Allyn Jaffrey-Shulman captured her first World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet Monday, defeating a very tough final table at the end of the largest Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship in history. For her win, Jaffrey-Shulman takes home $603,713.
It was an interesting tournament for a couple different reasons. As already mentioned, his Seniors Event, open to those players 50-years of age and older, was the largest ever. With 4,128 entrants, it absolutely smashed the previous record of 3,752, set last year. The tournament also set the record for the largest single starting day field in poker history. Because of the gigantic turnout, the event was extended to four days from the originally scheduled three, with the final table spanning both Sunday and Monday.
The final table was also a bit unusual in that it contained a few well-known players. In Seniors Events, you typically see final tables filled with no-names, as the proportion of “name” pros in the field is small. This time, though, there was Jaffrey-Shulman, who while without a bracelet going into the event, has been well-known in the poker industry for her advocacy work and her role as legal counsel and writer for CardPlayer magazine, whose CEO is her husband, Barry Shulman. Also populating the final table were 2008 WSOP Main Event third place finisher Dennis Phillips and two-time bracelet winner Hoyt Corkins.
It didn’t look like this would be the tournament to win her gold bracelet when Jaffrey-Shulman began final table play, as she was next to last in chips with 610,000, 3 million behind the chip leader, Stuart Spear. At the dinner break Sunday, there were seven players left and she was in last place holding fewer chips than when she started the final table. She picked her spots, though, doubling when she could and eventually eliminating Spear and Bill Stabler in 6th and 5th place, respectively to go into Monday with 1.62 million chips. It was still last place, but now it was out of just four players. Phillips had climbed all the way from last to start the final table to first at the beginning of Monday, owning a stack of 5.335 million chips.
The turning point for Jaffrey-Shulman came about an hour and a half into Monday’s Day 4. After a series of raises, she was all-in pre-flop with A♥-J♣, called by Phelps and his Q♥-J♦. She kept the lead on the K♣-9♣-7♥ flop, but Phelps wrested it away when the Q♣ landed on the turn. Another club, the 6♣, fell on the river, though, giving Jaffrey-Shulman a flush and a huge double-up to 5.4 million. After eliminating Phelps shortly thereafter, Jaffrey-Shulman went into heads-up play with a 9.57 million to 2.82 million chip lead on Dennis Phillips.
The final half-hour of the heads-up match was frantic. Phillips had cut his deficit to something manageable then made a huge double-up to take an almost 8 million chip lead. It looked like he was going to take it down. But Jaffrey-Shulman came right back. All-in with just K♣-6♥ against Phillips’ Q♠-Q♥, Jaffrey-Shulman desperately needed a King to stay alive. She didn’t get it. What she did get was a rivered 9-high straight for the double.
She took the lead in short order and then ended it, calling Phillips’ A♦-6♥ all-in with a dominating A♣-T♦. This time, everything went to form and the best hand held up.
Not only was this Jaffrey-Shulman’s first bracelet (after both her husband and step-son, Jeff Shulman, reached final tables in the past week), but it was broke a streak of 249 consecutive mixed-gender events won by men at the WSOP. The last woman to win previously was Vanessa Selbst in 2008.
2012 WSOP Event #29: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship – Final Table Results
1. Allyn Jaffrey Shulman – $603,713
2. Dennis Phillips – $372,895
3. Bob Phelps – $270,727
4. Hoyt Corkins – $199,023
5. Bill Stabler – $147,605
6. Stuart Spear – $110,416
7. William Thomson – $83,332
8. Martin Fitzmaurice – $63,418
9. Harold Lilie – $48,669
