Five Thoughts: WPT POY Down To the Wire, GPL Nepotism Pays Off, and Ivey Back In Court

Apparently there won’t be any women in the World Poker Tour’s inaugural Tournament of Champions, kicking off at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Friday. That’s because this particular event is open only to members of the WPT Champions Club, and since no woman has ever won an open event on the WPT main tour, there are no female members.

Tucson, Arizona’s Cate Hall spent this past season, the tour’s 14th, becoming the latest to join an ever-growing list of female players who have come ever-so-close to capturing WPT glory. Three super deep finishes on the tour in the past eight months even gave Hall a shot at the WPT Player of the Year title, but much like the hunt for the first female WPT title winner, it was again a case of close, but no cigar.

Mike Shariati Wins WPT Player of the Year Honors

Irvine, California’s Mike Shariati earned the WPT Player of the Year title, after winning the WPT Legends of Poker $3,700 Main Event in September 2015, then finishing runner-up in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 Main Event last month. The honor did not come without some last-minute drama, however, as Cate Hall took it down to the wire.

Following up on two separate fifth-place finishes and a handful of other cashes this season, Hall found herself in the final 10 at the season-ending WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 Championship this week, needing to finish third or better to edge out Shariati. Her latest run ended in ninth place and as Shariati took the POY honors, the WPT also narrowly missed yet another opportunity to crown it’s first female champ.

Poker is a truly a numbers game and the only real reason there aren’t more women winning poker titles around the globe is the fact that so few try. Traditionally, the World Series of Poker fields are filled with about six percent women. A quick look at most WPT registration lists reveals an even smaller number. While she fell short of both becoming the WPT’s first female Main Event title holder and the Player of the Year, here’s hoping Hall’s great year opens the eyes of at least a few smart women who can help prove gender is not a factor on the felt, drive female registration numbers and help the WPT finally crown a woman winner sooner rather than later.

Ivey Back In Court

Phil Ivey, who seems to have spent more time in a courtroom than a tournament room over the past couple of years, is in the midst of a second opportunity to prove he …

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