Victoria Coren

Vicky Coren is a cheeky lass (yes I am using the English vernacular). Born in 1973, Victoria Coren (as she's formally known - to formally addressable types) is the creative and familial successor to the late humorist Alan Coren. At age 14, she participated in and won a competition to write a column about teenage life in the weekend section of the Daily Telegraph. Other works include "Love 16" and "Once More, With Feeling", which was about her attempt with co-author Charlie Skelton to make the best hard-core pornographic film ever. At this point I imagine you are Googling "once more with feeling victoria coren" to see how good a porno it was. I, for the record will be waiting until I've finished writing this masterpiece before I do the exact same.

Vicky's Other Jobs

She writes a monthly column for Esquire magazine, a weekly column for The Observer newspaper, and various other regular articles for publications. She is a graduate of Oxford University (quite posh you know) and currently ranked in the top 10 European female poker players (bravo indeed).

While she made an appearance as a guest dealer in the 2003 Hold 'em 100 tournament, Coren was first seen playing on television on Late Night Poker. She failed to reach the series final, but in 2005 she came out ahead on Celebrity Poker Club, when she took the title of first woman to win a televised celebrity tournament. That almost sounds like a prize like "the first spectacled child to win a long distance lance throwing competition while wearing the glasses of their opponent. In like it sounds sort of made up.

Setting Records

She also simultaneously (at the same time) set two records by winning the European Poker Tour event of 2006: first woman to win the EPT and first woman to win a televised professional tournament. After heads-up play, which lasted two hands, Coren won a prize worth more than $900,000. She would go on to cash in the $5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Event in 2007.

As of 2008, her total live earnings exceeded $1.2 Million. She is a member of Team PokerStars Pros and regularly plays at the Victoria Casino and regular home games, often playing with members of the Hendon Mob.

A Winning Personality

I've watched Vicky on TV a number of times now, and her personality always manages to steal a lot of camera time. She genuinely seems like a fun person to hang out with. She's exactly the kind of player that the game needs and a shine example of the new wave of Brit poker stars. Her down to earth attitude speaks to a home-game style and will hopefully be a trigger to opening up more of this conversational style of poker to mainstream media. Poker After Dark is the first real attempt to do this based solely on the social poker concept, I reckon Vicky Coren would be the perfect player for the show.

We'll be following Vicky's career as she continues to grow in popularity. Let me know if there's anything you would like to know about her and our news hounds will get right on it.

Cheers

- Scott Pilson, with research by Luke Phillips

Sex And Poker posts about Victoria (Vicky) Coren

• Victoria Coren Photo Gallery