The 2017 World Series of Poker Ladies Championship made one Australian woman’s dreams come true. Heidi May, who’s been playing live tournaments since 2011, slipped on her first ever WSOP bracelet in the $10,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship. She beat out 717 other competitors, earning her $135,098.
“I’m feeling pretty happy,” May told PokerNews after her win. “It feels really good to finally close one out… I think in the other tournaments I got really unlucky. This time, I ran really well.”
Last year, the 24-year-old placed 617th in the WSOP Main event, but has only moved up in the rankings. Her latest win marks her fifth cash in the WSOP this summer, including a 28th-place finish in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event last month. On the whole, she is a high-stakes cash and online tournament player in her native country.
May came into the third day of the event as the chip leader of the five remaining players, but her top spot didn’t last long. Brit Deborah Worley-Roberts had a hot start and turned a strong hand with pocket aces into a lead.
Start-of-day short stack Katherine Ansorge was the first to go after a nasty match up with American Julie Dang left her without many chips. She tried to make a comeback with a 10,3 suited shove, but Jane de la Cerra flopped a pair of kings and send home Ansorge with $29,258.
Despite Dang’s initial hit, she was the next one in a bind. In her final push, she went in on a 3,10 off-suit from the small blind and was called by Worley-Roberts with a K,Q. The latter managed to pair her lesser card and Dang earned $40,843 for fourth place.
Worley-Roberts had about two-thirds of the chips in play, with de la Cerra in the short stack at the first break. Heads up was not far away however, after May came back into the game and flopped trips. Soon after, May and de la Derra got into it when the former went to bat with an A,K suited against the American’s pocket eights. A king on the river knocked the competition into one-on-one mode.
After a series of poorly timed shoves, Worley-Roberts had lost her lead and then some by the time heads-up play began. May kept her edge and her lead, and was far ahead by the time Worley-Roberts went all in with a K,J. May called with pocket 10s and made a set on the flop, sealing the deal and securing her victory.
Final table results:
- Heidi May, Australia – $135,098
- Deborah Worley-Roberts, United Kingdom – $83,459
- Jane de la Cerra, United States – $57,930
- Julie Dang, United States – $40,843
- Katherine Ansorge, United States – $29,258
- Alexia Sterner, United States – $21,298
- Tiffany Lee, United States – $15,760
- Meg Zampino, United States – $11,858
- Karen Hodge, United States – $9,075
Photo credit: Logan Ingalls (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/]
