Katja is from Wedemark, Germany. She originally was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1966. Katja had quite a history before she decided to play poker. She originally bred horses until the time she decided to play. Also she was a director of a marketing company as well. Although she never expected to become a poker player fate took its turn on her. Many times she would go with Jan von Halle, her husband, to the casino and watch him play poker. She didn’t realize at the time that it was going to alter the path of her life. In 1999 she was with her husband at a casino watching him play as usual. However, in this particular instance her husband had to run off to the bathroom. She had to unexpectedly step up to the plate in a high states limit game while he ran to the bathroom. Up until this point she had never played a poker game. Having no experience she magically managed to make the correct moves and take the pot by the time her husband had returned.

After that point Katja was hooked on poker. In 2000 she started playing professional on cash games. It wasn’t until 2007 that she finally made a name for herself. In March she made her way to the final table of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Warsaw event. She ended up finishing at a respectable 5th. Following her success at the Warsaw event she returned to Vegas for the World Series of Poker to finish 5th as well. It was only a short week after that her hard work finally paid off. During a Razz even she managed to beat out a field of seasoned professionals to win the event. Of course the money was good but her pride was in the bracelet she received and the respect that went with it. Later that year Katja was given the award of “Europe’s Leading Lady”.

During her down time Katja spends time with her family and riding horses. She also is a commentator on German TV and helps with IntelliPoker which is an online poker school. Since 2006 Katja has achieved more than $300,000 in winnings and plans to keep playing. Expect to see her on more World Series of Poker tours as well as other PokerStars events as she is a PokerStars Team member as well.