Christina “Baby Shark” Gollins Dives Into The Deep End

Just three players remained from a field of 1,483 at the Commerce Casino, battling it out for a WSOP Circuit ring. Christina Gollins then looked down at A-K, a monster at this stage of the tournament, and raised it up.

Within no time she was facing a three-bet and an all-in jam from her opponents. While most players would fist pump, snap call, Gollins had other ideas.

“This is going to be the best fold of my f***ing life,” she exclaimed, throwing her hand into the muck.

As it turns out, she was right. Her opponents turned over pocket kings and pocket queens, respectively, and a queen in the window catapulted her to heads-up play.

Despite being down more than 3:1, Gollins fought back to double into the lead and ultimately take the tournament down for her second WSOP Circuit title and $105,000.

It’s the biggest bite that the “Baby Shark” has taken out of the circuit thus far, having been knocking on the doorstep for the last few years. In fact it’s part of eight wins and 25 final table appearances for Gollins since she first jumped on the scene in early 2021, which includes a third-place finish at the 2022 WSOP Ladies Championship and a recent win at the Nevada State Ladies Championship.

All told, the Las Vegas resident has already racked up more than $800,000 in her short time playing.

Card Player caught up with Gollins after her recent WSOP Circuit win to find out why she’s been on such a tear and what made her fall in love with the game.

Craig Tapscott: I’m curious about your background before you found poker. I’m betting you made the big bucks somewhere in the corporate world.

Christina Gollins: You’re right. I was in property management for 10 years. My work ranged from a leasing consultant to a national leasing manager, then a leasing director of operations for a huge property management company. That business was the only work I knew since college.

Tapscott: Where did you go to school?

Gollins: Arizona State University. But I left school a year before I graduated. I went to school and was working at the same time. Communications was my projected degree, but I studied a lot of psychology during that time, as well as nutrition science.

I was in between wanting to be a psychologist and wanting to make a lot of money. (laughs) So, that was the dichotomy of my college experience. I still have a year left. Maybe I’ll go back. I’m not sure.

Tapscott: It’s just a piece of paper at this point in your life.

Gollins: You’re right, but my Asian mother cares so much about that piece of paper. That would be the only reason.

Tapscott: When did you segue into a professional poker player?

Gollins: I discovered poker nine years ago. My best friend, who’s also female, forced me to play a house game with friends. From that moment, my life has been all about poker. I would play poker on work breaks, watch videos, and go to casinos on weekends and a few weeknights.

I got completely obsessed with the game, especially since, at the time, I was studying psychology. I realized that with poker, I could use a lot of college knowledge that I thought I would be throwing away.

I started by playing cash. I was not a tournament player. I actually didn’t start seriously playing tournaments until four years ago. I stopped playing cash once I committed to making tournaments my main focus.

Tapscott: Was there a smooth transition from cash to MTTs?

Gollins: It was another language I had to learn. In cash games, you usually never really study sub-100 big blinds. So, it’s completely different. Now, all of a sudden, I’m studying between 10 to 100 BB lines, which I never used to do before.

Tapscott: How did your style of play evolve from the work you put in?

Gollins: My game got even more aggressive. In cash games, you can play a bit more passively and wait for good hands and things like that. You’re not blinding out, and you can always just reload. I realized there was so much more strategy with MTT play than cash, which began forming me into a more complete player.

Tapscott: You moved to Las Vegas from California to play more live events. What was that change like?

Gollins: Playing a lot of live events in Vegas before I went full-time was huge for me, mainly because I’m practicing with excellent players. Whereas when I was playing cash in LA, I picked up so many bad habits.

Tapscott: How were the games in Los Angeles different from Vegas?

Gollins: LA is different from the rest of the world. The games are a lot more aggressive. You’re playing against wallets a lot of the time, not much strategy was involved. It’s just a little bit more punty over there.

Transitioning to MTTs and getting the practice in Vegas ramped up my skill set so fast. I was on the acceleration track for sure. It only took me a year to go from fish to profitable.

Tapscott: What mistakes were you making early on in Vegas?

Gollins: I was making so many mistakes when I first started. I was opening 3x to 4x when I had a good hand. Even when I didn’t have a good hand, I opened 3x to 4×. So, my sizing has gotten better.

