Texas pro and frequent Las Vegas visitor has won the 2022 Nevada State Ladies Poker Championship $550 Main Event, making her the first two-time winner of this prominent women's event. Hall topped a 157-entry field in this event to earn $18,537 and move her career live tournament winnings to just under $370,000.
Second place in this event went to Las Vegas's Julieta Bearden, who collected $12,556. Third place and $8,389 went to another Vegas player, Tonya Baltazar. The event and overall series were hosted by the Ladies International Poker Series (LIPS) and sponsored in part by the Women's Poker Association (WPA).
The triumph continued a strong 2022 for Hall, who also won the NVSLPC main event in 2019. She continues to be a regular player (and formidable force) on the ladies' poker scene, despite battling numerous health issues in recent years. The two-time breast-cancer survivor recently disclosed on social media that she's also been battling Meniere's Disease, a condition in which one gradually loses hearing in, usually, one of the two ears, along with other symptoms.
For the moment, though, all of her thoughts are on her latest poker success, which came at South Point in Las Vegas, the host venue for the week-long NVSLPC festivities throughout last week. Hall made it to Day 2 action with one of the largest returning stacks, but took a big hit early and was down to just a single big blind while still a couple of spots away from the money bubble.
From there, though, fortune turned Hall's way. Here's how she described it on Facebook:
"Finally made it home after 1am last night. Only shot one $550 entry after chopping 3 out of 3 $65 single table satellites. Happy I get to pay my poker investors more than a min-cash. At 23 ladies left, I had blinded down to almost one big blind! 21 were in the money, but we paid the bubble at 22. Chip & A Chair story to come back & win this event: When we hit 18 ladies left, they redrew all seats. That’s when I started getting lucky!🍀
"I was dealt JJ twice to start building a stack. Before I knew it, I became chip leader against my PFF Student Tonya Baltazar (3rd) & Bestie Terry Hatcher (9th) at Final Table. Started catching premium cards and slow played aces for a full double up against jacks who pushed over the top of a short stack’s all in. Once I had the chip lead, I started pressuring the others @6 players left. 2 of the short stacks wanted to take an extra bathroom break, but I didn’t want to stop the momentum that was happening in my favor. (They can get up & go at anytime, but would miss hands). Another pressure short stacks just have to deal with like I did earlier. I picked my spots in late position, tried to keep hands heads-up, and did not bloat pots pre-flop. Snapped a girl off from Brazil who bluffed each street against me. Flopped a Broadway nut straight and got paid. The stars were in my favor after getting maybe 3 good playable hands from restart of Day 2 with 35 players until 18 players left. Lucky? Yes, I got good cards when I needed them, at the END of the tournament! I also used final table strategies, like button raises and stealing blinds. When making a deal was off the table, we played it out to the end. Lucky because the cards dealt to me went in my favor.🍀"
Featured image source: Facebook / Ruth Hall
