Could we be on the verge of history? It’s been 29 years since a woman last made the final table of the WSOP Main Event.
Since then, there have been close calls, with a cruel twist of fate meaning three women have fallen just short in tenth place. First, Susie Isaacs in 1998. Then, two years later, there was Annie Duke.
And who could forget the dual agony of Gaelle Baumann and Elisabeth Hille in 2012 — tenth and eleventh. Cruel again, but this time doubly so.
Up until now, the name Barbara Enright has been indelibly printed on the minds of female poker players and, indeed, all poker players. PokerNews spoke with her ahead of Day 8 of the 2024 WSOP Main Event.
Memories of 1995
The 1995 WSOP Main Event attracted 273 entries. Just 27 places were paid and Enright made it all the way to the final table alongside 1985 Main Event champion Hamid Dastmalchi and eventual winner Dan Harrington.
“I wasn’t thinking about a lady being there, I was just thinking of the money I could win!”
“The memories I have?” Enright told PokerNews. “I remember it like it was yesterday. It was nice. I wasn’t thinking about a lady being there, I was just thinking of the money I could win!
“And all the things I could buy with a million dollars.”
A million dollars was what awaited the winner, but Enright would suffer a brutal elimination, getting 8♥8♣ in against the 6♦3♦ of Brent Carter, only for Carter to flop two pair on the Q♥6♥3♠9♣A♠ runout. She would have to settle for fifth place and $114,180.
She told commentators at the time she was “proud for what [she] did”, and almost 30 years later she remembers crowds watching the final table play out, with supporters cheering her on from bleachers erected for the occasion.
“That was really nice. I didn’t realize it was such a big deal,” she said. “You know, to me, it was just a tournament where I could win some money. I wasn’t thinking about a lady at the final table of the Main Event.
“When I first started playing, if you were talking to someone in the casino and said, ‘Oh, you know that lady that plays with the blonde hair’, there were so few women that you could single them out in that way.”
All Eyes on Foxen
Now players know the name Kristen Foxen. Either for the four bracelets she has won, most recently in 2023 — the most by a woman — or the four times she’s been named GPI Player of the Year.
In her acceptance speech earlier this year, she said that one of the greatest aspects of poker is that everyone is competing on an even and equal playing field.
“Recognizing the success of women in poker,” she continued. “Will hopefully highlight the fair playing field and encourage other women to feel comfortable playing this unbiased great game with confidence.”
The equation for Foxen is now simple — nine more eliminations to secure history as only the second player to make the Main Event final table.
Enright is playing the $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty but says she will be supporting Foxen when the Main Event resumes later today.
“I hope she makes it. That would be nice. It’s time for a lady to win it, not just make the final table. For so many years, it was a man’s game.
“If she wins, I think it will bring more women into the game. Poker’s grown a lot. I think it would grow even more.”
Managing Editor
He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
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