PokerStars Ambassador and Hippodrome Poker Director Kerryjane Craigie has all the time been a driving power behind ladies’s poker, whether or not that is creating alternatives, championing neighborhood or celebrating different ladies who make the sport particular. However behind the tables and stay streams, she’s additionally on her personal journey of development.
In her newest column, Craigie opens up about what it actually means to be taught the sport. Not by solvers or examine periods, however by expertise, dialog, and curiosity. Right here, she shares how commentary, connection, and some lightbulb moments have modified the way in which she sees poker and the poker world round her.
Right here’s one thing I most likely shouldn’t admit in a column like this, however right here goes:
And this may occasionally shock you, or possibly not, particularly in the event you’ve seen my play (ha ha). However right here’s the reality:
I’ve by no means actually studied poker.
And after I say probably not, I imply… I simply haven’t!
I’ve by no means learn a poker ebook.I’ve by no means taken a training lesson.I discover graphs unimaginable to learn, it’s an alien language to me not to mention retain the main points.
The Energy of Speaking
There was a time I believed hope was sufficient. That if I simply stored displaying up, stayed affected person, labored arduous on the tables, and waited my flip… the outcomes would come. However poker doesn’t actually work like that.
And right here’s the contradiction, in actuality, I’ve been learning all alongside.
Each pot I’ve performed, each hand I’ve talked by with associates, whether or not that was out of curiosity or frustration. Each stream I’ve watched, and each desk I’ve sat at has been a lesson in disguise. With out pinpointing why, I’ve improved. My recreation has advanced. As a result of it needed to. I wouldn’t be the place I’m now if I hadn’t been studying, whether or not consciously or not.
Co-hosting commentary on PokerStars Reside @ The Hippodrome every week has turn out to be one of the crucial unexpectedly highly effective instruments in that schooling. I sit alongside seasoned execs, providing color and dialog whereas they break down the motion with evaluation that usually leaves me nodding in awe. And truthfully? Generally I really feel just a little dumb asking questions which may appear apparent. Nevertheless it’s in these moments that I develop.
Watching top-level gamers suppose by fingers in actual time is like being handed the solutions to a take a look at you didn’t even realise you had been sitting.
The reality is, you don’t enhance your play accidentally:
You enhance since you determine to do one thing about your play You enhance since you watch the play of others You enhance since you replay the hand that hurtYou enhance since you attempt it in another way subsequent time
A Lightbulb Second
Lately, I discovered myself hungry for extra. So I made a decision to take a look at among the free content material from BBZ Poker, and it modified issues for me.
It wasn’t the everyday “examine grind” I’d prevented for years. It was clear, digestible, and sensible. Lightbulb moments went off. I instantly utilized ideas to fingers I’d performed not too long ago, and so they match. On the subsequent stay occasion I performed, I made the ultimate desk. I cashed. I got here fifth. I used to be giddy, not simply of the outcome, however of the method. I’d utilized one thing new. I took totally different strains. I made thought-about choices. I’m genuinely happy with how I performed (besides that final hand, as a result of, properly… Jacks, proper?), however it felt like an actual breakthrough.
As a part of my dedication to my roles with PokerStars and the Womens Poker Affiliation, I’m streaming replays of the PokerStars Ladies’s Sunday Remaining Desk each Monday at 8 p.m. UK time. We break down key fingers, supply perception into participant choices, and invite the finalists themselves to debate their thought processes. It’s been sensible, not only for viewers, however for me too. There’s one thing particular about watching a hand unfold and dissecting what the participant was pondering within the second – and generally listening to them let you know all of it!
The chat’s open. Everybody’s welcome. It’s poker, however it’s additionally neighborhood—and that issues simply as a lot.
Subsequent Cease? Manchester
Subsequent cease for me is the PokerStars Open Manchester, the place I’ll be working behind the scenes. Check out the schedule in the event you’re close by – there’s one thing for all bankrolls and expertise ranges. It’s a type of occasions that makes the sport really feel actually inclusive.
Then it’s off to Las Vegas for the North American Poker Tour (NAPT), and this one looks like a milestone. Off the again of a record-breaking yr for girls in poker, 2025 sees the introduction of a Ladies’s Excessive Curler, standing proudly alongside the common ladies’s occasion. It’s not only a new addition to the schedule; it’s one other assertion. An indication of simply how far we’ve come up to now twelve months.
So let this be your reminder! For those who’re on the lookout for a chance to be taught, begin the place you might be. It doesn’t must be books and charts and solvers (until that’s your factor). Ask questions. Watch fingers. Speak poker. Research the hand you simply misplayed.
The sport you need received’t simply land in your lap. You must go after it. There’s studying in each seat on the desk, you simply have to sit down down.
One hand. One daring transfer at a time.
Kerryjane Craigie
