Kelly Minkin Becomes Last Woman Standing at 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event

A total of six female poker players entered day 5 of the 2015 World Series of Poker main event with the hopes of advancing, but only one, 28-year-old Kelly Minkin survived the day. As a result, Minkin joins the growing list of women such as Tiffany Williamson, Gaëlle Baumann and Breeze Zuckerman who will forever be arbitrarily linked to the poker world for their main event run.

But it would be a crime to reduce Minkin to this one particular accomplishment. That fact is that Minkin has been a rising star of the tournament circuit for the better part of the last three years, and she’s done it while maintaining a demanding job in the legal field.

After graduating from the University of Arizona with a degree in molecular and cellular biology, Minkin attended the Arizona Summit Law School. She then took a job as a medical malpractice defense attorney with a Phoenix law firm.

“The firm I work for in Phoenix, Kent and Wittekind, has been awesome,” Minkin explained. “They knew I was a poker player when they hired me, and they were great about working their schedule around mine so that I could continue playing. I can’t even describe how happy that made me. Honestly, I was willing to give up playing poker to continue my career as an attorney, but the fact that I’m able to do both is like a dream come true.”

She started frequenting the local casinos out of boredom and enjoyed playing cash games and tournaments in her free time. In August of 2013, she finished runner-up in the $1,000 buy-in Arizona State Poker Championship for $151,983, which kick started her side profession in poker.

Since then, she’s recorded cashes in Florida, Louisiana, California, Nevada, Colorado, Oklahoma and New Jersey. In January of 2015, she won a $500 buy-in preliminary event at the L.A. Poker Classic for $54,630. Then in February, she earned the largest score of her still young career when she took third at the $3,500 buy-in WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship for $262,912.

Minkin is young, smart and clearly has the skills to become one of the next big poker stars, but she’s not exactly comfortable with the eyes of the poker world watching.

“It’s a weird feeling, being in the spotlight,” Minkin explained. “I usually shy away from things like that, but at this point in the tournament, I’m trying to embrace it all as best as I can. I’m just not used to it. I wouldn’t necessarily say that the cameras are making me nervous, but I will say that I just enjoy being the under-the-radar, dark horse type and that kind of becomes impossible this deep in the main event.”

To date, Minkin has earned more than $532,000 on the tournament circuit and at the time of publishing, she was already guaranteed to make at least $96,445 for her deep run in the WSOP main event. But she wants more, and has her eyes firmly set on being a member of the November Nine.

“I think it’s exciting to be the last woman standing and I’m happy to be representing women poker players as I move further in the tournament,” said Minkin. “But at the end of the day, I don’t want to settle for being the last woman standing. I want to be the last person standing. It’s exciting to have gotten this far, but I hope this is just the beginning.”

It’s been 20 years since Poker Hall of Famer Barbara Enright finished fifth in the WSOP main event. She remains the only woman to ever make the final table of the summer series main event. The field that year was 273. This year’s starting field was 6,420.

A woman has finished 10th in the main event three times. In 1998, that feat was accomplished by Susie Isaacs. In 2000, it was Annie Duke who just missed out on the final table. In 2012, the honor belonged to Gaëlle Baumann.

Here is a look at the last women standing in the WSOP main event since the poker boom.

2015: Kelly Minkin — TBD
2014: Maria Ho — 77th
2013: Jackie Glazier — 31st
2012: Gaëlle Baumann — 10th
2011: Erika Moutinho — 29th
2010: Breeze Zuckerman — 121st
2009: Leo Margets — 27th
2008: Tiffany Michelle — 17th
2007: Maria Ho — 38th
2006: Sabyl Cohen-Landrum — 56th
2005: Tiffany Williamson — 15th
2004: Rose Richie — 98th

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2015 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

Related Articles

Training Your Mind To Withstand Variance In Poker

Poker Players File $30M Lawsuit Against Cheaters

Podcast: Kelly Minkin On Juggling Poker/Law Careers

Most Viewed Articles