In recent months, Sarah SaramarTolagson (pictured) finished second in the 888 Poker Mega Deep, coming away with $21,000 in a tough final table. We’ll get to that in a second, as her boyfriend, a well-known PocketFiver, also made it. She has final tabled the PartyPoker$100,000 Guaranteed High Roller multiple times since November and received a $500,000 cash badge on May 19, just five days ago. We caught up with her after her Mega Deep final table.

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PocketFives: How are you feeling about the final table? It’s one of your largest online scores ever.

Sarah Tolagson: Recently, I’ve been working really hard to push my game to new limits and take myself out of my comfort zone. Sixteen- to 18-tabling at my peak, I regret my attention being so divided. I always multi-table, but that Sunday I registered for more tournaments than normal and wasn’t as zoned as I could have been when a handful of them got deep.

Playing too many tables could have been the reason I came up short of an extra final table or win, but all in all, I’m happy with my performance. To have my biggest Sunday was quite gratifying and motivating; I’m just opting for quality over quantity more often now.

PocketFives: The 888 Mega Deep featured a pretty tough final table with fellow PocketFivers inblue, VnilaVader, and chaz_man_chaz. Talk about their play and the final table in general.

Sarah Tolagson: The final table marked a special achievement for inblue(pictured) and me because we’ve been dating and grinding since 2010 and haven’t made a major final table together. We’ve probably had 10 runs where we both made it to the final two or three tables where one of us final tabled it, but never both of us. Getting through 1,000+ players in a $100,000+ prize pool is hard enough, so for both of us to make it was really cool.

It was clear from the lineup before the start of the final table that it was going to be a battle. The action with two tables left had no shortage of aggression and I wasn’t expecting it to slow down. With a deep structure and 30-minute levels, I wasn’t too worried about getting chipped down. Luckily, I picked some decent spots to chip up and had a pretty smooth ride to second place with no major fluctuations.

PocketFives: Did you migrate to Mexico to play online poker?

Sarah Tolagson: I’m originally from California and after Black Friday was playing live in Los Angeles. A few friends and my boyfriend started beating up the smaller American sites for healthy amounts. They recommended them, so in early 2012, I followed suit. I quickly remember thinking that, although I do enjoy live poker, I prefer to grind online. We moved to Mexico when player-to-player transfers were stopped and cashouts started lagging. Basically, the decision to move made itself.

PocketFives: Talk about being a woman in a male-dominated game. Do males treat you any differently online versus live or is there no difference?

Sarah Tolagson: I think a lot of online grinders don’t consider I’m a girl because most people with blatantly girly names online are just guys trying to put off a woman’s image to get extra folds or special treatment. Live poker is different though. I always have to take into consideration that an opponent’s range might be different against me because I’m a girl.

Also, I don’t approve of titles like “Last Woman Standing.” I think they do a lot more harm than good. We’re breeding new women players to think they’re competing against other women in a sport that’s 90%+ men. Plus, we keep perpetuating this idea to men too. Women naturally have some of the most important aspects of a good poker player: patience and intuition. We should be encouraged to beat the entire field and support each other along the way.

PocketFives: How did you get started in poker?

Sarah Tolagson: I’ve always loved card games and was a competitive gamer growing up, so it was a natural transition for me. I played online poker a little bit in my early gaming days when the servers went down, but my real interest for it sparked during the Moneymaker Boom. By 17, I was playing in a local $1/$3 game. I wish I had stuck with playing online back then. You get so much more experience than you do live, especially starting out.

PocketFives: What has been the highlight of your poker career thus far?

Sarah Tolagson: Right when Black Friday was going down, I had a $1,400 live bankroll. I ended up chopping back-to-back live events at Hustler Casino (pictured) for $30,000. Those scores gave me the freedom and confidence to keep approaching the game the way I needed to. It’s a highlight for me because I haven’t relied on anything but poker since. They were some of the first open events I had ever played.

The Mega Deep takes place on 888 Poker. If you don’t already have an 888 Poker account, sign up through the links on PocketFives to get an enhanced 100% up to $600 deposit bonus, $88 free in most locations, and one free month of PocketFives Trainingwhen you make a deposit. Click here to sign up for 888 Poker.

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