Victoria Coren

Victoria Coren Profile
	Nickname: Teacup Pokerstars Username: Vicky Coren Plays: www.pokerstars.com Website: www.victoriacoren.com Birthdate: 1973 Birthplace: London, U.K. Residence: London, U.K. WSOP Bracelets: 0 Total Winnings: $1,597,943

September 2006’s European Poker Tour No Limit Hold’em championship was held at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London. Victoria Coren was in her hometown and at her most frequented poker-playing haunt, the casino that shares her name. She had won through past 400 entrants and had reached heads-up play against the Australian professional, Emad Tahtouh. She called the big blind with 7♦ 6♣ and Tahtouh checked holding 8♣ 6♥. Seeing the flop of 5♣ 3♣ 4♦ and on an open-ended straight draw Tahtouh raised 450,000 chips, over half his remaining pot. Coren, having already hit her straight, took her time, looking thoughtful. She slowed things down by asking for a count of Tahtouh’s remaining chips before calling. The turn card was a 10♦ and Tahtouh went ‘all in.’ Without a moment’s hesitation, Victoria called and standing up watched Tahtouh look to the heavens, realising he had been outplayed. Accepting defeat, he went to embrace Coren and a J♠ on the river confirmed Victoria as the first female champion of an EPT main event. Amidst the cheers from the home crowd she accepted her trophy and prize money of almost $1million.

Victoria Coren was born in 1972 and is the daughter of Alan Coren, a well-known British journalist, writer and humorist. He was also a familiar face on television and a regular on the game show ‘Call my bluff.’ Not a poker show but a panel game that shared poker elements as players had to keep a straight face to deceive their opponents about the meanings of obscure words. He could also be heard on the radio in various quizzes and instilled in Victoria a love of games like cribbage and Scrabble.

It was her older brother, Giles, who taught her how to play poker when she was 15. By this time, Victoria had won a nationwide competition and was following in her father’s footsteps, writing a weekly newspaper column for the Daily Telegraph about her teenage years. Father and daughter’s paths would prove to be remarkably similar as Victoria would also make a career out of writing after studying and graduating from a prestigious Oxford University.

During her student years, Victoria had the opportunity to play a bit of poker with her fellow undergraduates and with a friend, visited Las Vegas for the first time. The trip was shortened though as the pair’s Oxford tactics failed to come up trumps in the U.S. casinos and their funds were quickly depleted.

Writing has proved to be Victoria’s career first and foremost and her talent has helped fund her poker bankroll. She continued as a freelance journalist after University, writing for both the British tabloid and broadsheet press and various magazines including Elle and Cosmopolitan. She has also written a play and several books including the notorious ‘Once more, with Feeling,’ a collaborative effort with her friend Charlie Skelton.

The subject matter of the book, a disastrous attempt to make a pornographic movie would have been something her conservative, prudish father would have disapproved of, but her forays into radio and television would have been greatly appreciated by him, especially the BBC TV programme, ‘Balderdash and Piffle’ which deals with etymology in an amusing way. She presents the BBC4 quiz show Only Connect and the Radio 4 comedy series Heresy. Currently, her considerable writing ability is showcased weekly in The Observer Newspaper and bi monthly in GQ magazine.

Despite her focus on writing, poker is more than just a hobby for Coren and although predominantly a cash player, she has been entering international tournaments since 2001. She still hosts weekly games amongst friends at her London home but it is against the stiff competition at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino or ‘The Vic’ where the majority of her poker hands take place and she says she feels ‘jumpy’ if she is unable to play there at least twice a week.

It was in 2000 that Coren’s poker talent first came to the public’s attention when she appeared on the television show ‘Late Night Poker.’ The programme’s format was to set the standard for all other poker TV shows with its under-the-table cameras that allowed viewers to see the players’ pocket cards. Coren didn’t manage to progress to the final heats in any of her five appearances on the show but fared better on ‘Celebrity Late Night Poker,’ winning the series two grand final.

Since then she has participated less in playing televised poker and instead has found herself on the other side of the rail as a commentator and presenter in the ‘Late Night Poker’ series, ‘Ultimate Poker Challenge’ and ‘Casino Casino,’ amongst others. She also combines her knowledge and other poker insights with her writing. A popular blog, newspaper poker columns and magazine articles flow from her laptop with regularity and she can be credited with introducing the world to the Hendon Mob, a group of British professional poker players whose identities remain a secret.

In 2006 she won the EPT, we retell the end of the game here. Victoria often visits Las Vegas to play at the top level though work commitments mean she lands there less often than she would like. She is fond of the place but has also experienced the lows of the desert playground having said, ‘whenever you think it’s impossible to feel any lonelier or more overwhelmed by the pointless brutality of existence, Las Vegas can always prove you wrong.’ But that was before 2007 when she finally cashed there, in a World Series of Poker tournament.

She has cashed in on many tournaments since then, In April 2012 she earned first in a Heads up No Limit Hold'em EPT final, cashing $77,763, at the same event she won second place in the Ladies Event, cashing $17,097.

There is sure to be more from Victoria Coren and through her keyboard you are sure to be able to ‘read all about it.’ In March 2011 her book, For Richer for Poorer, Confessions of a Player was published. Coren is engaged to fellow Brit David Mitchell, an actor, writer and comedian, they are due to marry in November 2012.

You can play online poker with Victoria Coren at Pokerstars. Check out our Pokerstars Marketing Code for a sign-up bonus of $600 - or you can download Pokerstars here.

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