WSOP APAC Player to Watch: Kitty Kuo

A fourth-place finish at WPT Malta last year. Twenty-eighth in the 2012 WSOPE Main Event. An impressive 17th at this year's Aussie Millions Main Event. Twenty-second at last month's EPT London.

Almost every tournament she plays lately it seems she makes a deep run ... but still falls just shy of the big payday.

We think that might change at the upcoming World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific.

Catching up with her at EPT London last month, PokerListings France's Fred Guillemot found out a bit more about the lady in pink - and how she got so good at tournament poker.

We often see you at the tournaments but we don't know much about you…

I don't normally give interviews, at least until I've won a big tournament.

You don't like interviews?

No, no, I do. But I want to wait until I win something big. I want people to know about me because of my achievements.

So how long have you been playing poker?

I lived in Macau for one year, and I lived in Las Vegas for three years. Now I'm back in Macau because of the restrictions and play cash games there. But most of the time I travel and play tournaments.

"Playing poker in China is amazing."

 

Would you say you're more of a tournament or cash game player?

I'd say I'm a tournament player 85% of the time. But most of the time I play online. But since cash games in Macau are very good, I play them when I don't have any tournament scheduled.

What's playing poker in China like?

Playing poker in China is amazing. If you play at $5/$10 or $10/$20, you can win 5 or 7 thousand dollars, it's very easy.

And since life in general is very cheap in Macau and the cash games are easy, all my friends live there. Not to mention that you can play online in Macau and not in the US.

I'd say that I spend 30% of my time in Macau, 20% in Las Vegas and 50% travelling.

How did you discover poker?

I was studying in Canada and went to Macau on vacation. I won a big tournament while I was there, a PokerStars tournament, and then I just kept on winning.

I played in Macau for one year. So I figured, oh well, maybe I can play poker for a living. I decided to finish school – I have a Master's degree – and then start playing and traveling the world.

What are your goals?

Here in London, I want to make it to Day 5 [ed. note: she finished 22nd and was last woman standing, just ahead of Annette Obrestad]. Otherwise, I always get unlucky at the end and finish third, fourth or fifth and I haven't won a big tournament – like an EPT or a WPT – yet. So I really want to win one.

What about the WSOP? Will you be there?

Ready for a second crack at Ivey.

 

Yes. I will be in Melbourne for the WSOP APAC.

I went very deep at the Aussie Million Main Event, but I was playing against Phil Ivey and got really nervous and ended up busting in 17th place.

I really hope that this time I can go very deep but I tend to get very nervous when that happens and I have to play against very good players.

It's hard to miss you since you're always wearing bright pink. Is fashion important to you at the poker table?

Yeah, because last year I went to Malta for the WPT and I was lucky enough to get to the final table.

I was wearing pink then, so I decided wearing pink was my lucky charm!

Follow Kuo's exploits live from Melbourne starting later today right here on PokerListings.com.