Dana Castaneda etched her name into the WSOP history books last night when she became the first woman since Vanessa Selbst, last year, to win a bracelet in an open event. Castaneda bested the massive field of over 2880 runners in event #54, $1000 No-Limit Hold’em to win her first bracelet and take home the healthy payday of $454,207.
She joins a prestigious list of ladies that have won open bracelet events since the Moneymaker boom that includes Cindy Violette, Kathy Liebert, Katja Thater, Annette Obrestad, Annie Duke and, of course, Selbst.
Castaneda entered the Final Table on an extremely short stack but hung tough and doubled through time after time until she found herself the overwhelming chipleader. Dana held on to defeat Canadian Jason Bigelow heads-up. Bigelow, who was hoping to bring an 11th bracelet to the Canadians this summer, had to settle for runner up and almost $282,000 2nd place prize.
Castaneda decided to play the event only after her 94th place cash in the Ladies’ Event. Now, with a fresh batch of cash and confidence, be on the lookout for Castaneda who plans to play the Main Event, which starts Saturday.
