Top Stories of 2025, #7: Twelve Months That Might Change Women’s Poker Forever
That the game of poker has many exceptional female players is hardly news, but 2025 undoubtedly proved to be a landmark year for women in the game, with elite female talent producing some of the year's most remarkable performances.
From Shiina Okamoto's insane dominance of the WSOP Ladies Championship to Leo Margets making history as the first woman to reach a WSOP Main Event final table in 30 years, 2025 was stacked with incredible achievements from female players.
And the headlines just kept coming, with a new leader emerging on the All-Time Female Money List, the first female champion crowned on the Triton tour, titles claimed on the WSOP Circuit and GGPoker Masters, and deep runs in both the WSOP Poker Players Championship and NAPT Main Event. All told, it was a remarkable twelve months for women in poker.
Okamoto Achieves the Unthinkable
When Japanese poker star Shiina Okamoto defended her crown in this year's WSOP $1,000 Ladies Championship, she pulled off one of the greatest feats the World Series of Poker has ever seen, finishing 2nd, 1st, and 1st in three straight years in the same event, each time navigating a field of more than 1,200 players.
That sheer level of dominance, skill, and, frankly, some luck given the variance of tournament poker is almost unthinkable, but Okamoto would achieve one of the most remarkable victories of this or any other year, capturing $184,094 and her second WSOP bracelet.
The accomplishment is so rare that only a few moments in WSOP history even come close. Adam Friedman’s three straight wins in the $10,000 Dealers Choice in 2018, 2019, and 2021 is one, while Johnny Chan’s back-to-back Main Event titles in 1987 and 1988, followed by his runner-up finish to Phil Hellmuth in 1989, is another.
Speaking to PokerNews after her victory, Okamoto would say, "There was still a lot of pressure, with everyone expecting me to win back-to-back. I thought that as long as I stayed calm and did everything right, I would eventually come out on top. So I was really conscious about not panicking and keeping my composure."
Acutely aware of her growing fanbase in Japan and beyond, especially among aspiring female players, Okamoto would add, “Most people don’t learn poker entirely on their own — they learn from someone. And choosing that person really matters. It takes good judgment to find the right mentor, and I hope new players don’t make the mistake of learning from the wrong one.”
Margets Makes History with Glittering Main Event Run
There was yet more history made at the WSOP this summer when, on the biggest stage of all, the WSOP Main Event final table featured its first female player in 30 years.
Spain’s Leo Margets delivered a memorable run, ultimately finishing in 7th place for $1,500,000, becoming the first female player to make the final nine since Barbara Enright in 1995.
Margets’ sparkling Main Event run drew widespread acclaim, transcending the poker world to garner international media attention. Women in Poker Hall of Famer Maria Ho called Margets’ final table appearance “incredible” and added, “You are the moment,” while three-time GPI Female Player of the Year Kristen Foxen would echo the sentiment, describing Margets as “a great ambassador for women in poker.”
Speaking with PokerNews following her exit, Margets would describe the run “the experience of my life," adding “Such an amazing nine days, it’s hard to express with words. It’s been so emotional, but at the same time, you have to recompose every time you’re at the table.”
Foxen Takes Lead as Queen of the Felt
2025 also saw a new leader emerge on the All-Time Female Money List, as high-stakes regular Kristen Foxen climbed to the top following a year of consistently outstanding performances.
Her third-place finish in the $125K NLH 7-Handed at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju, worth $1,104,000, was the crowning achievement that propeled her past Vanessa Selbst to become the highest-earning woman in poker history, also marking the largest cash of Foxen’s career.
Selbst, now in second place, remains the only other woman to surpass $10 million in live tournament earnings, with the top five rounded out by luminaries including Kathy Liebert, Liv Boeree, and Sosia Jiang.
Breakthrough Wins at Triton, WSOPC, and GGPoker Masters
Beyond the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas this summer, female players continued to make headlines, most notably Xuan Liu, who captured the $25,000 WPT Global Slam in Montenegro for $860,000, becoming the first woman ever to win a Triton Poker title.
Liu’s milestone victory on the game’s premier high-stakes tour came against a field of elite talent that included Kristen Foxen, who finished fourth in the event.
Elsewhere, Jenny Westerlund added to the year’s standout performances by outlasting a record 888-entry field in the WSOP Circuit Main Event in Tallinn, banking $233,524. The Swede’s breathtaking final table display highlighted her aggressive style and earned her the biggest live score of her career.
There was also remarkable satellite success as Giedre Valgemae turned a $15 satellite entry into $142,000 by winning the GGPoker Masters, telling her followers on Instagram, “Never stop believing because if I can, you can!”
Taylor & Shahade Make Deep Runs on the Biggest Stages
Female representation at poker’s biggest final tables was a defining theme of 2025, exemplified by Esther Taylor becoming only the second woman to cash in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship at the WSOP.
Taylor went on to finish third in one of the summer’s marquee events, banking $595,136 and surpassing the previous trailblazer Melissa Burr, who placed seventh in 2014. Only Bryn Kenney and eventual champion Michael Mizrachi finished ahead of her.
PokerStars Pro Jennifer Shahade also delivered a magical run to enjoy with a third-place finish in the NAPT Main Event in Las Vegas, earning $291,800, the largest live cash of her career.
Alongside the other achievements of the year, these performances helped define 2025 as a landmark season for women in poker.
Photos courtesy of Spenser Sembrat, Eloy Cabacas, Jazmyn Le, Triton Poker, Elena Kask & OlyBet, Alicia Skillman, Rachel Kay Winter.
