Russia's Gerasimova Leads Event #53: Ladies Championship
Event #53: Ladies Championship originally began with 795 players – which created a prize pool of $715,500 – but on Saturday just 121 returned for Day 2 action, each looking to make the money at the top 81. Unfortunately 40 had to leave empty handed, and PokerNews Social Media Manager Pam Maldonado was among them.
Maldonado took an ugly beat in Level 12 (600/1,200/200) to fall just four spots shy of the money. It happened when Chellie Campbell raised to 4,000 from the small blind, Maldonado called from the big, and the flop came down 
. Maldonado got the last of her chips in holding the 
for top pair, but it was no good as Campbell held the 
for two pair. Neither the 
turn nor 
river helped Maldonado, and she fell agonizingly short of her first WSOP cash.
Those who did take home a payday were Abbey Daniels (73rd - $1,781), Marsha Wolak (66th - $2,010), Ebony Kenney (64th - $2,010), Lacey Jones (58th - $2,353), Jessica Dawley (32nd - $3,971), and Day 1 chip leader Irina Batorevich (12th - $9,101).
By the end of the night, just 10 players remained in contention for the $153,876 first-place prize with Russia's Liya Gerasimova and her stack of 896,000 leading the way.
The Ladies Event Final Table
| Seat | Player | Hometown | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liya Gerasimova | Moscow, RU | 896,000 |
| 2 | Stephanie Ampelikiotis | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | 420,000 |
| 3 | Lisa Costello | Las Vegas, NV, US | 126,000 |
| 4 | Stacie Boehm | Sheridan, WY, US | 125,000 |
| 5 | Jacquelyn Scott | Fort Lauderdale, FL, US | 266,000 |
| 6 | Parminderjit Mehmi | Vancouver, BC, Canada | 865,000 |
| 7 | Hope Williams | Tempe, AZ, US | 168,000 |
| 8 | Amanda Sizemore | Las Vegas, NV, US | 684,000 |
| 9 | Li Fu | Ontario, Canada | 239,000 |
| 10 | Sandra Morse | Hudsonville, MI, US | 234,000 |
The final 10 players will return on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. local time to play down to a winner.