Born July 15, 1966, in Hamburg, Germany, Katja Thater didn’t start playing poker until she met her husband, poker professional John von Halle. While watching her husband play, she took over in a hand of Stud for him when he went to the bathroom and ended up winning it. She didn’t know how to play at the time, but poker has been her passion ever since. Initially a cash game specialist, Katja popped up on the live tournament circuit in 2006 and has been very successful.
At her first World Series of Poker in 2006, Katja cashed in two events; 29th in $1500 Seven Card Stud for $3.2K and 53rd in $2000 Pot-Limit Hold’em for $2.6K. In 2007, she made the final table at the European Poker Tour stop in Warsaw, finishing fifth for $85K. A few months later, she made her first WSOP final table, taking fifth in the $1K World Championship No Limit Hold’em Ladies Event for $49K. Her first WSOP bracelet came that same year in $1500 Seven Card Razz, which netted her $132.5K. Since then, she’s had a series of hard luck cashes, but all told, Katja Thater has in excess of $300K in live tournament earnings.
Away from the tables, Katja works as a commentator and presenter on German TV and teaches for IntelliPoker, an online poker school sponsored by PokerStars. She also co-wrote a poker with fellow German pros entitled Poker Matrix. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family and riding her horses.
In the ever-expanding poker world, Katja has made strides for not only for women but for the country of Germany as well. She plans to continue traveling the world playing in tournaments, but when she’s at home, she can be found playing online at PokerStars as TeamPro member ‘KatjaThater’.
