The Tough Road to Earn Respect as a Women in Poker and the Courage to Battle it Out
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In the first part of the interview with partypoker sponsored pro Kristen Bicknell, the Canadian spoke about her recent run goods and the reason behind. Following up on that, Bicknell also talked about women in poker in general. You can read the first part of the interview here.
It can be quite intimidating for women to play live tournaments when sitting at a table with eight other guys, who always try to impress or bully their way to victory, along with the occasional comments. Bicknell has her very own point of view about that.
“That's one thing I really like about being a girl in poker, that dynamic, it's fun because it's different for each player. I am a pretty aggressive player, and it feels like I can mess with their mind more than they can mess with mine sometimes and I love playing against men who think they can push me around. It's fun and usually I am aware of that and have the better side of it.”
With confidence at an all-time high after her recent results, Bicknell pointed that out as a key factor. “The confidence thing in poker as a girl, there is a spotlight on you. I can do something that looks like a mistake or they are going to attack me for that. If I was a player that earned respect, with results, people like Adrian Mateos, what he did was perfect because it's him. But as a girl, I am always battling for that respect.”
Bicknell has more than earned her merits on the virtual felt as well as the live poker tables, and a certain mindset is required to emerge victorious. “Something I had to see and realize is not to learn to that noise and don't care about that criticism. One thing that I changed in my game recently is not feeling scared to make mistakes, because I know I have that spotlight on me. Instead, I am embracing my game and channeling into what I want to do for multiple reasons. I just want to go with it now, you can't be afraid of what people gonna think and say. As a girl in poker I know I am going to get criticized, but who cares? (laughs) I am just going to do my best.”
With two bracelets to her name and the High Roller victory, what actually matters more as a poker player, the trophy or the money?
“I think the respect part is probably both, and the respect should come with consistency. For me, the money is important, but the titles are really important. With tournament poker, you start to get such a competitive drive behind you in. The more that I play tournament poker, the more competitive I have gotten, and there is an aspect for me that I do feel driven as probably one of the few female players to play in the High Roller that I really want to represent women in poker. And hope to inspire women in poker to do that, to show that women belong at the poker tables, too. Even in the High Rollers. And I get a lot of satisfaction by competing with the best in the world.”
Bicknell received the Female Player of the Year award by the Global Poker Index in 2017 and with her appearances on the TV tables the awareness has increased for the partypoker sponsored pro.
“I have gotten some messages, and I got some really nice words. Because I feel I was just under the radar in poker and didn't really talk to many people for many years, just playing online. I do fell in the last few months after being on Poker After Dark and getting some coverage from that, and winning the GPI award, I have gotten messages from women that have been really nice, that I inspire them. And getting those really inspires me to keep doing what I am doing.”
Bicknell is back to her usual routine on Day 1A of the Main Event right now, which shows 256 players out of 324 entries remaining. On her table are Steven van Zadelhoff and Michel Abecassic amongst others, and right next to Bicknell sits partypoker team online and team ladies member Luiza Simao, the wife of partypoker ambassador Joao Simao. Moree about the couple from Brazil will follow later today.
