know how to play it.”

As poker gains popularity, observers have a tendency to associate its personalities with those from mainstream sports.

Phil Ivey is known as the “Tiger Woods of Poker.” Steve Dannenmann once called Howard Lederer the “Cal Ripken of Poker.” Hellmuth is the “John McEnroe of Poker.” Matusow could be the “Terrell Owens of Poker.”

And Evelyn Ng? She’s the Anna Kournikova, or Danica Patrick, or Mia St. John, or Natalie Gulbis, or Gabrielle Reece—athletes fawned over for their hotness more than their professional acumen.

“We had some people who called us and questioned why she was in Heads-Up,” said NBC Sports Senior Vice President Jon Miller, co-creator of the Heads-Up Poker Championship. “We had calls from players whose noses were out of joint because she was invited over them and from some writers who were questioning the field. Well, she’s very entertaining, and at the end of the day you want to get the best product on the air and she was a great asset to the event.”

There’s that word again.

Ng accepts it all, laughter often mingling with her explanations. Her carefree attitude is captivating, her openness remarkable given the amount of criticism thrown her way.

While some female players seem indignant when categorized by their gender, Ng celebrates her sexiness. She’ll reveal her belly button. She’ll accentuate her cleavage. She’s unafraid to be a girly-girl or a femme fatale.

“I have more of a modern feminist view, where, to be totally honest, men are prized for their wealth and how they accumulate wealth and women are prized for their youth and beauty, two things that are very fleeting,” said Ng, who added she’s not interested in having children. “I would be a fool not to capitalize on those things while I have them, before they’re gone.”

That said, Ng insisted the image she projects is not an act.

“I don’t think I overly sell my sexuality,” she said. “That’s part of me that’s natural. I like to dress up. I like being cute. I like purses and handbags and makeup. I’m just myself, and I feel people like me being myself.

“And I also try to be a good role model and try to carry myself with a certain amount of dignity and respect. I do have some sense of values, morals.”

So is there a line Ng wouldn’t cross? If Hugh Hefner called with an offer to appear in Playboy, would she be up for that type of exposure?

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it,” she said through another giggle. “I’d hear out his offer. You might not get a Paris Hilton sex tape from me, but … we’re always up for negotiations.”

I’ve been teaching Evelyn Ng to play better (she is currently playing $15-$30 at the Bellagio), and I came to realize that she may not be capable of playing certain hands that you should play. What separates good players from great players is their ability to read the flop, and their opponents’ hand … I’m finding it a little difficult teaching poker, because certain things that are necessary to be a top player, no one can teach.
—posted by Daniel Negreanu on rec.gambling.poker, April 27, 1999

Albert Ng was in his twenties when he and wife Melinda emigrated from Indonesia to North York, Ontario, just outside of Toronto. Albert put himself through jeweler’s school to become a watchmaker. He and his wife had three girls. Their youngest was born on September 14, 1975. They named her Evelind, but that spelling wouldn’t stick. She never cared for it.

While the oldest daughter earned three university degrees and the middle daughter went off to Europe, young Evelind grew up differently. By the time she was an angular 14-year-old, she was spending her time at Studio Billiards, hustling for video game and cigarette money.

“I was the black sheep,” said Ng, whose only shame seems to stem from the fact she can’t quit smoking her Benson & Hedges Menthol Lights. “They kind of knew I hung out at the pool hall, but I didn’t tell them I was gambling. In Chinese families, if you gamble, you’re usually extreme at it. They didn’t want me to go down that road because they thought it could be dangerous.”

Ng tried volleyball, then got kicked off the team for not attending practices. Yet she wasn’t some wayward punk—as much as she might have fancied herself as such. She was dazzling in the classroom, and it was there that she first discovered she could hustle math as easily as she could sink an eight-ball.

She challenged a boy in her class to see who could memorize the most decimal places of pi in front of the student body. The wager was for two dollars. The boy rattled off 110 digits. Ng stopped at 215.

“I can still do about 70 or 80 today,” she said. “They just come streaming out of my mouth.”

Ng eventually strayed from the pool hall, her mathematical wizardry ushering her toward the Toronto card rooms. She started out as a blackjack and poker dealer.

