Renee Xie has reflected on her historic Grosvenor UK Poker Tour victory, saying she still sees poker as a hobby rather than a sustainable career. The Northamptonshire player became the first woman to win a GUKPT Main Event when she took down the Luton event in September.
Xie beat a 396-entry field in the £560 buy-in tournament and collected £35,435 after a three-way deal. Poker Type covered the result when Renee Xie became the first female GUKPT Main Event champion, ending a landmark weekend for British live poker.
Speaking in a new interview with the BBC, Xie said the scale of her achievement had not fully sunk in when the tournament ended. “I couldn’t believe I won,” she said. “I was at a loss for words.”
Renee Xie keeps poker alongside her job
The GUKPT Luton Main Event win was a major breakthrough, but Xie has no intention of treating it as a route into full-time poker. She told the BBC that she plays because she enjoys the strategy, competition and mental challenge, while continuing to balance the game with her work.
“I only play for fun,” Xie said. “Poker is not a sustainable income source.” Her honesty matters in a game where a headline result can make tournament success look more predictable than it is.
Poker tournaments involve long losing stretches, changing expenses and no guaranteed return for even highly skilled players. A large score can be a life-changing moment, but it does not remove the need for careful responsible gambling decisions and realistic limits.
A historic win built over years
Xie’s Luton title was not an overnight arrival. Before winning, she had already made several deep runs on the GUKPT, including second, fourth and seventh-place finishes, but had not converted one into a title.
That experience made the Luton win more meaningful. She had spent years returning to the tables, learning the rhythm of live events and putting herself back in contention despite the inevitable disappointments that come with tournament poker.
Her victory also broke a significant barrier. The GUKPT has been one of the best-known live poker tours in the UK for two decades, yet no woman had previously won one of its Main Events.
Women remain underrepresented in poker fields, and Xie told the BBC that only a small number tend to take part in the events she plays. Her result does not need exaggerated claims to be important: she outlasted 395 opponents in an open event and became the first woman to put her name on a GUKPT Main Event trophy.
Why poker’s mental side mattered to Xie
Xie said poker has helped her become more resilient and more aware of her emotions. She highlighted the social side of the game too, including reading body language, judging the flow of a table and understanding how pressure can affect decision-making.
Those skills are central to live poker, but they are not shortcuts to winning. Strong players still have to make disciplined decisions with incomplete information, manage their bankrolls and accept that correct choices can sometimes produce losing outcomes.
That is part of why Xie’s perspective stands out. Her GUKPT win deserves to be celebrated as a historic result, but she has presented it as an accomplishment earned through challenge and persistence, not as an advertisement for easy money.
The full BBC interview with Renee Xie explores her reaction to the win, her approach to poker and the resilience she says the game has taught her.
