Popular chess streamer Alexandra Botez made a deep run at the 2023 World Series of Poker Main Event, but she came up short when her pocket kings lost to a runner-runner straight.
Botez, a high-rated chess player from Canada, has been making a name for herself in poker with strong finishes in 2023 – including a win in the Hyper Turbo Freezeout at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
A record-setting field of 10,043 turned out for the 2023 Main Event and the top 1,507 players went him with a min-cash of $15,000. Botez had a comfortable amount of chips and she was able to make it through the bubble with ease, but trouble came with just over 1,000 players left in the tournament.
Bookmark this page! All you need to know about the 2023 WSOP is here.
Botez got her last 82,000 in with pocket kings and she was called by a player holding an off-suit king-jack. The flop came out with an ace and the odds that Botez would win the hand improved to around 98%.
It was a rough lesson, however, when the turn was 10♥ and the river was Q♣ to make a straight and crack the kings of Botez to send her to the rail in 1,040th place for $17,500.
https://twitter.com/alexandrabotez/status/1678551306452234240
It wasn’t long before poker’s biggest stars reached out with their condolences, including 17-time WSOP champion Phil Hellmuth and six-time champion Daniel Negreanu, as well as fellow content creator Joey Ingram.
https://twitter.com/phil_hellmuth/status/1678556705553260544
Botez will undoubtedly be back for more after her success on poker’s biggest stage. Recently, she reflected on her jump to poker in an interview with PokerNews at the 2023 PCA.
“I know I’m less experienced than most of the people here. I think my coach said I’m like bottom 15% — at least! — which is you know, totally okay. I’m just gonna go and do my best, try to learn and pay attention while I’m at the table. I’m going to be vlogging and creating content while I’m there because after all, that’s my job.
“But if I do my job well and I enjoy the experience. That’s all I can ask for.”
Live Reporting Executive
Las Vegas-based PokerNews Live Reporting Executive, originally from Chicago, IL