Event #29
Razz World Championship
Buy-In: $1,500
Number of Entries: 341
Total Prize Money: $465,465
Date of Tournament: June 17-19, 2007
WSOP GOLD BRACELET WINNER
EVENT # 28 – KATJA THATER
The Razz World Championship was won by Katja Thater, from Hamburg, Germany. She is a 40-year-old professional poker player who in recent years has become one of the top poker players in Europe. This was Thater’s first win ever at the World Series of Poker. Thater’s victory is the first for a woman in an open WSOP event in more than three years. Annie Duke was the last female winner, achieving her victory on May 9, 2004. Thater’s win also marked the first female winner ever to be crowned at the Rio in Las Vegas. Duke, and all prior female WSOP winners achieved their victories at Binion’s Horseshoe.Prior to becoming a poker pro, Thater specialized in horse breeding. Thater became the second woman ever to win this event. Ten years ago, Linda Johnson (then editor of Card Player magazine) won the World Razz Championship.Thater now has five WSOP cashes, and two final table appearances. She also made it to the final table in the Ladies Poker Championship last week, finishing fifth. In March, Thater made it to the final table at the European Poker Tour’s championship event in Warsaw, Poland.At one point in the tournament, with 16 players remaining, Thater was down to just 8,000 in chips, which meant she only had a few more hands to play before possible elimination. Then, Thater went on a rush and survived, making it all the way to the final table. It took her about seven hours to achieve victory.Thater’s victory was all the more remarkable considering that four of the final eight players were former WSOP gold bracelet winners – with a combined 13 titles between them. Among them was O’Neil Longson, a three-time gold bracelet winner who won this event two years ago.
