American businesswoman and poker player Kelly Winterhalter is a truly interesting woman.
Not only did she fall in love with poker a mere three years ago and has already played—and cashed multiple times—on the world’s biggest stage, but she is also the founder of a highly successful all-natural skincare company called Ellovi: a company she describes lovingly as a six-ingredient skincare line with moisturizers that are “ethically sourced and wildly harvested” and “so pure you can eat them.” Not that you’d want to, but at least the possibility is there.
But this is a poker site and you’re here for a poker article, correct?
Welcome to poker, Ms. Winterhalter
Originally from the San Francisco Bay area, Kelly Winterhalter was bored one Friday night and decided to take a crack at a low-stakes cash game. With this $3/$6 limit Hold’Em game, Winterhalter was hooked instantly.
She immediately decided that poker was going to be an integral part of her life. By using cash games to build her strategy and bankroll for tournaments, she was able to enter some high-profile tournaments such as the prestigious World Series of Poker.
Winterhalter credits the combination of math and psychology inherent to the game as what attracted her the most to poker. She cites the ongoing competition against some of the best in the world as her motivation to improve and someday win a highly coveted WSOP bracelet.
Kelly Winterhalter likens being an entrepreneur to being a poker pro in that both offer the flexibility from a mundane nine-to-five job and afford the potential for travel and freedom to set one’s own hours which many find desirable.
Of her six WSOP appearances, the multi-talented Winterhalter has managed an impressive four cashes. To date, her live tournament winnings are $44,296 with her best live cash of $7,681.
Kelly Winterhalter versus The Brat
Of course, being a poker piece, you really want to know about the ridiculous hand between Winterhalter and Phil Hellmuth where he 3-bet 7-4 offsuit, right? It makes one wonder whether Hellmuth was trying to get the novice Winterhalter to make a costly mistake or if his ego was simply getting the better of him.
Who knows why Hellmuth does the things he does? I don’t think Hellmuth can even answer that question.
Anyway, take a look at “the hand” with commentary by Upswing’s own Doug Polk.
While we’re on the subject of Phil Hellmuth, here’s a fun little bonus video of Kelly Winterhalter bluffing Hellmuth. Enjoy.
Kelly Winterhalter seems to be the type of woman who succeeds at whatever she sets her mind to. It will, indeed, be interesting to see where her journey takes her. You can follow her on Twitter.
Until next time.
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