Pro Players Monika Zukowicz on Vegas, Finding Confidence and Playing Better When Poker Is Fun Owen Gaines Owen Gaines is a professional poker player and author who has played an estimated ten million hands and written four poker strategy books. September 18, 2026 The fourth interview in ACR Poker’s weekly 2026 WSOP series follows HeyMonia through the preparation required for a Las Vegas summer, the adjustment from online to live poker, the table her audience wished it could watch and a lesson about what happens when results stop being the only focus.ACR Poker’s 14-part weekly interview series continues with Monika Zukowicz, better known online as HeyMonia.The Polish poker pro has been part of the ACR Poker Team Pro roster since November 2022, but her path through the game reaches back much further. Originally from Poland and now based in Vienna, Zukowicz built much of her poker identity online, combining high-stakes tournament play with streaming and content creation on Twitch and YouTube. Before poker became her profession, she studied pharmaceutical science and analytical chemistry.Her live résumé has grown considerably since she joined ACR. Zukowicz won a PCA Mystery Bounty event in 2023 for $32,180, cashed the $25,000 GGMillion$ Live at Triton Jeju for $49,000 in 2024 and later finished 42nd in the $25,000 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event for $140,900. Her biggest score arrived at WSOP Paradise in December 2025, when she reached the final table of the $250,000 Triton Invitational and finished ninth for a career-high $771,000. Her recorded live tournament earnings have since moved past $1.4 million.But her conversation about the 2026 World Series of Poker is not really about one score.It is about everything around the poker: what a European player has to organize before spending weeks in Las Vegas, why the Vegas player pool takes time to recalibrate to, how much a support system matters in an individual game and why one seemingly insignificant wardrobe decision became one of the moments she remembers most.Most of all, it is about a lesson Zukowicz says she has been learning for years: sometimes trying too hard to produce results can make it harder to play your best poker.The WSOP Experience Keeps Getting BetterBefore getting into her own play, Zukowicz started with the environment around it.The 2026 WSOP introduced a redesigned Main Event Final Table Arena at Paris Las Vegas, while the WSOP Live app continued to handle tournament information and registration. Players could also use Luxon Pay as one of the official buy-in methods. For Zukowicz, those operational changes matter, particularly when arriving from Europe for a long summer away from home.ACR Poker: What was your honest first impression of the atmosphere surrounding the 2026 series? “I must say, I really liked the new stage location. It felt fresh and made the whole venue look more professional.” “I feel like every year the WSOP experience seems to improve, and I think this year was another step forward with the new stage location. The WSOP Live app also keeps getting better, which makes navigating the series much easier.” “Of course, Luxon Pay is something amazing, especially for us European players who have always had to think about managing our bankroll throughout the summer.” “So yeah, I feel like the WSOP venue and the overall experience just keep getting better. I’m a huge fan of the new stage and the new location. It was really impressive.” Her answer gets at something easy to overlook when following the WSOP through results pages and final-table streams. For a player spending several weeks in Las Vegas, the experience is not limited to what happens between the first card and the river.Registration, payments, transportation, food, sleep and simply knowing where everything is can all become part of the grind.For Zukowicz, that becomes even clearer when she compares Las Vegas with an online series played from home.Playing Online Is Hard. Preparing for Vegas Is Harder.The hours may be long in both formats, but the preparation is almost impossible to compare.Online, Zukowicz can build the environment around herself. Vegas requires her to build a temporary version of that environment thousands of miles from home.ACR Poker: How does preparing for a live poker summer differ from preparing for a demanding online streaming schedule? “I would say those are completely different experiences.” “When I’m playing online, I’m at home. I sleep in my own bed, and apart from studying and maybe some mental coaching, my preparation comes down to making sure I have good food around me. I schedule my meal deliveries and make sure they’re healthy and balanced.” “That sounds super easy, but obviously online series are still very, very challenging and demanding. We’re playing long hours and many, many tables.” “Live series, especially in Vegas, are on a completely different level. It’s a completely different time zone for us. Preparing for the WSOP and the Las Vegas summer means I need to think about flights, accommodation, transportation and meals. I need to deal with jet lag and make sure I’m mentally ready for weeks of competition. I also work with a mental coach on the side, and physically it’s much more demanding too.” “It’s just much more complex to play live and prepare for the Las Vegas series. I think experience helps a lot because my first summer in Vegas looked completely different from what it does now.” “Now I know I need to travel with my humidifier. I know where to order my meals. It’s more complex, but obviously also more rewarding.” The humidifier sounds like a small detail until you spend several weeks in the Las Vegas desert.In Zukowicz’s case, it also leads directly into the first answer that mixes life in Vegas with an adjustment happening at the poker table.First the Dryness. Then the Player Pool.Asked about the hardest adjustment to an extended stay in Las Vegas, Zukowicz did not need long to identify the physical one.The strategic adjustment takes a little longer.Her online background means she arrives with thousands of hands of experience against players who behave differently from much of the live field. She does not see that as a problem to solve once. It is part of what live poker continually asks players to do.ACR Poker: What was the most difficult adjustment to playing or spending an extended period in Las Vegas? “I would say the dryness is definitely the first thing that comes to mind. After a few weeks, you really feel it in your skin, your eyes, everything.” “From a poker perspective, I feel like players in Las Vegas have a completely different style, and it takes a while to calibrate yourself to how they’re playing. At least that was the case for me this year.” “It took me a few tournaments to get on track and find the flow of the