Egypt has not been a great nation for exports. Historically the only things of real value to come out of Egypt were the Israelites and occasionally some nice rugs. Oh, and pistachios. They have done a bit better in the modern era by giving us one heck of a poker player. Lucy Rokach is a poker pro extraordinaire. She is one of the few people who when they show up to play a no limit holdem poker tournament, they have to be considered the instant favorite to win. When you look at her live poker tournament stats, you see more first place finishes with her than you do most of the high profile players. In short, she is pretty good.
Lucy was born in Cairo, Egypt, but England was more to her liking. She currently makes her home in Stoke on Trent, and does most of her poker playing in Europe. She was a teacher before she discovered the wonders of live poker and Texas Hold’em. The start to this poker pros career was less than glorious. She played the game and lost everything. After re-mortgaging her home and hitting up everyone even remotely related to her for money, she kept playing and turned the situation around. Today she is sitting on a pile that is over a million dollars in tournament winnings, and God knows how much from cash games.
When you look at her record, most of her success has come in the game of no limit holdem. While this is bad news for any poker player who finds themselves sitting across from her during a tourney, those playing Texas Hold’em at the WSOP should be very pleased she doesn’t seem to put much value in playing over there. She has won over 15 titles, made more final tables then it’s worth counting, has visited the WSOP rarely in the past decade and a half. This is a shame considering the fact that the five times she has played in a World Series of Poker event, Lucy as two final tables, two top twenty finishes, and a pair of Main Event cashes (26th place in the Main Event back in 1996 and 159th place in 2004).
Lucy Rokach has done just about everything. She has been a history teacher, a poker pro, a pauper, a millionaire, and once was the host of Late Night Poker. There is no wonder why she is one of Europe’s favorite poker stars.
