This past Sunday, Katie Lindsay notched a career-high score of $102,915 when she beat out the 325-entrant field in the Moneymaker Tour Aruba Main Event. After five years without a live tournament win, Lindsay returned to the winner's podium in spectacular fashion with her first six-figure cash while becoming the first woman to win a Moneymaker Tour Main Event.
PokerOrg spoke with Lindsay about her historic win, sharing her victory with her father, and where she's taking her skills next.
How are you feeling in the aftermath of such a big win?
Katie Lindsay: It's been a whirlwind since I won, I was so overwhelmed with emotion. It was really weird because when I was playing, I was so focused. Nothing else mattered and I was just thinking about every hand as it came. Then, as soon as I won, it was like finally taking a breath and I immediately felt tears welling up.
I was calling family and talking to people – the overwhelming support and messages were such a cool thing because the Internet can be a horrible place, especially as a woman. You get a lot of not nice things that are said and people are really hard, but everything has been incredibly positive.
It feels really empowering for women because this is a male-dominated industry and we are discounted or doubted. A woman sits down at a poker table and the guys are like, 'Yeah, she's a fish.' That's just what it is. That's how we are looked at for the most part, until you prove yourself otherwise. And that's fine, doubt me and I'll try to prove myself otherwise.
Even better, if you still doubt me, you won't expect me. You won't see me coming.
Your last live tournament win came in 2019, how did it feel to be back on top of the winner’s podium?
KL: Yeah, especially because back then I was giving myself a run at it. I came top three for Women's GPI, I was top 100 in the world as a woman. There's not many women breaking into the top 100 so that was really special. I was on a run and, in a weird way, you're like, 'Okay I'm doing this, I'm here. Another final table or I won.'
And then I went through a really hard couple years of poker. Even recently, at EPT Barcelona I went deep and got it in when they had three outs and hit on the river. It's like, 'What's happening?' It just felt so brutal, doubting yourself, doubting everything.
The cool thing about this tournament was that I really felt like I was battling. It wasn't like they go all in and I call with aces. I was finding good spots, getting as much value as possible with hands when I did hit. I like to play aggressive, but started to realize that I should shut down in certain hands where I don't think I'm going to get folds and try to be smarter about my bluffs. In a weird way, I feel most proud of this win because I really fought for it and tried to play as calculated as I could with the information I had. Obviously, I ran good, but it wasn't just the cards falling in my favor.
You mentioned that special moment with your dad – can you tell us how it felt to share the good news with him?
KL: I was trying to run away. I am so camera shy. I'm very outgoing and I'll talk to every single person in the room, but put a camera on me and I'm like 'I don't know what to do with my hands.' I get really uncomfortable. So, right after I won, I wanted to just get away from the stage and the cameras because I wanted to take a second to call my dad, I gotta call my dad. He's so incredible and he's always supported me – my whole family, actually. My mom was watching and my brother and his wife and my niece, everybody's watching and being so supportive.
So, I tried to run away from the cameras, but I can't stop watching that video myself. I keep watching it and I get teary-eyed every time. It's just such a special moment with my dad that I'll have forever.
It's so surreal because the reason I started playing poker, like many people, is I was about to graduate college and I was watching ESPN – this is me aging myself – and I watched [Chris] Moneymaker win. I liked cards growing up, but I didn't know No-Limit Hold'em back then and I watched this and I was captivated. I never forgot the moment when Moneymaker wins and his dad says, 'You did it, my son.' It touched me and I was like, 'This what I want to do, I'm obsessed.' And I did.
So, it's such a crazy, full-circle moment that I win the namesake tournament of the reason I'm playing poker. And when Moneymaker walks up in that moment when I'm talking to my dad, that was surreal.
What’s up next for you in terms of poker stops?
KL: I'm 50/50 right now on if I want to go play the NAPT at Resorts World in Las Vegas, but I definitely have everything booked for [WPT] at Wynn. I was thinking about going to Bahamas, but I just love the Wynn. I love everyone that works there, they've always been incredible to me. I want to show them my support.
I'm also excited about upcoming Moneymaker Tour stops because I've met a lot of people here and now I'm thinking about going to more of their events. They do a lot in Florida, which is great because my family's all from there.
