The success continued for the ladies Tuesday night at the 44th Annual World Series of Poker as Dana Castaneda became the first woman to win an open bracelet event since Vanessa Selbst did last year.
The $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em victory, which earned her $454,207 and a gold bracelet, is the most recent in a string of successes for the ladies and marks the largest score for a female this summer. Additionally, she became the eighth female to make a final table appearance at the 2013 World Series of Poker. It also comes just one day after Loni Harwood’s fourth place finish worth over $200,000 in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Event 53.
The win came at the expense of an individual looking to to keep some good times of his own going — Canadian Jason Bigelow. A victory by Bigelow would have marked a record-extending 11th Canadian gold bracelet victory at the 2013 WSOP. He finished second for $281,991.
Castenada, who splits her time between Bullhead, Ariz. and Las Vegas, played in the Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship just a few days ago and cashed 94th for $1,768. Instead of calling it quits, she took her pocket full of money and registered for the day’s noon event — Event 54. That gamble paid off as she found herself in the winner’s circle just a few days later. The win marks just her second WSOP cash.
Other notable victories for the ladies in recent years include Selbst’s 2012 win in the $2,500 10-Game Mix Six-Handed event and Allyn Jaffrey-Shulman’s in the record-breaking Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship that same year
Event 54, a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, drew a field of 2,883 players and generated a prize pool of $2,594,700. The top 296 finishers each earned a payday, including bracelet winner Mitch Schock (212th), Michael Gathy (201st), Kathy Liebert (188th), Erik Seidel (174th), Jim Collopy (89th), and Matt Salsberg (31st).
Players from the final table hailed from five different countries; the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, and Denmark. It also featured Jacob Bazeley (7th), who is now the 35th player to have made multiple final tables this summer. Bazeley previously finished fifth in the $2,500 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em event.
Here are the final table results for the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Event 54:
1st: Dana Castenda – $454,207
2nd: Jason Bigelow – $281,991
3rd: Matthias Bednarek – $198,883
4th: Michael Zucchet – $143,642
5th:Philippe Clerc – $105,007
6th: Barry Hutter – $77,685
7th: Jacob Bazeley – $58,147
8th: Joseph Wertz – $44,032
9th: Kenneth Gregersen – $33,731
