2016 WSOP: The Ladies Stike Back with 2 Bracelets

Ladies competing at this year’s WSOP have finally got them themselves on the official bracelet board, after Canada’s Kristen Bicknell took down Event #46: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Bounty for $290,768 last week, followed two days later by Russian pro Safiya Umerova (photo) winning Event #50: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout for $264,046.
Kristen Bicknell, 29, got the bracelet ball rolling after overcoming a field of 2,158 players over three days at the $1,500 no-limit hold’em bounty event. Interestingly, Bicknell had captured her first bracelet a few year’s earlier at the 2013 WSOP $1k NLHE Ladies Championships for $173,922, and commenting on her impressive results stated:
“I beat out a lot of good players, in both the tournaments I won. Yes, this is still a validation. But there are a lot of great female poker players, too. There’s lots of them.
Final Table Results:
1: Kristen Bicknell $290,768
2: Norbert Szecsi $179,625
3: John Myung $130,588
4: Ryan Leng $95,857
5: Will Failla $71,049
6: Sebastien Comel $53,181
7: Steven Gee $40,203
8: Fadi Hamad $30,697
9: Jason Singleton $23,678
During the same week, Safiya Umerova then bested a field of 1,050 players over three days at the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout event to capture her first career bracelet. After defeating her last opponent heads-up, Scottish pro Niall Farrell, the Russian pro commented:
“I think women poker players are underestimated. It happens to me, all the time when I was at the table. They would underestimate my thinking and my game, overall. I studied the game almost every day. I read a lot of books. I had people help me. I worked very much on my game to get here. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t work hard on my game.”
Final Table Results:
1: Safiya Umerova $264,046
2: Niall Farrell $163,158
3: Michael Mixer $118,109
4: Yuliyan Kolev $86,513
5: Damian Salas $64,129
6: Raymond Ho $48,115
7: Daniel McAulay $36,543
8: Daniel Tang $28,101
9: Alexander Lakhov $21,881
Prior to their results, the ladies had already been doing rather well in Las Vegas this year, with the likes of Lisa Meredith finishing Event 14: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Millionaire Maker in 3rd place for $500,000, Maria Ho managing a 4th place finish at Event 42: $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout for $87,487, and China’s Linglin Zeng finishing Event #52: $3,000 No Limit Hold’em in 5th for $130,191.