My parents didn’t get what they were expecting when they sent me to law school.
They envisioned a polished, corporate attorney—someone in power suits, negotiating big deals, and arguing in boardrooms. Instead, they got a risk-taker who thrives on the unpredictable, a gambler who reads not just cards, but people, and who alternates wearing high fashion and...sweatpants.How did I go from law school to winning over a million dollars in one year in poker tournaments?
It all started with a bluff from my Dad, but not in the way anyone thought.My original post-college plan was to head to the Texas border, teach elementary school, learn Spanish, and eat tacos. But my dad—a hardworking immigrant who sacrificed everything to give us the American dream—couldn’t fathom his book-smart daughter not pursuing one of the holy grails of success: doctor, lawyer, or engineer.
So, in true dramatic fashion, my father faked a heart attack (yes, really) to get me back to Oklahoma and rethink my future.
That’s when the universe nudged me into law school. With my college debate background, it made sense to extend my logic and verbal "brute force" to win in the courtroom. *** it was in the Emory University debate back office, amid stacks of debate evidence, where I got my first taste of poker.
While I couldn’t afford to gamble like the high-stakes debaters who played with their parents’ money, I spent hours watching, learning, and mentally calculating odds.
Who would’ve thought that 20 years later, I’d be gambling hundreds of thousands of dollars in high-stakes tournaments?Law school was my trial by fire. The pressure to perform was unrelenting. But much like poker, where the stakes are high and the competition is fierce, it’s not just about being the smartest—it’s about knowing how and when to play your cards. And I approached law school as a game—win by playing the right hand at the right time.
Graduating at the top of my class, I landed at a prestigious law firm, where I met a legal assistant who would change my life. She once joked that her underwear was older than me, but she was also a poker enthusiast. Seeing my potential, she dragged me to a local casino, where I started battling it out in $100 ladies' tournaments.
I quickly caught the attention of some high-profile players, including the oil-and-gas executives in our firm’s monthly poker game. I was the first woman invited to play, and I quickly proved I could hold my own. After that, the game only happened if I could make it.
Poker taught me to bluff, to apply pressure, to read people—and it was exactly what I needed to excel as a commercial litigator.
The same skills I used to protect my clients and win cases at the firm became my weapons at the poker table. I leveled up my game from small local tournaments to $1,000, $10,000 buy-ins, and beyond. And slowly, my poker career took off.
In just a few short years, I’ve done things in poker that most people would never believe: making back-to-back final tables at the prestigious European Poker Tour, dominating cash games, and turning my hobby into a million-dollar pursuit.
I may have started with a deck of cards, but I’ve built an empire on reading people, knowing when to fold, and, most importantly, when to go all in.
