It's been a summer of personal bests and historic achievements at the 2025 World Series of Poker for Esther 'ETay' Taylor.
In Event #66: $50,000 Poker Players Championship, Taylor became only the second woman in the tournament's history to reach the final table. On the final day of play, she returned to the felt sixth in the chip counts out of the seven remaining players, but expertly maneuvered her way into a third-place finish for $595,136 – a career best.
With momentum on her side, Taylor battled on and, on Wednesday, made the money in the Main Event for the first time, after upwards of ten attempts at doing so. The $15,000 minimum cash she locked up – with much more to come should she run deep – pales in comparison to her winnings in the Poker Players Championship, but the accomplishments mean a great deal more than any monetary sum.
'Keeping myself in the tournament'
Taylor's first-ever Main Event cash came in large part as a result of her approach to poker tournaments – and sticking to it through the long, grueling days of play.
"It feels really good," Taylor told PokerOrg. "It's really funny because I was thinking that my tournament strategy is all about survival mode and the Main Event is very much conducive to that. So, it's just kind of crazy that I've never had a good run."
"For me, it's not a battle of playing hands perfectly or worrying about GTO," Taylor continued. "It's just about keeping myself in the tournament and waiting for good things to happen. You can't do that in every tournament, but you can very much do that in this tournament. So, for Day 1, 2, and 3 that was definitely part of the strategy – playing my style and what I'm comfortable with."
Taylor's game fundamentals and consistent strategy work to her strengths, but her ability to adapt to new and unknown opponents has aided her as well.
"You get moved around to a lot of tables so you're playing with a lot of different players and different styles. That's another big thing, making the adjustments. If I play a hand a certain way against a player and then have the same hand against a completely different player I might play it differently."
Taylor's Main Event approach has proven effective thus far: at the time of writing, she was in a comfortable position with more than 1.4M chips headed into Day 5 – above the tournament average. By sticking to her tried-and-true strategy, it's been relatively smooth sailing throughout the Main Event for Taylor.
"I haven't had too much resistance. I haven't really been all-in – well, I was all-in on Level 1, effectively all-in. I was actually bluffing, but that's the time to do it because no one thinks you're bluffing and no one wants to bust on Level 1."
Taylor almost didn't play the PPC
Taylor's historic run in the Poker Players Championship had fellow players and spectators around the globe captivated – but she actually came close to not playing.
"The PPC was incredible. It's a very tough tournament. I really just try to keep myself humble because tournament poker is so hard and people who have been playing 20 to 30 years understand that you're not owed anything. I hate it when people say they're due" Taylor said.
"I was 50/50 on playing coming into the summer, and I was going to decide based on how well my summer was going," she continued. "It wasn't going horrible, but it wasn't going amazing. And ten minutes before, I was questioning if I really wanted to jump in there."
"Then I told myself, 'You know what? Hop in. You know how to play all the games relatively well, and, more importantly, you know how to navigate tournaments.'"
While she fell short of the win, Taylor's run captured the hearts and minds of many within the poker community – and that's her biggest takeaway from the experience.
"I feel really grateful to have had a run in that tournament. It was the most fun and thrilling experience of my career," she said.
"I got an insane amount of feedback from people that enjoyed watching and seeing mixed games in the spotlight. I got so much positivity and love from people who were like, 'We loved watching you,' or 'My wife and I watched you and she knows nothing about poker, but she was so enthralled.' Those are the things that really matter to me."
'Anything can happen'
For Taylor, the response from viewers and spectators outweighs both the money earned and the kudos received from her fellow players.
"The money was great and the run was great. I got a lot of respect from a lot of great players, which I appreciate, but I think the thing I loved most about it was the feedback from the stream," Taylor continued. "I was really happy about that."
"Coming into the Main Event I was like, 'Here we go again, Main Event #12,' but this time was different. I felt an insane amount of support behind me, which brings a ton of confidence. It's Day 4 right now, and I feel really good, but tournaments are tournaments – anything can happen.
You can follow Taylor's progress in the Main Event in our live WSOP updates.
