Monday, January 13, 2025 4:59 AM Local Time (about 4 days and 22 hours ago)
The WSOPC Choctaw Ladies event is always a who's who of female poker crushers on the circuit, including many players who have won this very event before. A total of 115 players came out to this event, topping last November's field size and creating a prize pool worth $23,000. A total of 18 players saw a piece of that prize pool and as the dust settled, there was just one name that rose to the top.
Those who play on the circuit know who Pam Belote is and have likely played with her on many stops. She travels coast to coast to play poker series all over the country, putting a special emphasis on those that hold Ladies event tournaments. Over the past five years, she has collected 7 WSOPC rings which had tied her for first all time with Le Sengphet and today she broke her tie, collecting her eighth ring to become the most decorated woman in the circuit's history.
Pam Belote Circuit Wins
- 2019 WSOPC Choctaw $130 Ladies
- 2019 WSOPC Tulsa $250 Ladies
- 2022 WSOPC Tulsa $250 Ladies
- 2023 WSOPC Choctaw $200 Ladies
- 2023 WSOPC Council Bluffs $600 No-Limit Hold'em
- 2023 WSOPC Choctaw $600 No-Limit Hold'em
- 2024 WSOPC Southern Indiana $300 Ladies
- 2025 WSOPC Choctaw $250 Ladies
"I'm still irrelevant in the poker world," the 8-time WSOPC winner jokes "I've got a t-shirt to prove it. It says Ms. Irrelevant."
Belote was overwhelmed with emotion as she hit her last card making the flush against fellow ring winner Bonnie Weitzel as she hugged Weitzel with the crowd clapping for her massive accomplishment.
"Just working hard," she says as far as her tournament mindset and how she acquired this many rings "I literally travel everywhere trying to accomplish this. I was thinking about last time how I had the ring in my hand, then a couple days ago I had the ring in my hand again and I did a move I never do. I limped aces. He flopped two pair and I thought 'oh god you did it again to yourself.'"
Her referencing just a couple of days ago when she was heads up in the Escalating bounty tournament where she finished in second place for $12,565 and a whole host of sizable bounties. On top of that, she also finished in fifth place in the Monster Stack tournament earlier in the week for another $5,113. third time was the charm as she found a ring at this final table, breaking the tie and now sitting atop the WSOPC female ring list.
"I've never been intimidated with having a short stack with somebody having a mountain of chips," she said in reference to her coming to the final table with very near the shortest stack "it just makes me work harder. I just put my head down, I pulled up a picture of my mom on my phone, and I just said "I'm in the zone let's go!"
"It would be lovely to see a ladies event at every circuit stop," Belote mentioned as far as her experience on the circuit "they haven't had it every stop, but it would be really great to see one at every stop."
"I told myself that I would slow down if I won this one," she said in reference to her following plans "and I probably will slow down somewhat, but I'm probably going to be at Tunica in a couple of weeks. Usually I would plan my schedule out months in advance, but I haven't done that yet."
For the fourth year in a row, Belote wins her seat to the WSOPC tournament of champions, an event that she is looking forward to and hoping to top her score of $2,600 from her 81st place finish from last year.
"Absolutely, I'll be there," she said "I just hope it's Vegas!"
With that, the newly crowned 8-time WSOPC ring winner collected her payout.
Final Table Results
- Pam Belote -$5,920
- Bonnie Weitzel - $3,808
- Sheila Goff - $2,548
- Sung "Debbie" Lee - $1,776
- Gloria Davila - $1,292
- Natalie Bereznyak - $983
- Vidhi Seem - $783
- Taylor Hodkin - $656
- Kourtney Davis - $578
- Jamie Kempf - $538
Final Table Action
The final ten players saw a decorated lot of multiple WSOPC ring winners, with Bonnie Weitzel holding a commanding chip lead. She would extend it early on as she eliminated Jamie Kempf (pictured) (10th-$538) early holding ace-king to best Kempf's nines.
Next to go was a former WSOPC Durant ladies event champion as Kourtney Davis (9th-$578) got in her last chips with pocket threes against Sheila Goff's queens. No help was brought and Davis added another Durant ladies event final table to her resume.
Taylor Hodkin (8th-$656) could not gain any traction and ended up running into Pam Belote holding pocket sixes against Belote's aces. The board gave no help to Hodkin and Belote continued her ascent up the counts as she had doubled up off of Weitzel a short while ago.
Weitzel would win the next all in confrontation she had as Vidhi Seem (7th-$783) moved in her last chips with pocket nines against Weitzel's jacks and would find no help to put Weitzel back into first place.
Gloria Stavila and Natalize Bereznyak (6th-$983) sat towards the bottom of the counts as six-handed play began. Weitzel still led with Belote now in second and Sung "Debbie" Lee and Sheila Goff neck and neck for third. Bereznyak would eventually blind down to just a few chips and get them in with six-five against Lee's ace-nine, find no help and giving Lee the pot.
Davila (5th-$1,292) would get in her last chips with king-nine and seemed poised to double through Belote who held jack-nine. A rivered queen-high straight would change up the luck and last July's Choctaw Ladies Event champion exited the tournament.
Lee (pictured) (4th-$1,776) would lose a key pot to Belote to leave her shorter towards Goff in the chip counts. Her final hand would also be an entanglement with Belote as she would put in her chips with ace-three against Belote's aces, finding no improvement and she exited the tournament, leaving the final trio.
Goff (3rd-$2,548) also trended downward as the three-handed match continued, with her eventually getting all of her chips in against Weitzel holding ace-six against Weitzel's queens. No help materialized and the two WSOPC ring winners began their heads up battle.
The heads up match lasted for a little while, but eventually Weitzel (pictured) (2nd-$3,808) would get in her last chips with king-eight against Belote's ace-seven. A king came on the flop but the four-flush on the river for Belote would see her excited reaction to taking down the tournament and carving a significant piece of poker history. Weitzel and her hugged, with Weitzel finishing with another deep run in the WSOPC Ladies Event here at Choctaw.
Thank you for reading along her at Poker.Org. Be sure to stay tuned to all of the exciting tournament recaps for tonight.
Sunday, January 12, 2025 7:00 AM Local Time (about 5 days and 20 hours ago)
Rise and shine! The sixth event of the WSOPC here in Choctaw sees the $250 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em begin today at 10:00 AM! The women of the Choctaw area have been out and playing in full force this stop. Three of the four completed events this stop have seen two women make the final table, with Pamela Belote being one of only two players so far to make 2 final tables.
Last november's champion was Ruth Hall who claimed her second ring for $5,762, besting a field of 110 entrants. Making the final table were such Choctaw mainstays like Lisa Schuessler (pictured), Juli Black, and Bonnie Weitzel to name a few. With the new year upon us, time will tell to see who comes to occupy the seats.
Players will begin the tournament with 20,000 in chips and blinds beginning at 100/200, with a 200 big blind ante. Levels will last 30 minutes each with unlimited re-entry open until Level 9. After that the players will continue to play until a winner is crowned.
Stay tuned to Poker.Org for all of the exciting updates!