Meet Alex O’Brien - Grindhouse 3

Over the past weeks, we have introduced all the Grindhouse 3 participants to the public. Alex O’Brien is a science writer from the UK and plays poker as a hobby. She’s currently finishing writing ‘The Truth Detective’ a book on critical thinking and how to think like a poker player. O’Brien is the first woman to enter the Grindhouse and she is determined to show that women belong in the poker industry.

Alex O’Brien is a science writer born in Germany. Married with one child she lives with her family in London, where she moved to at the age of 19 having received a scholarship. She never left.   In 2016 she was shortlisted as Best Newcomer by the Association of British Science Writers, where she’s now vice-chair.

O’Brien started playing 8 years ago, but that hobby got closer to being a job when she decided to write a book on the mental upsides of playing poker.

During her research, she took on the help of a poker coach by the name of Philipp Kiefel. In December of 2020, Kiefel tried to chase down O’Brien and pursue her to play a $100,000 Freeroll on GGPoker. The tournament in fact was the $100,000 Bilzerian’s Birthday Freeroll and at the end of a spectacular night, O’Brien ended at the top of the rankings when the dust settled. She won not only $10,000 but also an additional $3,000 to play Dan Bilzerian heads-up.

Preparation to Face Dan Bilzerian Heads-Up

O’Brien showed that she knows her way around a deck of cards and chips as she navigated her way to the top of the 1,666-player tournament, but playing someone purely heads-up was a different kind of beast. Jennifer Shahade was kind enough to introduce O’Brien to heads-up specialist Olivier Busquet so she could prepare to face Bilzerian with one of the best heads-up players as her coach.

As part of her preparation for the heads-up match, GGPoker invited her to play the $10,000 buy-in Heads-Up Bracelet event of the World Series of Poker Online and while most poker players would be excited, O’Brien felt unprepared. GGPoker stepped in to help and told her she could choose any of their pros to have a one-on-one coaching session with. There was only one person O’Brien could think of: Pokercode founder and GGPoker-sponsored pro, Fedor Holz.

Unfortunately, the heads-up match with Dan Bilzerian never took place.

Read more about O’Brien’s experience on BBC.

Meeting Fedor Holz and Learning About Pokercode

After their coaching session, Holz invited O’Brien to join the Pokercode community and gave her full access to the entire video library and live coaching sessions. Having not studied with a group ever before, O’Brien loved her new study setting and became a devoted student. She took part in as many live coaching sessions as her schedule allowed and started to get to know her fellow students more.

It’s here where she learned about the Grindhouse projects. Even though she felt she did not fit the criteria for the typical Grindhouse participant, she decided to give it a shot and apply for a spot in the house.

Applying for Grindhouse 3

When applications opened for Grindhouse 3, O’Brien didn’t apply right away. But she loves the game and the sound of a poker training retreat set in the Austrian Alps where she’d be getting one-on-one time with some of the best poker coaches in a highly focused study environment was just too good an opportunity to pass up. Thinking in probabilities she thought her chances of getting in weren’t zero. That was good enough for her and she hit ‘send’ on her application. As a poker player with not the same ambition as most applicants, Holz saw something familiar in her game compared to the youngsters trying to make it to the level of a professional. Her passion for the game and the hunger to improve secured her a spot in the house and O’Brien hopes this paves the way for other female poker players.

O’Brien talked to Pokercode about her Grindhouse application: “I do hope that me applying for Grindhouse, where I’m likely being the only woman in there, will serve as an inspiration for other female players. I hope they will see me do well and they  apply next time!”

Getting More Women In Poker

When we spoke to O’Brien earlier this month, it showed how passionate she was about the game and making it more suitable for women and other minority groups.

She believes there is quite a bit that can be done to ease the path for women to get into the game and to make them feel comfortable in what is still a heavily male-dominated game. With the mind of an investigative writer, she often ponders about the underlying causes as to why there are so few female players. She is grateful to be in a marriage in which she shares family responsibilities with her husband 50/50. She says the reality for most women is quite different. In fact, studies show the continued gender inequality that persists in family homes. Even though women are more educated and more employed than ever before, household chores and familial duties still mostly rest with them. And then there is also the discrepancy in earning power. As such men generally have more disposable income that they can use for playing poker.

O’Brien didn’t just put thought into the why-question, but also into what can be done to accommodate better for female poker players. She thinks there’s a group of women who might’ve been introduced to the game of poker, but haven’t found the right circumstances to play in their first tournament.

“It could be great to have tournament stops with access to child-care. I didn’t even consider bringing my husband and seven-year-old daughter to the WSOP in Vegas. Let’s be real, it’s not the most child-friendly of destinations.” Child care she believes could be a game changer. Accommodating the needs of caregivers would make it much easier for those with families to travel and play in tournaments.

O’Brien who attended the Malta Poker Festival this past summer says she was blown away by the huge turnout of women. “I think something like 30% of the field were women. It was brilliant! They have done an amazing job in making it easier for women to attend.” As a further immediate thought, she wonders if shorter tournaments could help also: “If I want to play a live tournament over several days, especially ones that I’d have to travel for, well that involves a major planning process which includes not just checking that my husband is available to take care of our daughter, but also checking the diary that I am not missing any of her school plays or sports days.”

Looking At Poker From A Science Writer’s Perspective

Poker-wise she is set to learn the most from the other players in the house, but when asked what she can bring to the table for the aspiring professionals she had a clear answer. “I’ve lived a little longer. And so, I failed a bit more often. I hope I will be able to lend a good dose of emotional support, as well as tell interesting stories. I imagine my background as a science writer offers quite a contrast to the others. Still, a lot of what I’m doing day to day is what a lot of poker players are doing at the table: Asking the right questions and probing incomplete information. Though I’ve heard that a lot of players aren’t able to apply their thinking and skillsets to real life that well. So I can help them be those analytical and logical thinkers outside of the game, too.”

Apart from making sure everyone is feeling okay, Alex O’Brien will make sure all stomachs are full enough when it matters.

“I love taking care of people.  I’m gonna make sure everyone eats properly. OK, OK I’m just going to say it: I’m going to be the mom in the house! What can I say!”

We can’t wait to welcome you into the house, Alex, see you soon!

Quiz

Do you want to test your poker skills? Play this quiz and figure out where you stand. Fedor Holz and the other Pokercode coaches carefully curated the questions that make up the ultimate quiz to test your poker know-how.

Answer questions on positions, ranges, and a plethora of different topics so you know where you can plug the most leaks and what you need to work hardest on.

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