Canadian Woman Creates Dual Record At WSOP 2016

Kristen Bicknell became the first Canadian poker player, and the only one till the time of writing, to win a bracelet at WSOP 2016. Incidentally, she was the first woman to win a bracelet this year as well. Kristen achieved this in the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Bounty Event for which she collected $290,768 in addition to the gold designer bracelet. Kristen has been a bracelet winner before. She won her first bracelet in the Ladies World Poker Champion event at WSOP 2013. Her present win came in an open event and therefore was much sweeter. This does sound gender discriminatory, but the fact is that very few women win open events at WSOP. The last woman to do so was Carol Fuchs, who won the Dealers Choice tourney last year.

Kristen is an Ontarian. She was born in St. Catharines, but now lives in Ottawa. The 29 year single woman is a student and recreational poker player. She describes herself as being devoted to nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. Kristen’s WSOP history is not long. She has had three WSOP cashes and two final table appearances. Her total WSOP earnings amount to $467,055.

The final table of nine in this event included two other previous bracelet winners - Norbert Szezsi and Steve Gee. The event ran for four days and three nights, which was considerably longer than expected. At the end of Day Three, just three players remained. Kristen held a formidable lead, which she never relinquished. This event attracted 2,158 poker players, which created a prize pool totalling $1,834,300.

Kristen’s first reaction to the win was, “It all feels so surreal. But it almost doesn’t feel true. It’s the dream you always had. When you bust from a tournament, you feel so bad. But when you win it’s such a weird feeling.” She modestly added, “When they had good hands, I had better hands and when I bluffed, I guess they didn’t have very good hands and folded.”

Canada is the second nation in the list of WSOP winners by countries. USA heads the list with 1025 winners. Canada is second with 55. Only eight Canadians have won two or more bracelets. Those above Kristen include the likes of Daniel Negreanu with six bracelets and Jonathan Duhamel and Daniel Idema with three bracelets each. So obviously Kristen is in great company. Fittingly, for the proud Canadian, her win took place on the eve of Canada Day.

Online Casino Articles

A listing of the newest online casino & gambling related articles that have been added to Canadian Casino Sites can be found featured in the listing below.