Pike and Fong Chasing Back-to-Back Podium in Event #47: $1,000/$10,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship; Ana Marquez Still in Contention
Day 2 of Event #47: $1,000/$10,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship is in the books. After two days of play, only 43 players remain out of the original 968 entries.
Leading the way is Tu Dao with an impressive stack of 968,000. Dao was down to to 13 big blinds at the start of the last level of the night and managed to double with ace-nine against Katie Lindsay’s king-eight in a blind versus blind situation. She kept running hot after this, eventually bagging the chip lead. She is followed by Nancy Matson with a stack of 856,000. Matson has a WSOP Circuit ring and will be looking to claim her first bracelet. Veronica Brill rounds up the top three with 853,000 in the bag.
The day started with 261 competitors returning to the felt but players started hitting the rail at a rapid pace with many notables busting before the money, including Nicole Malekova, Kelly Minkin, Tara Snow,, Christina Read, and Stacey Nutini.
The tournament entered the hand-for-hand portion of play at Level 15 of the day and only lasted one hand. Indeed, on the very first hand, the money bubble burst with the elimination of Sarah Pluard. Pluard was all in from the small blind for less than a big blind left with seven-six suited and was eliminated by Nancy Davilla who limped under the gun with ace-ten suited. Davilla turned an ace and that was it for Pluard’s tournament life.
At this point, players started heading to the payout desk at an even faster rate including many notables such as Maria Ho (141st place - $1,496), Nancy Birnbaum (121st place - $1,554), Barbara Cardin (103rd place - $1,554), Starr Valdez (93rd - $1,643), Leslie Haggerty (82nd place - $1,769), Marsha Wolak (61st - $2,450).
Other players who bagged big stacks include Lexy Gavin (830,000), Vanessa Kade (787,000), and Barbara Blechinger (645,000). Blechinger chopped a Ladies event in Vegas just a couple of days ago.
Other big names to make it another day include bracelet winners Jackie Glazier (512,000), and Kathy Liebert (315,000) as well as Jill Pike (568,000), Lisa Fong (93,000), and Deborah Worley-Roberts (330,000) and Ana Marquez (615,000), and Katie Lindsay (308,000). Pike and Fong were battling it out at the same table during most of the day and were already familiar with each other’s game as they both made the final table of this event last year. Fong got third for $55,812 and Pike was the runner-up for $80,444 in 2018. They will be looking to make another deep run in this tournament and get closer to the bracelet.
As for Worley-Roberts, she was the runner-up of this event in 2017 and will be looking to close it out this time. Roberts played her best game today. Indeed, she made a great laydown when Jill Pike raised with aces and Kate Kopp shoved with queens. Worley-Roberts called with kings but managed to save the rest of her stack after Pike reshoved with aces and got a round of applause from her opponents at the table.
888poker ambassador Marquez has had a great start to her summer with a 10th place finish in Event #19: Millionaire Maker- $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em for a five-figure score of $95,720. She will try to add another big score to her summer resume. Marquez eliminated Maria Lampropulos within the last five hands of the night with ace-king against Lampropulos’ jacks in an all-in preflop situation. Marquez flopped an ace and it was over for Lampropulos’s fantastic run.
Day 1 Chip Leader Jennifer Lopez also found a bag for Day 3 with a stack of 474,000.
The remaining 43 players are guaranteed $3,309 for making it to Day 3. However, they will all have their eyes on the WSOP gold bracelet and the top prize of $167,308. They will return on Saturday, June 22 at 12pm local time and will play down to the final six. Play will resume at Level 21 which features a small blind of 8,000, big blind of 16,000 and an ante of 16,000.