2008 WSOP FINAL RESULTS for Event 15
June 11, 2008
2008 World Series of Poker
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada
Official Report
Event # 15
Ladies World Poker Championship
No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $ 1,000
Number of Entries: 1,190
Number of Re-Buys: NA
Total Net Prize Pool: $ 1,082,900
June 8-10, 2008
Final Results:
1 Svetlana Gromenkova $224,702 New York New York
2 Anh Le $144,567 San Jose California
3 Patty Till $73,637 Avon Indiana
4 Christine Priday $87,715 Denver Colorado
5 Marla Crumpler $60,101 Fort Lauderdale Florida
6 Debbie Mitchell $47,106 Miramar Florida
7 Roslyn Quarto $36,277 Edison New Jersey
8 Yesenia Garcia $28,155 Modesto California
9 Sue Porter $20,034 Houston Texas
10 Tina Dubowy $12,887 Edmonds Washington
11 Ngoc Hoang $12,887 Las Vegas Nevada
12 Courtney Farrell $12,887 Norman Oklahoma
13 Jena Delk $10,179 Merrit Island Florida
14 Van Nguyen $10,179 Bell Gardens California
15 Christine Fanelli $10,179 Roebling New Jersey
16 Hoa Nguyen $7,472 Aurora Colorado
17 Dawn Murray $7,472 Hamburg New York
18 Mangala Martin $7,472 Las Vegas Nevada
19 Elaine Watkins $5,848 Billings Montana
20 Juli Campos $5,848 Vancouver Washington
21 Nancy Ricks $5,848 Jacksonville Florida
22 Shavonne Mitchell $5,848 Alexandria Virginia
23 Linda Johnson $5,848 Las Vegas Nevada
24 Enkhjargal Ochirbat $5,848 Diamond Bar California
25 Sheralee Brindell $5,848 Louisville Colorado
26 Marlene Holomon $5,848 Northrige California
27 Donna Delfin $5,848 Folson California
28 Alice Talbot $4,765 Arcadia California
29 Meliza Huynh $4,765 Chino Hills California
30 Tsai Mattox $4,765 Las Vegas Nevada
31 Pamela Caravan $4,765 Calgary Alberta, Canada
32 Julia Rea $4,765 Felton California
33 Jennifer Shahade $4,765 Philadelphia Pennsylvania
34 Jody Phillippo $4,765 Phoenix Arizona
35 Maria Mayrinck $4,765 Rio De Janeiro Brazil
36 Lisa Ahumada $4,765 Gahanna Ohio
37 Olga Varkonyi $3,682 Great Neck New York
38 Xiu Song $3,682 Vancouver British Columbia, Canada
39 Benay Karp $3,682 Woodland Hills California
40 Sylvia Shilyuk $3,682 London Ontario, Canada
41 Karen Black $3,682 Whittier Calfornia
42 Aimee Schwegel $3,682 Pomona New Jersey
43 Liina Vark $3,682 San Francisco California
44 Candida Mumford $3,682 Twin Falls Idaho
45 Amanda Leatherman $3,682 Los Angeles California
46 Deborah Barrett $3,357 Barrett Wyoming
47 Kathy Liebert $3,357 Las Vegas Nevada
48 Evelind Ng $3,357 Las Vegas Nevada
49 Elizabeth Montizanti $3,357 Hastings Nebraska
50 Noemi Kershner $3,357 Littleton Colorado
51 Mindy Ritchie $3,357 Irvine California
52 Stella Su $3,357 Sunnyvale California
53 Bonnie Overfield $3,357 East Wenatchee Washington
54 Kelly Mcglothlin $3,357 Palmdale California
55 Fukumi Hamasaki $3,032 Kaneohe Hawaii
56 Sunshine Gardner $3,032 West Wendover Nevada
57 Penny Musk $3,032 Danville Illinois
58 Joanne Owsley $3,032 Arlington Washington
59 Julie Willis $3,032 Colorado Springs Colorado
60 Michelle Law $3,032 San Marino Calfornia
61 Michelle Lam $3,032 Hamburg Germany
62 Nancy Todd Tyner $3,032 Las Vegas Nevada
63 Lauren Failla $3,032 Hollywood Florida
64 Adrienne Victory $2,707 Gibraltar British Territory
65 Lauren Meador $2,707 Corsicana Texas
66 Patricia Perkovich $2,707 Central City Colorado
67 Lona Rubenstein $2,707 E Hampton New York
68 Kate Doyle $2,707 Vancouver British Columbia, Canada
