2007 WSOP Event #17 – Sally Boyer Wins $1,000 Ladies World Poker Championship

Sometimes a little cramming for the big exam is all you need.   

Days before the Ladies World Poker Championship (no-limit hold’em) at the 2007 World Series of Poker, Sally Boyer attended the WSOP Academy Poker Boot Camp to get in some last minute instruction.  She promptly went out and topped the largest ladies-only field in history (1,128 runners), winning $262,077. 

The final table looked to be relatively competitive from the start, with the blinds relatively low compared to the stacks, and most of the players with reasonably comfortable chip counts.  Boyer was smack-dab in the middle of the standings. 

The table was tight in the first hour, with many hands not seeing a flop.  In fact, Mindy Trinidad became the big stack after about a dozen hands without playing one.  Julie Dang, on the other hand, was forced to play, as she was the one micro-stack at the table.  She moved all-in pre-flop with Q-J and Katja Thater re-raised with A-K.  Both paired their top card, but obviously Thater’s was better, making Dang the 9^th place finisher. 

Within the next several minutes, big hands were dealt out.  First, Anne Heft had Q-Q against Vanessa Selbst’s J-J.  Fortunately for Selbst, a King on the flop was enough to make her lay down her dominated hand.  Just a few minutes later, Thater, with 5-5, called short stack Randi Calabro’s all-in.  Calabro had A-A, which held up.  Even though she doubled-up, Calabro was still the shorty at the table. 

Despite that minor setback, Thater was pretty much running over the table for the first two and half hours or so.  The other women, even the big stacks, seemed to just be conent to watch.  One not so content to sit back was Selbst, who, maybe because of this, went out in 8^th place when her A-4 could not improve against Thater’s 7-7. 

By dinner, Thater had played herself from the top stack to the fifth stack, as a couple players had finally woken up with better hands.  Sally Boyer was the beneficiary of one of these, as she parlayed monk-like patience into the chip lead.  Having played just four hands in three hours, she was able to get her chips all-in with K-K and doubled-up through Thater and her 10-10. 

Just after dinner, Mindy Trinidad, who had pushed all-in somewhere around a dozen times, finally got nailed when her 7-6 could not beat Calabro’s J-J.  She went out in 7^th place. 

Our original chip leader, Frauke Sporschill, met her demise, as she eventually found herself short-stacked and all-in with A-6 against Heft’s J-J.   

Then, shortly thereafter, the one woman at the table who really looked like she wanted to win went down in 5^th place.  Thater got her chips in the pot with A-10 against Heft’s A-Q and was not able to catch the cards she needed. 

And just like that, another woman was gone.  This time Kathleen Gliva called all-in with A-K, but did not improve against Boyer’s 4-4.  Three eliminations in five hands is a good way to get things over with in a hurry. 

The pace continued to speed up just minutes after Gliva went out, as Boyer took out another opponent, both all-in pre-flop once again.  Boyer had 6-6 and flopped quads, giving Calabro’s A-Q zero chance to become the best hand.  And like that, within just a few hands, the tournament went from seven handed to heads-up.   

Going into heads-up play, Anne Heft had a $1.6 million to $985,000 chip lead over Sally Boyer.  While neither got involved all that often at the final table, they were the ones who delivered most of the eliminations, which would explain why they were the final two. 

Heads-up was a much different story than the previous hours at the final table.  Now it was an all-in fest, with at least one of the players getting her chips in the middle almost every hand.  The remainder of the tournament was all Boyer.  She got herself back to even quickly, and even though once she got the lead, she proceeded to double-up Heft, Boyer took the lead back immediately. 

With around a 2-to-1 lead going into the final hand, Boyer pushed with K-2.  Heft called with K-10.  The flop was kind to Boyer without actually giving her the lead, as the 3-4-5 flop offered her an open-ended straight draw.  Boyer made her 2 on the river and became the Ladies World Champion. 

Final Table Standings 

1. Sally Boyer -- $262,077
2. Anne Heft -- $166,177
3. Randi Calabro -- $106,494
4. Kathleen Gliva -- $70,216
5. Katja Thater -- $49,151
6. Frauke Sporschill -- $37,448
7. Mindy Trinidad -- $28,086
8. Vanessa Selbst -- $20,480
9. Julie Dang -- $14,628