The 53rd annual World Series of Poker at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas continues with Event #61: Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship. This is a four-day event that will kick off today at 11:00 a.m.
In 2013, Caesar’s Entertainment announced that men would be allowed to play in the tournament to ensure that the Ladies Championship could continue while complying with the all-gender discrimination laws in the state of Nevada. In order to keep the playing field predominantly women, male participants are required to pay a $10,000 entry fee, as opposed to the female entry fee of $1,000.
Players will start the day with a stack of 20,000 in chips and blinds will be 100/100/100 in Level 1. Sixty-minute levels will be played, with a 20-min break every two levels. There will be a 75-minute dinner break after Level 6, at approximately 5:40 p.m. and the players will complete 10 levels before they call it a night and bag their chips for tomorrow. Late registration will be open until the end of Level 8 and one re-entry is permitted.
Lara Eisenberg is the current defending champion, having won $115,694 in last year's event along with her first WSOP bracelet. Eisenberg bested a field of 644 entries that ended in an hour-long heads-up battle against Debora Brooke before being crowned as champion.
Stay tuned in to PokerNews at 11:00 a.m. today and throughout the rest of the tournament for all of the live updates on the action.
According to the table, a first player opened and Ana Marquez three-bet on the button. The big blind four-bet and it folded back to Marquez who five-bet and the big blind called.
All the chips went in the middle on the flop . The big blind led out for 5,000 and Marquez jammed for 15,500. her opponent called for the following showdown:
Big Blind:
Ana Marquez:
A hit the turn, improving Marquez's hand into a set of aces and the completed the board to officially give the pot and the double up to Marquez.
Brittany Williams had shoved for 6,000 for her opponent in the under-the-gun position to tank for while. In the end, she made the call with the bigger stack.
Brittany Williams:
Under-The-Gun Player:
Williams had flopped the higher two pair than her opponent.
The rest of the board was completed with the on the turn and the on the river for her to gold and double up.
The player in the under-the-gun position checked and Heidi May bet 4,000 for the call.
The river completed the board with the for both players to check. The under-the-gun player tabled the [jh9g] for the missed flush draw for May to claim the pot with the for top pair.
The player in the early position raised for Christina Read to three-bet from the middle position. The action folded to Lexy Gavin in the big blind who four-bet shoved with the bigger stack. The initial raiser made the call but Read folded.
Early Position:
Lexy Gavin:
The board ran out for the initial raiser to flop the higher two pair but for Gavin to turn the full house to eliminate her opponent.
Tiffany Michelle had just lost a big pot worth 85,000 when she raised from the late position and Juliana Vidal three-bet from further down the table. Michelle four-bet for Vidal to five-bet shove after tanking for a while.
Juliana Vidal:
Tiffany Michelle:
The board ran out for Vidal to river the set to double up with.
A few hands later, the flop read with what looked to be around 5,000 in the middle. Tambra Dunams bet 2,000 from the hijack and Michelle raised it up to 4,000 from the cutoff which Dunams called.
The turn was the and Dunams check-called the 3,500 continuation-bet of Michelle.
The completed the board. Dunams checked and Michelle did the same by revealing the for the flopped top pair. Dunams glanced over and then took a second or two before revealing the for the higher pair of queens and the pot.
Three players saw a flop of and one player checked. The second bet 4,000 into a pot of 10,000 and defending champion Lara Eisenberg raised to 10,000. The small blind check-raised all in and the next player folded.
Eisenberg called all in for 28,400 and showed for a flush. Her opponent tabled for a pair and a straight flush draw.
The turn and river bricked and Eisenberg doubled up.
The first day of Event #61: Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship has come to an end and Sharma Gargee bagged an exceptionally large stack of 419,000 to end the night as the chip leader. Gargee has one cash in a WSOP event this summer and four cashes in total from her poker career.
Cherish Andrews is not far behind with 363,000 chips and will be a serious competitor for a first WSOP title. Andres has $875,392 in total live earnings helped by reaching three final tables in WSOP events, including an eighth place in the ladies event last year.
Event #61: Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship Top 10 Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chips
Big Blinds
1
Gargee Sharma
United States
419,000
210
2
Cherish Andrews
United States
363,000
182
3
Wendy Beckers
United States
285,000
143
4
Melanie Pittard
United States
262,500
131
5
Charlotte Van Brabander
Belgium
228,000
114
6
Mina Yean Saelee
United States
227,500
114
7
Tanja Vujanic
Australia
219,000
110
8
Marybeth Anderson
United States
218,500
107
9
Samantha Gonzalez
United States
213,500
106
10
Juli Black
St Lucia
212,500
106
The day started out with 613 entries but quickly grew to a total of 1,074 by the end of late registration, by far surpassing the 644 entries of last year. Bust-outs happened frequently throughout the day and when it was time to bag, only 274 ladies were still in the running for the top prize of $166,975 and the WSOP gold.
Last year's Ladies Event Champion, Lara Eisenberg, was here at the beginning of the day to defend her title. She found a bag at the end of the night and returns with 52,000 chips as she attempts to defend her title tomorrow. She managed to double up her short stack right after the dinner break when she went all-in on a flop with the flush.
GGPoker Brazilian streamer Rebeca Rebuitti stayed at the top of the counts for most of the day and bagged a comfortable stack of 275,500. Some other notables who progressed included Xuan Liu (133,000), Melanie Weisner (120,000), two-time bracelet winner Loni Hui (90,500), winner of last year's The Closer - No-Limit Hold'em Leo Margets (76,000) and chess Grand Master and WPT Global ambassador Qiyu "Nemo" Zhou with 80,500.
Heidi May, the 2017 Ladies Event champion, took a seat early today but busted right after late registration closed. Right before the players bagged their stack, it was three-time champion Kristen Foxen who also hit the rail when she couldn’t win her flip with ace-ten suited against Michelle Bricknell who held pocket eights.
Several familiar female players who were spotted in the field did not survive to the day. Among them were members of the Women in Poker Hall of Fame Kathy Liebert, Allyn Shulman and JJ Liu but also Natasha Mercier, Kelly Minkin, Carol Fuchs, Ana Marquez, reality Tv contestant Trishelle Cannatella and Daiva Byrne.
With 162 players making the money for a min-cash worth $1,600, hand-for-hand play will start in the first few levels after cards are in the air tomorrow.
The 274 remaining players will restart tomorrow, June 30th, at noon local time to play ten more levels with a 15-minute break every two levels and a 60-minute break after Level 16 (≈ 6:30 p.m.).
The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be providing coverage from the tournament floor until a winner is crowned so keep it here for updates from the Bally's and Paris Las Vegas.