Women of the World Series of Poker: Fuchs, Fleck Run Deep in $10K HORSE

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Jun 14, 2018 5 min read

Women generally represent between 5 and 10 percent of poker tournament fields �� and it's an even smaller percentage in high roller events. This article series means to encourage greater female participation by highlighting some exceptional women who are braving �� and excelling in �� today's "man's world" of poker.

As play moved deep into Day 3 in the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament, two players stood out among the field �C Carol Fuchs and Katherine Fleck. Women usually make up a small percentage in any tournament, but especially so in high buy-in mixed games tournaments.

The field may have been mostly men, but Fuchs and Fleck brought plenty of skills to the tables. Fleck finished 16th for $17,677 in the event that featured 166 entries and a $1.6 million prize pool. Fuchs took 11th place for $25,498.

Carol Fuchs

No stranger to poker success, Carol Fuchs is a part-time player who now has almost $413,000 in lifetime tournament winnings. In January, she won the $570 Omaha 8-or-Better at the L.A. Poker Classic for $14,205. She jumps in about 20-25 tournaments a year, and is planning on as many as 10 at the WSOP.

Fuchs lives in Los Angeles and works in the film industry as a producer and screenwriter after leaving a previous career as an entertainment lawyer. It was James McManus's popular book Positively Fifth Street that got her to the poker table. She played in a tournament and was hooked �C on mixed games especially.

��The thing that I love about mixed games is that there's always something new and different to think about,�� she says. ��Just when you get tired or bored of a game, it changes. The bigger the mix the better. It's always exciting and interesting, time flies by.��

��It's more congenial at the table. People talk and laugh and tell stories."

Along with the changes in games, Fuchs enjoys the atmosphere that mixed game tournaments seem to bring about.

��It's more congenial at the table,�� she says. ��People talk and laugh and tell stories. Here we were playing for some real money and people were laughing and joking around. It's like a home game feel, and it's just more entertaining and fun.��

While she may enjoy the congeniality at the table, Fuchs has some some skins on the wall. That includes winning a WSOP bracelet in 2015 in $1,500 Dealer��s Choice for $127,735, and several other nice scores as well.

Back in L.A., she��s a regular on the Commerce Casino tournament scene. From lawyer to screenwriter to producer to poker player, Fuchs is a bit of a renaissance woman and has a few scripts she��s working on now.

��I have one television project that I��m working on and just so excited about.��

��I have one television project that I��m working on and just so excited about,�� she says. ��The movie business has changed drastically and it's now all these big tentpole movies franchises. I don't write that kind of movie.��

Another interesting note, this screenwriter did some modeling while in college and her face was featured on billboards for a furniture store all over the south of France.

��I was living in France at the time. I'd gone to school in Europe for two years,�� she says. ��The thing that was unusual wasn't that I did this ad, it was that it was plastered all over the south of France �C everywhere.��

That modeling career was brief, but as she plays more tournaments at the WSOP, she��s hoping for a brief foray back into it �C a photo shoot that involves her showing off a second bracelet.

Katherine Fleck

Not unlike Fuchs, an aversion to the monotony of Texas Hold��em is what attracted Fleck to mixed games. She just likes the variety that mixed tournaments offer and plays as much as she can.

��I just get kind of got tired of No Limit Hold'em,�� she says. ��It's just two cards. It gets kind of boring. And I like the strategy with the mixed games. I like the stud games �C I just enjoy the variety.��

In 2016, Fleck finished fourth in the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event for $31,899. The big finish on Thursday moves her career live tournament winnings to more than $82,000. Originally from New Jersey, but now dividing her time between Las Vegas and Fort Myers, Fla., Fleck has been playing poker 20 years.

��The poker table helps you with life in general in terms of dealing with circumstances and strategy and analysis and things like that.��

Back home in Florida, she and her husband played on the weekend in small-stakes cash games. At the time, Florida only allowed card rooms to run games that capped the action at a $10 total pot. The stakes were low, but she learned the game and improved.

��I cut my teeth on that,�� she says. ��And it was more like a home game feeling. You��d see the same people and you��d sit there and play.��

When the state allowed high-stakes action she began getting more into the game. Now retired for 13 years, she and her husband ran a family business in land development and building condominiums. She worked in sales and helped run the business. Do any of those skills help at the tables?

��Actually I think it's the other way around,�� she says. ��The poker table helps you with life in general in terms of dealing with circumstances and strategy and analysis and things like that.��

Fleck plans to use her winnings for more tournaments buy-ins, and was already jumping right in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud. She plans to play as many events as she can including the $10,000 Razz.

��I'm going to be 60 in November, so I'm feeling the effects of age a little bit in terms of stamina,�� she says. ��I think like last night I donkeyed off some chips because honestly it was 2:30 in the morning before we got out and I was so tired. And the night before I didn't sleep very well because I was keyed up.��

"I could probably die happy if I get one bracelet.��

Late on Day 2, Fleck was having quite a bit of fun with her tablemates with plenty of joking and laughing. She said the tournament has been a lot of fun and she loves the camaraderie in events like this. She even had a drink during the dinner break and was mixing it up with Jean-Robert Bellande a bit.

��I had a little bit of wine with dinner, so I was a little loose and had a little diarrhea of the mouth,�� she says laughing. ��In fact, sometimes if I drink, the cards start coming because I'm loose and just stay calm.��

Don��t let her drinking at the table fool you, however, as she��s looking for big success and to keep improving �C and has goals to add some hardware.

��I just want to get better at poker,�� she says. ��And I want to get a bracelet. I could probably die happy if I get one bracelet.��

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas. His work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions. He is also the host of the True Gambling Stories podcast, available on iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, PokerNews.com, HoldemRadio.com, and TrueGamblingStories.com.

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