That didn’t take long.
There has been talk of an increasing number of women in poker. Cash games are tough to monitor, and few tournament operators track demographics. But people who pay attention to such things have noticed. Women’s groups like the Fantastic Ladies in Poker, Globetrotting Poker Ladies, the Women’s Poker Association, and Poker Power have noticed an uptick in the number of women participating in forums, on social media, and posting tournament results.
It is the work of those groups and others, the support of women in the poker community and their allies, that lead to positive change. Results will follow.
The first tournament of the 2022 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas produced a result that represents that change. Poker dealer Katie Kopp won the first WSOP gold bracelet of the 2022 Vegas 88-tournament series.
Event 1: $500 NLHE Casino Employees
Day 2 of this event was a long day, as this is one of the few tournaments that runs only two days instead of three. When 82 players started the second day, they all hoped to play late into the night and be the last one holding chips.
When the final table began after the dinner break, Katie Kopp was the only woman among the final nine and was second-last in chips. She remained short-stacked as player after player busted, including the original table’s chip leader Vikram Vijay. She then made some moves, doubling through Shaun Colquhoun twice and then through Wyatt Frost. She then doubled through Colquhoun again to earn the chant “can’t stop Kopp!” from her rail.
Brandon West doubled through Kopp during four-handed play, relegating her to the short stack again. However, she doubled through Colquhoun and then West. She busted Colquhoun and then West, taking the lead into heads-up against Frost. As the latter tried to chip up, he went for it with A-9 but met up with Kopp’s A-Q. The board changed nothing and gave Kopp her first WSOP bracelet and the first one of this entire 2022 WSOP.
She told PokerNews that she comes from a family of poker players. Her mother and fellow poker dealer was there to celebrate with her, just before the sun came up in Vegas.
The high-stakes players were out in force for this huge buy-in event at the start of the WSOP. The total field didn’t match that of last year’s $100K buy-in event, but this is at the beginning of the series rather than the end as was the case in 2021.
Regardless, the stacked field gave poker fans plenty of exciting action. The field thinned quickly, as only little more than a dozen players started Day 2. Not long into the action, two tables decreased to just one as David Peters busted original chipleader Justin Young and Koray Aldemir busted Cary Katz. Chance Kornuth then ousted Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Ivey busted Nick Petrangelo on the money bubble.
Peters then busted Ivey and Matthew Steinberg, leaving just five players to bag their chips. With Kornuth in the lead, a diverse lineup remains for the final day of the event, which will stream on a one-hour delay on PokerGO.
Attendance was good for this first open No Limit Hold’em event (with a reasonable buy-in) of the 2022 WSOP. But the 752 players didn’t match up to the 896 in last year’s event. Even so, the prize pool exceeds $1.6M for this year’s event.
Play moved late into the night to hit the money bubble. Christopher Gu was that unfortunate player to bust on the bubble, leaving 113 players in the money and bagging their chips for the night.
Event 3: Day 1 of 3
$2,500 buy-in
NLHE Freezeout
Total entries:
752
(896 in 2021)
Players remaining:
113
Total prize pool:
$1,673,200
Players paid:
113
Minimum payout:
$4,027
Winner payout:
$320,059
Top chip counts:
#1
Jesse Kertland (USA) 941,000
#2
Michael Moncek (USA) 873,000
#3
Casey Hatmaker (USA) 849,000
#4
Jan Bednar (Czechia) 829,000
#5
Shannon Shorr (USA) 670,000
Event 4: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice 6-Handed
A poker tournament with 19 game variations available is a challenge. However, this is the challenge many players seek. And the event brought in 430 entries, far more than last year’s event but still fewer than this event in 2019.
There will be 123 players returning for Day 2, though only about half of them will finish with cash to show for it. They will try to play to the final table today.
Event 4: Day 1 of 3
$1,500 buy-in
Dealer's Choice 6-Handed (1 RE)
Total entries:
430
(307 in 2021, 470 in 2019)
Players remaining:
123
Total prize pool:
$574,040
Players paid:
65
Minimum payout:
$2,417
Winner payout:
$126,288
Top chip counts:
#1
Dennis Eichhorn (USA) 276,000
#2
Mitul Sheera (USA) 245.,500
#3
Brett Richey (USA) 220,500
#4
John Monnette (USA) 213,500
#5
Ben Yu (USA) 192,000
Today’s Poker Menu
Event 2 will play its five-handed final table on the big stage at Bally’s, as it will be livestreamed – on a one-hour delay to preserve game integrity – on PokerGO.
Event 3 will start payouts today and play until they reach a final table.
Event 4 will play into the money today and try to reach a final table.
Event 5 will begin at 10am, the first of four starting flights for this Housewarming tournament. With just a $500 buy-in and a $5M guarantee on the prize pool, expectations are high for a huge turnout.
Event 6 will bring 64 players in for the $25K buy-in Heads-Up Championship.
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