Maria Lampropulos Wins Inaugural Women’s Winter Festival Main Event

The inaugural PokerStars Women’s Winter Festival has concluded at the iconic Hippodrome Casino in London. The festival brought together women from across the world for four thrilling days of action spanning from November 21-24. The main event of the festival made a huge splash, attracting women players from across the globe, creating an impressive field of 217entries and becoming the largest women’s only main event ever hosted outside Las Vegas.

While we saw several big names competing for the £100,000 prize pool, the lion’s share eventually went to Argentina’s Maria Lampropulos, who topped the field and overcame Belgium’s Ann-Roos Callens in heads-up to claim the title and the £20,000 top prize.  This marks her third live title of 2024, following her victories in  High Roller at 888poker LIVE Barcelona in May and the recent UKIPT High Women’s Event in Nottingham. The latest win boosts her live tournament earnings to $3,811,744.

The Women’s Winter Festival kicked off on November 21, with Event #1: the £1,100 Women’s Winter Festival High Roller, which drew 27 entries and crowned a champion in England’s Charlie Waters who took home £10,020 after defeating compatriot Jennifer Steele.

A special £220 NLH 50/50 Freezeout also took place during the festival and saw each woman register alongside a player of the opposite sex. Featuring a regular freezeout, the tournament saw 64 males and 64 females come together in pairs to create a field size of 168 players and a prize pool of £32,256. A total of 23 players made it into the money, with Colombia’s Yon Suaterna eventually topping the field for a £7,556 payday. UK’s Gary Bluston placed runner-up, earning £4,720.

Women’s Winter Festival Main Event Quick Recap

Alongside the high roller event, we also saw the start of Event #2: £400 Women’s Winter Festival Main Event. The crown jewel of the series featuring a £100,000 guarantee kicked off on November 21 with Day 1A drawing in 42 entries. The next two starting flights drew 148 and 81 entries respectively, taking the field to an impressive  271 entries.  

The Main Event was a global celebration of poker in London. The field saw several notables from across the world, including Kyna England, 2024 EPT Barcelona Ladies Main Event Champion Soraya Estrada, and Nikki Limo,  PokerStars Pros Jen Shahade and Caitlin Comeskey along with Gabi Lozada, and many more.

A total of 54 players began Day 2 with the chip leaders from Day 1 flights like Mary-Rose McCann, Christina Solli, and Laura Glasgow. Out of the 54 who returned for Day 2, only 17 made it to the third and final day with Ireland’s Jennifer Steele leading the way as the only player with over 1,000,000 chip mark. She was followed by Solli and Ann-Roos Callens.

Shortly after the day began, Solli’s run came to an end in 11th place after she ran into Ann-Roos Callens’ pocket aces. Callens continued her momentum and advanced to the final table where she scored several eliminations, busting UK’s Berivan Dag in ninth place, then knocking out Franky Green in fourth place to reach the heads-up battle. 

The heads-up began after Lithuania’s Marta Porter’s exit in third place (£9,000). She was eliminated by the eventual champion Lampropulos, who flopped a nine pair with king-nine and held from there against Portar’s Ace-Eight.

The heads-up play lasted a little under one hour and saw Lampropulos starting as the chip leader. Following a back-and-forth battle, it all ended when Ann-Roos Callens shoved her Kd 6h against the Qc 5d of Lampropulos. The board did not help Callens but gave Lampropulos a pair of queens to clinch the coveted pot as well as the title.

Women’s Winter Festival Main Event Final Table Results

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