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12 March, 2010
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Published: 11 May, 2007
LOCAL poker player Lorna McDermid has returned home from London with £8000 after taking third place in the second Ladbrokes European Ladies' Championship poker tournament at the weekend. Lorna (42), of Olrig Street, Thurso, entered the tournament via a £1.50 online qualifier and was invited to London to take part in the 48-seater women's event.
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The trip, courtesy of Ladbrokes, saw Lorna and her partner Brian Cormack fly to London from Inverness so that Lorna could take on some of the best poker players around, including Liz Lieu, the world's number two women's player, Beverley Pace, wife of comedian and actor Norman Pace, and Katharine Hartree, who was placed 150th in WSOP in Las Vegas out of a field of 8770. Lorna, who works at Dounreay, was introduced to the game by Brian and has been playing online for around three years. She explained that it was originally Brian who was the online poker player and she decided to have a go using his "play chips" one evening when he was out. She managed to lose "a few hundred" of his play chips in the fun game but quickly found that she had a knack for poker. She is now more interested in it than her partner is. Until this weekend her biggest ever win was a $1200 stake in a racehorse, Laddies Poker, and a cash win of $3800. However, Lorna sees poker as a lucrative hobby and regularly plays live games. With the £8000 she won in London she intends to take a holiday with her son Danny and Brian, and she is keen to return to the tournament next year. Lorna did not get much chance to see the sights of the capital during the tournament as she played from 10am until 10pm on Saturday, and from 11am to 5pm on Sunday. In the final she was up against seven other women and played some good hands until being knocked out by Angelina Nilsson, who was to take second place to winner Jackie Meecham. Lorna said: "This was a really fun weekend – not only did I get to play against some of the best women players in the world, I won £8000 into the bargain. "I've also made a few friends and got to do some celebrity-spotting too – Norman Pace was cheering on his wife Bev and the model Leilani was also competing in the tournament." She also acknowledged the support she had from friends and other Caithness poker players and said Brian's mobile phone was constantly ringing as people called to find out how she was getting on. And all those who gave her their moral support will be able to see her in action as the tournament will be shown on Sky TV in a couple of months' time. 
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