Lily Lotfy fell in love with poker around a crowded table during long Thanksgiving weekends, in a family where cards were always in play. Poker was actually just one game among many at first, but it stuck with the Boston native as she ventured off to Northeastern University and began her career in technology product management.
While living in New York City from 2017 to 2019, she cut her teeth in low-stakes underground games, learning the unglamorous but essential lessons of discipline, patience, and exploiting human tendencies.
But in 2022, everything changed when she discovered tournament poker. A deep run in a $600 opener at the World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open was enough to flip the switch. That same year, she made her first trip to the World Series of Poker — and she hasn’t missed one since.
Lotfy has spent most of her adult life balancing structure and risk. Over the years she’s taken some ‘career breaks’ that have allowed her to focus on poker, and the game has pulled her in deeply enough that she openly flirts with the idea of turning pro, even if she hasn’t fully crossed that line yet.
Lotfy regularly plays daily events at Encore Boston Harbor, where she’s quietly built a strong track record with several wins. She also has a WPT side event win at Playground Poker in Montreal.
In December, Lotfy took down the WPT Ladies Championship at Wynn for a career-best $82,636. Card Player caught up with her to break down a couple of key hands that led to her victory.
Event: WPT Ladies Championship
Buy-In: $1,000
Entrants: 445
Prize Pool: $429,425
First-Place Prize: $82,636
Craig Tapscott: As poker players, we are always trying to get better. What has been the most significant improvement in your game recently?
Lily Lotfy: I think some of the most significant improvements in my game have come from practicing more restraint. I’m being more selective in the spots I choose to take vs. pass up. It’s a play style that’s a little more conservative than my norm.
I think I have a naturally aggressive play style which has helped me because it goes against the stereotype a lot of women have at the poker table. Being able to reign it in a little has helped my game significantly though, by giving me more control over my stack and reducing high-variance spots.
CT: What’s your plan for 2026? I know you’ve toyed with the idea of playing professionally.
LL: I’m just taking life month by month. I’m taking the first couple months this year to visit family in Egypt, and I’ll be traveling a bunch to different parts of the world. I’m very excited to be playing my first Irish Poker Open in Dublin starting at the end of March. Beyond that, who knows? I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself back for a good portion of the WSOP this summer.
Hand No. 1
Stacks: Lily Lotfy – 4,250,000 (50 BB) Villain – 1,000,000 (20 BB)
Blinds: 25,000-50,000 with a 50,000 big blind ante
Players Remaining: 10
Players: 5
Villain raised from the button to 125,000.
LL: I’m in the small blind and look down at queens. This is a pretty obvious three-bet, because it’s a strong hand and because I’m the chip leader on the final table bubble.
I had been using that stack to apply a lot of pressure to my opponents. It’s one of those spots where the chip leader who’s been abusing the bubble actually has it, which was nice.
CT: What sizing would be best in this spot from the blinds?
LL: When thinking about the bet size, I wanted it to be small enough that she could continue with worse hands and be tempted to see a flop in position. So, I made it a little less than 3x.
Lotfy raised to 350,000 from the small blind with Q♣Q♦. The Big blind folded.
LL: Under other circumstances, I might have raised to a larger size from the small blind. It’s also worth noting that I’ve spent the majority of day 2 playing at the same table as this opponent.
CT: Did you have any reads?
LL: I found her play to be quite conservative and tight. So even with button opening ranges tending to be wider, I still expected her to have something worth continuing with.
Villain called.
FLOP: [invalid notations]
LL: Awesome. I’ve made top set on the flop, so my thought process continues to be, ‘how can I get the most chips in the middle?’
I decided to check since it’s highly unlikely she has a queen or overpair. I also want her to be able to seek value with hands worse than top pair, like A-J, A-K, 10-10, 9-9, etc. If she has a super strong hand like J-J, we’re getting the money in either way.
Lotfy checked.
Villain bet 250,000.
LL: She bet small 250,000 into 850,000. Definitely an interesting size because she left herself only 300,000 back, and the SPR of her remaining stack is small. I still didn’t see any reason for putting her all in with two streets left.
Lotfy called.
TURN: 10♦
CT: That’s not a great card for you.
LL: I know. I don’t love this card because A-K now gets there, and I definitely think that’s a possibility given this opponent’s conservative nature.
Lotfy checked. Villain moved all in.
LL: When I checked, she quickly went nearly all in, leaving 10,000 behind. I’m obviously calling. If I’m beat and she has A-K, I can still boat up on the river. The odds I’m getting make it a must call no matter what.
Lotfy jammed all in. Villain called.
LL: She threw her last chip in, and I was quite surprised to see she had just 9-9. She was open-ended.
RIVER: 2♦
Lotfy won the pot of 2,100,000.
LL: I was lucky to fade the straight draw on the river, eliminating her and getting to the final table with a commanding chip lead. After that hand, I had over 100 big blinds, which was almost double the next closest stack.
Hand No. 2
Stacks: Lily Lotfy – 5,500,000 (44 BB) Villain – 7,000,000 (56 BB)
Blinds: 75,000-125,000 with a 125,000 big blind ante
Players remaining: 3
LL: When we got to three-handed play, it was the first time during the entirety of day 2 that I wasn’t chip leading and vulnerable to elimination. I chose this hand, not because there was a lot to write about strategically, but because I think it was the most consequential hand of the final table for me, leading me to the win.
Villain raised to 275,000 from the button. Lotfy called from the big blind holding J♠7♥.
LL: I felt like calling and defending this hand was my only option, since both folding and raising seemed bad. It’s worth noting that this opponent was the most aggressive I had faced throughout the day and was not afraid to put people in very tough spots.
FLOP: 8♣7♣7♦
LL: Once again, I’ve made a very strong hand on the flop. I’m pretty much always checking here and given the aggressive nature of this opponent, it made even more sense.
Lotfy checked, and Villain bet 250,000.
CT: You can go either way here. Be sneaky and trap, or check-raise. What did you feel was the best way to approach this flop?
LL: I needed to decide whether to raise or slow play. I decided against this particular opponent, it was worth it to get more money in on the flop, given her aggressive style.
Lotfy raised to 750,000. Villain shoved all-in.
LL: And to my surprise, she snap went all-in for my remaining 5,100,000. This was huge, given we were first and second in chips, with third in chips at the table trailing us by quite a bit. We were quite deep.
Lotfy called.
LL: I snap-called, and she showed…
Villain revealed Q♣10♣.
CT: That had to be a huge surprise for you.
LL: I understood she was trying to put max pressure on me, given the ICM pressure with the shorter stack still remaining, and she thought she was targeting an eight or smaller pair. I think my decision to raise such a strong hand on the flop really paid off as a result.
TURN: 8♥
RIVER: 3♦
Lotfy won the 11,075,000 pot.
LL: I was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief, fading her flush draw, boating up, and having her drawing dead on the turn. This pot gave me at having 11,000,000 of the 17,000,000 chips in play, which was huge.
I think my biggest lesson from this event is in line with what I described as my overall biggest learnings from 2025. I practiced a great deal of restraint in this tournament even while holding the chip lead through most of day 2. I was very determined to protect my chip lead and fine tune my aggression. I still used my chip stack to my advantage in many spots, but I also passed on a lot of spots I typically would have taken in order to protect my lead.
Follow Lotfy on Twitter/X @lilylotfy.
- Photos by WPT