After Breakout Year in 2021, Kyna England Named First ClubGG Ambassador

After a breakout year in 2021 that saw her winning the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Player of the Year race, Kyna England has landed a partnership with GGPoker's ClubGG.

England, a Poker Power instructor with $840,953 in live earnings, according to The Hendon Mob, becomes the first ambassador for the club app where members can win seats to live events around the world — another milestone for the first woman to be named the MSPT POY.

Working With ClubGG

In an interview with PokerNews on Sept. 26, England credited her 2021 MSPT performance for landing her the ClubGG partnership.

In January 2021, England finished 25th in the $1,100 buy-in MSPT South Dakota Main Event for $3,161, a deep run that she followed with a third-place finish in the MSPT Riverside Main Event for $73,782 a few months later. The Illinois native who now lives in Las Vegas then closed out the year by taking down the MSPT Minnesota Winter Poker Classic for $186,709 and to lock up the POY race.

"ClubGG partnered with MSPT ... and being the MSPT Player of the Year, it seemed like a good fit for me to also be the ambassador," England told PokerNews. "And I've been playing on ClubGG a little bit, too. It's really fun, I like it. It's really addicting, too, once you get started to try play for a small amount of money and work your way up to bigger buy-ins and bigger tournaments. It's a great way to get started."

Reflecting on Breakout Year

England, who worked in the insurance industry for eight years before making the jump to professional poker, reflected on the run that put her on the US poker map.

"It was a great year," she said. "It was my first full year playing poker, traveling around a little bit playing poker. I was fortunate enough early on in the year to get a big score (at MSPT Riverside)."

The year also included a third-place finish in the $5,000 WPT Venetian DeepStack Championship for $448,755, England's biggest live score to date, which she said "let me have a little bit of money to travel on and play a little bit more."

While she knew she was near the top of the MSPT leaderboard, England said she "had sort of given up on" the POY race before a friend convinced her to play the Minnesota event, which England needed to finish in seventh in to win the POY race.

“And just winning it was even better," she said. "It was my first big win. I hadn't won a big tournament, I hadn't had a champion title, and it was just a great way to end the year."

Hitting New Stops

After her breakout year, England said she has spent 2022 "just kind of trying to go a few more places" and hitting poker stops around the country. Some of the new places England has played so far this year include The Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles and Harrah's Cherokee in North Carolina.

"So I think that was kind of my goal this year was to just go a few more places I hadn't been before and explore a little bit," she said.

When she spoke with PokerNews, England was heading home after playing MSPT Sycuan in San Diego. According to England, there was a ClubGG booth on site where players could sign up for a membership or purchase bubble protection in the MSPT events.

"It was a really great stop," said England.

Now that she is a ClubGG ambassador, England said she will likely start playing more online and will continue to travel to MSPT and other poker stops around the country.

Making Poker a Comfortable Space

As an instructor for Poker Power, which aims to "teach women how to play Texas Hold ’em (and) to compete and succeed in business, finance, and life — all in a fun, supportive, and safe-to-fail environment," England has advocated for making poker a "comfortable space" for women and men alike.

"It's more of a comfort thing, I think," she said. "You just have to make it a more comfortable space for people in general to be in. If it's enjoyable, more people will do it, and that's just what it comes down to: making sure people are comfortable at the table."

England noted that poker is "picking up and more people are interested and are sitting down playing."

"I see a lot more women, too, lately," she said. "In San Diego, there were three women at my table a couple of times."

For more on Kyna England follow her on Twitter @Kyna_CooL.

Kyna England's Top 5 Live Cashes