Summer may have the WSOP Main Event and the moniker of 'Summer Camp', but there’s another event we look forward to every year and it’s the $200 buy-in US Ladies Team Championship held at the Southpoint. LIPS (Ladies International Poker Series) hosts the Nevada State Ladies Poker Championship and is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The prize pool was $30,000, with the top 36 players in the money.
The event sold out with 300 players, and no rebuys. We got to the poker room and groups of women were gathered to register, then take group photos near the LIPS banner, decorated in poker cards around the edges. The amount of laughter, fun and good natured trash talk was infectious and a true celebration of community.
Women traveled from all over to play this event. Lupe Soto, the Founder and CEO of the LIPS Tour, Founder of the Women's Poker Association, and a Women in Poker Hall of Famer said, “It’s just been a wonderful ride. It’s grown so differently; women’s poker 20 years ago is nothing like it is today. And we kind of want to feel like we had something to do with that.”
Fancy dress and fancy play
We met the Sun City Queens, a group adorned in matching tiaras and jackets with each team member’s name on it, who are part of a poker club in Summerlin, a suburb of Vegas, and play multiple times a week together. There were the Donkey Detectives sporting their Sherlock Holmes-type hats, and The Fish Killers, comprised of Barbara, Kathy, Diane, Sylvia and Katie.
The Wildcards were sponsored by Southern Poker, and were the most fitting with a casino that leans into the cowboy theme. This team included Ruth Hall and Terry Hatcher, amongst others, and wore cowboy hats, jackets/hoodies with their names on the backs, with some even in cowboy boots.
The costumes were fire and the smiles were big in Las VegasThe Heartbreakers, of which PokerOrg’s Player Advisory Board member Jeanne David is a part of, even brought their own pompoms, seeming to celebrate not just themselves, but the whole event. Amanda Wheeler, Karina Jett, Kristin Ting and Nicole Schwartz completed team Heartbreakers.
Tits on Tilt wore matching shirts designed by Valerie Smith. Barbara Andre-Van Lith, a member of TOT whose members come from Wenatchee, WA, has run a poker retreat and connected with co-hosts of the Team Championship event Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher.
Linda Johnson, venerated Poker Hall of Famer and WSOP bracelet winner, started the poker charity Poker Gives with other poker professionals including Mike Sexton and Jan Fisher. A fun gift section at the Teams Championship included jewelry, merchandise and other items with all of the proceeds donated to Poker Gives. Poker Gives is a non-profit organization that distributes funds to assist military families, homeless veterans, and youth programs in Las Vegas.
The Portland Punters added to the fun with their “rivals” The Southpoint Hot Dogs. Angela Jordison on the Punters is the reigning 2023 LIPS Team Champion. Their team comprised of Angela, Jen Bernard, Jacki Burkhart, Kristy Adams and Brittany Spain. Their outfits were to reply to their 'beef' with the Southpoint Hot Dogs. They wore grilling outfits, beer helmets, and prongs with sausages strategically placed.
The Hot Dogs wore matching green jerseys and made sure to swing by the hot dog cart prior to the game. Jamie Kerstetter, Lindsey Kludt, Kyna England, Kristen Deardorff and Hayley Hanna made up team Hot Dog. The Punters ended up edging them out with Jacki Burkhart coming in seventh, and Kyna coming in 23rd.
Lori Wheeler from Los Alamitos, CA was the grand champion, after the top three players decided to chop, winning $5,030. Karen Himber from Moorpark came in second with $4,238 and Teresa Cutty from Vegas came in third for $3,767. Because of these placements, each member of the team that came in first received $1800, second $1080, and $720 for third, which was the Punters.
Jason Sanborn, Poker Manager of the Southpoint poker room said: “We look forward to it every year…the team event is one of the best.” It's certainly up with the best in terms of fun, community-driven poker. And we can't help but feel that more of the poker calendar was full of pompoms, laughing, sausages on prongs and cowboy hats. See you next Spring Break!
