Shortly after wrapping things up in Las Vegas with its 2024 North American Poker Tour (NAPT) series, PokerStars is back in full swing, this time on the opposite side of the world.
Namely, yesterday marked the start of Women’s Winter Festival taking place at the famous Hippodrome Casino in the UK capital. This is an event that PokerStars was building hype for over the course of several months and now the action is finally underway.
One person who put in the most effort to make the festival happen is certainly Kerryjane Craigie, a PokerStars Ambassador and Director of Poker at the Hippodrome Casino, and by the way things are looking thus far, these efforts were well worth it.
- Deposit $20 and get $30 worth of free play
- One of the best mobile apps
- Biggest MTT guarantees
Exciting High Roller Action to Kick Things Off
In addition to the £100,000 Main Event that headlines the Women’s Winter Festival, there is another event on the docket that makes this series stand out: the £1,100 High Roller.
This is the first-ever women’s only high roller tournament, and the event attracted a decent-sized crowd, with 21 original entries and 6 reentries.
This resulted in the prize pool of £25,920, with £10,000 guaranteed for the eventual winner. Present in the crowd were Kyna England, the winner of the 2023 NAPT Women’s event, Team PokerStars Pro Jen Shahade and Georgina James, and Vanessa Kade.
None of these players managed to make it into the top five paying spots, though. Instead, the win went to the UK’s Charlie Waters, who defeated Ireland’s Jennifer Steele in the final skirmish to take home £10,200. Steele picked up £6,400 for her runner-up finish.
Spain’s Soraya Estrada finished in third for £4,200, followed by Ivonee Montealegre (£3,000) and Maria Constanza Lampropulos (£2,300).
The £400 Main Event Takes the Center Stage
With the High Roller event in the books, the attention can now shift to the £400 Main Event, a valuable tournament that comes with a very generous guarantee of £100,000.
The tournament features three starting flights on November 21 and 22, with a single reentry allowed per flight. The Day 2 action takes place on Nov 23, while *the event champion will be crowned on Sunday, Nov 2*4.
PokerStars ran numerous online satellites in the months leading up to the Festival, so there should be many qualifiers in the mix. With an average tournament field consisting of just 3% women, Kerryjane Craigie is hoping to change the narrative by creating a meaningful women’s only Main Event.
The Women’s Winter Festival features a few other affordable events, including the Closer Freeroll, taking place on Sunday, the last day of the series. The winner of this free-to-enter event will receive a full package for the upcoming EPT Prague.
We’ll be following the London action closely and with the keen eye as this festival should be an important stepping stone on the path of creating a live poker environment that is friendlier and more open to female players, especially those new to the game.
While this is a topic that’s been discussed at length over the years, we are finally seeing some structured and focused efforts backed by a major industry presence, so the future looks fairly bright!
