Victoria Coren Mitchell lands poker double

Who says women aren’t interested in poker? Certainly not us – we’ve been seeing a big rise in the number of women hiring Texas Hold ‘Em poker tables in recent months. But if you are planning a boys-only poker night then you might be more likely to hold onto your cash as it seems ladies are pretty handy at cards.

Case in point: Victoria Coren Mitchell – the journalist and broadcaster, who made history earlier this week becoming the first two-time winner of the European Poker Tour.

It’s no mean feat – the Only Connect presenter beat 556 other competitors to land a first prize of nearly £400,000. The title won on Easter Sunday in Sanremo, Italy, adds to her first victory back in 2006.

She’s easily the most famous poker player in the UK and her popular win is likely to inspire even more people – especially women – to take up the game.

As we reported on last month, female players are getting behind the game in increasing numbers. While IGT figures show men still make up the majority of poker players, there was a 22 per cent increase women taking part in poker games last year.

“People in poker know it's about showing a profit," Ms Coren Mitchell said after her victory. "The minute I won €8,000 it was a good trip. But tens of thousands of people [on Twitter] got behind me. I thought I'd be happy with sixth, but also thought they'd be disappointed."

The 41-year-old, who is married to the comedian David Mitchell, has now clocked up more than £1.4 million in career poker earnings.

The 10th series of the European Poker Tour signs off in Monaco, with the climax of the world’s richest poker tour already underway at the Monte-Carlo Casino.

Running until May 2nd, the event is one the biggest on the calendar – last year it saw 1,200 players and their guests take part in dozens of poker games and take home more than €18 million in prize money.

If you can’t make it to Monaco, you can always hire your own poker table for a casino night. You never know, by playing a few times you could end up winning the European Poker Tour grand prize one day yourself. As Coren Mitchell says: "I've long since lost the sense of what my day job is; am I a professional writer who players poker as a hobby? Or a professional poker player who writes as a hobby?"