Tamar Abraham cashes in big time and wins WSOP bracelet

Tamar Abraham put her name in the poker history books by securing her first bracelet in the record-breaking Event #67: $1,000 Ladies Championship at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP), winning her biggest career cash in the process for $192,167.

The rail was particularly crowded today around the Feature Table at Horseshoe and Paris Casino Las Vegas to support the last seven players in the largest Ladies Event field in history, with 1,295 registered players.

Abraham defeated a worthy competitor in Shiina Okamoto, who held a large chip advantage at the start of the day, before Abraham went on a hot run on this final table to take the lead and start the heads-up with a 4:1 advantage. Both players had vocal and supportive rails and in the final hand, Okamoto shoved with a pair of fives on the turn against Abraham who had a pair of tens and a flush draw. The river further improved Abraham to a flush, ending Okamoto's tournament as runner-up for $118,768.

This wasn't Abraham's first deep run at the WSOP Ladies Event, as she already finished 30th in 2018 and 45th in 2021. But the latest result easily surpassed her $49,654 live career earnings according to The Hendon Mob.

The cash that comes with the bracelet is a big thing, but Abraham was above all overwhelmed by emotions immediately after her victory.

"It's surreal,” said Abraham. “I don't even know what to say, I don't have any words right now."

Abraham, a member of Women's Poker Association, had a large number of female supporters and friends in the room to cheer her on during key hands.

"It was awesome,” said Abraham. “I couldn't have done it without them, to be honest.”

When the players returned at 2 p.m. local time on Sunday all seven players were guaranteed at least $26,277, but they were all aiming to make their career-best cashes. Unfortunately, that wasn't meant to be for everyone.

The Cypriot player Chrysi Phiniotis was the first to leave the table during the first half-hour of play, eliminated at the hands of Nam Nguyen who had poker eights versus the ace-six for Phinioti.

Abraham took the lead from Okamoto a few minutes later thanks to set over set, doubling up and never looking back. Abraham continued her hot run by eliminating Tara Cain shortly afterward when her ace-queen hit a lucky ace on the river to crack Cain's kings. Cain thus experienced a repeat of 2018, when she also finished in sixth place in the same event.

Okamoto then took out Israel's Mary Dvorkin in fifth place in an all-in preflop pot with ace-king versus ace-seven. She was followed to the payout desk only 40 minutes later by Suzanne Malavet, who saw her ace-jack run into Abraham's ace-king.

Las Vegas local and owner of a nail salon Nam Nguyen ultimately dropped down to third place on the podium when she shoved for her last eight big blinds with Jack-seven and fell to the ace-ten of Okamoto.

It then took less than an hour of heads-up play for Abraham to finish the job, despite a few pots won by Okamoto and an enthusiastic Japanese rail. The latter earned the fifth WSOP cash of her career and by far the most valuable.

"I think about taking everybody to dinner tonight," said a delighted Abraham of her numerous friends in the room. "I just don't know where yet, but it will be amazing!"

Final table results:
Place Name Country Prize
1 Tamar Abraham United States $192,167
2 Shiina Okamoto Japan $118,768
3 Nam Nguyen United States $85,756
4 Suzanne Malavet United States $62,658
5 Mary Dvorkin Israel $46,333
6 Tara Cain United States $34,679
7 Chrysi Phiniotis Cyprus $26,277
8 Jennifer Wu United States $20,160
9 Kristie Ogilvie United States $15,662
10 Laura Westfall United States $12,324