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Victoria Coren-Mitchell is the only two-time EPT champion in the history of the series and one of the most recognizable faces in the game. She recently gave an interview to PokerListings magazine about poker, writing, and more, you can read the excerpt of the interview below.
In the beginning of the interview, she talks about the hype around her second EPT title.
"...a lot of people were watching. It was Easter Sunday and it was raining in the UK so no one had anything else to do." - she explains. Her amazing victory was such huge news that one of her friends called her from the Maledives, where he read it in the local newspaper.
When asked whether she received support on social media, she admits the only reason she has a Facebook page is because there are some impersonators with fake accounts on the site, she uses Twitter much more frequently.
After this the interviewer asks her about the London poker scene and whether there are any games outside of the casinos.
She states that the scene has pretty much died out, since online poker is available now and casinos are much more mainstream aswell. Back when she started playing, they had to go to clubs and private houses and use passwords to get into a poker game. She admits that even though she loves the idea of underground bars in mystery places, she is not the most up to date with the current scene because she mainly plays the big buy-in tournaments now.
Her old favorite is the Gut Shot Club, an illegal room that has closed down since, and her current favorite is The Vic casino.
When asked about her family background she states that even though her parents climbed the social ladder, her grandparents were gamblers and crooks, so she is essentially just carrying on the real family legacy.
She then talks about her career choices, and how she divides her attention amongst those. She writes a weekly column for the Guardian (she recently wrote about the Phil Ivey edge sorting case) but is not a huge priority. ("I have a weekly column which I don't really write for every week.")
Besides poker and journalism she also does a bunch of TV shows. "I'm the sort of person who never really had a proper job but who's been lucky enough to find several things to make money with.", she explains when asked about her job status.
After this she discussed the fact that she doesn't really feel British. "I'm from London, and London is a melting pot, a mix of all the cultures in the world. I consider myself much more a Londoner than a British person." She also talks about the Scottish referendum and that she is not too concerned with the situation, because as a Londoner he feels like Scotland is a foreign country.
The interviewer then asks her about women players that she looks up to. She brings up Katja Thater as an example, claiming she was like an early Vanessa Selbst. Then she talks about Liv Boeree, who is "playing a mixture of the stereotypical male and female playing styles."
She then states that even though she would like to see more women at the tables, male players are just a bit "nerdier" than their female counterparts, which could explain why there are so few women in the fields.
"We try to make poker look cool and mention the Ferraris and the dancing girls, but at the end of the day it's a very mathematical, a very geeky game based largely on odds and probabilities. Girls get bored quicker while boys can be fascinated by doing one specific thing for days. Which is why you also find more male trainspotters."
At the end of the interview, she talks about her television activities, which include hosting a very difficult quiz show and how happy she is that she can bring something to people who crave quality shows.
"Yes, and I admit I love doing that. A lot of television is directed at idiots. Every five minutes there is a commerical break and you are told what just happened and what's going to happen next."
In the final words she talks about her next project, which will be a three-part documentary series about Bohemians, starting all the way from the original movement to their heritage today.