Kitty Purrs
Las Vegas, NV – For the fifth consecutive year, the “Cleopatra Open” poker tournament was held at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.  This annual event is part of the World Series of Poker Circuit and is designated as the official Ladies Poker Championship.  In lieu of a gold ring, the customary prize awarded to most WSOP Circuit winners, the ladies champion receives a gold and diamond pendant.

Adding to her jewelry collection for winning the 2010 Cleopatra Open was Kitty Kuo.  She is a 32-year-old professional poker player from Taipei, Taiwan.  She now resides temporarily in Vancouver, BC, but plans to move to Las Vegas in the near future.  Kuo also won a tournament held in Macau (Asia).  She has also cashed four times this year at tournaments held in the U.S.  Kuo collected $7,357 in prize money for this victory.

This tournament had the highest buy-in of any Ladies Championship on this year’s WSOP Circuit.  Most ladies events throughout the country are $230 entry fees.  Some cost as little as $120.  The higher buy-in at Caesars, plus an atypical midweek starting day limited the field to 79 players.  But the competition was fierce as the ladies competed for bragging rights.  Previous Cleopatra Open champions were as follows:

2009 – Courtney Wulfe
2008 – Barbara Enright
2007 – Anna Wroblewski
2006 – Martine Qules

The $300 (+40) buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament was played on April 20th.  The tournament began in the afternoon and lasted late into the night.  There were no prior WSOP Circuit gold ring event winners among the final nine players, which guaranteed a first-time champion.  However, three of the ladies had final table appearances in Ladies Championship events held at previous WSOP Circuits.

Lauren “LC” Cooney arrived at the Final Table with a slight chip advantage over the remaining players.  But she went out quickly after taking a few beats, ending up as the eighth-place finisher.  Closest in chips when play began were Kitty Kuo and Leslie Del Pilar, who were both within striking distance of the leader.  Kuo in particular made an early move and was the player to beat once play became seven-handed.  However, Leslie Del Pilar proved to be a formidable foe and finishes as the runner up.

When Final Table play began close to midnight, the nine finalists and their starting chip counts were as follows:
 
 

Seat

Player

Hometown

Chip Count

1

Jennifer Pendergast

Sacramento, CA

34,700

2

Julie “Tiger” Changlaurencell

Las Vegas, NV

31,500

3

Lauren “LC” Cooney

Forked River, NJ

112,100

4

Kitty Kuo

Taipei, Taiwan

98,300

5

Corinn Ignatieff

Fairfield, CA

83,000

6

Tonya Bahazar

Las Vegas, NV

27,800

7

Sarah M. Casey

Las Vegas, NV

84,500

8

Leslie Del Pilar

Houston, TX

93,400

9

Selina Bodel

Wagga Wagga, Australia

29,100

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Final Table play lasted nearly five hours and ended at 4:30 am.  Players were eliminated in the following order:

Ninth Place:  Long Way from Home
Selina Bodel, who is visiting Las Vegas from Wagga Wagga, Australia, went out in eighth place.  She is the director of her own company.  Bodel collected $862 in prize money.
   
Eighth Place:  Early Chip Leader Busts

Lauren “LC” Cooney suffered a painful series of beats that wiped out her stack in less than 20 minutes.  The early chip leader busted out in eighth place, which paid $977.  She is a former student-turned poker pro from Forked River, NJ.  She has numerous cashes in local events held in Las Vegas.

Seventh Place:  Jennifer Pendergast Out in Seventh
Jennifer Pendergast, who works in security, was eliminated about an hour into the finale.  She was low on chips most of the way and still managed to cash for $1,149.  Pendergast has previously cashed in a number of events elsewhere.  This was her first WSOP-related in-the-money finish.  She also played in last year’s WSOP Main Event, lasting until the third day.

Sixth Place:  Las Vegas Paralegal Settles for Sixth

Tonya Baltazar, a paralegal from Las Vegas, lost her case to finish higher than sixth place.  She did very well to move up three spots, given her perilously low stack size when final table play began.  But Baltazar ultimately went out and accepted a settlement worth $1,379.  She had previously finished in third place at the Orleans Open Ladies Championship, as well as other final tables at tournaments played in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Fifth Place:  Retired Realtor Collects Nice Poker Commission
Julie “Tiger” Changlaurencell, a retired real estate agent from Las Vegas, went out on a tough beat.  She had to settle for $1,667 in prize money.

Fourth Place:  Poker Dealer Has No More Chips

Sarah M. Casey, a poker dealer from Las Vegas, hung around for about three hours before finally running out of chips and losing her final hand with A6 against A8.  Both players flopped an ace and Casey moved all-in.  But she got a call and ended up losing to two pair.  Casey, who has four wins on her tournament resume, and more than $200,000 in career tournament winnings, added $2,069 to her poker bankroll.  She has also cashed in the WSOP three times, including the Main Event back in 2005.

Third Place:  Corinn Ignatieff Cashes in Two Consecutive Events
The day after she took 27th place in the previous tournament, Corinn Ignatieff went all the way to third place in her next event.  Ignatieff lost most of her chips late in a race with pocket 4s against A8, when an ace came.  She went out a short time later and received $2,931.  She also finished third in a WSOP Circuit event last year at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe.  This was her fifth time to cash in a major tournament in the last six months.

Second Place:  Runner-Up – Leslie Del Pilar

Leslie Del Pilar, a bartender from Houston, TX finished in second place.  She had the chip lead at one point during heads-up play, but lost a big hand late with A-8 versus K-K which led to the final conclusion.  The last hand came when Kuo was dealt   .  Leslie Del Pilar was dealt   .  The middle pocket pair held up as the final board showed      .  Del Pilar pocketed a respectable payout totaling $7,357.

First Place:  2010 Cleopatra Open Champion – Kitty Kuo
The winner of the 2010 Cleopatra Open at Caesars Palace Las Vegas was Kitty Kuo, who is originally from Taiwan.  She will soon be living in Las Vegas where she plans to play in more poker tournaments.