Alexandra Botez, the decorated chess champion and popular YouTuber, can add an accolade to her already extensive gaming resume that some other poker players have spent years chasing: live tournament champion.
Botez, the five-time Canadian National Girls Chess Champion and certified Woman FIDE Master, took down one of the final side events of the 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for her first-ever poker tournament victory. Botez topped the 79-entry field of the $550 Hyper Turbo Freezeout for a healthy $10,815 score and a new PokerStars trophy for her already crowded trophy case.
This victory is only her second recorded tournament cash according to The Hendon Mob, both of which the Platinum Pass winner picked up while down in the Bahamas, but it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Botez is beginning to find some success in poker. Poker and chess have had a long history of synergy in terms of the type of strategy-minded players that it attracts and Botez has already shown a propensity for the game.
Just last year, Botez was a major part of one of the largest cash game streams of all time when Hustler Casino Live hosted Botez and fellow content creators Mr. Beast, xQc, Ludwig, and Ninja in a wild high-stakes cash game with poker legends Phil Hellmuth and Tom Dwan. To date, more than 1.2 million people watched Botez smash that game for a profit of more than $450,000.
Since that time Botez has been back to the poker table a number of times, including hosting a Creators Cash Game at the WPT World Championship and a return to the Hustler Casino Live stream as recently as just a few weeks ago.
With the win, hundreds in the poker community expressed their support including Team PokerStars Pro Benjamin ‘Spraggy’ Spragg who highlighted the fact that it’s no easy feat to get to the end of a live tournament.
