The Women's Poker Association has confirmed that Bridgette Adkins has secured the WPA's Player of the Year honor for the second time in a row, on the basis of her outstanding performances in 2022 ladies-only events.
Adkins, of Dearborn, MO, a Kansas City suburb, amassed 444 WPA leaderboard points at WPA-recognized stops during 2022 to outpace several other top female pros who also made the top ten. Women in Poker Hall of Famer JJ Liu finished in second behind Adkins, while Canada's Louise Francouer placed third.
Adkins also won the WPA's 2020-21 combined Player of the Year honor, when the two calendar years were merged into a single honor due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on live poker events. The last woman to win the WPA's POY honor before Adkins's back-to-back run, Texas's Ruth Hall in 2019, finished eighth in the 2022 WPA race.
The WPA does not immediately announce its annual POY winner following the conclusion of a given calendar to allow results from a few non-reported ladies-only events to be identified and included. More than 40 ladies-only events were included in the WPA's 2022 POY calculations. The criteria for inclusion is simple. Eligible tourney results are gathered from ladies-only events across North America that have a buy-in of at least $100 and draw at least 40 participants.
2022's top ten in the WPA POY race were as follows:
Bridgette Adkins - 444
Joanne "JJ" Liu - 355
Louise Francoeur - 270
Espy Enriquez - 255
Thea Temple - 244
Lisa Adams Levy - 224
Lisa Taylor - 222
Ruth Hall - 201
Sharon Liss - 200
Christina Read - 195
Adkins and the other top-ten finishers will be invited to play in the WPA's upcoming Tournament of Champions Freeroll Celebration, with the date and location to be announced in the near future.
Featured image source: LIPS
