Life Outside Poker is a podcast for PokerNews hosted by Connor Richards that seeks to pull back the curtain on poker players and allow viewers and listeners to get to know them on a personal level.

In the 26th episode, Connor speaks with chess streamer and GGPoker ambassador Alexandra Botez about learning chess and poker from her dad, getting into streaming at Stanford, dealing with online trolls, creating content with her sister Andrea Botez and the similarities between chess and poker.

Botez also talked about winning $456,900 in the legendary 2022 Hustler Casino Live Creator Game that included Phil Hellmuth, Mr. Beast and Ninja, as well as signing on as a GGPoker ambassador and securing a career-high cash at World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise.

This interview was filmed at WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas in December 2024.

The Life Outside Poker podcast is available on major streaming platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud and iHeartRadio. You can also watch the interview with Alexandra Botez by heading to the PokerNews YouTube channel.

Be sure to follow Alexandra Botez and Connor Richards on X.

Learn More About Life Outside Poker!

Timestamps TIME TOPIC 0:00 Intro 0:43 Learning chess from her dad 2:52 Studying international relations at Stanford 3:08 Chess streaming 5:50 Similarities between chess and poker 7:17 Getting into poker 8:34 Winning half a million in HCL creator game 9:39 Different poker experiences 11:22 Playing chess at WSOP Paradise 12:32 Queen's Gambit 13:57 Women in chess 16:33 Dealing with trolls 16:54 WSOP Paradise 19:18 Book recommendation 19:46 Advice for younger self 20:01 Favorite life lesson from poker