New Champion Emerges at WSOP Ladies Event
Saturday, March 6th, 2010The 2009 WSOP Ladies Poker Championship was won by Lisa Hamilton. A high-stakes cash poker player from Hawaii who now lives in Las Vegas, Hamilton entered the poker tournament at the last minute, since she hardly ever competes in poker online tournament events. It was only her second WSOP. Her first WSOP effort a few years ago ended in disaster when she went out minutes after the tournament began. She collected $195,390 in winnings plus the coveted champion bracelet. After her win, Hamilton said she would be playing in this year’s Main Event as well. There were no bracelet holders at the final table. Lori Bender of Houston, TX and an FBI Academy graduate, finished second behind Hamilton. Two former champions, Susie Issacs and Svetlana Gromenkova, last year’s winner, made it to the money. Issacs achieved an impressive run from 1991 – 1997 when she cashed five times in this event. The final table got down to business quickly, and was the quickest at the 2009 WSOP so far, lasting less than three hours. The field was 1,062 entrants who paid $1,000 to enter for a total prize pool of $964,600 paid out to 117 players. The Ladies tournament has drawn more than 1,000 players for four consecutive years.