game. It takes some hands to get yourself into the right mode and figure out how to play better against them. Everybody knows you play a little differently online and live, so it also demands that you adjust your style.” “I think that’s actually something beautiful about the game. You constantly need to adapt and be aware of the environment, the table dynamics and who you’re playing against.” That last point is important.The adjustment is not simply online versus live. It is table versus table, player versus player and sometimes even one stage of a tournament versus another.Zukowicz’s answer treats that constant recalibration as part of the appeal rather than an inconvenience.What She Saw in Alex and Kristen FoxenWhen the conversation shifted away from her own summer and toward the rest of the field, Zukowicz chose a storyline close to the ACR Poker team.Kristen Foxen won the $25,000 High Roller for her sixth WSOP bracelet and $1,773,083. Days later, ACR Pro Alex Foxen won the $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty for $594,246 and his fourth bracelet. The victories placed the pair among the small group of married couples to win bracelets during the same WSOP.Zukowicz was interested in more than the trophies.ACR Poker: Which player performance or 2026 storyline impressed you most, and what did you learn from it? “One of my favorite storylines was seeing both Kristen Foxen and Alex Foxen win WSOP bracelets this summer.” “They’re both incredible players individually, but I also think they’re a great example of how valuable it is to have someone who truly understands what you do.” “I think it’s a reminder that even in such an individual game, having the right support system can make a huge difference.” “Teamwork really can make the dream work. [Laughs]” Poker is scored individually. The Hendon Mob page belongs to one player. The bracelet goes on one wrist. The payout lands under one name.The work surrounding those results does not always happen alone.Zukowicz’s takeaway from the Foxens was less about copying anything they did strategically and more about recognizing how valuable it can be to have somebody nearby who understands the swings, the hours and the emotional weight of the game.The Martin Kabrhel Table Her Audience Wanted to SeeFor someone who has spent years building an online audience, there are effectively two versions of a memorable poker moment.There is the moment the player experiences.Then there is the moment the audience gets to experience with them.Sometimes those are the same thing. Sometimes the cameras are nowhere nearby.That became the running joke behind Zukowicz’s answer when she was asked which part of the summer her viewers would most have wanted to watch.ACR Poker: What moment from your summer would your online audience have enjoyed seeing most? “I think my online audience would probably most enjoy seeing me at some final table, or even the WSOP Main Event final table or whatever, but that’s the obvious answer.” “To make it more personal, I would say they definitely would have loved to see me playing with Martin Kabrhel. My audience and I have this ongoing banter about Martin, and I actually happened to play with him for a full day this summer.” “My followers were very heartbroken that there wasn’t a livestream or any live coverage of that table.” “So that’s just a funny little thing, apart from all the big final tables they would love to see me making.” The lack of a stream almost makes the story more fitting.Kabrhel was one of the most visible personalities of the 2026 WSOP, but the table Zukowicz says her own community would have enjoyed most happened away from the broadcast.For everyone following HeyMonia from home, it became the show they did not get to watch.A Fancy Hat and a Small Lesson in ConfidenceThe moment Zukowicz expects to remember most is smaller.No final-table lights. No enormous pot. No career-changing payout.Just a hat.ACR Poker: What is the one moment you will remember most from the 2026 WSOP? “This might sound funny, but one day I bought myself a really fancy hat and decided to wear it while playing a $3K WSOP event.” “It actually takes a surprising amount of confidence to wear something that stands out at the poker table, and somehow putting on that hat made me feel more courageous.” “It was a funny, random experience, but I think it taught me something.” Poker players spend enormous amounts of time looking for edges that can be measured.Ranges can be studied. Hands can be reviewed. Bet sizes can be compared. Results can be entered into databases.Confidence is harder to quantify.Sometimes it arrives through preparation. Sometimes it comes from winning a pot. Apparently, sometimes it can start with deciding to wear the hat.The Better She Feels, the Better She PlaysThat story leads naturally into Zukowicz’s final answer.Her biggest lesson from the summer is not really about Las Vegas, tournament structures or the difference between online and live poker. It is something she says she has noticed repeatedly over the years.The tighter she grips the result, the harder the game can become.ACR Poker: Complete the sentence: “My 2026 WSOP taught me that…” “My 2026 WSOP taught me that the more fun I’m having, the better I play.” “It’s something I’ve been realizing more and more over the years. Whenever I become obsessed with results or winning, I tend to tighten up and overthink decisions.” “But when I’m genuinely enjoying the game, I’m more creative, more patient and I trust my instincts. Ironically, that’s usually when the best results come.” “So I think my biggest lesson from this summer is simple: don’t forget to have fun, and the wins will often take care of themselves.” Her point is not that results stop mattering.Professional poker does not allow that luxury for very long.It is that playing entirely for the result can create its own kind of pressure. Decisions become heavier. Instincts become harder to trust. The game that originally interested a player can start feeling like a sequence of outcomes that need to be forced.Zukowicz’s version of the solution is much simpler.Prepare seriously. Adapt to the table. Take care of everything away from the felt that allows you to perform when you sit down.Then remember to enjoy playing poker.More WSOP Stories Are ComingZukowicz is the fourth featured player in ACR Poker’s 14-part weekly interview series looking back at the 2026 World Series of Poker through the people who played it.Her installment starts with the logistics of getting through a Las Vegas summer and ends somewhere much less complicated.A humidifier helps.Experience helps.The right people around you help.And sometimes playing your best poker starts with allowing yourself to have a little more fun doing it.Follow ACR Poker News for the next interview in the weekly series.