Shina Okamoto From Kyoto University Won Poker’s World Championship!
Kyoto University graduate and former foreign investment banker. A business elite girl turned into the world's number one poker player!
In poker, too, the person who learns the most wins.
On July 2 (Japan time), Japanese player Shina Okamoto won the women-only event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), the world’s largest poker event held in Las Vegas, USA.
Her cool play and oriental beauty at the final table, which was attended by the best players in the world, immediately caught the world’s attention. We interviewed Okamoto the day before she left Japan, and asked her about her enthusiasm for the tournament and the appeal of poker.
Born in Saitama Prefecture, Okamoto entered the difficult Department of Architecture in the Faculty of Engineering at Kyoto University for the simple reason that she wanted to live alone. After graduation, he worked for a foreign investment bank, where he first encountered poker.
I think the appeal of the game of poker is that it requires both luck and skill. It depends on luck, but the more you understand about game theory, the better your chances of winning. There aren’t many games where you can play with the best regardless of your opponent’s age, gender, or physique, and there aren’t many games where you can make so much money. Actually, I quit my job last year. So my current title is “NEET who loves poker. I don’t call myself a ‘pro’ yet. But in the year and a half since I started living off poker, I’ve been able to earn about 20 million yen, minus travel expenses and tournament entry fees.”
She now spends about a third of the year overseas, playing in tournaments.