Also, I think my body language regarding what I project at the tables has improved. I think my people-reading abilities have gotten sharp. That’s always been my key, though, being able to read people well.

I’m telling a better story during the hands I play. At the start, you like to check-call a lot. I called a lot. I didn’t make many three-bets or four-bets. You don’t make crazy moves, but now it’s second nature to do that. I am much more comfortable at the tables.

Tapscott: Any tips on how players can learn to read others better?

Gollins: One of the biggest mistakes is people tend to latch on to things as if they are definite, written in stone. For example, if someone’s heart is beating very fast and they’re blinking fast, they often have it. That’s so untrue because it’s always player-dependent. You can’t say that for everybody.

The first 30 minutes after you sit down, you need to analyze every player whether you’re in the hand or not. It’s actually the best time to do it, when you’re not in the hand. Study their betting habits, body language, facial expressions, everything. Even the style of the way they put chips into the pot is essential. If they’re stacking the chips, throwing them in, using multiple denominations, or using one large chip, etc. What does their face look like, and are they making any noises? Everything counts. You have to study every single person individually.

Tapscott: I first noticed you a few years ago when you finished third at the 2022 WSOP Ladies Championship. You got a lot of attention for the in-your-face aggression and style. Share a bit about that experience.

Gollins: When I look back at the final table, I realize I was playing too tight. There are spots that I would have done differently today. That was only two years ago. The nice thing is that you keep evolving, and you change, and you grow, and you learn. You’re never, ever going to get worse the more you play.

Tapscott: You won the WSOP Circuit Commerce Casino Housewarming event for $105,000. Can you share your feelings about making a deep run and winning that event?

Gollins: I was extremely confident at that final table. I can remember times when I have not been so comfortable. Two years ago, I was uncomfortable. But at this final table, I think I had an edge on every player. So, for me to not be confident would be weird. I just wanted to close it out and take home the trophy.

I didn’t want to get impatient. I didn’t want to take unnecessary risks. That’s the main reason I folded the A-K three-handed to all that aggression after I had raised. I’m not taking that risk. I don’t want to risk so many big blinds and the title if I don’t have to. I want to play post-flop. If I had queens and up in that spot, I would just have had to call. It is what it is, but I was happy to fold anything else.

Tapscott: What else do you do to keep yourself sharp at the tables?

Gollins: I try to work out as much as possible between sleep, eating, and hanging out with my boyfriend Elvis, and our dogs. (Elvis Toomas has $700,000 in earnings himself, including a third-place finish in the Mystery Bounty event just a day later.)

I eat very healthy. I try to stay stress-free as much as possible. I usually just try to keep to myself. I don’t like to go out at night. I don’t want to hang out or stay out really late.

It’s funny because when you’re living in Vegas, and my friends or family come to visit me, I’m usually always playing a tournament. They want to see shows or party while they are in town. I always tell them to leave me alone; I want to play my tournament. (laughs) I don’t want to go to a club. I’m such a grandma. I’m thankful that my mental game is strong.

Tapscott: How has your family dealt with the big change of career, now that you’re a professional gambler?

Gollins: I had to call both of my parents the week I quit my corporate job. I think my dad freaked out a little bit more than my mother. He used to be the vice president of a well-known bank. He’s worked in corporate America his entire life. He told me I would go broke in less than a year, and I made the biggest mistake in my life. He wanted to make sure I kept my references in my résumé sharp. He said poker should only be for fun.

My mother was freaking out a lot at first. She said good luck to you, but not a supportive good luck. It was basically good luck; your life is over. (laughs) I took that more as a challenge to do my best. I pursued the Female Player of the Year title pretty hard during my first year on tour. I wanted to prove to myself and my family that I made the right decision. I ended up finishing fifth.

Tapscott: I can tell you love the game.

Gollins: I do. I’m so grateful to make a living playing a game I love. I have a better life than 99 percent of the world. It sounds cheesy, but it works.

I remind myself I play poker for a living. I don’t have a boss over me. I waited my whole corporate life for this. My life is fantastic. So even if I have a bad day in poker, it’s better than my best day at corporate America.

Find Gollins on Twitter/X @bbshark888 ♠

*Photos by World Poker Tour