Bridgette Adkins Crowned WPA 2020/2021 Player of the Year for North America
Woman’s Poker Association, the only Non-Profit Poker Industry Association which provides a collective voice for women poker players, hosts a global WPA Player of the Year program. All ‘women only tournaments’ are eligible for the WPA Leaderboard in North America and a Tournament of Champions made up of event winners from countries outside of North America compete for the International title.
With the pandemic interrupting every area of our lives over the past two years, poker is no different. In 2020 the women’s tournament schedule was set to be record breaking, only to be shut down in the first quarter. It was then the WPA decided to combine the POY Race to include 2020 and 2021. This WPA POY series scored a total of 44 events in the two years with result information provided by operators and other result platforms, to determine our winner. Click here to view the overall standings.
Congratulations to our Top 10 Finishers in the WPA POY race. Top 10 are invited to compete in a online Tournament of Champions Freeroll Celebration next month. 1st Place Bridgette Adkins MO, 2nd Place Ruth Hall TX (WPA 2019 POY Champion), 3rd Place Theresa Hatcher NV, 4th Place Jill Burke MN, 5th Place Sharon Liss FL, 6th Place Julie Herbert CA, 7th Place Bonnie Weitzel GA, 8th Place Patricia Pfeil NC, 9th Place Lily Torrence NV, 10th Place Christina Read MS. All amazing players in their own right.
Our newly crowned player, Bridgette Adkins of Kansas City, Missouri, clearly takes this year’s title with over 250 points between 1st and 2nd place. She had an amazing run of tournaments.
Bridgette was introduced to poker by playing $4/8 limit cash games as well as monthly ladies tournaments at one of her local casinos. She describes her play as an aggressive style but feels her intuitive and fearless nature allows her to make the tough calls and (sometimes!) even tougher folds.
This POY season was a good one for Bridgette. She shares “second to my deep run at the WSOP Ladies Main Event, my first place finish at Lone Star Poker Series ladies event was my first live stream final table experience in which I started the final table last in chips but ultimately came home with my first tournament win of 2021” she explains. She goes on to add “Even though no-limit-holdem tournaments make up the majority of my poker playing, I most enjoy mixed games! Specifically any version of Omaha as well as 2-7 Triple Draw.”
We asked Bridgette about some of the hurdles she experiences in poker and how she overcomes some of those… “Bad beats! Cliche answer, I know. It’s difficult to grind late into a tournament only to go card dead or make an incorrect decision that negatively impacts the outcome of your tournament. While I cannot technically overcome the hurdle of bad beats, I could strive to react more favorably to these hurdles, essentially overcoming these hurdles in a different manner.” She adds “While it is exciting to see new ladies enter a tournament for their first time, they often turn out to be the more difficult player because it is harder to put them on a certain hand or bluff them.”
Bridgette tells us how she had to travel for the first time for poker due to the pandemic and lack of local tournaments. “Combining my love for travel with my love for poker is a win-win for me!” she said. Travel is a passion for Bridgette anyway. She and her teenage son are currently working on visiting every Major League Baseball park. They are big KC Royals fans and try to go to as many away games as possible and collect autographs from those visits.
Bridgette’s future poker plan is to attend more local poker tournaments in Kansas City as they resume and she adds “we could use a WPA Advocate for this area to encourage our local casinos to host Ladies Events. Who knows, I may throw my name in the hat for this role one day!”
Her thoughts on be the WPA Player of the Year? “Winning WPA Player of the Year has been surreal. Definitely a rewarding way to end a successful year of ladies tournaments. I appreciate the WPA hosting this award.”
Although when asked about her run at the 2021 WSOP Ladies Championship her first response was disappointment in not making the final table but she tells us how this event taught her something about poker. “Finishing 11th place in the WSOP Ladies Championship was one of the highlights of this past year – not only because of my deep run but because I battled for every pot I won for the entire three days. I was never able to amass a sizeable chip stack at any point, never had a heater. Although the outcome of this event was gut wrenching, I proved to myself that I could run deep in a larger field even if I didn’t have the optimal cards.”
Lastly, we wanted to know if Bridgette had anything to say or advice for women just entering the game. “Easy answer. Welcome, new ladies! Glad you have decided to join us. I believe I speak for most of the ladies when I say you will meet and form unique friendships with women from all over the US and beyond. Relax and enjoy the game. Try not to be intimidated by the tournament atmosphere. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. I encourage you to engage in the meet-and-greet events outside of the poker tournaments as well as join the various social media pages that promote ladies events. Again, welcome!”
WPA is very proud to bring programs like the WPA Player of the Year to elevate the experience for women around the world and also to highlight the achievements of exceptional play by women who excel in this game we love.
The WPA 2022 Player of the Year Race has already begun. To view the event listings and results, please visit our WPA POY Event Schedule.