Movie actress Jennifer Tilly jumped up from the table after winning the World Poker Tour Ladies Night III tournament at the Bicycle Casino in California this week, saying that her win proved that her victory in the World Series Ladies tournament in July was “no fluke.”
The latest win was a stunning achievement for a player who only began playing poker a year ago. The actress is the first woman to hold both of these prestigious titles in women’s poker and the victory earned her a seat in the $25,000 buy-in World Poker Tour Championship next April at Bellagio, and a specially-created pink poker set with the WPT logo and Breast Cancer ribbon.
The WPT and the Bicycle Casino will donate $10,000 to Breast Cancer Research in honor of Tilly and the other competitors at the Final Table.
“Jennifer Tilly embodies the new breed of player on the WPT,” says Steve Lipscomb, Founder and CEO of WPT Enterprises, Inc. “Regardless of gender, age, education, or economic background you can become a champion if you work hard to learn the game. We have always said on the WPT, “Anyone can play, anyone can win.” When an actress who has only been playing for 12 months can best some of the best players in the game, you witness the democracy of poker.”
Tilly began her pilgrimage to poker eminence by first playing in the WPT Hollywood Home Game series. She then played in the WPT Invitational event which annually pits celebrities versus professionals. There she met Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, a top player who would go on to win that event. They began dating several months later, and she took up the game under his tutelage.
The other competitors at he final table this week included defending Ladies Night Champion Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier — a fiercely competitive French Canadian lawyer-turned- poker pro; Marsha Waggoner, the Grand Dame of Poker with 30 years of experience; Cecelia Reyes Mortensen, up-and-coming pro and wife to WPT champion Juan Carlos Mortensen, and Aidiliy (Lilly) Elviro, an aggressive new player, and one of the WPT Season III’s top woman competitors who is coached by her soon-to-be-husband, WPT champion Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi.
WPT Ladies Night III will air Saturday, Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the Travel Channel.