Poker Player - Kristy Gazes
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Kristy Gazes was born in Torrance, CA and grew up in the LA area. After leaving school she made her way into the entertainment industry and started her career as a documentary filmmaker, working as an editor and a post-production coordinator. She started playing poker in 1986, at the age of 19. She was underage at the time but using her fake ID she managed to bluff her way through the doors of the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. At first she played just for entertainment purposes, her and her friends would sneak into the Commerce to play Pai Gow. While there she saw the poker tables and remembering the rules that her father had taught her in brief lessons, she decided to try her luck at 7-Stud poker. She enjoyed the game so much she started going to the Commerce several nights a week and it wasn't long before she noticed her low-limit poker sessions were generating a bigger income then her real job. Soon she started playing the big money games around LA but realised that if she was going to earn a lot of money playing poker than she would have to start playing no limit tournaments.
Kristy loves mixed games, she likes shifting gears between Stud8, Omaha, Hold 'em and any other games available. Her ability to adapt to the changing pace and her skill in multiple games has earned her the affectionate nickname of Kristy "Mixed-Games" Gazes. She is a great overall player yet surprisingly she was not invited to participate in the World Poker Tour's Ladies Night. Hence she was encouraged by other professional players to try no limit Hold 'em tournaments, which she did, leading to one of her first no limit tournaments in Aruba, where she played well enough to cash. Since then there has been no stopping her.
Her poker accomplishments include coming 5th in the World series of Poker $2.000 S.H.O.E in Las Vegas, April 2001; 2nd in the $1,000 no limit Hold 'em, Las Vegas, September 2004 among countless other cashes. However she really gained recognition in the poker world in July 2005 at the FullTilt.Net Championship at Wynn Las Vegas where she bested 23 of the top tournament players in the world including Ted Forrest, Gus Hansen, Chip Reese and Daniel Negreanu. The show was aired in real time on Fox Television and many people watched as after nearly four hours of live tournament play she netted her biggest win to date, $250, 000 of a $500, 000 prize pool. This could possibly be the reason why she has been talking about maybe retiring from professional poker in a few years; however it would be a shame if she did so before she has had a serious run at winning a WSOP bracelet.
At the table Kristy is known for her quirky sense of humour, aggressive play and her large collection of sunglasses. She doesn't throw attitudes when she's losing (unlike some players!) and is quite happy to speak her mind if somebody steps out of line at the table.
Kristy spends most of her time travelling with the poker tour - who would have thought that bluffing your way into a casino when you are underage could possible lead to a career as a professional poker player (although I'm not suggesting that everybody should do it!). Away from the table she can normally be found in Hawaii, where she spends most of the year. Her hobbies include surfing and horse riding and when she does eventually retire she hopes to dedicate her time to charitable works. In the meantime however, Kristy can be found playing the tables or online at FullTiltPoker.Net where she plays on a daily basis.
In an industry dominated by men it is a breath of fresh air to see a woman doing well. Hopefully she has a lot more tournament wins under her belt before she retires to that ranch in Maui.
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