For almost a year, Austria’s Jessica Teusl has been the Ladies World Champion in poker. Before that, she was the Ladies European champion for three years straight. But as she explains to us at the European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in Monte Carlo, it’s open events where she plans to thrive moving forward.

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Jessica Teusl picked up poker from her father and began to play in casinos when she was just 18. It took a while for her to feel comfortable in such a male-dominated world, but she was instantly thrilled by the game. It became her passion, as well as her hobby. 

Her breakout results came across a three-year span when she managed to win the Ladies European Poker Championship three years on the trot: 2017, 2018 and 2019. The Austrian media came calling and soon she was the talk of the town.

But she wasn’t content with dominating this side of the pond. the 32-year-old then headed to Las Vegas in 2022 for the first time to play the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Teusl reached the final table of the $1,500 Monster Stack, finishing eighth for $120,455.

That amount wouldn’t remain her biggest career score for long. Teusl then took down her first bracelet, winning the WSOP Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship for $166,975, defeating a field of 1,074 players. 

Almost a year on, we find Teusl at the European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in Monte Carlo, for which she managed to win a full package online. In fact, she won one for the France Poker Series (FPS) Main Event too. That’s tournaments, hotel and expenses covered for the whole trip.

But how has life changed for her since that bracelet victory, and how is she feeling about defending her title as the World Ladies Champion in poker? 

You can read an abridged version of our conversion below.

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A SERIOUS CHANGE

PokerStars Blog: Hey Jessica. How has the past year been for you since winning the bracelet and becoming the Ladies World Champion? Have things changed?

Jessica Teusl: A big change since the bracelet win is that men take me more seriously on the tables. That’s a big thing. 

I’m a fan of women’s tournaments but I prefer to play in mixed fields and sometimes you get the feeling that people don’t take you seriously. Now, not everyone knows it, but a lot of people know that I’ve had some good scores in the Monster Stack and the Ladies, so it has changed a little bit. 

Also, I’ve learned a lot and worked on my game. I haven’t managed to cash in an EPT Main Event yet, so that’s one of my goals. Then the final table, but first you have to cash it.

How about the events you choose to play? 

Yeah, with the bankroll, it’s very different than before. But I think I have very tight bankroll management. I sell, I swap a lot, whatever. I think that’s important because if you play too high your bankroll can go very quickly. 

When I play live I play the Main Events, but that’s usually the most expensive event of a series that I’ll play, and not always on my own. Usually, I play the EPT High Rollers when they’re a €10K buy-in, but here in Monte Carlo it’s a €25K and that’s a bit expensive, so maybe I’ll try to satellite.

I also make sure I don’t invest too much at one stop. I always choose to be on the tighter side because even though your bankroll doesn’t grow as fast, you don’t blow through your bankroll. 

At EPTs, I always play the €1K regional Main Event, the €2K High Roller, the €5K Main Event, and the €3K Mystery Bounty. Then during an online series, I’ll play highlight events, qualifiers, everything really.

THE DREAM OF SATELLITES

You won packages for both FPS and EPT Main Events. How important are satellites in the poker world?

I think it’s very important to keep the dream of poker players alive. 

For me, it was such a big thing. Years ago I used to watch and see Maria Ho on the feature table of a €10K. That was my dream, just to get there one time, but it seemed unreachable for me. 

I’ve played every satellite buy-in level, starting with €10 then €20 then €100, whatever, and that was my way into the bigger events. I love that people who don’t play a €1K or €5K buy-in normally will get a chance to play them. 

You also get a very nice package with a hotel included, and places like Monte Carlo are expensive. If you win a seat-only qualifier, you have to pay for your own hotel, food etc. But if you win the full package (seat, hotel, expenses) then you have everything there.

You and your boyfriend [poker pro Stefan Lehner] both seem to run well at the same time. What was it like playing heads-up and winning bracelets in the same summer?

It was amazing. We only went to the WSOP Circuit event in Aruba because EPT Prague was cancelled due to Covid, but we were both in poker mode, so made the trip.

Somehow we reached heads-up against each other. It was like, wow. But I only had 10 big blinds and he had 150. I managed to get even at one point but then lost. 

Then we travelled to Las Vegas and I told him: “You might have the WSOP ring now, but I’m going to win a bracelet.” It was my first time in Vegas and I felt really excited. Just before the WSOP started I managed to win a Platinum Pass for the PSPC in an online tournament for around €300 too. My dreams were coming true.

In one of the first events, Stefan ran deep at the same time that I was playing the Monster Stack. He won the bracelet and I made the final table but I busted in eighth. I was like: “Ahhh, now he has the ring and the bracelet.”

Then you played the Ladies Championship…

Yeah. I was really focused the whole game but I was also really short-stacked for most of it. But I kept doubling and doubling and all of a sudden there were only five or six people left.

I don’t think anyone plays their best game because it’s a feature table and there’s a lot of pressure. But I went on to win it. It was amazing, we both won bracelets. It was a really good time.

Since winning a lot of media and TV people from Austria have reached out to me, it’s great that people are interested in poker. 

TITLE DEFENCE

I’m guessing you’ll be in Las Vegas to defend your title this summer?

I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve been bricking a lot of tournaments lately but hey, that’s the game. 

I hope I can do it but we know the variance in this game. It will be easier to win another tournament than to defend this title.

True. But you’ve got experience winning the same event in consecutive years! [Teusl won the Ladies European Championship three years running, from 2017-2019]

That was always a small tournament, only 60 runners or so. But it was unbelievable. To win the Euro Championship three years running, then the World Championship, people were like:  “What’s wrong with her?”

How do you look back on the bracelet win now, almost a year later?

I think it was always my dream to win a bracelet. Of course, my dream is to win the WSOP Main because no woman has ever won it. But if you have a bracelet, you’ve reached the first goal. When I first started playing I wasn’t very good and only played for fun. Then you start working on your game, you improve, and in my case, the hard work paid off.

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