The very patient Kimberly Cunningham pushed her last 51,000 in to the middle and found a caller in Angel Pedroza from the big blind.
Cunningham:
Pedroza:
The flop of would see Pedroza hit the lead and put Cunningham at risk.
Drawing to only the two remaining sixes in the deck, or running cards for a straight, Cunningham would see the and fall on the turn and river to send her to the rail in 5th place while adding $38,719 to her purse.
Angel Pedroza opened the pot with an 80,000-chip raise from under the gun. With the action on Lisa Hamilton in the big blind, she bumped it up to 260,000 which prompted a fold from Pedroza.
The next hand, both players were in the blinds, and they saw a flop of fall. Checks came from both players.
When the turn came the , Hamilton lead for 125,000 with Pedroza making the call. The river fell the and Hamilton splashed the pot with a bet that totalled 350,000.
Pedroza sat in the tank for over two minutes before calling, only to see Hamilton table her for the nuts. Pedroza quickly mucked her hand.
With Pedroza now crippled on only 60,000, Hamilton soars to over 2,200,000 in chips.
As the action folded to Lisa Hamilton in the small blind, she looked down at her hand and then back to Angel Pedroza to sum up what was left of her one-time chip lead stack.
With only 10,000 behind, Hamilton put her all in and Pedroza obliged, making the call for her tournament life.
Hamilton:
Pedroza:
With the rail calling hard for a six or a seven, their wish would be granted when the board ran out to see Pedroza double through to 78,000 in chips.
Whenever someone makes a final table, you always expect friends and family to come along and sweat them from the rail.
In the case of Lisa Hamilton, she is lucky to have one of the great poker players on her side - Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier.
When we had a moment, we grabbed Grospellier so that he could share with us what he knows about Hamilton.
Normally a cash game specialist, Hamilton is close friends with Grospellier and his girlfriend. Bored with cash games, she decided to take a shot at her first live tournament by buying into the Ladies World Championship.
So far so good for the Hawaiian, who is our current over-whelming chip leader with more than 70% of the chips in play.
With her sight set on the coveted bracelet and title of Ladies Champion - make sure to stay tuned to PokerNews as the action unfolds!
Mari Lou Morelli pushed all in from the button and with more then half her stack committed in the big blind, Angel Pedroza slid the last of her chips into the pot.
Morelli:
Pedroza:
As the screams started to echo round, the flop of dropped to put Morelli in the lead, but left Pedroza with outs to stay alive.
The on the turn changed little, and needing any five, three or four to double up, the would end Pedroza's hopes of snatching the bracelet.
As Pedroza headed to the rail, she was comforted by cheers from her rail and by the $53,940 in prize money.
Mari Lou Morelli opened to 75,000 with Lori Bender making the call.
The flop fell down and Bender lead out for 125,000. Morelli thought for a little before pushing all in for 60,000 more. "I priced myself in," commented Bender before making the call to see the cards tabled.
Bender:
Morelli:
With Morelli in the lead, she looked in great shape to double when the fell on the turn. Needing to avoid any jack, nine, eight or six to stay alive, the unfortunate would fall to see her exit the tournament with a $78,132 payday.
Only a couple hands into the heads up, and everything went crazy.
Lisa Hamilton limped in on the button and Lori Bender checked her option. All good, onwards to a flop.
Flop:
Bender checked to Hamilton, and then called the 100,000 bet. Again, fine.
Turn:
Bender checked again and this time Hamilton bet 300,000. Back to Bender, and she instantly announced all in for 397,000 more. Some more dwelling from Hamilton...and a call!
Hamilton:
Bender: in some hot water on
River: no help for Bender, as it is the
Thus, Lori Bender becomes the final player to bite the dust, and we have ourselves a winner.
It has been a super-fast final table! We are well under four hours of play at the time of bracelet being awarded, and consequently our winner looks amazingly fresh-faced for someone who has just won themselves a WSOP final table.
The youthful 37 year old from Hawaii was keenly railed by friends Elky, Arnaud Mattern and Eric Liu throughout her brief final table appearance, and now takes home the juicy first prize money as well as the WSOP bracelet. Not bad for what was her first live tournament.
Many congratulations to all of the final table players, and now it's back out into the Las Vegas sun for all of them to enjoy their prize money and the fabulously early finish.