Prior to today, Jackie Glazier’s World Series of Poker career has been defined by near-misses. In 2012, she finished runner-up in a massive gold bracelet event in Las Vegas. This past summer, Glazier earned the somewhat dubious distinction of being the last woman left in the WSOP Main Event field. She made an impressively deep run, but finished short of the final table in 31st place.Now though, Jackie Glazier’s WSOP accomplishments can be summed up in a single word: bracelet. The Melbourne native became the first-ever WSOP Europe Ladies Event bracelet winner this evening, claiming the first bracelet of the 2013 series as well as €21,850.
In the moments following her victory, the poker pro seemed almost relieved rather than excited. Given her track record, it is understandable.
I was definitely nervous," Glazier admitted shortly after her victory. "I think I've had so many close calls and near-misses that getting heads-up with the stack sizes being even, the gravity of if I did come in second again...I was just not sure how I would cope with it. It would definitely have taken a few days to get over."
Luckily for Glazier, tonight will not be a night to wonder what could have been . It will be a night for celebrating and, amazingly, Glazier had the confidence to call her shot and come prepared.
"I just had this feeling I was going to win it. I said to my husband, 'It is wrong not to have a bottle of champagne in the fridge ready to go. I'm going to go buy a bottle and put it in the fridge so it is ready when I win this bracelet.' He was like, 'That's ridiculous. It's poker. You can't think like that, you don't know what is going to happen.' I said, 'I know what is going to happen. This is going to happen."
Glazier called her shot and played her A-game to claim the bracelet. The victory puts Glazier in the company of Annette Obrestad as the only women to win bracelets outside of Las Vegas. Her name also joins the ranks of Jeff Lisandro and Joe Hachem as the eighth Australian player to win poker’s most coveted prize.
"It is definitely a dream come true. I've always aspired to win a World Series bracelet and to do it here in the first-ever Europe Ladies Event is a real honor," Glazier said. Not only is it an honor, it caps off quite the year for Glazier, who has notched cashes at WSOP Asia-Pacific, the WSOP series in Las Vegas, and now WSOPE all in the same year--the first player to ever accomplish such a feat.
In past years, WSOP Europe has played host to a Ladies Event, but this was the first time a bracelet was ever offered to the champion. This inaugural €1,100 buy-in European bracelet event drew 65 women to Enghien-les-Bains and generated a prize pool of €62,400. The top seven finishers made the money, but there were eight women who survived Day 1 and returned for Day 2 action. The unfortunate honor of bubble girl went to Anais Lerouge, though it was Gaelle Baumann who came into Day 2 as the short stack with seven big blinds. Baumann, who finished 10th in the 2012 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas, exited shortly thereafter in seventh place, followed by the lone American at the table, Sherrie Lindsey.It took just two hours for play to get to heads-up with Glazier squaring off against French player Maryline Valente.This final table featured two WSOP Main Event “Last Women Standing” in Glazier and Baumann. It was also a strong showing for the host country, as five of the seven women who cashed hailed from France. Glazier, an Australian, and Lindsey, an American, were the only international players at the table.This is the first Ladies bracelet event outside of Las Vegas for WSOP. The history of the Ladies Event dates back to 1977, when a $100 buy-in Seven Card Stud event drew 93 players and awarded champion Jackie McDaniel $5,580 and a gold bracelet.Here are the final table results for the €1,100 WSOPE Ladies No Limit Hold'em Event. A full report on the final table, including every single hand of action, is available on WSOP.com:1st: Jackie Glazier - €21,8502nd: Maryline Valente - €13,5003rd: Laurie Bismuth - €8,9504th: Celine Bastian - €6,3305th: Nathalie Odet - €4,7706th: Sherry Lindsey - €3,8007th: Gaelle Baumann - €3,200