Skye Chen Defeats Aubrey Williams to Win WSOP Ladies Championship

“You sort of thought that that era of the amateur player coming and winning a bracelet was kind of over…”

Those were the words of the newest World Series of Poker champion Skye Chen, who overcame a field of 1,475 entries to win Event #68: $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship for $194,630.

A software engineer for 11 years, Chen recently stepped away from her career in tech to take a break and travel, ‌playing poker along the way. Over the last couple of years, she had primarily been playing cash games, gradually moving up from $1/$3 stakes to $5/$10 games. Now, she’s a WSOP bracelet-winner.

Chen defeated Aubrey Williams heads-up after an action-packed battle against that stretched for more than two hours.

Event #68: $1,000 WSOP Ladies Championship Final Table Results

“This Was a Dream of Mine”

Chen’s trip to Las Vegas wasn’t even centered around poker. She accompanied friends who were participating in a Mahjong tournament that she had no interest in playing. Instead, she decided to take her shot in a World Series of Poker event.

“This was a dream of mine; ever since I saw the WSOP on ESPN back when I was a kid”

“I was playing mostly just for fun and also because I really wanted a bracelet. It was kind of fun to chase that dream, right?” Chen said. “Compared to the rest of the field, I’m sure there are plenty of better pros out there than I am. I’m not a professional player. It feels surreal. I mean, this was a dream of mine, ever since I saw the WSOP on ESPN back when I was a kid, and I learned how to play poker, but I definitely wasn’t very good.

“I don’t know how to feel right now because it’s almost, you know, you sort of thought that that era of the amateur player coming and winning a bracelet was kind of over, but I wouldn’t have ever believed that I would come in and sort of do the same thing.”

One of the defining moments of the tournament came during heads-up play when Chen made a hero call against Williams to seize the chip lead.

“It really felt like she was representing something extremely strong,” she told PokerNews. “I just kept thinking and kept thinking, kept thinking, oh, just like this doesn’t make any sense in terms of how it goes. The sizing just seemed like it was meant to intimidate me. I’m definitely not as studied or as experienced as she is. And so if I’m going to take a 50-50 to try to win the tournament right here, this is going to be the moment.”

Even after securing the bracelet, the accomplishment had not fully sunk in.

“I would not have imagined to come here and just suddenly win a bracelet on my first try, basically. It still feels surreal. I almost feel like I’m dreaming right now.”

When asked what she would have thought if someone had told her at the beginning of the tournament that she would become a WSOP champion, Chen laughed.

“I actually probably would have said I wouldn’t have necessarily been surprised, but I would be very surprised to learn that I hadn’t committed to it. I feel like I’m the kind of person where if I really wanted to do something, I can put a lot of time and effort, and I can grind it, and I can learn it really fast, right, and pick something up.”

Rather than viewing this victory as the culmination of a dream, Chen sees it as the beginning of her poker journey. She plans to celebrate her win with dinner alongside her friends from the Vegas Dragons club before deciding what comes next.

Chen’s Road to Victory

Chen began the final day with six players left second in chips behind Emily Spencer, who held a commanding lead with roughly twice her stack. Despite the deficit, Chen remained patient and picked her spots carefully, steadily building her stack throughout the day.

A turning point came when Chen rivered a flush against Spencer to become the new chip lead. She later sent the former frontrunner to the rail after finding herself dominating Spencer’s hand, further extending her advantage over the field.

Teebagy, meanwhile, gained momentum after eliminating Caitlin Comeskey in fourth place. That boost allowed her to apply pressure to the remaining players. She also took a sizable pot from Chen, who paid her turned trips with a pair.

With three players remaining, Teebagy sat atop the leaderboard, while Chen found herself at the bottom of the chip counts. Once again, Chen displayed determination. She found a timely double-up from the small blind with ace-jack, extracting maximum value from Teebagy and climbing back into contention.

The path to heads-up play remained challenging. Williams, with ace-king, soon knocked Chen back down after making a call with king-jack, leaving the champion short while Williams surged to nearly 60 percent of the chips in play.

As the three-handed battle wore on, the chip lead changed hands repeatedly. Eventually, Chen eliminated Teebagy when her pocket fives improved to a set on the turn, sending her out in third place and setting up the final duel.

Once heads-up play began, Chen found herself facing an uphill battle with a 3:5 chip advantage in favor of Williams. In one of the defining moments of the tournament, she correctly sensed a bluff from Williams and made a hero call for her tournament life. The call earned her a crucial double-up and left Williams with only about four big blinds heading into the break.

Williams refused to go quietly, however, and staged a remarkable comeback attempt by doubling up three times. Ultimately, the chips found their way into the middle one final time. Williams was unable to improve against Chen’s pocket fours, and when the board failed to deliver an ace, Chen’s hand held up to secure the victory.

After overcoming multiple setbacks, surviving several short-stack situations, and winning a heart-pounding heads-up battle, Chen completed an impressive story to earn her first WSOP bracelet and etch her name into poker history.

Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage from the World Series of Poker, with the Main Event set to kick off later this week

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