Bodog Beat

Vanessa Selbst became the first woman to win a WSOP Pot Limit Omaha event when she won Event No. 19. (Bodog Beat Image)

When there were only 10 players left in the tournament Vanessa Selbst made a risky move when she called a big pre-flop raise by Tony Phillips. Phillips then went all-in in the dark just before the flop was revealed and Selbst made the call with a pair of eights (top pair on the flop). She ended up making two pair on the river and eliminated Phillips in tenth place. She justified the risk by saying, "I'm here for the bracelet and I didn't want him to have position on me tomorrow with a ton of chips."

Well it turns out that Selbst made the right call for the right reason as she went on to win the final table and the $227,933 that went with it. This was Selbst’s fourth WSOP final table and her first bracelet.

Selbst will also go down in history for being the first woman to win a WSOP Pot-Limit Omaha event and the twelfth woman to win an open event bracelet.

The heads-up play between Selbst and second place finished Jamie Pickering was 90 minutes of crazy play as Pickering went loopy with betting, calling and raising without looking at his cards, occasionally all the way to the river.

Some times it worked, like when Pickering bet the pot blind pre-flop and Selbst called. The flop came Kc-10s-8h. Selbst checked and Pickering bet the pot blind and Selbst raised. Finally Pickering decided to look at his cards and then made the call. He bet out again and Selbst called showing two pair 10’s and 6s while Pickering (who had pocket aces) showed a two pair Aces and 6’s.

Other times, it didn’t go over so well. Like when he called to the turn with a board of Ah-Qs-3d-Jc before finally looking at his cards and realizing he had a whole lot of nothing.

Perhaps Pickering should’ve stuck to playing blind as his last hand came when he did look at his cards. His entertaining and wild performance did reward him with $145,459 for second place.

The WSOP Main Event his coming up on July 3. Have you got your seat yet? Win it online today through Bodog’s WSOP online satellites.