69 Day Bickell $2,707 Covina California
70 Dana Reutter $2,707 Lewis Center Ohio
71 Eileen Somerday $2,707 Auburn California
72 Giselle Dalka $2,707 Etobicoke Ontario, Canada
73 Loretta Larson $2,382 Bothell Washington
74 Donna Lee $2,382 Lewisville Texas
75 Valerie Palermo $2,382 Bullhead City Arizona
76 Doris Breese $2,382 Tucson Arizona
77 Wattana Cruz $2,382 Las Vegas Nevada
78 Charlotte Johnson $2,382 Akron Ohio
79 Helena Mancini $2,382 Kanata Ontario, Canada
80 Janet Howard $2,382 Garland Texas
81 Joanna Long $2,382 Kelowna British Columbia, Canada
82 Sheila Lipkowitz $2,166 Montreal Quebec, Canada
83 Bonnie Castillo $2,166 Ellicott City Maryland
84 Cheryl Kolstad $2,166 Huntington Beach California
85 Rosemarie Rodas $2,166 Fountain Valley California
86 Christina Tisdale $2,166 Las Vegas Nevada
87 Deborah Kindt $2,166 Landsdale Pennsylvania
88 Amy Rennert $2,166 Tiburon California
89 Hillarie Tuman $2,166 San Francisco California
90 Veronica Dabul $2,166 Buenos Aires Argentina
91 Shannon Romero $1,949 Los Lunas New Mexico
92 Deborah Hickok $1,949 Warren Oregon
93 Heather Escuin $1,949 Las Vegas Nevada
94 April Matthews $1,949 Austin Texas
95 Cynthia Patterson $1,949 Chatsworth Georgia
96 Clio Soleil $1,949 Las Vegas Nevada
97 Mo Han $1,949 Las Vegas Nevada
98 Iranys Rodriquez $1,949 Orlando Florida
99 Annie Lepage $1,949 Las Vegas Nevada
Tournament Notes:
· The 2008 Ladies World Poker Championship attracted 1,190 entries, which was the second-largest women’s-only event in poker history. The buy in was $1,000, creating a prize pool totaling $1,082,900. The top 99 finishers collected prize money. This was only the second million-dollar prize pool for a ladies event in history.
· The Ladies World Poker Championship has been played every year since 1977. Hence, this was the 31st straight year of the competition. During the first two decades, the ladies competed by playing Seven-Card Stud. In 2001, the format was changed to Hold’em.
· From 1977 through 2003, this event was traditionally played on Mothers Day. At the time, the WSOP took place during the months of April and May. Accordingly, Mothers Day Sunday was reserved for ladies. This proved to be a conflict for many ladies who wanted to compete in the event, but who also had family commitments on that day. So, the event was moved to a different day in 2004. The WSOP has been played during the summer months since 2005.
· Only two women have won two Ladies Poker World Championships. This short list includes Barbara Enright and Susie Isaacs.
· Susie Isaacs holds another record in this event, which will be difficult to match. She cashed five out of six years in this competition between 1991 and 1997.
· This event is historic for at least one more reason. It produced the first WSOP gold bracelet winner of color. This year marked the 25th anniversary of Carolyn Gardner’s victory in the 1983 Ladies World Poker Championship.
· The tournament was played over three days. On Day Three, the final table was dealt out on the ESPN main stage, also known as the “feature table.” Two other final tables (Events #16 and #17) overlapped this conclusion of this event, which were played at secondary final tables, located adjacent to the main stage area. This is expected to be the only day at this year’s WSOP which will feature three simultaneous final tables.
