Skye Chen Wins WSOP 2026 Ladies Championship

Skye Chen won Event #68, the $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship, at the 2026 World Series of Poker on June 28, 2026. She collected $194,630 and her first WSOP bracelet from a record 1,475-entry field and a $1,298,000 prize pool at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.

The 1,475-entry field beat last year’s 1,368 to produce the largest prize pool in the event’s history. Chen outlasted the lot of them in only her first serious tournament foray.

A software engineer for eleven years, Chen had stepped away from tech to travel and play cash games, moving up from $1/$3 to $5/$10. She arrived in Las Vegas to support friends at a Mahjong tournament and took a shot at a bracelet event on the side.

She entered the day with no reported live tournament results and turned her first WSOP cash into gold. Chen beat Aubrey Williams in a heads-up battle that ran more than two hours, sealing it with pocket fours.

The Ladies Championship ran across four days at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, with a single re-entry and late registration open through eight levels on Day 1.

Day 1 set the tone with a record turnout. Erika Weinstein bagged the chip lead on 595,000, but the bigger story was at the rail: defending two-time champion Shiina Okamoto delivered the ceremonial Shuffle Up and Deal, fired two bullets, and busted before the night was out, ending her bid for a third straight title.

The money bubble burst on Day 2. Sinead Davenport was the unlucky one, her pocket kings running into Jixin Zhou’s ace-king, and 222 players reached the cash. Forty-eight returned for Day 3.

Day 3 played down to the final six. Emily Spencer surged to a commanding lead, eliminating 2022 champion Jessica Teusl in ninth and catching Lisa Tan in a huge bluff to seize control. Lexy Gavin-Mather (eighth) and Tan (seventh) followed her out before bagging time.

Six players returned for the final day, each already locked up for at least $37,192. Spencer led the way, while Caitlin Comeskey came back as the short stack with 15 big blinds.

9th: Jessica Teusl ($16,668)

The 2022 champion ran her last chips in against Spencer and could not find a second title. Her ace-queen never improved.

Jessica Teusl: A♥ Q♥
Emily Spencer: A♦ K♣

The board ran 7♣ 3♦ 4♥ 10♠ 2♣, leaving Spencer’s bigger ace good. Teusl collected $16,668.

8th: Lexy Gavin-Mather ($21,497)

Gavin-Mather got the last of it in over Chen, who had three-bet jammed from the small blind. Chen turned the screw with a flopped set.

Lexy Gavin-Mather: K♦ Q♦
Skye Chen: 7♦ 7♣

Chen flopped a set of sevens on the 4♦ A♠ 7♥ 5♣ 6♠ runout. Gavin-Mather earned $21,497.

7th: Lisa Tan ($28,092)

Tan jammed her pocket fives and Lisa Teebagy looked her up with ace-jack. Teebagy flopped top pair to send the final six to bagging time.

Lisa Tan: 5♠ 5♣
Lisa Teebagy: A♦ J♠

The 7♥ 2♠ J♦ 4♣ 6♣ board paired Teebagy’s jack. Tan took $28,092.

6th: Victoria Ailloud ($37,192)

France’s Ailloud, cashing outside Europe for the first time, open-jammed her pocket sixes into Williams’ big slick.

Victoria Ailloud: 6♦ 6♥
Aubrey Williams: A♦ K♣

Williams flopped an ace on the 2♥ 3♣ A♠ 9♦ 9♠ board. Ailloud earned $37,192.

5th: Emily Spencer ($49,874)

The Day 4 chip leader could not convert her stack. Spencer three-bet, Chen four-bet to cover, and Spencer called off with ace-jack against ace-king.

Emily Spencer: A♦ J♠
Skye Chen: A♥ K♦

The 2♥ 6♦ 10♦ Q♠ 9♦ board never paired her jack. Spencer collected $49,874.

4th: Caitlin Comeskey ($67,735)

Comeskey flopped a set of fours with the chips in against Teebagy’s aces, only to be undone by the runout. Teebagy held A♠ A♣, Comeskey 4♦ 4♥, and the board came 4♣ 7♣ 8♥ 9♣ 2♣ to give Teebagy a brutal ace-high club flush. Comeskey earned $67,735.

3rd: Lisa Teebagy ($93,149)

Teebagy moved all in with king-ten and Chen called with pocket fives. Chen turned a set of fives, and Teebagy could not catch up.

Lisa Teebagy: K♦ 10♦
Skye Chen: 5♥ 5♣

That left Chen and Williams heads-up for the bracelet. Teebagy, a 15-year Las Vegas regular with more than half a million in earnings, collected $93,149.

Heads-Up: Chen vs Williams

Williams began the duel in front, holding roughly 63 big blinds to Chen’s 34. The decisive swing came when Williams jammed the river of a 3♠ J♥ 8♥ 2♣ 7♣ board representing strength, and Chen made a long hero call with ace-high, correctly reading the busted draw to take over the chip lead.

Williams slipped to around four big blinds but refused to fold, doubling up several times to drag the match past the two-hour mark. Each reprieve only delayed the result.

Chen shoved on the button with pocket fours and Williams called off with ace-five. The board ran 8♦ 9♦ 9♥ Q♠ 10♦, pairing the nines and handing Chen two pair, nines and fours.

Williams needed an ace and it never arrived. Chen’s hand held, and an eleven-year software engineer playing her first serious tournament was a WSOP champion.

“I would not have imagined to come here and just suddenly win a bracelet on my first try, basically. It still feels surreal. I almost feel like I’m dreaming right now.”
Skye Chen

Aubrey Williams collected $129,692 as runner-up. She had entered the final day among the chip leaders and carries more than $350,000 in career earnings, and she kept her reason for playing simple: “I’m a woman, so I play in the women’s event.”

The Ladies Championship is one of the oldest events on the WSOP calendar and the only women’s championship in the series. It debuted in 1977 as a Women’s Seven-Card Stud event with 93 players, and Jackie McDaniel’s victory made her the first woman to win any WSOP bracelet.

The format has shifted over the decades, settling into No-Limit Hold’em from 2005. Since 2013, the buy-in has officially been $10,000 with a $9,000 discount for women, a quirk designed to deter unwelcome male entrants. Actress Jennifer Tilly remains the event’s most famous champion, winning in 2005 for $158,335.

Chen’s win arrives with the throne freshly vacated. Shiina Okamoto’s back-to-back title run had ended with a Day 1 exit, opening the door for a first-time champion.

The field itself carried plenty of history. Teusl had won the title in 2022, and 2008 champion Svetlana Gromenkova was also among the runners, finishing one spot shy of the final table. For more on the women who built the game’s record books, see our guide to the most accomplished female poker players.

Chen’s victory is the rarest kind of WSOP story: a recreational player with no track record taking down a championship field of 1,475. She framed it as a throwback to an era many thought had closed.

“You sort of thought that that era of the amateur player coming and winning a bracelet was kind of over, but I wouldn’t have ever believed that I would come in and sort of do the same thing.”
Skye Chen

The win was a long way from the cash tables she had been grinding, and she planned to celebrate with a dinner alongside friends before deciding what comes next.

The series rolls on at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas through July 15, with dozens of bracelet events still to come. Every result is logged on the WSOP 2026 daily results page.

Full schedule and qualification details are on our complete WSOP 2026 coverage guide. The Ladies Championship is one of six events excluded from the WSOP 2026 Player of the Year race.