Veronika Hulalová – this name has been resonating in Slovak poker since Monday of this week, and we can't be surprised. The until now unknown player appeared at a large multi-day Royal tournament with a buy-in of €200 and a guarantee of €250,000, where she won in the field of 1,110 entries and scored a life hit worth €41,330 on her account (in addition to which she also won €1,100 ticket to WPT Prime Bratislava).
Many tend to automatically assume that an unknown name is a person with a good amount of luck, who simply experienced such a run that she could not lose. Many also assumed this about Veronika, whose name on HendonMob showed only four wins with a total value of €1,500 until now. But as you will see in a moment, Veronika's success was not accidental or beginner's luck.
We had the honor to speak with this nice 27-year-old woman from Bratislava a week before the aforementioned event, when she was part of our SPT Trip to the Spadepoker Tour in Liechtenstein. It was already there that Veronika clearly competed with her opponents in the 350 CHF Main Event, where she made it to the second day of play.
At the beginning, additional information about you - how old are you, what other hobbies do you have, how do you like to spend your free time?
I am 27 years old, and during my university days I spent my free time wandering around foreign countries. Now I travel at least in addition to work, I'm happy if we go somewhere further than Senec. :) But I usually try to invest my free time in myself, either by relaxing in a wellness center or by reading interesting literature. In the same way, I can also include meeting friends with whom entertainment is always guaranteed. Then the classics, spending time with my dog, TV series, movies, good food. Bungee jumping or butterfly collecting is not my cup of tea.
Our players and members of our online club may know you as Alalu, the winner of our online league. You won the tournament league lasting 22 rounds with a great overview over your opponents, to what do you owe it? How did you play there, did you enjoy it?
I played the league perfectly. On no other platform have I encountered so many recreational players. And I can say that I went back to my childhood thanks to it, when I looked forward to the series that only came out twice a week. It was the same with the league. Since there were a maximum of 30 people playing there, in a relatively short time I managed to get a picture of everyone, who plays when, how, when bluffing and, conversely, when they are invincible. Players with the nicknames: Dakota, Pitbull, Dudhamasta and PsiPrd stuck in my memory. The first three, with their solid play, also stepped on my heels for a while in the ranking, but the reason why the last named stuck in my memory is up to your imagination. :)
If you also want to join our online club, write to us at spadepokertv@gmail.com
As for our SPT trip to Liechtenstein, how was the whole trip? It wasn't a 5-figure sum win, but at least the trip was good?
Even though I didn't place at the ITM in Liechtenstein, it definitely gave me a lot of experience for the future. Since I also had a friend there, we took it as a great trip. We walked the surroundings, the center, and enjoyed the beautiful panorama. I'm sorry that we didn't have time to go hiking and enjoy their beautiful nature, but I believe that we will go back and make it right.
In Liechtenstein, your friend was with you on our trip, who also played a few events - did you introduce him to poker and teach him how to play?
I remember him teaching me how to play poker. We were on holiday in Italy and we were playing for toothpicks. Everything was fine until the board was loaded and he didn't know who actually won :). We concluded by saying we'd rather go play joker. After I already played in casinos, I explained a few rules to him and he unexpectedly started winning over me. There is a huge talent hidden in him, surely after a few months of coaching his name would start to appear in the first ranks. We'll see how he uses his talent.
You revealed to us that you have been playing poker for about three years - can you tell us how? Do you play online, since we would search for live results in vain with your name? What about studying, how much time do you spend on average studying poker and how does it usually go?
It all started with one game, where I was noticed by a Slovak professional player who saw in me the potential and the desire to understand poker. I still remember how he told me that we will start from the basics of poker, if I am seriously interested. To that I replied that sorry, I don't need to know the basics, I've mastered them for a long time (that was after my first ITM placement on the tuning board :) ) We started with coaching and I very quickly understood that I really don't understand the basics.
At the beginning, we had coaching sessions set at least once a week. I played many online tournaments with buyins around 10 euros. I recorded my games and then analyzed them. Then the coach and I analyzed my analysis, thanks to which I quickly improved. Basically, I still work today, but I play less. Now after work I don't have that much energy to turn on three tournaments and concentrate until the morning hours and get up a few hours later to go to work. But if I turn on a tournament, then mostly with a buy-in in the range of 20 to 100 euros. Lately, I have been very interested in larger LIVE tournaments. Somehow, I've always been good at reading body language. I remember when I was 7 years old, my father took me to a company meeting and I was able to tell him what the people's attitude towards the given order really was, despite the fact that I absolutely did not understand their verbal language. And this is exactly a quality that I can use decently at the poker table as well.
In general, women are much more perceptive and attentive than men, which could be a big plus at the poker tables. Do you feel that it is like that?
