At the World Series of Poker, there are four events that don’t count towards the Player of the Year standings; the $50,000 HORSE, the $10,000 main event, the Seniors and event 17 - $1,000 no-limit hold’em, ladies only.
The logic with the seniors and ladies goes that it would be unfair to have points available to be won in a tournament that doesn’t allow for an open field. Men woulldn’t have the opportunity to make up those points in another, similar exclusive event, and the women would therefore have an unfair advantage were points awarded for ladies event efforts.
Apparently, that didn’t stop them from coming out to play. An astounding 1,286 women showed up and shelled out the cash in order to compete. In the end, the final table included online pro Vanessa Selbst and eventual razz bracelet winner Katja Thater. Both would be knocked out before the table reached the final three.
The eventual champion was Sally Anne Bowyer. Sally had only started playing fifteen months earlier, enjoying the game enough to attend a WSOP Boot camp. From there, she won a satellite into the ladies event and a tournament in downtown Vegas to fund her WSOP trip. She’s more than paid for all that now.
Sally’s final opponent was Anne Heft. In the final hand, it was Sally moving all-in with Kd-2s only to be quickly called by Heft’s vastly superior Ks-10s. Unfortunately for Anne, the poker gods weren’t kind; the flop came 5s-4c-3d, giving Sally an open-ended straight draw, then the turn 8c gave Heft cause to exhale before the river 2c gave Bowyer fifth pair, just enough to take the hand and the title. She’s apparently not too bitter about the Player of the Year points.
Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com
