Go Rebecca!
The final hand of the tournament came when Mimi Kalem tried to bluff and steal a round of blinds and antes pre-flop with Q-6 suited but ran into Sessler?s monster hand ? appropriately enough pocket queens. Kalem flopped a six and had a chance to put a bad beat on the wicked male intruder. But the cards ultimately fell in Sessler???s favor and Kalem was unable to strike a blow for global sisterhood. Kalem, a teacher from Cameron Park, CA received $5,308 as the runner up.
Finishing in third place was Corinn ?Princess? Ignatieff, from Templeton, CA. She is the owner of a comedy club. Princess played well, but took a bad beat on her final hand and had to settle for a $3,715 payout.
The fourth-place finisher was Candy Alexander, from Cameron Park, CA. She works as an executive director. She once organized a poker tournament for charity which raised $20,000. Alexander collected a nice payout in this tournament totaling $2,626.
Linda Peverini finished in fifth place. She is a retired teacher from Clovis, CA. This was her highest tournament finish ever.
The sixth-place finisher was Tera Brown, from Austin, TX. She is an airplane pilot. Brown learned to play poker from her grandmother, and once played against Doyle Brunson.
Persia Bonella, from Hayward, CA finished in seventh place. She is a research associate originally from the Philippines. This was Bonella???s first time to make a final table appearance in a WSOP Circuit tournament.
Rebecca Burnside took eighth place. She is a human resources director from San Francisco. This was Burnside???s best finish ever in a WSOP Circuit event.
The ninth-place finisher was Rose Erhart, a small business owner from Ione, CA. She initially started playing poker after receiving an invitation from Harrah???s to play in their monthly freeroll poker tournament.
With 17 events now completed at this year?s WSOP Circuit at Harvey?s, the tournament series has attracted more than 2,600 entries and has awarded more than $1.3 million in total prize money.
It?s peculiarly ironic that Greg Sessler won the 2009 Ladies Poker Championship at Harvey?s Lake Tahoe holding two ladies in his final hand ??? pocket queens.
Indeed, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. Perhaps the only consolation prize proponents of ladies-only poker tournaments can take from the horror show of a stag male crashing the party was the fact that Sessler???s victory came at the unbearable late hour of 5:45 in the morning, inside a nearly vacated tournament room. Except for a few baffled onlookers, there was no cheering section for the college kid from UC-Davis.
Which now begs the question ??? if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?
OfJames
