Remko on the Rail – Dawley Does it in the Ladies Event!

Aside from the name and the split buy-in advertisement, the annual Ladies Event at the World Series of Poker is an event like any other. Chips fly, bad beats are dealt and taken, chip leaders rise and fall, and at the end of the day, a winner is crowned.

The fact however that this event is specifically for women always makes it that much more exciting, talked about and followed. Last night, Jessica Dawley took it down to ad yet another big name to the list of winners of this event.

Dawley was ecstatic with her win, the biggest of her career and her fourth cash in this very event since 2011. Talking to reporters after her win, Dawley said, “I can’t even put it into words.”

Dawley said how she kept picturing herself posing with the bracelet, but how she was trying to fight those thoughts and focus solely on the poker action. After a decade-long grind, Dawley now has a gold bracelet to show for and a sweet cash worth $130,230.

LFG!!!! ???????????????????????????? https://t.co/5rA8C8dBP2

— Jessica Dawley (@JessicaDawley) July 1, 2018

While Dawley won’t lose sleep over the fact that this event has dropped in popularity significantly over the last few years, it will be interesting to find out whether this trend will continue in future years. Dawley beat a field of 696 women, beating Jill Pike heads up at a final table that included Danielle ‘dmoongirl’ Andersen and Molly Mossey. The final table of this event was streamed live on Twitch, and you can relive it right here in the embedded player.

When it was all said and done, the official final table payouts were as following, with Andersen busting in 10th place for $6,799.

As previously mentioned, the Ladies Event has taken some blows when it comes to the field size. Here’s an overview of the field sizes of this event in the last 10 years.

There were some rumblings that a lot of women prefer playing other events these days, and some said that scheduling had an impact on it. It remains to be seen how this trend evolves, but any recreational player that makes a Las Vegas trip has to do some serious budgeting, and the offering of tournaments in the $300-$1,500 range is bigger than ever.

It goes without saying that it would be good news if women don’t feel the need to solely compete in the Ladies Event, or make it the focus of their Vegas trip, and spend their bankroll dollars elsewhere, but on the other hand, the Ladies Event is always seen as the perfect introduction for beginning live players. Opinions on Ladies’ Events vary from player to player, but year after year the atmosphere in the Rio is more jovial, talkative and friendly yet competitive during this event. This event is here to stay, it should stay, but it would be great for the game if in future years the numbers of entrants could creep up towards the four-figure mark!