A money sport participant to start out, Kasey Lyn Mills has since caught the event bug. The Oklahoma poker professional got here out of the pandemic with a renewed concentrate on multi-table tournaments, and the transfer has paid off.
Mills began to see leads to October of 2022, taking second within the WPT Steps thriller bounty occasion for $42,968 at Texas Card Home. A pair months later, she narrowly missed out on her first WSOP Circuit ring, ending runner-up at Choctaw On line casino in Durant, Oklahoma.
A number of closing tables later, Mills took fifth within the WSOP Circuit primary occasion at Tulsa for $35,539, earlier than ending her summer time in Vegas with a deep run within the WSOP primary occasion. The poker commentator got here shut once more at Choctaw in July of 2023 with back-to-back closing tables, and one-upped herself in a giant manner in January when the tour returned.
First, Mills took down the $1,000 Monster Stack occasion, banking $66,009 and her first piece of WSOP gold. The following occasion she entered was the $400 no-limit occasion, the place she as soon as once more discovered the winner’s circle and one other $22,433.
Then in April, she launched into the inaugural World Poker Tour Voyage Championship, finally taking seventh place for $42,000.
Card Participant lately caught up with the Poker Now ambassador to speak about her current success and the way she was capable of finding a balanced approached to event play.
Craig Tapscott: When did poker first come into your life?
Kasey Lyn Mills: My grandmother launched me to the sport as a little bit woman. She was a fierce competitor in something and all the pieces she ever did. She had such a tremendous spirit.
I grew up in Oklahoma, the place you may play at 18. This was across the Moneymaker growth. I’d see some high professionals enjoying at Choctaw [Casino], comparable to Clonie Gowen, Todd Brunson, Scotty Nguyen, Mike Matusow, and TJ Cloutier. They might be there for among the larger tournaments.
I performed Clonie as soon as throughout a heads-up promo occasion, and I gained. It was a magical second for me. I caught the poker bug round that point. I satisfied myself I used to be so good, however I used to be really fairly horrible. (laughs)
CT: What did you do to enhance your sport?
KLM: I learn all of the books; I’m a reader. I used to be simply watching all of the content material, comparable to Excessive Stakes Poker, and I cherished it. I had numerous jobs on the time to make a dwelling. However about 12 years in the past, I began to take it far more critically. I had some distinctive skills that gave me an edge early relating to dwell reads. Then I started to check ranges, and so on. Again then it was extra for money video games. I prevented tournaments just like the plague.
I’d go to on-line coaching websites and examine the boards. I began to enhance and play increasingly more excessive stakes, and ultimately, I put collectively a superb bankroll and turned professional. Then I moved out to California.
CT: Clearly, you have been very severe about making it as an expert.
KLM: I used to be. The video games have been nice on the market, and I began enjoying on a dwell stream referred to as Stones Dwell. Finally I did some commentary as properly. That was enjoyable.
CT: When did you begin enjoying tournaments, and what was your strategy there?
KLM: I had at all times thought that the MTT professionals have been loopy masochists who simply love ache. I’d simply play just a few, you recognize as a result of I like money. It’s a lot extra steady and never as excessive variance as MTTs. Gamers could make an actual dwelling at money video games as in comparison with tournaments.
That’s what I principally thought on the time. However after going by way of Elevate Your Edge programs and enjoying on-line extra, the pandemic shut all the pieces down. So, I targeted on tournaments.
Clearly, I wished to win, so I put in a ton of quantity on-line. I used to be utilizing Poker Tracker to see the place I used to be making errors and the place my leaks have been, consistently working by way of these arms. I put in large quantity. After which [the poker world] opened again up.
I used to be capable of mix all the pieces I had discovered from on-line MTTs with what my strongest edge had at all times been and what I name my superpower, which is with the ability to learn folks. I studied and watched for micro-expressions, physique language, and so on. I used to be capable of mix that with participant varieties and newfound abilities. I had a lot stronger fundamentals and was higher at hand studying evaluation, hand ranges, and studying board textures. By combining all my abilities, it simply occurred, and I began to only crush.
Poker grew to become extra enjoyable. I really began to really feel like tournaments would possibly even match my ability set even higher than money.
CT: What have been your largest errors transitioning from money video games to MTTs?
KLM: Coming from money video games, I used to be very aggressive. I used to be already nice at build up a stack, however wasn’t nice at stack preservation late within the ICM phases. I wanted to acknowledge how my vary required to tighten up and the right way to play appropriately late in an MTT. It’s only a totally different type and [mindset] shift that I discovered to transition to. I used to be starting to belief and imagine in myself.
CT: You got here near some larger wins in 2023. Then, you appeared to hit your stride in the beginning of this yr.
