Adding to her jewelry collection for winning the 2010 Cleopatra Open was Kitty Kuo.  She is a 32-year-old professional poker player from Taipei, Taiwan.  She now resides temporarily in Vancouver, BC, but plans to move to Las Vegas in the near future.  Huo also won a tournament held in Macau (Asia).  She has also cashed four times this year at tournaments held in the U.S.  Kuo collected $7,357 in prize money for this victory.

This tournament had the highest buy-in of any Ladies Championship on this year’s WSOP Circuit.  Most ladies events throughout the country are $230 entry fees.  Some cost as little as $120.  The higher buy-in at Caesars, plus an atypical midweek starting day limited the field to 79 players.  But the competition was fierce as the ladies competed for bragging rights.  Previous Cleopatra Open champions were as follows:

2009 – Courtney Wulfe

2008 – Barbara Enright

2007 – Anna Wroblewski

2006 – Martine Qules

The $300 (+40) buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament was played on April 20^th. The tournament began in the afternoon and lasted late into the night.  There were no prior WSOP Circuit gold ring event winners among the final nine players, which guaranteed a first-time champion.  However, three of the ladies had final table appearances in Ladies Championship events held at previous WSOP Circuits.

Lauren “LC” Cooney arrived at the Final Table with a slight chip advantage over the remaining players.  But she went out quickly after taking a few beats, ending up as the eighth-place finisher.  Closest in chips when play began were Kitty Kuo and Leslie Del Pilar, who were both within striking distance of the leader.  Kuo in particular made an early move and was the player to beat once play became seven-handed.  However, Leslie Del Pilar proved to be a formidable foe and finishes as the runner up.