The National Heads-Up Poker Championship is returning this fall and it's the opportunity of a lifetime for Kasey Lyn Mills.
One of poker's breakout stars, Mills won back-to-back WSOP Circuit events in 2024 and picked up a third in January of this year. She will now step into her biggest challenge yet: a nationally televised $25,000 buy-in where she has a shot at $500,000 and a big boost to her poker profile.
Mills drew one of the most anticipated matchups — a first round duel with Esther 'E-Tay' Taylor, who finished third in this year's Poker Players Championship at the WSOP. They'll battle it out at the PokerGO Studio and we'll see everything this fall on Peacock before it shows up on PokerGO in the spring.
We caught up with Mills, who was born ready for this opportunity. She told us all about how she has prepared for her shot and what it means to bring her authentic self to the poker table.
'I used to watch the show and dream'
So tell me about how this opportunity came about. It looks like a stellar cast. How did you get drawn into this?
I had heard about it from Rafe (Anderson), the CEO of PokerNow, who'd had a meeting with Mori (Eskandani) from PokerGO. I was getting ready for WSOP Main Event that was coming up the next day. I used to watch the show and dream about being a professional player or playing with these people and winning and someday, you know, being great. And so this was just like literally the biggest moment for me.
You've got to be excited. Talk about your experience in heads-up play.
Well, I had won my last three heads-up matches, those were in tournaments and they were against more recreational players. So, as far as like really deep diving into heads-up, I had not put enough time or effort into it. But as soon as I heard about this event, I talked to the very best people and found out who the very best person to study was from and immediately got in touch with Kevin Rabachow, who is a heads-up specialist and incredible. He had just come out with a new heads-up course, so I've been working through that. And then I've also been working and taking matches from both players that are more studied and also more recreational players. We are gonna have a mixture of both and I don't know who I'm gonna draw. So I gotta be prepared for anything.
What are some of the major adjustments you can share going into this match? What did you learn from Kevin?
Ranges are just so wide, and it can get very muddy. It is always a continuation of what you learn in other ways. But heads-up is so very different and learning all the different stack depths, because we're going to be starting at 250 bigs deep. And then, you know, the study goes all the way down to six bigs. You would think, what do you have to study at six bigs? But interestingly enough, there is quite a bit to know at all stack depths. And the ranges are so wide. So knowing which boards favor you versus your opponent, how to attack different board textures, which sizings to go with, these are all things we study regularly, but they become more intricate as you're doing heads-up and these ranges are really wide and where our call-off threshold is.
At some point I was feeling really confident. I'm like, this is all starting to mix together, but I'm still just plugging away.
'I look at all of them as wizards'
What's the most exciting part of the NHUPC? What are you drawn to the most? What's the big deal?
I've been working with a mindset coach and what we talked about so much is I tend to put so much pressure on myself about how this event goes. Whether I win, which I plan to, or whether I don't make it past the first round, me being here and at this event is a product of what I've already done — not what I'm going to do during this event. And so I really just want to show up as my best, most authentic self.
I look at all these players that I'm playing with — so many legends, so many interesting people, as wizards. I look at myself as a wizard and I look at all of them as wizards. And we each have our own kind of magical powers that we bring to the table. I just hope to show up authentically and as myself and to experience them and their authentic version and to play my very best. It's really about that. It's about being there with all these amazing wizards and showing up authentically. That's what I'm most excited about.
What do you take from this experience for the last couple months in Vegas playing and grinding every day? What did you take away from your experience?
Be yourself, be the player that you were born to be. We get in these battles of new school, old school, GTO versus the older player types and all this sort of thing. And what these players tend to show is that there are so many paths to victory and that play your game, be who you are. It's just inspiring to see the wizards doing their thing. And it authenticates me to sink in to who I really am and the player that I really am and not try to be like anybody else. As much as I'd like to take things from Isaac Haxton and Shaun Deeb and Liv Boeree and Victoria (Livschitz) and Kristen (Foxen), I have to be my wizard and and that's what they all these people show me. They're not trying to be anyone but themselves.
Follow Kasey Lyn Mills on X at @PokerMommaa.
