Trina and The Troublemakers in a Very Full House!

Despite sounding like a 60’s ‘rock’n’roll’ band, Katrina Landry and her band of followers are in fact a poker-loving part of a growing community on and off the tables, 22-year old Katrina playing, streaming and vlogging her way through her very own Vegas adventure - one sparked by her father’s Connecticut poker background.

“You can say I’ve been involved in poker since I was a kid,” the bright, bubbly and vivacious dealer-turned-player tells me, her enthusiasm for the game evident in every word – not surprising for someone who flopped a full house in the first hand of her first-ever tournament!

“I was bought into a $30 home game tournament not knowing much poker strategy,” she says. “My first hand was K6 off - I HAD A FACE CARD!! So I of course threw my chips in the pot! The flop came KK6. I didn’t know I flopped the nuts. I placed 3rd in my first tournament!! Clearly I’m good at this! A born natural!” I thought to myself.”

With a little help from my friends

That was just the beginning of a fascinating poker journey for the girl from Griswold, Connecticut, a “small town with lots of cows!” – and within a few years she would be friends with some of the best-known faces in poker;

• Jake Cody (“he might have been the first vlog I ever watched - he keeps it interesting by combining poker and his life experiences”)
• Kevin Martin (“one of the reasons I started streaming. I met him in New Jersey and he was extremely passionate and exciting”) 
• Jaime Staples (“I’m convinced this guy can accomplish anything and everything he puts his mind to”) and; 
• Andrew Neeme (“When I was dealing to him he looked up and said 'Hey Trina, have you been streaming?' And immediately in my head I was like... OMG! He knows who I am!!!”) 

...are  just some of the names she has drawn inspiration and learned from in her quest to become not only “the best player that I can possibly be” but also “a great ambassador for the game”.

“I want to be someone people enjoy watching and interacting with, someone who can inspire players of all skill levels, and someone whose passion for life and poker can’t help but rub off on the people I interact with,” she explains, with ‘Kid Poker’ Daniel Negreanu her first ‘role model’ – and first poker crush!

The Negreanu Effect

“I’m in love with Daniel Negreanu and everyone knows it!” she laughs. “Almost every night as a kid I’d sit on the couch with my dad and we would watch high stakes poker before bed. I didn’t really know what was going on but it was entertaining and Daniel was just so smooth and charismatic and for some reason I’ve had a crush ever since.”

She admits that dealing to DNegs for the first time at the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure left her “flustered and nervous… you should have seen how red I turned when he talked to me!” with a later “kiss on the cheek for a photo I didn’t know was being taken” adding to her blushes.

“I admire his passion and love for the game,” says ‘Trouble Trina’ – the nickname which she uses as her poker persona while playing and streaming. “He’s been in poker ever since I can remember. It’s pretty cool and inspiring to watch someone excel through the game as it grew and changed and still be passionate about it. I also like how willing he is to take photos with fans, and give them his time.”

When it comes to Trina’s own play, she admits:

“I’m not a pro by any means and I don’t claim to be. I won my first online tournament about a year ago for $426 and I was ecstatic. I played my first live tournament in Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood winning $900 and change which is my current biggest score but I have great and high expectations for 2018.”

Next up… YouTube

Those expectations will be accompanied, and doubtless boosted, by the launch of her own YouTube page on March 1st which she says will “vary from your average poker player”.

“I’ve prepared vlogs, music content such as covers (I sing and play piano and because when I stream there’s background music, I can’t help but sing along and a lot of my viewers find that entertaining so I have obliged to their requests to produce more music content, stream highlights, hand analysis, and a podcast I was featured in.”

It’s no longer a ‘man’s world’

It wouldn’t be unfair to say that Katrina being blessed with a ‘Jennifer Tilly-esque’ top pair/top kicker physique has helped her along the way (as opposed to your writer’s ‘perfect face for radio’ lifetime woes, for example!) but for Katrina it’s the end result that counts:

“A lot of my viewers come in because I have a tank top on, but they later tell me they stay for my personality and passion for the game.”

She adds very honestly:

“I’m not gonna pretend I’m not 'blessed' in certain areas, it’s too big of an elephant in the room. I might as well keep it real with my followers and if my looks are what bring people in so that I can share my thoughts and passion about the game, I’m more than happy to do that - I’m not sensitive and impossible to offend!”

With that being said, Trouble Trina  is well aware that the acceptance of women in the traditionally male-dominated game of poker was a hard-fought one:

“I think the women who came before me took the brunt of the abuse and the apprehension to women creating a place for themselves in what was typically known as 'a man’s game' and I believe the women after my time will experience even less negative comments and behavior than I do, I at least hope so and I aim to be a big part of that.”

Maria, Maria, Katrina

Maria Ho gets a special mention, Trina telling me:

“She’s fierce and a boss and I think having that look being a female poker player is a great choice. She exudes confidence which is one of the biggest messages I try to share through my stream and vlogs, while Maria Lampropoulus grabbed the Vegas vlogger’s attention at the PCA last month. She bluffed, she bullied, and she was not afraid to put her chips in the middle. She is one strong player. I even tweeted 'I’m so hot for Maria Lampropulos right now. Just running through dudes!'”

With Trina and her merry band of Troublemakers forging their place in the poker community, the leader of the pack explained:

“My father pointed out to me a week ago, 'look at every featured table on TV these days, there’s a woman at each one'. The poker world is on its way to fully accepting women," says Katrina Landry, "and it’s our job to get them to want to be a part of this world.”