Kristen Bicknell Bio – 2017 Female Poker Player of the Year, Canada’s sweetheart.
There have only been a handful of professional poker players who’ve captured our hearts over the years. Daniel Negreanu, Liv Boeree, and Vanessa Russo come to mind. Their inherent charm and affable personalities, combined with immense skill for the game, have earned them a rightful place among the world’s top favorites.
Kristen “krissyb24” Bicknell (right) is worthy of similar acclaim. At just 31 years of age, her success has been prolific, in both the online poker community and on the global tournament circuit. She’s personable, witty, beautiful, and the top ranked Canada female poker player.
Kristen Bicknell Bio – Early Life
Growing up in St. Catherine’s, Ontario, Kristen’s path to poker success doesn’t match the stories of most of today’s top pros. She didn’t disappoint her family by dropping out of college. Quite the opposite, in fact. Her parents fully supported her decision to pursue an unconventional career, mostly because they had done the same.
Her father, Peter Bicknell, was the original drop out. He quit school to learn about mechanics and pursue a passion for racing. That passion developed into a very successful family business. It also led Kristen to race go-karts as a kid against all boys, and beat them regularly. That gave her the confidence to compete in a male dominated sport, whether it be racing or poker.
Kristen’s Start In Poker
Bicknell got her first taste of poker while competing in a small, home-game tournament. She was in her first year of university at the time, and entered the tournament with her then live-in boyfriend, who she ended up playing heads-up against him for 8 hours. In her version of the story, she doesn’t even remember who won; only that it fueled her passion to learn more about poker and, one day, play professionally.
She immediately signed up an online poker account as “krissy24” at PokerStars. Within her first year (2006), she had gained the highest possible Supernova Elite status, and maintained it for the next 4 years. Bicknell was known to grind up to 24 simultaneous cash tables. No wonder she holds the record for highest number of hands played online in a single year, with 3.8 million.
Bicknell’s Live Tournament Career
Aside from a few minor events here and there, it was years before Kristen began playing live tournaments seriously. In 2013, she made her way to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker, where she claimed her first bracelet in the Ladies Championship, netting $173k.
In 2016, she cut back on online poker to focus primarily on live events. Kristen cashed 11 times that year, earning more than $450,000. Along the way, she scooped her second WSOP bracelet in a NHLE Bounty event, worth $290k.
2017 proved to be an even more fruitful year for the favorite Canada female poker player. She cashed in an astonishing 28 events that year, banking over $550,000. Her consistency on the felt led to her reception of GPI’s 2017 Female Poker Player of the Year Award, having topped the field by more than 400 points.
To date, Kristen Bicknell has $1,219,917 in live poker tournament cashes, $362,192 in PokerStars tournament cashes, and another $71,016 in Full Tilt tournament cashes. Her cash game success is undocumented, but is no doubt beyond impressive.
