It’s always the biggest poker festival holiday. Holiday is a bad word because we’re definitely not resting; it’s both a grind and a celebration of the game. It’s got all the best things — the biggest fields, the biggest buy-ins, the biggest prizes, and all the friends from all over the world come to play. I love all of the above.
This is my first year living in Vegas. I moved this January, so it’s all very exciting.
Is there a particular event that you’re looking forward to?
My focus has always been on the high-roller scene. I love high-rollers and long-term; that’s where I want to be focused.
But I realized that I skipped the phase in the poker journey that everybody goes through of playing smaller buy-ins. So, this year, I’ve decided to invest my time in playing much more of the $1K to $10K large-field events. Those events require a different skillset and I’m looking forward to playing them.
Will you be playing the WSOP Ladies Championship this year?
I don’t play the $1k women’s event at the WSOP very often, as it usually conflicts with something I find more interesting. But if the opportunity presents itself and there is no conflict, I might play this year.
What’s your prep for the series?
I am putting a lot of work into preparation, studying primarily with Octopi Poker. A lot of work goes into drilling common spots with our GTO Trainers, and then adding final table reviews and ICM study. It’s been cool to do this as a part of the 30-day World Series Preparation Challenge we’re running with the Octopi Poker community this year.
Each day, a new GTO Trainer spot is released. The challenge is to run it for 100 decisions and share the score in order to earn points on the Leaderboard, win prizes and earn bragging rights.
There’s also a ton of strategy discussions, mentorship amongst the members, and accountability. It has been amazing to grind the study with so many others doing the exact same thing and learning from each other.
If you had to pick one person to swap 5% with across the WSOP, who would it be?
I’d be happy to do that with Krissy Foxen or Cherish Andrews, both of whom I respect very much, and hopefully, it’s mutual.
Octopi had a big presence across the WSOP last year. What’s happening this summer?
We’re excited to have a strong onsite presence this year as well. We’re sponsoring the final table streams, we’ve got a booth onsite and we’ll be providing as much poker analysis as we can. All no-limit final tables will be available in the Octopi Vault within 24 hours. For the Main Event, we’ll also be adding feature tables throughout the event. We’ve got something planned with PokerOrg as well so watch this space.
Will Phil Hellmuth play the Main Event?
My take is Phil will be playing.
You come from a tech background. What do you love most about poker?
I love the juxtaposition of two dimensions in poker – the math and the mindset. Math is so rich, so pure, and so beautiful, but only when you understand it… which is hard and elusive! I love the constant pursuit of understanding of the mathematics governing the game.
And then there is the mindset – the art of controlling the meta game of the path to success in a game of incomplete information, variance and financial volatility. It’s about discipline, risk-taking, mental toughness, acceptance of loss, your understanding of other people and yourself, performance, and the ability to rise to the challenges and win.
I love the pursuit of clarity and control over the math and the mindset, separately and together. Which is what poker is to me.
Follow Victoria and Octopi Poker.
Lead image courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO.
