Katerina Malasidou is a hyper turbo sit-and-go specialist who makes a living on the virtual felt. She has played nearly 170,000 sit-and-gos since 2012, making her one of the high-volume grinders on the web, which helped her earn a sponsorship from PokerStars.
The 30-year-old from Athens, Greece lives in Lisbon, Portugal these days.
For Malasidou, playing so much poker isn’t really about trying to put in the most volume out of anyone online. Poker, for her, is about improving her skills, which in turn would improve her win-rate.
“I do want to get inspired by others when it comes to the way they play, the way they handle their bankroll and things like that,” Malasidou said. “But when it comes to how many tournaments I’ve played, the only comparison that matters to me is if this year I’m better than the previous one.”
Card Player had the chance to speak to Malasidou about her poker career, as well as pick her brain about some of the things the poker world can do to attract more women to the game.
Brian Pempus: First off, can you talk about how you found poker and what drew you to the game?
Katerina Malasidou: I found poker through my boyfriend at the time, fellow Team Pro Online member Andre Coimbra. It was back in 2010, I had just moved from Greece to Portugal and had quite a lot of time on my hands. It was only in 2012 that I got serious about poker though. As for what drew me to the game, I love games in general, anything from regular board games to computer games and strategy card games like Magic: The Gathering. Poker was right up my alley. Mostly because of the competition and because I find it very interesting how a game with so simple rules can be so rich in strategy.
BP: What type of goals do you have for poker?
KM: I’m not the kind of person to set huge goals, I try to keep it down to earth. As long as every day I’m a bit better as a player than the previous day, I’m happy. I think it’s really important to keep evolving in a game that’s constantly changing like poker.
BP: Can you talk about some of the issues women in poker face these days?
KM: When it comes to live poker, I think it can be a bit intimidating to go into an environment that’s full of men. Playing online is definitely easier in that sense, but still I feel that when people realize they’re playing against a woman they tend to underestimate us. But that’s not too bad, I just try to use it to my advantage.
BP: Do you think there is misogyny in poker? I saw some Twitter discussion on that.
KM: I don’t know if I’d go as far as saying that there is misogyny. I feel like someone that would be rude to women would be rude to people in general. I mean think about it; can you picture somebody that’s perfectly well-mannered towards every other male player, takes bad beats like a gentleman shaking his opponent’s hands but then snaps at female players? I think it’s more like women can be easier targets cause they stand out in a poker room. And unfortunately just like in any other field, you’ll sometimes find rude people at poker tables too.
BP: What are some of the best ways you think we can bring more women into the game of poker? More ladies-only tournaments?
KM: Ladies-only tournaments is one way. I personally love playing them, I find the environment very enjoyable and it’s definitely much more welcoming for a new female player. But I think the best way is for each one of us to make women feel welcome at the tables. Whether that is by chatting, explaining rules or plays or simply by being polite. If a woman plays poker for the first time and enjoys it, then she’s a lot more likely to come back to the game. If the first experience is negative, then she’s probably not going to bother again.
BP: How tough are online tournaments these days compared to the past?
KM: They are a lot tougher, that’s for sure. The thing is that before there wasn’t so much information online. The more people got into poker, the tougher the games got. Nowadays you’ll find books, videos, forums, articles, streams, there’s an endless amount of content out there, and a good part of it is free too. Naturally, the ones who bothered to study and improve are still good players, the others got left behind. And that’s why it’s crucial for poker players to keep working on their game, because their opponents do it too. Of course the result of all that is that if we compare the average player of a certain type of game today with the average player of the same games five years ago, then there will be a huge difference. Today’s players are much more evolved.
BP: Do you think it’s better to play fewer tables these days because of the concentration needed to beat today’s online tournaments?
KM: Not really, I think it’s better to find the equilibrium between playing your best and maximizing the number of tables you are playing. Which is easier said than done, but what really counts is your hourly rate. If you can be more profitable by playing two tables instead of one, then you should do it even if that means that you’re not playing as well as if you were one-tabling. But if adding one more table affects your concentration so much that you end up making far less money two-tabling than if you were just playing just one, then you should avoid it. Of course that’s all easy in theory. If you take into consideration that online players these days quite often play 10+ tables and measuring your levels of concentration at all times is pretty much impossible, then it all gets more complicated. Throw in the factor of variance and you’ll see why finding that golden line is something a lot of players struggle with.
Images via PokerStars.
