Monika „HeyMonia“ Zukowicz: “I got a big punishment for losing the prop bet”

VIP-Grinders: Hello Monika and thank you very much for taking the time. Would you please introduce yourself for the people, who don’t know you yet?

Monika Zukowicz: My name is Monika Zukowicz, also known as HeyMonia online. I am a Betsafe Poker Ambassador and stream on the Betsafe Twitch Channel three times a week.

Monika streams three times a week on the Betsafe Poker Twitch Channel.

A fun fact about me is that I am also a Master of Pharmacy, I graduated a couple of months ago.

VG: Nowadays it’s so difficult to become a sponsored poker pro. How did you manage to get the sponsorship with Betsafe Poker?

MZ: First I was doing guest commentary on the Polish PokerStars Live Stream, that’s why I was well known in the Polish poker community. Then I started blogging and one Polish poker site hired me, who were affiliates of Betsafe Poker.

Monika in Las Vegas together with Doug “WGCRider” Polk.

They then send me to Las Vegas to do some interviews with famous poker players such as Daniel Negreanu and Betsafe really liked it. This was the beginning and after that I started to stream on their Twitch channel.

VG: Is that how you met Doug Polk and Joey Ingram as I recently saw you on Joey Ingram’s Poker Life Podcast?

MZ: No, that was actually later. He was watching my Twitch stream, despite the fact that I stream in Polish, he got on my chat and that’s how we met.

Monika Zukowicz at the 2017 Battle of Malta Main Event.

I then invited him to my HeyPodcast, he accepted and since that we are good friends.

VG: You made an epic prop bet with Martin Franke von Zweigbergk, the Founder of Cash Game Festival, at the Cash Game Festival in Bulgaria. Can you please explain what it was about?

MZ: We played Heads-Up against each other and if Franke would have lost he would have had to work as a cashier in the Estonian grocery store chain Maxima for a whole month without speaking Estonian.

As I lost I had to drive in an old Volkswagen Passat without aircon in the middle of summer all the way from Sunny Beach, Bulgaria to Faro, Portugal to pick up an extra spicy chicken Piri Piri and then deliver it to Franke’s house in Tallinn, Estonia.

HeyMonia after losing an epic prop bet against Franke at Cash Game Festival Bulgaria.

I got a big punishment for losing the prop bet as it was really hot and I was travelling alone most of the time.

VG: I saw you at a lot of stops of Cash Game Festival. Do you go to all the stops and what is it that makes the Cash Game Festival so special?

MZ: No, my first stop was the Cash Game Festival in Gibraltar and then I was in Malta. I actually never played much cash games, because I was more into tournaments. There I discovered live cash games and really fell in love with them.

The special thing about Cash Game Festival is that the regulars are like a big family and I really enjoy the time I am having with them, which makes it even more fun to join every stop.

VG: Thank you very much for the interview!

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