It’s been an absolute dream World Series of Poker for Austria’s Jessica Teusl.
The poker pro first watched her boyfriend Stefan Lehner win his first bracelet and $558,616 in the $3,000 no-limit hold’em event earlier this summer. That same night, Teusl found herself at her own final table, finishing eighth in the $1,500 Monster Stack event for a career-best $120,455.
But on Saturday night at Bally’s on the Las Vegas Strip, Teusl one-upped herself by winning a bracelet of her own and $166,975 in the $1,000 buy-in Ladies Championship.
“I’ve had such a crazy time at the WSOP this year,” Teusl told reporters. “We are going to celebrate now. We have two bracelets to celebrate!”
She was the shortest stack when the final table began and started the day with just nine big blinds, but Teusl fought her way back into contention.
“I started to think the chance of winning was now alive,” she said. “I know everything could change really fast, and I’m very grateful that luck was on my side.”
Teusl topped a field of 1,074, which marked a big increase from the 2021 tournament which had 644 entries. There was $955,860 in the prize pool overall, paid out to the final 163 players.
Notables who made deep runs included Natalie Hof Ramos (8th), Cherish Andrews (9th), Lexy Gavin (13th), Maria Konnikova (20th), Tiffany Michelle (22nd), Mandy Baker (24th), Melanie Weisner (28th), Ronit Chamani (37th), Molly Mossey (45th), Karina Jett (54th), Loni Hui (75th), Leo Margets (80th), Jamie Kerstetter (81st), and Ruth Hall (84th).
The Ladies Championship dates back to 1977. That first year, the buy-in was just $100, and Jackie McDaniels took home $5,580 and the first ever bracelet for a woman at the series. The tournament was originally played as stud, switching to no-limit hold’em in 2001.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Earnings |
| 1 | Jessica Teusl | $166,975 |
| 2 | Julie Le | $103,196 |
| 3 | Christina Gollins | $73,604 |
| 4 | Felisa Westermann | $53,213 |
| 5 | Meikat Siu | $39,004 |
| 6 | Lynh Nguyen | $28,989 |
| 7 | Sandy Tran | $21,852 |
| 8 | Natalie Hof | $16,710 |
| 9 | Cherish Andrews | $12,965 |
Winner photo credits: WSOP and PokerGO
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