Lara Eisenberg entered the final day of the 2021 WSOP Event #22 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship as the shortest stack remaining among the five women left at the final table. But after doubling through Mikiyo Aoki with ace-king against Aoki’s ace-queen, Eisenberg took over the chip lead and never looked back. She went on to win the event, securing her first WSOP gold bracelet and the tournament’s top prize of $115,694.
Eisenberg came into this event with 15 WSOP cashes on her resume, including a WSOP Circuit event win in a $1,125 No-Limit Hold’em event in Iowa in 2019. That win was good for a $28,199 payday and a circuit ring, but she told us after her win that the two don’t even compare. "Winning a bracelet feels so surreal,” Eisenberg said. “There were some super tough women and yet everyone was so friendly and supportive. It was an amazing event!"
She credited her training for her composure at the final table. “Thanks to my coaching in ICM spots with BBZ Poker, I felt really comfortable with the situations I was in which was definitely a total blessing. My goal had been to final table a major tournament, so I was at peace with whatever happened and just wanted to play my best.”
Mikiyo Aoki comes up short
Mikiyo Aoki entered Day 4 on Thursday with 4,880,000 in chips. She and Debora Brooke (4,280,000 chips) were way ahead of the rest of the pack, with Diane Cooley sitting in third place with 1,265,000 chips. Aoki finished runner-up in the WSOP $1,000 Ladies Championship back in 2014 and looked poised to finally avenge that loss this year, but she eventually settled for a third-place finish.
Other notables at the final table included Poker Hall-of-Famer JJ Liu (who finished in fifth place for $26,458) and poker content creator Marle Cordeiro, who just missed moving on to Day 4 with a seventh-place finish on Wednesday.
The Ladies Championship drew a total of 644 entries to generate a total prize pool of $573,160. One of those entries was a man by the name of Tom Hammers, who paid $10,000 to enter the event that costs women who participate only $1,000. Hammers was eliminated on Day 1, sending cheers through the tournament field.
Final Table Payouts
1. Lara Eisenberg: $115,694
2. Debora Brooke: $71,507
3. Mikiyo Aoki: $50,525
4. Diane Cooley: $36,269
5. JJ Liu: $26,458
6. Qing Lu: $19,619
7. Marle Cordeiro: $14,791
8. Cherish Andrews: $11,341
9. Tiffany Lee: $8,847
Featured Image Credit: PokerGO
