WSOP Event #17: Lisa Hamilton Wins The Ladies Event

The $1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em event attracted 1,060 players and
numerous spectators, including some familiar faces such as Daniel
Negreanu, Pam Brunson, Dennis Phillips and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. With the play spread across three days, it was Lisa Hamilton
who managed to fight her way through a tough field to win the tournament.

Day 1 saw the field coming down to just 146 ladies with many notable
names already busting out. Tiffany Michelle packed her bags after she
ran into a set of queens. The action began with her opponent making a
raise to 150, Michelle called and the flop came . Both players checked and the fireworks began on the turn card . A 350 bet came flying towards Michelle and she made the call. The river came
and Michelle's opponent bet again, just enough to put Michelle all-in.
She tanked for a while and decided to make the call, turning over . Her opponent showed pocket queens for a flopped set and it Tiffany Michelle was out.

Amanda Leatherman also couldn't make it through Day 1. She hit the rail after her lost against , as the board offered her no help. The play proceeded on Day 2 all the way to the final table with just nine players left in the tournament.

The final day of the $1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em event kicked off with Lori Bender holding the chip lead over the other eight players. The first one to hit the rail was Lisa Santy, when her A-Q ran into Kim Rios' pocket aces. Dawn Thomas was eliminated in eight place, as her pocket tens were no match for Lori Bender's pocket kings.

Lisa Parsons found out the hard way that it's never wise to joke around with Poker Gods. Kim Rios opened the hand with a raise to 40,000 and then called an additonal 76,000 made by Lisa Parsons. The flop came , Parsons checked, Rios bet 100,000, Parsons moved all-in for 290,000 and Rios called.

Rios showed while Parsons turned over . The turn came to give Parsons a full house and she was already cheering and high-fiving her buddies at the rail, commenting, "Show me a deuce." And Poker Gods replied, "You requested a deuce? We give you a nine!" The river came to give Rios a bigger full house and Parsons was out in 7th place, while Rios took over the lead with 938,000 in chips.

Kim Rios didn't last much longer herself, busting out some time later in 6th place. She was followed by Kimberly Cunningham and Angel Pedroza. The third place went to Mari Lou and everything was ready for the heads-up play. Lisa Hamilton was looking at a 2,315,000 to 865,000 lead over Lori Bender.

The heads-up match lasted only for a couple of hands. Hamilton limped in from the button, Bender checked and they saw a flop of . Bender checked, Hamilton bet 100,000 and Bender called. The turn came , Bender checked, Hamilton bet 300,000 and Bender immediately called all-in for 397,000 more. Hamilton decided to call and turned over while Bender revealed . The river came and secured Lisa Hamilton a WSOP bracelet along with $195,390  in prize money.

Here are the final table results: