Vanessa Truong Rewrites WSOP Record Books

The World Series of Poker Circuit wrapped up another huge stop at Harrah’s Cherokee with 1,164 entrants in the Main Event. Incredibly, Vanessa Truong registered her first tournament cash when she took down the massive event for $318,646 and earned a spot in WSOP history.

Truong, originally from Vietnam, works as a nail technician in Raleigh, North Carolina and the gravity of her win hadn’t set in yet. “(I) Can’t explain it, kind of like a dream,” Truong said to the WSOP after winning the title.

Day 3 was up and down day for Truong until she made the final table – where she served up six of the eight eliminations. But more importantly, Truong is just the second female WSOP Circuit Main Event champion in the tour’s history.

The only other female Main Event winner is Yashou (Michelle) Chin. She won Council Bluffs in 2015 for $88,126 in a field of 235 entrants. Since the WSOPC’s inception there have been 213 total Main Events.

Truong earned the largest payout for a woman on the WSOPC with her win and ranks her among the WSOPC’s best female players. Three woman are tied for the lead with three rings each – Loni Harwood, La Sengphet and Nancy Birnbaum. Sengphet has one of the other highest-recorded cashes on the tour for a female player with $100,000 for her fourth-place finish in the 2011 National Championship.

Six woman have won two rings on the WSOPC: Patricia Till, Janet Fitzgerald, Daphne Turner, Donna Delfin, Veronica Heath and Sylva Simordova.

The first WSOP Circuit event took place in January of 2005 and featured higher buy-ins with a Regional Championship mixed in for the first couple seasons. The WSOPC as we know it today evolved between the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

Final Table Payouts

1. Vanessa Truong – $318,646
2. Daniel Pearlman – $196,809
3. Joshua Horton – $146,245
4. Dustin Nelson – $109,998
5. Jason Gooch – $83,756
6. Jose Anaya – $64,532
7. Billy Cahswell – $50,302
8. Michael Horchoff – $39,652
9. Corey Bierria – $31,603