Tamar Abraham Wins Largest World Series of Poker Ladies Event Ever Held

The 2023 World Series of Poker $1,000 ladies no-limit hold’em championship attracted a field of 1,295 entries to set a new record for the event. Before this year, the largest field had been the 1,286 entries made in the 2007 running.

The huge turnout resulted in 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 her first WSOP gold bracelet.

This was the largest live tournament score yet for Abraham, and her third in-the-money showing in this event. She has now cashed three out of the last five times that this tournament was held, including a 45th-place finish in 2021 and a 30th-place finish in 2018. She now has more than $218,000 in career earnings after this latest victory.

The record turnout for this event resulted in the top 195 finishers making the 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 in the lead and Abraham in the middle of the pack with seven contenders remaining.

After Chrysi Phiniotis was knocked out in seventh place ($26,277), Abraham earned a massive double-up with a set of eights against the set of three held by Okamoto. Abraham then eliminated Tara Cain (6th – $34,679), with A-Q overcoming Cain’s pocket kings via an ace on the river.

Okamoto picked up A-K against the A-7 suited of Mary Dvorkin to score the next knockout. Dvorkin flopped a flush draw while Okamoto improved to trip kings. The turn and river provided no more assistance to Dvorkin, though, and she was eliminated in fifth place ($46,333).

Suzanne Malavet’s run in this event came to an end when her A-J clashed with the A-K of a surging Abraham. Neither player connected with the board and Malavet was sent to the rail in fourth place with $62,658 for her efforts.

Las Vegas’ Naqm Nguyen was the next to fall, with his J-7 suited unable to overcome the A-10 of Okamoto. Nguyen did flop a flush draw, but bricked out from there to finish third for $85,756.

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

Okamoto was awarded $118,768 as the runner-up finisher, the largest live tournament score yet for the Japanese player.

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

Visit the Card Player 2023 World Series of Poker page for schedules, news, interviews, and the latest event results. WSOP coverage sponsored by Global Poker.

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

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