· The tournament began with WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack announcing to all the players that the ladies-only tournament will continue to be a world championship event, with a gold bracelet awarded to the winner – so long as ladies continue to support the tradition in large numbers. Judging by the enthusiastic response of the crowd assembled inside the Rio, this will be a gold bracelet tournament for many years to come. Note: There has been some controversy about the implications of offering “women’s only” poker tournaments. Opponents of the concept argue that women do not need to be singled out with a special event, since they are just as capable of competing in “open” events with men. However, there is no question the ladies tournament remains a popular attraction on the WSOP schedule.
· Actress/TV star Jackie Collins was on hand to announce “shuffle up and deal,” which is the official phrase which starts the tournament. Before filling the tournament room with those magic words however, Collins, the diva of female empowerment, remarked “I’m ready to see some ladies kick ass, so let’s do it!” Collins recently penned another tell-all book called “Married Lovers,” which hits bookstores this week.
· This was the second year of the Queen of Hearts poker team. The group consists of 37 celebrities and poker professionals. Each player vowed to dedicate 20 percent of her winnings in this event to the official charity of the WSOP, the Nevada Cancer Institute. The Queen of Hearts poker team was founded by Lisa Tenner. Members were recognized before the start of the tournament.
· The Queen of Hearts team ensured that many well-known names and faces would be in attendance for this event. Jackie Collins was the honorary team captain. Other famous names on the team who played in the event included Cheryl Hines (from HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm), Mindy McCready (country music star), Mimi Rogers (actress), and others.
· Several former Ladies World Champions entered this event, including Barbara Enright, Susie Isaacs, Mary Jones, and the defending champion – Sally Ann Boyer. However, none of these former winners cashed.
· The winner was Svetlana Gromenkova, from New York, NY. She was born near Moscow, Russia and immigrated to the United States about six years ago.
· Gromenkova collected $224,702 in prize money for first place. She also earned her first WSOP gold bracelet. The winner was also presented with a custom-designed gold and diamond ladies watch, exclusively designed by Corum USA. WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack made the official presentation to the new champion.
· Gromenkova is the friend of Las Vegas-based professional poker player Anthony Rivera, who won the Half Omaha/Half Stud championship last week. Rivera gave Gromenkova his sunglasses to wear at the table, which turned out to be good luck. Gromenkova later claimed that the lucky sunglasses were hers and that Rivera had “borrowed” them during his final table victory. The sunglasses have earned the two players about half a million dollars within the past week.
· “I want people to know I’m a good player,” Gromenkova said afterward. “And they will know it now.”
· The second-place finisher was Anh Le, from San Jose, CA. Le has been the runner up in this event before. In 2005, she finished second to actress Jennifer Tilly.
· After the tournament ended, Gromenkova who was aware of her opponent’s two second-place showings in this event, approached Le and said, “Nice job. I’m really sorry.” Le took the gesture well and responded, “No – you played fantastic.”
· Patty Till, from Avon, IN graduated from the “WSOP Academy Ladies Only Poker Camp” which was held the previous week at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. She ended up as the third place finisher. The poker camp is creating some talented poker players, proven by Till’s impressive finish in this tournament and Sally Anne Boyer’s victory last year (the 2007 Ladies World Poker Champion also attended the poker camp prior to the start of the tournament.).
· The final table lasted about six hours.
· Notable finishes included former gold bracelet winner Linda Johnson, who finished 23rd. Former gold bracelet winner Kathy Liebert took 47th. And Olga Varkonyi, wife of 2002 WSOP champion Robert Varkonyi finished 37th.
· This event included the first-ever “excessive celebration” penalty. In use for the first time, the WSOP established a new rule this year which states players cannot celebrate beyond a routine duration of time. On Day One, a female player celebrated her winning hand to the detriment of others players at her table. Following her penalty, she rejoined the tournament and continued play.
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