Tamar Abraham wins the biggest World Series of Poker Ladies event ever

2023 World Series of Poker The $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship attracted a field of 1,295 and set a new event record. Prior to this year, the largest field had been the 1,286 entries made in the current 2007.

The huge turnout translated into a prize pool of $1,152,550. After four days of tournament action, the largest share of that money was captured by Tamar Abraham of Cypress, California. For the win, Abraham earned $192,167 and his first WSOP gold bracelet.

This was the largest live tournament score yet for Abraham, and his third in-the-money in this event. He has now cashed three of the last five times this tournament has been held, including a 45th-place finish in 2021 and a 30th-place finish in 2018. He now has more than $218,000 in career earnings following this last win.

The record turnout for this event resulted in the top 195 finishers making money. Plenty of notable players ran deep, including Melissa Schubert (75th), Tiffany Michelle (56th), 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event winner Maria Lampropulos (36th), defending champion Jessica Teusl (33rd) and Samantha Abernathy (31st).

The final day began with Shiina Okamoto leading and Abraham in the middle of the pack with seven contenders remaining.

After Chrysi Phiniotis busted in seventh place ($26,277), Abraham made a huge double-up with a set of eights against Okamoto’s set of threes. Abraham then eliminated Tara Cain (6th – $34,679), with AQ outrunning Cain’s pocket kings with an ace on the river.

Okamoto picked AK against Mary Dvorkin’s A-7 to score the next knockout. Dvorkin flopped a flush draw while Okamoto improved to trip kings. The turn and river failed to assist Dvorkin, and she was eliminated in fifth place ($46,333).

Suzanne Malavet’s run in this event ended when her AJ collided with the AK of a rising Abraham. Neither player connected with the board, and Malavet was eliminated in fourth place with $62,658 for her efforts.

Naqm Nguyen of Las Vegas was next to fall, with his J-7 suited unable to get past Okamoto’s A-10. Nguyen flopped a flush draw, but then busted out to finish third for $85,756.

Heads-up play began with Abraham leading by about 4:1. In the final hand, Okamoto limped in from the button with 54 Abraham checked his option from the big blind with 103. The 1052 the flop saw Abraham check-raise from out of position. Okamoto came with her middle pair and the turn brought a Q, giving Abraham a flush draw to match his pocket tens. Abraham checked again and Okamoto moved all in. Abraham called and the river was a 6giving her a winning flush to secure the pot and the title.

Okamoto received $118,768 as the runner-up, the highest live tournament finish ever by the Japanese player.

Here is a look at the winnings awarded at the final table:

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Winning photo credit: WSOP / Alicia Skillman. Okamoto photo: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.