KLM: I stored getting nearer and nearer to a big money. I stored laddering and placing myself in a wonderful place to win through the late phases of occasions.
It was all a psychological shift. Again in 2023, I used to be scared to win. I had some self-confidence points and didn’t imagine in myself. I felt like I ought to have gained a few instances, and I acquired second. At the very least one time, I self-sabotaged with false beliefs about myself, wealth, and cash.
CT: How did you overcome that psychological hurdle?
KLM: I began to place in quite a lot of work with mindset practices. I did affirmations each single day. I targeted on my confidence and my ideas about abundance and wealth in my life. It began to rewire the unfavourable tapes in my head. I did different aware practices, comparable to meditation, and I additionally began doing chilly plunges. (A observe that has turn out to be widespread with some within the excessive curler group.)
CT: That sounds intense.
KLM: I used to be decided to beat these unfavourable beliefs inside me. I began making selections that affirmed that I used to be a winner. And it was then that issues started to vary. These shifts in psychological focus modified all the pieces for me.
I began to see gamers I knew hadn’t studied the entire solver work as I had, but they have been crushing. They weren’t simply solver bots. I watched totally different types of gamers and the way they navigated the MTTs, and so they have been successful. Then, all of the items appeared to return collectively for me.
I started to grasp that I didn’t need to know all the pieces proper now to be adequate to win. I began following my guts, instincts, and perception studying talents – the entire data I’ve attained over these years. I’m adequate now. I feel once I lastly began to imagine that, issues modified. It was a giant shift for me.
CT: Inform me extra concerning the massive week the place you gained two WSOP Circuit rings inside just a few days at Choctaw.
KLM: On the core of all of it, I’m a grinder. I felt these occasions have been mushy and had quite a lot of worth. I resisted the prelims and went dwelling to reset first. I did all my mindset work, meditations, affirmations, chilly plunges, and stuff, after which I got here again the next week.
I blocked all the pieces out. I went solo. I didn’t go together with any buddies. I stayed on my own. I had performed with these gamers at Choctaw for the final yr or two. I felt like I had a very good learn on the sector.
A whole lot of these gamers are tremendous leisure, and I felt like I used to be capable of shift into exploitative methods on the tables. I used to be utilizing quite a lot of exploitative play, typically virtually having to overlook GTO with a view to mass exploit the sector. I stayed targeted and locked in and got here in ready to win.
CT: You gained your first occasion after which a day or so later gained a second.
KLM: Effectively, after I gained the primary ring, I felt so aligned, balanced, and assured. I put that first win behind me. I went into that subsequent occasion saying I had not proved something to myself but about my sport, anybody else, or the world.
So, we’re beginning over from at present. I’ve completed nothing. And I’ve to play this subsequent occasion one hand at a time, one avenue at a time. I used to be capable of reset and went for it. I made an enormous mistake within the closing phases and needed to reset. On every break, I used to be doing my mindset and meditation work.
CT: Do you’ve got a difficulty focusing at instances, like most of us?
KLM: I’m ADHD or ADD, I’d say. I don’t have hyperactivity, however it’s been a giant battle in my life. However in poker, it’s been like my superpower as a result of it permits me to concentrate on 100 various things without delay. That occurred as I struggled and overcame my errors and acquired it completed.
CT: It’s nice seeing extra ladies succeed on the circuit. What do you assume must be completed to encourage extra ladies to play?
KLM: That’s a tough query to reply. Ladies are so totally different, and are all in search of totally different takeaways from the sport.
I don’t love enjoying girls occasions, however I’m joyful we now have them. They launched so many ladies to the sport, and it’s a spot the place they really feel comfy, particularly in these decrease buy-in girls occasions. Then ladies can go and giggle, have some camaraderie, drink champagne collectively, and study the sport.
CT: Why don’t you like the women occasions a lot for your self?
KLM: I’m a fierce competitor and have at all times wished to be the perfect, and never simply the perfect ‘lady’ in poker.
Poker is a thoughts sport. Our brains are totally different than males’s. We’re designed in a different way. Ladies have so many particular abilities which might be so superb for poker. If you happen to mix that with some research, I feel ladies will excel in poker. I hope to see much more ladies get into the sport.
I have to let you know, so many males play terribly in opposition to me. It’s simply the reality. They get frightened of me in a manner that they’re not petrified of one another. I don’t know exactly what that’s, however I like it. I like terrifying males on the tables. (laughs) It’s most likely certainly one of my favourite issues when a superb male participant tells me how scary they discover me to play in opposition to. â™
Discover Kasey Lyn Mills on Twitter/X and Instagram @PokerMommaa
*Pictures courtesy of WSOP, World Poker Tour, and Kasey Lyn Mills
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