Michelle could make poker history at the World Series of Poker
14th July, 2008
After the Main Event field was brought down to 27 at this year’s World Series of Poker, Tiffany Michelle found herself in third place with a hefty 9.9 million in chips.
On a day that saw the demise of the lone, former-Main-Event-Champion Phil Hellmuth, who was eliminated in 45th place and took home $154,400, Michelle just kept accumulating chips putting herself in a position to make poker history by being the first woman to win “the big one.”
“At the point that I let the pressure and what’s really going on get to me, that’s the point where I stop playing my game and freak out,” Michelle said. “So every day I’ve come in and sat there and been like, ‘it’s just another tournament.’”
The tournament began with 6,844 players, only 209 of which were women, and now it’s down to 27 poker hopefuls; making it this far is a feat within itself.
“When I think about how deep I am (into the tournament) right now and the opportunity that I have to do something that’s never been done and I look around at Amarillo Slim and Johnny Moss...it’s beyond my imagination,” she said.
There’s no telling what would happen to the poker world if a woman won the tournament, but many in the industry are excited by the prospect and believe it would be a positive for the game.
“Our goal is to broaden the fan participation base of poker,” said Jeffrey Pollack, WSOP commissioner. “I would certainly love to see more women among other players. If a woman made the final table...that would be terrific. And if a woman won, that would be terrific.”
First place for the WSOP Main Event is $9.1 million. The tournament will be played down until nine players remain and then the final table will be held off until November.
By Michael