“When I first started dealing, I was very intimidated by all the lingo and that these people knew so much about the game,” Ng said. “I wanted to research it and read some books. I paid attention when I was dealing and realized the same people were winning all the time. I knew if I applied myself I could be one of those people.”

Ng got her courage up for a $5-$10 Limit Hold ’Em table and remained patient in her study. She said she didn’t graduate to $10-$20 Limit Hold ’Em for another year.

Along the way, she met Negreanu, also from the Toronto area. They dated on and off “for a couple years,” Ng said, “but since the last time we broke up we’ve been platonic friends.” Negreanu never stopped mentoring Ng at cards.

“I definitely don’t think I would be as good a poker player without Daniel in my life,” Ng said. “He taught me so much, not necessarily from a strategy standpoint, but he taught me the inner game of being a professional poker player. He taught me the attitude, not necessarily how to play pocket queens.”

Awful No-Limit player. Lucky she looks pretty good and gets invited to these freerolls because she’s some of the deadest money on the circuit.
—posted by “Brian C” on rec.gambling.poker, May 12, 2005

Ng wasn’t even playing poker when she got her big break in 2002. She had stopped playing for a year, the environment dragging her down. She was miserable. So she went to work doing what she called “mundane office duties” for an independent record label. She said she couldn’t recall even playing online during that period.

“I needed to get away from poker,” she said. “I felt I was really grinding it out every day and that it was maybe taking away from me as a person, that I was becoming jaded, pessimistic. Just being around a lot of negativity, poker breeds a lot of hate. Everyone pretends it’s a social, friendly atmosphere, but we’re all out here to win money from each other. Some people are playing for their rent money or dinner money. Poker is a dysfunctional family.”

Ng jetted out to Foxwoods to cheer on some of her friends at the 2002 World Poker Finals. She was standing on the rail when a man from the World Poker Tour asked if she would sit down for an interview. She tried to explain she wasn’t in the tournament. The man was persistent. Ng relented.

The man, unbeknownst to her, was World Poker Tour founder Steven Lipscomb, who later would invite her to the six-seat WPT Ladies Night event in September 2003 at the Bicycle Club in Los Angeles. It was there that Ng entered the poker consciousness and never left.

Ng outlasted Annie Duke, Liebert, and Jennifer Harman before losing the $25,000 winner-take-all purse to fellow upstart Clonie Gowen.

“The top women in the business filled up four seats,” Lipscomb said, referring to the first four eliminated. “The next two seats we had to make sure we had sex appeal and TV-worthy visuals people would appreciate. We couldn’t have asked for better TV when we ended up with those two playing heads up for the title.”

Alas, that compelling cable television appearance has remained Ng’s career highlight. Without it she probably doesn’t have sponsorship deals or magazine covers or poker nerds scurrying around the Internet in search of the latest rumors on whom she’s dating. (Psst: She and David Williams share a place in southern Las Vegas, but she swears there’s nothing going on.)

“I don’t think in any way the attention Evelyn receives is undeserved,” Lipscomb said. “Take any number of World Poker Tour event winners and change one or two cards and you’ve never heard of them. Evelyn being picked out of the blue is not wildly out of line with how these things work. Lightning strikes. That’s what happens.”

Ng has won some money, earning $64,942 for an 11th-place finish in the 2005 Borgata Poker Open and $73,230 for a 39th-place finish in the WPT World Championship at the Bellagio in April.

She doesn’t play cash games anymore, so it’s fairly easy to track her success on the Internet. Unlike golf and tennis, two sports in which career money winnings are an effective measuring stick, poker leaves out an important stat: losings.

“My cash earnings aren’t that high,” Ng conceded, “but I think I’ve lived a pretty good lifestyle because of it. I know I have supported myself for 12 years playing poker and accept that it’s an arena I do well in even if I don’t have a title.”

To hear Ng dismiss the notion that she must win a major tournament to validate her career, one would believe her sincerity. She knew it sounded silly as it was coming out of her mouth, laughing that “winning a tacky gold bracelet would be kind of cool.”

If that doesn’t happen, Ng indicated she wouldn’t consider herself a failure, not when she has so much else going for her.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being Anna Kournikova,” Ng said. “She had a great career and has made a lot of money. It never hurts to be cute, I don’t think.”