History of the WSOP Ladies Championship from Beginning to the Current Day!

When Shiina Okamoto was crowned champion of the annual Ladies Championship at the World Series of Poker this summer, the victory was a bit of a redemption after a massive two-year run. The player from Japan won her first bracelet for$171,732 after taking runner-up in 2023 for $118,768.

“After finishing second last year and with all my supporters here, winning this year feels even more special,” she said after the event.

It was an impressive run that etched her name among some of the poker greats who have risen to the top in the event. As the poker world has worked to get more women into the game, with various levels of success, the tournament has been a mainstay on the annual series schedule and attracted a record field of 1,295 entries in 2023.

Poker tournaments have changed over the years and have grown in popularity along with the game overall. Many female players love getting in the action and enjoy the camaraderie and shared love of poker.

WSOP Ladies Championship - Early Days – 1970s and 80s

The Ladies Championship was one of poker's first big efforts to attract women to the game. It began in 1977 with a $100 Limit Seven-Card Stud event.

• That debut tournament attracted a field of 93 players, with Jackie McDaniels coming out on top for $5,580. This amount remains one of the smallest WSOP winning payouts in the history of the series.

• A year later, the buy-in was raised to $200, and California's Terry King topped a field of 93, taking the title and a top prize of $10,080.

• In 1979, the buy-in was raised to $400 and stayed at that level through 1981 before increasing to $500 through 1991.

A few names stand out in women’s poker history during these years. Three-time bracelet winner Barbara Enright scored a win in 1986 for $16,400 and then claimed the title again in 1994 for $38,400. She added a bracelet in a $2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em event in 1996 for $180,000, becoming the first woman to win a WSOP event open to all genders.

Enright then became the only woman to reach the final table of the $10,000 Main Event in 1995, finishing fifth for $114,180. In 2007, she was also the first woman inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

“It was more than 30 years ago, so it was a different time obviously, but I remember the players being pretty welcoming,” she told Card Player magazine of those early years.

“I never had too many problems with the guys, and most of them were really nice. The only thing that ever bothered me was the smoke. They didn’t have smoke-free poker rooms back then.”

WSOP Ladies Championship - Early Days – 1990s

Karen Wolfson won the event in 1984 for $15,500 and shined in the event for several years, finishing runner-up in 1995 and ‘97. Alma McClelland, the wife of former WSOP tournament director Jack McClelland, came out on top in 1989 for $18,600.

The event didn't break 100 players until 1990, when it attracted a field of 110, with Marie Gabert taking the bracelet for $22,000. She remains a regular in smaller tournaments in Nevada.

The buy-in was raised to $1,000 in 1992 and remains at that level today, although that is now officially $10,000 with a $9,000 discount for women to discourage men from entering.

Las Vegas poker pro and author Susan Isaacs went back to back with wins in 1996 and ‘97. She followed that up in 1998 with a 10th-place finish in the Main Event for $40,000. Isaacs later released, “MsPoker: Up Close & Personal”, chronicling her life in the game and offering strategy tips in one of the more popular poker books.

WSOP Ladies Championship – Big Names

In 2000, the tournament format changed to a mix of Seven-Card Stud and Limit Hold’em, bringing in the largest field ever at 133 players. South Korea’s Kun Nan "Nani" Dollison found the winner’s circle for $53,200. A year later she won a $2,000 Limit Hold'em event for $441,440 and then became the second woman to win back-to-back in the Ladies Championship for another $41,130.

With the poker boom taking off in the 2000s, the Ladies Championship saw a considerable increase in players. In 2004, the Seven-Stud element was removed, and Hung Doan came out on top for $58,530 in a Limit Hold’em event with the biggest field to date of 201 players.

A year later, the format switched to No-Limit Hold'em and saw massive growth as the variant gained popularity thanks to televised poker and the surge in popularity of online poker. That year, 601 players created a $546,910 prize pool and a top payout of $158,335.

Ultimately, Jennifer Tilly secured the win, gaining her notoriety and attracting massive media attention. The Oscar-nominated actress's father had been a gambler and poker player. She later began dating poker pro Phil Laak and started playing even more during the poker boom of the 2000s.

“When you’re living with Phil, you kind of learn by osmosis,” she said at the time.

“Even in the middle of the night, he wakes up screaming out poker terms. Most guys scream out other girls’ names.”

WSOP Ladies Championship - Recent Breakout Winners

In 2007, the WSOP launched the World Series of Poker Ladies Academy to get more women into the game. Sally Boyer had been playing for less than a year and attended the poker boot camp. That proved an excellent decision as she went on to win the Ladies Championship for $262,077. The tournament attracted a record 1,286 entries.

By 2013, participation had fallen to 954 players, and one of the best female players of all time grabbed the crown. Kristen (Bicknell) Foxen scored her first bracelet for $173,922. The Canadian poker pro learned the game in college and now has four bracelets, more than any other female player.

Foxen, who married fellow poker pro Alex Foxen in 2022, made headlines this summer when she made a massive run in the record-setting Main Event. This story is straight out any of the best poker movies, as she ultimately finished 13th out of a record 10,112 players for $600,000.

“It was a very disappointing finish; I really wanted that bracelet, and I played my heart out,” she noted on Twitter after the event.

“Very grateful for the opportunity to play in such a monumental tournament.”

Attendance in the event dropped for several years with poker pro Jessica Dawley winning in 2018 and talented part-time player and radiologist Lara Eisenberg taking the crown in 2021.

Eisenberg spoke for many women players after winning her first bracelet:

"It's an absolute dream come true," she said. "I came into this event hoping that maybe sometime I would make a final table, and to walk away winning it is an indescribable feeling. The event has been really amazing. It was so much fun. There was a lot of joking around, and everyone was really supportive. It was all around just a fabulous event. There were some tough competitors."

WSOP Ladies Championship - WINNERS