Last Woman Standing at 2009 World Series of Poker
Diana Cox, www.worldseriesofpoker.com
At the end of Day 6 of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event 98.4 percent of the field was made up of X and Y chromosomes. The other 1.6 percent, the lone player with two X's in a field of 64 players, was Leonor "Leo" Margets of Barcelona.
Playing in her first major tournament Margets now has the distinction of being the last woman standing in the WSOP Main Event. With her stack of 3,410,000 chips in front of her, Margets joins the ranks of Barbara Enright, Susie Isaacs, Marsha Waggoner and Annie Duke.
"I am playing the best poker I have ever played and it is paying off, I've actually never played so good. Sometimes you can play good and it doesn't pay off but this time it is," Margets said.
She was aware that she was one of two women remaining when it came down to her and Nichoel Peppe. "Everyone was commenting on it and I saw the last hand Nichoel played." But Margets was not in it to be the last woman standing. "I would rather lose to Nichoel heads up, because she is a great player, than finish in 100th and be the last woman in," she said.
The petite beauty from Spain outlasted former Main Event winners Phil Hellmuth, Scotty Nguyen, Greg Raymer and reigning champion Peter Eastgate. For her commendable achievement Margets was awarded a special trophy from the Entities at WickedChopsPoker.com. The trophy is a gold cup with the names of all the last ladies standing since 1986 when Wendeen Eolis came in 25th.
When play concluded for the day Margets was presented with her prize just after she finished bagging her chips. She smiled and held the trophy above her head. "This is my cup," she proclaimed as she showed it to her friends who had been fixed at the rail all day cheering her on.
There are two years missing from the trophy, 2001 and 2002, because not a single woman cashed those years. With her deep run in 2009 Margets has added one more year to the list for ladies in the Main Event.
In order to break the record for the highest finishing woman in the Main Event Margets will need to finish in fourth place or higher. If she busts in fifth she will tie the record set by Enright in 1995.
If she has the unfortunate distinction of bubbling the final table she will not be the first female to come so close but not go all the way. Tenth place belonged to Barbara Samuelson in 1994, Isaacs in 1998 and Duke in 2000.
Margets has only been playing poker for three years and said it was "satisfying" to be doing so well in such a big event. Her only other cash was on June 12 at the 2009 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III when she came in 39th in the $500 No Limit Hold ‘em (Event 16).
She will return for Day 7 on Tuesday at 12 p.m. and continue in her attempt to become the first female Main Event winner.
