On a whim and a prayer, Hayley Hanna, Christina Gollins, and Mike Holtz left Vegas last week to compete in the Arizona State Poker Championship.
“The three of us started talking about going to Talking Stick for the tournament,” shared Hanna. “But then I had plans, and Christina was invited to London for the Women’s Festival. Things changed when my plans fell through, and Christina’s flight got cancelled. So, we all said, 'Hell yeah, let’s go.'
It was fortuitous for the outspoken Hanna, who never seems at a loss for words on social media, or anywhere else, for that matter. The trip would pay off for the new mother, as Hanna would go on to finish fourth for $157,900.
PokerOrg rang Hayley up the day she returned from Arizona to get the down low on the trip and find out if her poker pro partner, David Peters, showed up to be her railbird for a change.
'Not my style'
Could you talk a bit about how you fell in love with the game?
I've known how to play for basically as long as I can remember. My family was really big on card games. Then, once I got older, I started playing cash games at a local dive bar in Washington state called Cozy's Roadhouse.
When did you get more serious about playing?
I didn't start studying the game until two years ago. Even today, I'm not the type of person who's going to sit and look at charts all day. That's not my style. I do watch streams a lot.
How do you prepare for entering larger buy-in events?
When I'm going to be playing a thousand-dollar-plus buy-in, I need to be prepared. A lot of times, I'll run over like hand histories and study spots with David (Peters).
When did you move to Vegas?
I moved to Vegas at the beginning of 2020 as I was working for a debt relief company. COVID happened about a month later; I couldn't even play poker when everything shut down. But I didn’t move here to pursue poker.
I stayed in Vegas probably a few months, then moved back up to Washington to wait till the world became normal again. I eventually moved back down.
'Complete chaos'
Your life has changed significantly since then. Did you and David plan to have children early on?
I didn't even know I was going to have kids. I wasn't a big, ‘I want kids type of person.’ Things changed after David and I had been dating for a few years. I guess you know when you know, right?
One day, we said, ‘Let's have a family.’ (laughs) Now it's just complete chaos. I'm just kidding. It’s pretty great!
What’s the most joy you are having with your son?
What makes me the happiest is seeing David and Preston interacting with each other.
Share with us your journey to the final table and a shot at $537,000 for first place at Talking Stick.
It was incredibly overwhelming and very surprising. I didn't expect any of that to happen. It was my first time away from my 14-month-old son. I had not been away from him for longer than 12 hours before going to play this event.
I told my mom, who was watching Preston, that I would probably be back in two days. I kind of treated the trip as a little vacation.
'A bowl of Cheerios and a glass of wine'
What happened during Day 1 of the event?
I'm having drinks. I'm having a good time, and talking to everyone at the table. I'm getting to know Arizona. The locals there are super friendly.
Then all of a sudden, by the end of the day, I'm bagging up a good stack. I was like, ‘Oh shit, I'm going to have to come back and play in a few days.’
Then at the end of day two, I end up bagging a big stack. I had to call my mom and tell her I’ll be there another day.
And before you knew it, you were at the final table.
Yeah. Then I thought to myself, ‘You need to drink some water and try to eat healthy. Pull yourself together.’ It all happened really fast. By the time I was at the final table, I felt I was going to have to win this thing now. (laughs)
What was your prep the next morning for the final table?
I actually woke up, had a bowl of Cheerios and a glass of wine to relax. I sent the photo to my group chat, 'Breakfast of Champions.'
That’s a prep that I hadn’t seen before.
It was great. David flew in early morning of the final table. He wanted to discuss spots and other similar topics.
Did it help? I would listen to anything David had to share.
Well… We did talk, but briefly. It was great to have David on my rail and supporting me.
'I can be a little controversial'
Congrats! You had quite the cheering section at the event and online. You tend not to be very shy in person or on social media.
You think? (laughs) I can be a little controversial at times. That's why when I doubled up at the final table, I was like, ‘Take that haters.’
I feel like being a woman in poker is very polarizing. People either really want you to win or they really don't. There's really no in between. People are either rooting for me or waiting for me to crash and burn.
You turned off the distractions of your phone to concentrate. That had to be for the best.
I got a lot of crazy DMs, but mostly, I got an overwhelming amount of support.
Then I had these crazy haters that are in the comments, saying really misogynistic things on Instagram and Twitter. I just blocked them.
On the final table day, I felt bad because I wasn't giving my friends updates from my phone. But it helped me get locked in.
How do you deal with any negativity that comes your way?
Before I had a kid, I would really go off on random burner accounts on X. When I became a mom, my energy and my time became a lot more valuable. I don't have time for that stuff.
If I see people post some nasty ass shit, I'm very block happy. I think I have 807 people blocked on X.
Now, in my life, I do anything I can to protect my peace.
What do you love most about the game?
Competition. Competition. Competition. I just love games. Any type of games. I love trivia. I like bar games. I like challenges. It's not the money. The money is obviously nice, but I just like to win.
Follow Hayley on X.
