This weekend’s celebration of Canada’s national day will be more memorable than usual for Canadian online and live tourney player Kristen Bicknell (29)…she became this series’ first woman event winner after taking on a star-studded field of 2,158 in the $1,500 buy-in Bounty event.
In addition to the prestigious bracelet – her second – Bicknell collected the first prize of $290,768, bringing her career live tourney earnings to over a half million dollars. And in scoring 17 knock-outs in the bounty competition, she earned an additional $9,000.
Bicknell faced a tough final table that included WPT veteran Will “The Thrill” Failla, along with former November Niner Steve Gee and Hungarian ace Norbert Szecsi, whom she faced in the heads up after play was extended by an additional day.
Bicknell held a commanding lead for much of the final table, and going into the heads up she was well ahead in chips, dispatching the Hungarian with the runner up prize of $179,625 in just nine hands.
Asked whether her extensive online experience had stood her in good stad in the live environment, Bicknell sais that she had player more than 14 million hands over the internet, noting:
“I think that is incredibly helpful for getting in these situations with tournament players who don’t play that many hands and don’t understand post-flop as well. I think it’s a huge edge, and I see a lot of spots in these tournaments that I have an advantage post flop.”
Other final table cashes included:
John Myung (Vienna, VA) — $130,588
Ryan Leng (Henderson, NV) — $95,857
Will Failla (Smithtown, NY) — $71,049
Sebastien Comel (St. Pierre Du Mont, France) — $53,181
Steve Gee (Sacramento, CA) — $40,203
Fadi Hamad (Danvers, IL) — $30,697
Jason Singleton (San Diego, CA) — $23,678