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

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

WSOP Ladies Championship – Big Names
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.

📷  © World Series of Poker- WSOP Ladies Championship - Alex Foxen
📷  © World Series of Poker- WSOP Ladies Championship - Alex Foxen

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

Year

Event name

Entries

Winner

Prize

1977

$100 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

93

Jackie McDaniels

$5,580

1978

$200 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

84

Terry King

$10,080

1979

$400 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

53

Barbara Freer

$12,720

1980

$400 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

62

Deby Callihan

$14,880

1981

$400 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

88

Ruth Godfrey

$17,600

1982

$500 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

64

June Field

$16,000

1983

$500 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

64

Carolyn Gardner

$16,000

1984

$500 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

62

Karen Wolfson

$15,000

1985

$500 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

74

Rose Pifer

$18,500

1986

$500 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

82

Barbara Enright

$16,400

1987

$500 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

84

Linda Ryke-Drucker

$16,800

1988

$500 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

85

Loretta Huber

$17,000

1989

$500 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

93

Alma McClelland

$18,600

1990

$500 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

110

Marie Gabert

$22,000

1991

$500 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

141

Donna Ward

$28,200

1992

$1,000 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

155

Shari Flanzer

$38,000

1993

$1,000 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

82

Phyllis Kessler

$32,800

1994

$1,000 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

96

Barbara Enright

$38,400

1995

$1,000 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

88

Starla Brodie

$35,200

1996

$1,000 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

105

Susie Isaacs

$42,000

1997

$1,000 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

95

Susie Isaacs

$38,000

1998

$1,000 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

100

Mandy Commanda

$40,000

1999

$1,000 Ladies' Limit Seven Card Stud

85

Christina Pie

$34,000

2000

$1,000 Ladies' Limit Hold'em/Seven Card Stud

133

Nani Dollison

$53,200

2001

$1,000 Ladies' Limit Hold'em/Seven Card Stud

106

Nani Dollison

$41,130

2002

$1,000 Ladies' Limit Hold'em/Seven Card Stud

107

Catherine Brown

$39,880

2003

$1,000 Ladies' Limit Hold'em/Seven Card Stud

112

Barb Rugolo

$40,700

2004

$1,000 Ladies' Limit Hold'em

201

Hung Doan

$58,530

2005

$1,000 Ladies' No Limit Hold'em

601

Jennifer Tilly

$158,335

2006

$1,000 Ladies' No Limit Hold'em

1,128

Mary Jones Meyer

$236,094

2007

$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship

1,286

Sally Boyer

$262,077

2008]

$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship

1,190

Svetlana Gromenkova

$224,702

2009

$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship

1,060

Lisa Hamilton

$195,390

2010

$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship

1,054

Vanessa Hellebuyck

$192,132

2011

$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship

1,055

Marsha Wolak

$192,344

2012

$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship

936

Yen Dang

$170,587

2013

$10,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship[c]

954

Kristen Bicknell

$173,922

2014

$10,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship[c]

793

Haixia Zhang

$153,470

2015

$10,000/$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship[c]

795

Jacquelyn Scott

$153,876

2016

$10,000/$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship

819

 Courtney Kennedy

$149,108

2017

$10,000/$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship

718

Heidi May

$135,098

2018

$10,000/$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship[c]

696

Jessica Dawley

$130,230

2019

$10,000/$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship

968

Jiyoung Kim

$167,308

2020

not held

2021

$10,000/$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship

644

Lara Eisenberg

$115,694

2022

$10,000/$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship

1,074

Jessica Teusl

$166,975

2023

$10,000/$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship

1,295

Tamar Abraham

$192,167

2024

$10,000/$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em Championship

1,245

Shiina Okamoto

$171,732

Sean Chaffin is a full-time freelance writer based in Ruidoso, New Mexico. He covers poker, gambling, the casino industry, and numerous other topics. Follow him on Twitter at @PokerTraditions and email him at seanchaffin@sbcglobal.net.