Leo Margets First Woman to Make World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table in Three Decades
There’s only one thing that could take the headlines away from Mike “The Grinder” Mizrachi run in the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event and that is Leo Margets’ trip to the final table. She’s the first woman to make it this far since Barbara Enright did it 30 years ago when she finished […]
There’s only one thing that could take the headlines away from Mike “The Grinder” Mizrachi run in the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event and that is Leo Margets’ trip to the final table. She’s the first woman to make it this far since Barbara Enright did it 30 years ago when she finished fifth.
By making the final table, she’s guaranteed at least a $1 million payday and is only eight eliminations away from the $10 million prize and the bracelet.
There have been several deep runs by women in the recent past. Poker superstar Kristen Foxen nearly made it to the final nine last year, but stalled in 13th place.
Before that in 2012, the WSOP nearly scored a double with deep runs by Gaelle Baumann and Elisabeth Hille, who were knocked out back-to-back in 10th and 11th places. Baumann is one of four women to just miss the final table in tenth. The others are Annie Duke in 2000, Susie Isaacs in 1998, and Barbara Samuelson in 1994. But consider this: The number of players in all those fields combined was 1,180.
This year’s Main Event was the third largest in history with 9,735 entrants.
The rest of the ladies who finished in the top 20 are Marsha Waggoner (12th in 1997), Foxen, Tiffany Williamson (15th in 2009), Tiffany Michelle (17th in 2008), and Kathy Liebert twice (17th in 1998 and 2000).
Margets, who turns 43 next month, is the last woman to win an open WSOP event, which she did in the 2021 “The Closer” that attracted 1,903. This is her second deep run in the $10,000 Main Event after finishing 27th in 2009. She got some practice running through a gigantic field this summer in the $1,500 Milly Maker and its 11,996 entrants. Margert finished 23rd.
A Business Studies major from Roehampton University of Surrey in London, she has a master’s degree in Communication Business Management and specializes in human behavior.
A Winamax online pro, she is the co-winner of a Spanish reality TV show called Traitors Espana in 2023. And not only that, she is an avid marathon runner who ran 10 of them. But this marathon might be the toughest test she’s faced in the competitive world, especially with the concentrated gauntlet of pros and bangers she had to get through since the field shrunk to the final nine this weekend.
And it’s only going to get harder from here considering the players who are left:
Rank Player Chips Country 1 John Wasnock 108,100,000 United States 2 Michael Mizrachi 93,000,000 United States 3 Braxton Dunaway 91,900,000 United States 4 Kenny Hallaert 80,500,000 Belgium 5 Leo Margets 53,400,000 Spain 6 Luka Bojovic 51,000,000 Serbia 7 Adam Hendrix 48,000,000 United States 8 Daehyung Lee 34,900,000 South Korea 9 Jarod Minghini 23,600,000 United States
The players have today off, and return back to the Horseshoe tomorrow to play down to four. The event will conclude Wednesday. Here’s what they’re playing for.
Place Payout 1 $10,000,000 2 $6,000,000 3 $4,000,000 4 $3,000,000 5 $2,400,000 6 $1,900,000 7 $1,500,000 8 $1,250,000 9 $1,000,000
