May was full of excitement, from the season finale of the European Poker Tour in Monte Carlo to a plethora of news about charity, fundraising, and good news for Fatima Moreira de Melo’s family. Interesting experiences interspersed with the generous nature of PokerStars and its players, the month that passed gives us a lot to reflect on here. So, let’s get to it!
Generosity for Cancer Research UK
Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree is no stranger to donating time and money for various charities, and in May, it was all about Cancer Research UK. Not only was she integrally involved in raising money via her JustGiving page, she spent time between poker tournaments to train for a 10K race. She wrote about her reasons for racing here and ended up running this race in 52 minutes, not to mention raising nearly £3,500 for the cause.
And there was more. Liv hosted a “Race for Life” charity tournament on PokerStars the night after she ran her physical race and raised money there. Other players joined her in setting up their own $5+$5 tournaments to raise funds for Cancer Research UK as well. And PokerStars stepped in to offer a freeroll on June 2, which offered prizes to the top finishers while PokerStars donated $1 for each of the 3,000 players in the tournament.
Special thanks to PokerStars, Ms. Boeree, and all who participated, donated, shared, and ran their own races!
On the PokerStars tables
As the month kicked off, Katie “hotjenny314” Dozier went right into action and had a stellar Sunday. She went into detail in her “Anatomy of a Sunday Grind” article.
The usual festivities were on tap for women of all skill levels and bankrolls, with numerous daily and week tournament options listed on our tournament page. Ranging from the $11 Women’s Tuesday NLHE 6-Max to the weekly PLO action on Thursdays and Sundays, players have more women-only games than ever.
And the PokerStars Women’s Club has something for everyone – cash and prizes weekly with all of the details listed on the home page. We also got some insight into one of our many Club players, as Margaret told us about the friends she’s made and items she’s won thus far.
Sunday action
The Women’s Sunday remains strong, and the competition is always tense at the final table. We had many of our regular players at those final tables this month, all competing for their share of the $10K guarantee (and actual prize pools, which usually exceed that amount). The $55 Women’s Sunday showed these results in May:
May 5
Players: 230
Prize pool: $11,500
Winner: Buniaka (Poland) – $2,351.75
May 12
Players: 220
Prize pool: $11,000
Winner: xHAPKOMAHx (Belarus) – $2,249.50
May 19
Players: 227
Prize pool: $11,350
Winner: Haufniensis (UK) – $2,321.18
May 26
Players: 226
Prize pool: $11,300
Winner: Leka.TiM.Sin (Serbia) – $2,310.85
Getting to know you/us
Not long after the newest Team PokerStars Pro joined the ranks of the best players in the world, we had the chance to get to know Leo Margets a bit better. In addition to sharing her start in poker and some of her goals in the game, she introduced us to her cats and talked writing and running.
We also got to know Sarah Grant of PokerStars.TV, who brings the highlights from major tournaments around the world to a wider audience. From a film career to a relationship with a professional fighter, she had some interesting stories to tell.
Belgium’s own Gaëlle Garcia Diaz did some writing for us in May, allowing us to get to know EPT presenter Natalie Hof . Diaz then gave us some insight into her own poker world, confirming that all poker players do not smell bad and have beards.
In some of the best news of the month, Team Pro Fatima Moreira de Melo wrote about her father winning the lottery with a kidney transplant that saved his life. We all wish him the speediest of recoveries and the best of health going forward.
Pro views
The women of PokerStars took to the blog last month with some views and thoughts for consideration. It’s always interesting to hear what’s on their minds!
Team Pro Vanessa Selbst has been open about her sexuality as well as outspoken about social issues that are important to her. This led to the honor of being chosen by The Advocate as one of the “40 under 40” people that are the “architects of the next decade” . Later in the month, she shared the reasons that she decided to skip the illustrious SCOOP series this year.
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Team Online’s Adrienne “talonchick” Rowsome wrote her thoughts about labeling other players and making quick judgments about their play. And she wondered aloud if those types of actions cost money at the tables.
And Friend of PokerStars Charlotte Van Brabander talked about playing a poker tournament while organizing a fundraising event to raise money for charity. She talked about the project to donate gaming consoles to sick children in hospitals.
All about Monte Carlo
One of the biggest and most prestigious live poker tournaments of the year took place in May in luxurious Monte Carlo. The events were thrilling, and tracking our favorite PokerStars players on their journeys was fun as well.
Team Pro Vicky Coren didn’t have the best experience getting to Monaco in the first place, though, but she made us laugh (as usual) with her description of her travels.
Sarah Grant wrote about her excitement of being in Monte Carlo. Feeling like a rock star, she shared her thoughts with us.
As far as the tournaments went, the €1,100 Women’s Event brought in 35 players, and the top two finishers chopped the prize money. Irina Batorevich of the Czech Republic took home the trophy and the first place title.
And in the €25,000 buy-in High Roller tournament, none other than Vanessa Selbst took charge and topped the leaderboard going into the final day of the tournament. The writers then began to discuss how to describe her if she won, since there are only so many words in the English language to explain how Selbst dominates a poker tournament. In the end, she finished in fourth place for an impressive $290,300 in cash.
Now that we’re in June, it’s all about the GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions in Macau and the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Players are jet-setting to compete, and we’ll bring all of the highlights in June as they happen.
For all information pertaining to PokerStars Women, visit our website and links here .
Jennifer Newell is a PokerStars freelance contributor.
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