It is difficult for me to answer whether they are more perceptive and attentive compared to men, it is said that they are. But on the other hand, this does not mean that this applies on every woman, or that guys are not receptive. So any person who knows himself to be bright and has no problem with concentration has a big plus in poker, regardless of gender. What I have noticed so far is the prevailing opinion about women being very careful when playing. Men underestimate the quality of female players and that is exactly what plays into their favour. Guys don't give them credit for bluffing in key situations, so they're willing to throw away a better hand.
After all this, it's already clear that your success in the Royal event was no accident or beginner's luck. Tell us more about how you played.
Since Lichtenstein, I have rebuilt my mindset focused on the goal of the game. My thought processes have changed radically. Before that, I had only one goal - to win money, now I try to focus more on the good feeling from quality played poker. I try to eliminate mistakes and make more correct decisions during the game. It may sound funny to some, but it helped me. Since then, I didn't feel the pressure of a financial win, so I could be more confident and I wasn't hampered by the fear of a bad placement.
The final day also included a TV table, thanks to which the entire Slovak poker community got to know you. How did the fact that you were on the TV table and everyone could see your game affect your game?
The day came when I found myself on the final table and my whole mindset and self-confidence said goodbye to me and took off somewhere. I was on the TV table, there were professional players around me, I was under complete stress. And to my surprise, the fear of everyone seeing my mistake was really big. At that moment I didn't believe in myself, which didn't last long and it was reflected in my game. In my head it went around: Those who are afraid should not go into the forest. So what am I demonstrating here with such an approach? I knew I would have to pull myself together, find my self-confidence and bring it back as quickly as possible. During the break, I partially succeeded, and then with the first raking of a decent pot, my mindset gradually returned. I must also point out that my opponents were perfect. There was a relaxed atmosphere at the table, we joked here and there, which also brought me to a relatively comfortable zone.
As for the game on the TV table, do you also watch it from the other side?
When I became more interested in poker, I watched a lot of streams because I was interested in how professional players play certain combinations. I have to admit that I watch them less now, but I realize that this is a mistake and I would like to change it as soon as possible. I am convinced that the streams can teach the viewers a lot, I focused mainly on the body language and tells of individual players. But if I could give some advice to some beginner players who would like to enjoy the streams when they open your YouTube channel, so that they don't just watch the highlights and the best moments. It is clear that only the best moments and hands are shown in the highlights, where the player can be shown how he reads the opponent perfectly in one spot, but on the other hand, we do not see the remaining 98%, where he misread the opponent. The player should be balanced and the highlight can be just his 3-bet, which puts me at 15%. A beginner player can interpret this as the way it should be in 100% of cases and then he can get very burned and end playing poker, thinking how unlucky he is.
Did you look for payjumps during the final day? Have you completely distanced yourself from money and focused only on your A-game?
I'm not going to lie, there were times when my eyes wandered to the payjump board, but luckily I was able to quickly prioritize and review my goal and get back into my game.
In an interview in Lichtenstein, you said that you would like poker to become your primary source of income – a hit of a lifetime in the very first tournament looks like a catapult to fulfill this dream. Have you thought about what to do next? Go all-in and devote yourself purely to poker, or do you want to continue to have poker only as a "side hustle"?
In fact, I'm still processing my victory. I don't go to work out of compulsion, but on the contrary, I really like it. We are a wonderful team there, it goes by quickly for me, we laugh like crazy every day and I am constantly learning new things there. I will surely have a big dilemma in front of me now. At the same time, I still have big gaps in poker, which I will try to fill as quickly as possible. I don't know in what time frame I will be able to get it to such a level that I can jump all in. It's not for nothing that they say: If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans :) So we'll see what my fate will be, I'm leaving it open for now.
What were the feelings immediately after the win? Have you already thought about winning? Are the celebrations over yet?
The feelings were indescribable in one word, even now, when I think about it, they all come back to me vividly. When I saw that he had nines and the flop didn't come with an eight, I started counting my chips to see how many I had left. I immediately made a plan in my head, how I would have to push it, and that we would see how it would turn out. But when the eight came on the turn, I just sat down, I completely froze. I didn't expect it, but it made me very happy. Even though I didn't show my emotions at that moment, I had a complete disco in my head.
I was lucky, but poker karma works - my opponent also called against me many times with a worse hand. It's true that I got lucky in the very last hand, but we can all agree that in such tournaments you have to have luck on your side. And I'm very glad that it didn't leave me until the very end. More modest celebrations with a glass of wine have already taken place, but today we are planning a party for poker partners and friends, so I hope it will be worth it!
A ticket to the WPT was part of your win - will we witness the first Slovak WPT champion? :)
That ticket is an extreme bonus and I am very happy about it. I will try to play the best I can and until then work on my mistakes. We'll see, hopefully yes :)
