Thursday, 28th March 2024 15:46
Home / Uncategorized / EPT9 London Day 4: The internet’s Kitty Kuo

Kitty Kuo has since departed in 23rd place. It was fun to watch Kuo play on the feature table on EPT Live. You could watch her play for only a few minutes and count how long it takes her to reach for her phone after folding her hand. If you could get to 100 it meant she’s probably sipping from a cup of tea. Rarely was she more than a few seconds away from her phone.

Kuo was making only her second EPT cash finish this week, following her previous best EPT finish of 59th place here in London in 2011. The 26-year-old, from Taiwan, lives in Las Vegas now, although owing to restrictions there on how you can use a computer, plays ”mostly from Macau, playing cash games while travelling to tournaments. It seems Europe is fast becoming her favourite destination.

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Kitty Kuo

The life of any professional poker player is typically nomadic, but few are as nomadic as Kuo, whio this year alone has played in Macau, Australia, the United States and now the UK. But it’s these European events that Kuo plans to play more of.

“I used to play US tournaments but because I need to play 30 per cent tax I lose money there. Now I want to play European events, any tournament. I love it here. I can go shopping, I love the food. It’s good.”

And here phone. Kuo is pretty phone-orientated. Why would someone want a phone so urgently. The answer actually makes a lot of sense.

“Sometimes, if I make a good call, I instantly post on Facebook because all my friends are poker players and are online,” said Kuo. “They always comment which is good for my game.

“Most of the time I read about how people play hands. And if someone moves to my table I have information.”

It’s the modern way of playing.

Kuo is gone, for now, in 23rd place, earning £17,500 – enough to go shopping with. But expect to see her playing EPT events for some time to come.

Click through to live coverage of the EPT London Main Event. Follow the @PokerStarsBlog Twitter account to keep up-to-date with all the EPT action.

Stephen Bartley is a PokerStars Blog reporter

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