Lisa Hamilton Wins WSOP Ladies Championship

Lisa Hamilton moved from Hawaii to Las Vegas in 2005, and while she does not describe herself as a professional poker player she can be found playing in many of Las Vegas highest-stake No Limit Hold’em cash games quite often. Not a big fan of tournaments, Lisa Hamilton decided to give the ladies event a try anyways. In the end this decision paid off as she captured the 2009 WSOP Ladies event championship which included $195,390 first place prize money and a WSOP bracelet.

2009 WSOP Ladies Event (Event 17) Final Table Report

When the ladies event started a couple days earlier there were 1,060 entrants, at the start of today it was just nine survivors returning to play it out for the WSOP bracelet and $195,390 top place prize money. At the summit was Lori Bender as chip-leader with both Angel Pedroza and Lisa Hamilton hot on her trail. These ladies wasted little time determining the champion as final table play lasted under four hours.

The first woman to the rail was Lisa Santy when her Ah Qh ran into Kim Rios’ pocket Aces. Following her to the rail was Dawn Thomas who pushed all in for 255K preflop with pocket tens only to run into Lori Bender’s pocket Kings.

Lisa Parsons had to settle for $22,880 and seventh place after a sick beat saw her go from double up to elimination. On this hand Kim Rios raised to 40K from the button, Parsons responded with a raise to 116K, Rios called and the flop came 3c 9h 7h. Parsons checked, Rios bet 100K, Parsons check-raised all in for 290K and Rios snap called flipping over Jc9c for top pair. Parsons tabled 3s3d for a set. The turn fell the 7h, giving Parsons a full house and sending her cheering section into a premature celebration. However, realizing that a river nine or seven could beat her, Parsons told the dealer, “Show me a deuce.” Instead of a deuce, the 9d fell on the river, giving Rios a bigger full house and eliminating Parsons in seventh place.

Kim Rios was the next player eliminated after she min raised to 40K preflop, Lisa Hamilton called and the flop came Kd 8h 4c. Rios bet out 100K, Hamilton raised to 350K, Rios moved all-in and Hamilton snap called. Rios showed Kc Jd for top pair and Hamilton showed 4s4h for a set. The turn and river were no help and Rios collected $29,121 for her sixth place finish.

Kimberly Cunningham who was short stacked for much of the final table pushed in her final 51K chips with pocket sixes and was called by Angel Pedroza who held 10c 7d. The flop came Kc 10h 9c to give Pedroza the lead and with no six on the turn or river Cunningham collected $38,719 as the fifth place finisher.

After losing several key pots to Lisa Hamilton, Angel Pedroza found herself short stacked with just 60K chips left when she tossed them in with 5h 3c from the BB and got action from Morelli who held Ac 10c. The board ran 3s Ah 2h 7s Ah and Pedroza’s tournament was over. She collected $53,940 for forth place.

Three handed play did not last long and we were heads up after a hand that saw Mari Lou Morelli raise to 75K and Lori Bender call. On the flop of 8c Kc 10h, Bender bet 125K and Morelli pushed all in for a little more. Bender made the call with 9c 8h for bottom pair and Morelli tabled Qc 10s for middle pair. The 7s turn helped neither player, but the river 9s gave Bender two pair and sent Morelli to the rail. Mari Lou Morelli took home $78,132 for her third-place finish.

At the start of heads up play Lisa Hamilton had a 2.6-to-1 chip lead with 2.3 million chips to Lori Bender 865K. Only a few hands into the match Bender checked the flop of Jc 3s 8c to Hamilton, who bet 100K and Bender then called. The turn was a 4s Bender checked, Hamilton bet 300K, Bender shoved all in for 697K and after tanking for a moment Hamilton called. Hamilton flipped over Qs 8s for second pair and Bender showed 8h 9s for the same pair with a lower kicker. The river came Ah crowning Lisa Hamilton the 2009 Ladies World Champion as Lori Bender finished runner-up receiving $120,575.