Every year we publish the same story about women potentially breaking through at the WSOP but could 2012 actually be marked cards the year where females break the nearly four year stranglehold that men have had on open bracelet events?

It’s sure looking that way as the women are off to a red-hot start here with deep runs by Vanessa Selbst, Annette Obrestad and Xuan Liu.

Selbst came oh-so-close to winning her second bracelet in the first $1,500 yesterday, eventually finishing fourth, while Obrestad made a deep run in the $3k HU NLHE/PLO tournament.

Xuan Liu is currently crushing the $1,500 Stud-8 and has the overall chip lead. Linda Johnson is also in the top 10 chip counts.

With uber-talented poker players like Vanessa Rousso, Liv Boeree and Maria Ho also in the mix it seems like only a matter of time before a woman snags a bracelet.

Of course women remain severely disadvantaged trick cardsstatistically as only a small percentage of the field in each event is made up of women.

That said, it seems like we’re due for a female winner. Since 2008 there have been multiple female final table finishers including Ho, Jennifer Harman and Laurence Grondin.

Camaraderie between female players also seems to be an all-time high to the extent that Rousso, Ho, Selbst and Boeree are all sharing a house this summer.

We originally intended to do female-only coverage of the $3k HU NLHE/PLO event but had to call it off thanks to the fact that only two women showed up for the event.

One of them was Annette Obrestad, however, and she defied the odds and finished in the final eight of the tournament.

If more women can keep pace with Obrestad and Selbst’s lead, a woman is going to win an open event at the 2012 WSOP.

Posted by: Fiona at 09:01 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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