After flying the flag for various poker rooms, chess superstar Alexandra Botez appears to have found a permanent home after being unveiled as the latest ambassador for GGPoker. Joined by Daniel Negreanu in sunny Las Vegas, the face of GG welcomed Botez into the fold with a heads-up duel. Botez has previously been patched by PokerStars in the Mystery Cash Challenge and by 888poker at the 2023 WSOP Main Event, but in this video the duo touched on the latest GG Ambassadors' poker beginnings and a variety of hot topics that have made recent headlines in the poker news space.
Botez shared that her poker beginnings came from when her father taught her the game as a child. Negreanu, a Romanian-Canadian, was Papa Botez's favorite player to watch because they shared the same heritage. As Botez furthers her foray into poker, she also revealed that she's been receiving some poker coaching. Botez identified Landon Tice as someone she's been working with and employed some of his teachings as the battle unfolded and also said she's been getting some help from Chance Kornuth as well. "I like it because I have a GTO guy and a live tell guy," explained Botez. "So together, it's a perfect combo."
Chance Kornuth and Landon Tice
Further into the video, Negreanu asked Botez if she preferred poker tournaments or cash games. Botez opted for the former due to being tournaments feeling "less gambly" and tournaments reminding her more of chess. "In chess tournaments, you're playing ten days of 6-8 hours of chess plus the prep before. It's kind of a marathon [like poker tournaments]. Cash is great, but it's usually one day that goes really long. Tournaments are the closest thing I've found to chess. I still enjoy chess, but obviously, it's less fun when you're not a beginner, so I feel I get to be a beginner again."
Later on, Botez confirmed that she'll be at the 2024 World Series of Poker and is looking to put in a full schedule of events. On a side note, Alexandra, if you're free on June 25, you should definitely check out the $600 PokerNews DeepStack Championship. We're sure you'll have a great time!
Full Heads-up match:
