History Made As WSOP Circuit Crowns Its First Female Main Event Winner

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Monday, April 27th, 2015 | Written by Adam Brown

The World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) first launched in 2005, and although 156 main events have been held during that time, the tour had yet to crown its first female main event champion. On Monday night, however, history was made after the Taiwanese born Michelle Chin took down the Horseshoe Council Bluffs $1,675 Main Event title for $88,126, despite it being only the tenth live tournament she had entered. Following her landmark victory, the WSOP Circuit’s first woman main event champion, commented:

“It means a lot to me. There aren’t too many women in the poker community. We like to see more and more women play because it is a fun game. No matter what sex you are you should be able to enjoy it. It means a lot to me. I hope I encourage a lot of other girls to come out and play.”

WSOPC History Made In Iowa

Prior to her victory, Michelle Chin had cashed at just two live poker tournaments, both of which were WSOP Circuit events, with her biggest score involving a $7,188 payday. At the $1,675 WSOPC Main Event in Iowa, a total of 235 players entered the competition and Michelle Chin would then have to make her way through three days of tough grind against some of the best players in the game to eventually reach a nine seated final table, featuring such notable pros as Blair Hinkle, Alex Masek and Chris Karambinis.

Eventually, Chin would progress all the way through to heads-up play, where she managed to make the most of her 2-1 chip advantage over Mike Lang to eventually force him to go all-in holding 10-8 off-suit. Chin made the call with pocket sevens and following the dealer laying out a K-J-2-10-7 board, the Kansas resident was crowned the tour’s first female main event winner.

Historic Triple Victory In Oregon

April is proving to be an incredible month for woman poker players, as earlier this month Angela Jordison completed a trio of victories never before seen in the game, in which she managed to overcome odds of more than 51 million to one to win three consecutive poker tournaments. Jordison amazing run took place at the 2015 Spring Poker Round Up hosted at the Wildhorse Resort & Casino in Pendleton, Oregon, where on April 10th, she took down Event #1: $125 No-Limit Hold’em (537 players) for $10,828, followed by Event #2: $225 No-Limit Hold’em (448 players) for $18,348, before finally completing her hat-trick of victories at Event #3: No-Limit Shootout (215 players) for $8,731. Commenting following her unprecedented three-day run which netted her a total of $37,907 in winnings, Angela Jordison said:

“The last three tourneys have become a blur. I have played more heads-up in the last three days than I ever have in my life. I had hands hold against big draws, suck outs, big lay downs, taken beats, and thrown some big bluffs. There were times that I had a difficult time in containing my aggression and my stack was up and down like a yo-yo.”

More Woman Attracted To Poker

The image of poker has come a long way since days of yore when it was seen as the domain of a bunch of sweaty men staring at each other across a smokey gambling den. These days, casinos and online poker websites recognize the importance of making their tournaments more accessible to female players, not only to help gender equality, but also because attracting more woman to the poker ecology provides one of the best ways to increase potential revenue growth.

Online poker rooms are therefore constantly looking out for role models to inspire other woman to take up the game, and go to great lengths to offer them lucrative sponsorship deals. One example includes PokerStars, whose Team PokerStars Pro includes such notable women players as Vanessa Selbst, Liv Boeree, Leo Margets, Celina Lin, Vivian Im, Fatima Moreira De Melo, and Adrienne ‘Talonchick’ Rowsome.

Furthermore, there is now plenty of evidence to suggest poker operators are successfully managing to change the gender equality imbalance in the game, albeit slowly, and according to French regulator ARJEL around 12% of online poker players in the country are women, while in Italy that figure rises to an impressive 19%. Finally, global poker leader PokerStars recently introduced online slots to its gambling mix, which has traditionally been a game that attracts a high proportion of female players, and it is hoped once signed up they may then be persuaded to try their luck at the poker tables.