World Poker Tour Yet to Crown First Female Champion

The @World Poker Tour is in its 13th Season and has yet to crown its first lady champion. About 2 dozen have made the main event final tables since 2002, and six female players have played heads-up for the  title: @Kathy Liebert, @Joanne Jishung "JJ" Liu, @Vanessa Selbst, @Lily Kiletto, @Cecilia Pescaglini, and @Diane Gagne.

Today we will be watching @Gaelle Baumann at the partypoker WPT Vienna final table of six, while across the Atlantic another woman will be battling the remaining 17 in the WPT Rolling Thunder - @Joanne Jishung "JJ" Liu!

Anthony Zinno won his Season 12 title in the Borgata Poker Open in heads-up with one of the top scoring women in the World Poker Tour: Vanessa Selbst. 

Another high-finishing lady in the WPT who has played heads-up for the title is Taiwan-born Californian @Joanne Jishung "JJ" Liu. In 2007 she was defeated by @Ted Forrest and finished second for $600,000 in the $10k buy-in WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star:

WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star 2007 Pt09 von allpoker56 

2015 WPT Rolling Thunder, @Thunder Valley Casino Resort 

Today JJ Liu will be seated at Table 1 as the WPT Rolling Thunder rolls towards its culmination, most notably in the company of the short-stacked (10 bb) two-time champion @Darren Elias (2014 WPT Borgata Poker Open and 2014 WPT Caribbean).

Photo: flickr.com, World Poker Tour

2015 partypoker WPT Vienna, @Montesino - Wien 

The WPT Vienna Main Event starting field of 220 is now down to 6. Gaelle Baumann starts with the shortest stack, and is guaranteed a minimum cash of $30,964 for 6th place finish.

Seat 1 - @Vladimir Krastev - 2,379,000
Seat 2 - @Thomas Bichon - 593,000
Seat 3 - @Konstantinos Nanos  - 1,386,000
Seat 4 - @Andreas Freund  - 521,000
Seat 5 - @Sotirios Koutoupas  - 1,327,000
Seat 6 - @Gaelle Baumann  - 382,000

WPT Champions

Meanwhile, in WPT history, three players have won three titles each - @Gus Hansen @Carlos Mortensen and most recently, @Anthony Zinno (Borgata 2013, Fallsview 2015, LAPC 2015).

Zinno is also part of another exclusive  three-member club together with @Marvin Rettenmaier and @Darren Elias. They have all won back-to-back titles in the same season ('MadMarvin' in two overlapping seasons).