The Life and Career of Poker Player Victoria Coren
Have a sneak peek at the career of poker player Victoria Coren and her life away from the game. She has earned an impressive reputation in the gambling world thanks to her skills at playing poker.
An Introduction to Victoria Coren
Victoria Coren, also known as Victoria Coren Mitchell, is a British professional poker player who’s also known for her work in TV presenting, radio and writing. This blog post focuses on her poker career while also highlighting her other work and looking at her personal life.
Over the years, Victoria has established herself as one of the top female poker players in the UK, as well as one of the best players in general. She continues to be a great ambassador for the game and has encouraged many people to start playing it.
If you’re keen to see what poker is all about, join one of these top poker sites with resources and guides for beginners. Read the rules before playing your first game and consider trying out free demos so you can play risk-free.
Early Life and Career
Victoria was born as Victoria Elizabeth Coren in Hammersmith, West London and grew up in Cricklewood, North London. She is the daughter of Alan Coren, a journalist, satirist, and writer who made regular appearances on various BBC shows.
At the age of 14, she submitted a short story to Just Seventeen magazine that was accepted and published. Wanting to do more writing, she applied to The Daily Telegraph advert looking for a teenage columnist and ended up securing the job, which she had for four years.
She gained a degree in English from St John’s College, Oxford and went on to work as a freelance broadcaster and journalist. Then, in 1999, she adapted a series of newspaper columns by John Diamond into a play.
The play was A Lump in My Throat as John was known for writing openly about his experience with throat cancer. It was a success and was performed in both London and Edinburgh before being adapted into a BBC2 TV play.
She made a few TV appearances in the early 2000s. She secured her biggest role in 2006 as the presenter of Balderdash and Piffle, a show about the dictionary that lasted two years.
Then in 2008, she landed two major jobs that she still has to this day. She became the host of the quiz show Only Connect, which airs on BBC2 and has produced nearly 500 episodes across 20 series.
The other gig she landed was hosting Heresy, a BBC Radio 4 comedy talk show. It’s aired 12 series to date, with Victoria serving as host from series 5 onwards, having taken over from David Baddiel.
Since securing the two jobs in 2008, Victoria has continued to add many other TV and radio credits to her CV. These include stints as a guest, host, celebrity contestant and panellist. Her list of appearances covers a range of programmes.
Poker Career and Achievements
Victoria developed an interest in gambling as a teenager. Poker became her focus, and throughout her career, she managed to win many top matches and earn a name for herself as a formidable opponent.
She became the first player to win both a televised celebrity tournament (Celebrity Poker Club 2005) and a televised professional tournament (EPT London 2006). She was also the first female player to win a European Poker Tour event.
Another achievement of hers is becoming the first player to win two European Poker Tour Main Events, having won both London 2006 and Sanremo 2014. She also became a member of Team PokerStars Pro in 2008, though she renounced her membership in November 2014.
This was because of the site’s decision to start offering online casino games. Victoria stated she didn’t feel comfortable being associated with a site where the odds were in favour of the operator and vulnerable people could become addicted to gambling.
Topping off the list of Victoria Coren Mitchell’s poker achievements is her induction into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame in 2016. She earned this thanks to her high-profile competition wins, her enthusiasm for poker and her work to promote the game.
Along with playing poker, she has presented and commentated for various poker programmes. Some of her commentator credits include Ultimate Poker Challenge on Channel 5 and Grosvenor UK Poker Tour on Channel 4.
As for presenting, Victoria has been the host of World Poker Tour for ITV2, The Poker Nations Cup for Channel 4 and William Hill Poker Grand Prix on Sky Sports 2, among other programmes.
So, what about the total Victoria Coren Mitchell poker winnings? Throughout her poker career, she is said to have made over £2 million in earnings. Her single biggest win is around £750,000, which she won at the European Poker Tour Sanremo 2014.
As of the time of writing, Victoria ranks as the 1,050th top-earning poker player of all time thanks to her many wins. In the UK, she is the 60th highest-earning poker player.
Victoria’s Personal Life
Victoria has been happily married to comedian David Mitchell since 2012. The two met in 2007 and have two children together: a daughter born in 2015 and a second child who arrived in 2023.
She continues to host Only Connect and Heresy, while making regular appearances as guest, host and panellist on a range of other programmes. These include Woman Talking About Cars: Radio 4, QI and Have I Got News for You.
Does Victoria Coren Mitchell still play poker? While she’s not as active on the professional scene thanks to other commitments, she’s said to still play occasionally and enjoy the game on a more casual level.
