Jennifer Tilly's boyfriend, the Unabomber kicks of the Ladies WSOP event.
The annual World Series of Poker Ladies only event got under way on Sunday when a record 1,128 players paid the $1,000 buy-in for an opportunity to become the 2006 WSOP Lady Champion.
Defending 2005 champion, Jennifer Tilley, was present and had collected a large pile of chips mid afternoon, but was later eliminated. Jennnifer's boyfriend, Phil "Unabomber" Laak, opened the event with the "Shuffle Up and Deal" command.
At the end of day #1 the chip leader was Devi Ortega from New York City.
Day 1 came to an end with 26 players remaining. The ladies will resume at 4:00 pm and play until there is a winner. It's also Day 2 of the $10,000 Omaha Pot Limt Event, Day 1 of the $1,000 NL Hold-Em Event, and the final table of the $1,000+$1,000 rebuy Event.
Play began at 4:00 p.m. PDT with $2,000 - $4,000 blinds and $500 antes. Anjela Brunson, the daughter-in-law of poker legend Doyle Brunson, busted out in twentieth place ($6,672) and two hours later only ten players remained.
The final table started in the normal tournament area, but after Allen Cunningham’s victory in the $1,000 no-limit rebuy event, the action switched to the ESPN featured table set.
With the fans packed in the bleachers and the TV cameras rolling, Mary Jones provided the first bust out of the “real” final table. She eliminated Lorrie Scott in tenth place ($25,662) when her A 7 paired an ace on the flop and Scott’s pocket three’s failed to improve.
Jones narrowed the field even more when she busted Devi Ortega only twenty minutes later. Ortega took home seventh place ($30,794) after moving all in with pocket tens, only to have Jones, who called with A 8, make her heart flush on the turn.
Surviving on a serious short stack, Julie Allen pushed her final $24,000 in preflop. She received calls from both Jones and Shanee Barton. After the 885 flop, Barton also moved all in, and Jones made that call too. Barton’s pocket fives gave her a flopped full house. Allen’s K Q and Jones’ K 8 never caught up. Allen hit the rails in sixth ($35,927), while Barton’s double up moved her into second place.
Only minutes later, Barton hit another full house, fives full of eights, and eliminated Sue Lockenbaugh in fifth place ($41,095).
Barton continued to accumulate chips with her third consecutive knockout. Instead of flopping a full house, Barton, holding K 10, made an ace high straight with the first three community cards. Reka Hallgato, all in preflop with pocket fours, bowed out as the third place finisher ($51,324).
The phrase “hot streak” seemed to be a bit of an understatement when Barton took out a fourth opponent. She called a preflop all in raise by Beatrice Stranzinger. Barton flipped up Q J while Stranzinger turned over the A 5. The KQ763 board paired Barton’s queen and Stranzinger’s day ended with a third place finish ($71,340).
With play heads up, the 2006 ladies $1,000 no-limit hold’em title came down to three dramatic hands. On the first, Jones spiked a queen on the river to make an ace high straight and crack Barton’s set of eights.
Jones’ double up made the chip stacks close to equal. She then called a Barton all in raise on a J93 board with A 10, when Barton had a pair with the K 9. The 2 turn offered Jones no help, and Barton stood one card away from crippling her opponent. But the 10 river gave Jones a pair of tens. The win knocked Barton’s stack down to less than $150,000.
On the final hand of the tournament, Barton pushed all in preflop for her remaining $140,000. Jones, with over one million dollars in chips, made the call. Her Q 6 made her a statistical underdog to Barton’s A 4. When the board came J933, Barton’s chances continued to improve. The 6 river, however, paired Jones’ sixes and she won a huge hand on the river for the third time in heads up play.
Barton netted $123,178 for her second place finish.
Jones received her first WSOP bracelet and took home a $236,094 first place cash prize.
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Home game queen trumps ladies at World Series of Poker
LAS VEGAS (AP) - A Nevada woman whose home game poker stakes have included doing the dishes and washing the car beat out 1,127 women to win $236,094 in the World Series of Poker's ladies event early Tuesday.
Henderson resident Mary Jones Meyer, a 56-year-old telephone company sales manager, put her huge stack of chips to work, calling an all-in bet from Chicago artist Shawnee Barton and making a measly pair of sixes on the river to win her first WSOP bracelet.
The most money she had made in tournament poker was about $2,700 at a World Poker Tour match in Las Vegas in May 2005, when she was the last woman to be knocked out.
Then after a jocular home game last October, a close friend had to accept the loser's chore of pushing Meyer's new puppy around on a doggie stroller at a boat convention in Long Beach, Calif.
"I'd have to say this is definitely more gratifying," Meyer chuckled. "I'm just so thrilled with the bracelet and winning the competition. It really is unbelievable. I'm beyond thrilled."
This year's field of women is nearly double the 600-strong field that Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Tilly beat last year. Her win gave women players a higher profile in a game largely populated by men.
"Jennifer Tilly has a lot to do with the growth of women's poker," said Jeffrey Pollack, the tournament commissioner. "While women don't make up a majority of players at the World Series of Poker, I think they reflect the breadth of player that comes."
"I think that in the TV age, we may have lost sight of how long poker has been around and part of our culture."
For Meyer, that included playing poker with her parents as a child and playing her husband and friends for bragging rights - and the occasional night out to see a show or movie that her spouse might otherwise object to.
"We try to make sure that somebody's got skin in the game just to make it real," said her husband, Bob Meyer, 50, a former executive at Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which is hosting the tournament which runs from June 25 to Aug. 10.
"Money isn't the issue because it's among friends," he said.
Meyer's latest win may change that, however. Though she kept a business appointment Tuesday, future plans include parlaying two years of tournament hold'em experience into a professional career, she said.
"I'm seriously considering what I want to do," she said.
The growth rate of successful female poker players is phenomenal. A number of lady players are proving it's not just a man's game anymore. This new area of BrynKenney.com is especially for the ladies. Check back often for additions. Feedback and suggestions are always welcome.
