Kristen Bicknell Wins Her Third World Series of Poker Gold Bracelet

Kristen Bicknell has become just the fourth female player ever to win three World Series of Poker gold bracelets, joining the likes of Barbara Enright, Vanessa Selbst, and Nani Dollison as a three-time champion at the series. The Canadian poker pro outlasted a field of 892 entries to win the 2020 WSOP Online $2,500 six-max no-limit hold’em event, earning the hardware and the top prize of $356,412.

Bicknell won her first bracelet back in 2013 by taking down the $1,000 Ladies no-limit hold’em championship for $173,922. Three years later she won her first open-field bracelet for defeating a field of 2,158 entries in a $1,500 bounty no-limit hold’em event. That title run earned her $290,768. Bicknell now has more than $5.4 million in recorded tournament earnings.

With a strong turnout, this event’s prize pool swelled to $2,118,500, with the top 116 finishers earning at least $6,022 for making the money. Among the big names to make deep runs were bracelet winner Danny Tang (21st – $11,697), two-time bracelet winner Norbert Szacsi (14th – $15,958), David Jackson ($21,771), and Chris Kruk (10th – $21,771).

When the field was narrowed down to the final six-handed table of the event, it was Belarmino De Souza who held the chip lead. Bicknell sat in fourth chip position following the elimination of Patrick Semrau in seventh place ($55,280). France’s Jerome Finck was the first to fall when he lost a preflop race holding 55 against the QJ of De Souza. The board gave De Souza a pair on the flop and a straight on the river to send Finck to the rail with $75,416 as the sixth-place finisher.

Bicknell won a healthy pot with flopped quads over the rivered full house of De Souza to work her way up the leaderboard a but before the next big confrontation arose. Simon Higgins moved all-in form under the gun for around ten big blind with pocket tens and Bicknell made the call holding A-K suited. She flopped top pair and a flush draw, and filled her flush on the end. Higgins was knocked out in fifth place, earning $102,887 for his deep run in this event.

Bicknell scored her second elimination at the final table by outrunning the AK of Dong Jiang with her AJ. Bicknell spiked a jack on the flop and held from there. Jiang cashed for $140,465 as the fourth-place finisher.

Bicknell worked her way into the lead during three handed play, and was one-card away from taking a 3:1 lead into heads-up play against Ilya Anatsky at one point. De Souza got allin with pocket jacks and Bicknell called with queens. De Souza picked up a flush draw on the turn, and caught another diamond on the river to win a massive pot to regain the top spot on the leaderboard. Bicknell fell to the bottom of the counts as result of losing the pot or nearly 80 big blinds.

Bicknell was able to rebuild from there, though, and overtook Anatsky to leave him as the short stack once again. The resident of Belarus eventually got his last chips in with 22 and lost a race against De Souza’s A4, which made a straight by the river. Anatsky earned $191,494 as the third-place finisher.

With that De Souza took roughly 15.8 million into heads-up play with Bicknell, who sat with 6.4 million. Bicknell won a sizable pot with pocket jacks against the busted straight and flush draws that De Souza turned into a bluff on the river. Bicknell doubled up to take the lead, and was then able to extend her advantage until she had built a 3:1 chip advantage.

In the final hand Bicknell limped in from the button with Q5 for 200,000. De Souza checked holding K9 and the flop came down K52. De Souza checked and Bicknell bet 200,000. De Souza check-raised to 837,500 and Bicknell called. The turn brought the 5 to give Bicknell trips and De Souza led for 1,062,500 with his kings and fives. Bicknell called in position and the river brought the J. De Souza moved all-in for 3,575,632 and Bicknell called to secure the pot and the title. De Souza was awarded $261,249 as the runner-up finisher.

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

Bicknell photo via partypoker LIVE.

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