2024 WiPHoF Candidates

Kristen Bicknell Foxen

Kristen Bicknell Foxen is a Canadian born professional poker player who with over $8 Million on tournament earnings ranks second in the all-time women’s ranking list. She has earned 4 WSOP Bracelets in the and has final tabled in both the World Poker Tour and the European Poker Tour.

Foxen hit Supernova Elite on PokerStars in 2011, 2012 and 2013. This required her to play approximately 2.5 million hands per year. She focused her online games at the $1/$2 to $2/$4 stakesas the “Ultimate Grinder”.

In 2013 she won her first bracelet at the $1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship, her second in 2016 $1,500 Bounty No Limit Hold’em, her third in 202O $2,500 No Limit Hold’em 6-Handed and most recently, her forth is
2023 $888 No Limit Hold’Em Crazy 8’s Tournament.

Year after year she continues to make significant strides in her game and has achieved the status of being ranked in the top 200 of the All Time Money List.

Liv Boeree

Olivia “Liv” Boeree is a British science communicator, television presenter, host of the Win-Win Podcast, and former professional poker player. She is a World Series of Poker (WSOP) and European Poker Tour (EPT) champion, and is the only female player in history to win both a WSOP bracelet and an EPT event.

Boeree is a 3-time winner of the Global Poker Index European Female Player of the year. She retired from poker in late 2019 but remains ranked among the top ten women in poker history in terms of all-time money winnings.

Boeree was introduced to the poker industry when she was selected as one of five contestants for the reality TV show Ultimatepoker.com Showdown, which aired on Five in autumn 2005. During the show she was coached by top poker players Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, and Dave Ulliott.

In May 2008, she won the 2008 Ladbrokes European Ladies Championships for $30,000. and in 2010, she won the European Poker Tour main event in San Remo, at the time the largest ever poker tournament held on European soil. Boeree won €1,250,000 and thereby became the third woman ever to win an EPT title.

At the 2017 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Boeree won event #2 (the “$10,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em Championship”) for $273,964 with Russian poker player and boyfriend Igor Kurganov.

Jeanne David

Jeanne David may not be well known to a lot of people (unless you’re in the Mixed Games Poker Scene) but she has contributed to the world of poker in many ways. David was the head of responsible gaming for the largest poker site in the world, PokerStars, until she retired a few years ago. She was very active in legislative work around the US and Europe, promoting the legalization and regulation of online poker. She assisted in the success of legalizing on line poker for Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania & Nevada. She was an active Nevada state lobbyist and made several trips up to Reno and Sacramento to speak to senators about how responsible gaming can be in incorporated into every on line poker site. She spoke in front of Parliament in the Netherlands, and had several meetings with the UK Gambling commission addressing responsible gaming and the prevention of gambling addiction.

Jeanne is also a prominent member of the mixed game community promoting mixed game tournaments around Las Vegas. She created a distribution list where she informs players about the mixed game tournaments and games are being held in town. She has held master classes teaching mixed games and always tries to get women involved in the tournaments by offering them a free beginners lessons.

While she retired from the industry in 2021, she never slowed down when it comes to the Poker community . She final tabled the $1500 WSOP Razz tournament right before Covid, and recently hosted the Horse tournament at the Malta Poker festival in the midst of having two heart surgeries!

David has almost $250K in tournament cashes in which 95% of them are in Mixed Games.

Jamie Kerstetter

Jamie Kerstetter is an American poker player and commentator with over $950,000 in career earnings, according to The Hendon Mob.

She is a two-time Global Poker Award winner, having been named Best Twitter Personality at the 2020 and 2021 awards ceremony. At the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP), she finished runner-up in the $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship for a career-best $114,479 score.

In March 2022, Kerstetter won her first WSOP Circuit ring. She remarkably won it on her phone while charging it in a casino bathroom.

“During the final table, my phone got really low on battery so I needed a wall outlet somewhere quiet so that’s where I was when it ended,” Kerstetter said after her victory. “They say women spend too much time in the restroom. Maybe they’re just grinding online.”

Kerstetter is one of the most beloved members of the poker community. She’s a popular voice on poker X, and also a respected commentator with experience covering the WSOP Main Event alongside Lon McEachern and Norman Chad.

Kara Scott

Kara Scott is a Canadian British TV personality, journalist and poker player. She is mostly known for her time as a commentator in poker.

Born in northern Alberta, Canada, Scott moved to the United Kingdom in 1999 and worked in the UK media until 2009 when she moved to California. Having trained in Muay Thai while she lived in Canada, she became a sports presenter and producer on Five. She is a brand ambassador for 888poker and host of 888poker News.

Kara has hosted Poker Night Live, wrote for Flush magazine, Poker Player magazine and CardPlayer magazine, Gambling Online magazine, UK PokerNews, a blog on Cardrunners and a podcast On The Rail. Kara has also worked on Sky Poker, Sky Television, European Poker Tour, GSN High Stakes Poker, ESPN World Series of Poker 2011 Main Event sideline reporter and Party Poker with Mike Sexton and Felipe Ramos as a player and presenter.

Kara has played in lots of television poker tournaments and celebrity tournaments. She won the celebrity heat PartyPoker Women’s open in 2007 and the PartyPoker Sports Star Challenge in 2008. She also finished 2nd in the Irish Open in 2009 for a 312,600 Euro score.

At the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 buy-in Main Event, Kara finished in 104th place out of a field of 6,844 players, earning $41,816. She also cashed in both the 2008 and 2009 WSOP Main Events.

Her poker tournament Hendon Mob total live earnings is at $664,795 and her latest 1st place was the 220 Euro NLH Ladies Event at 888 Poker LIVE, Barcelona in 2019.

Rebecca McAdam Willetts

More than 18 years’ experience in the gaming industry working across PR, content, communications, media and marketing functions, and partnerships. Rebecca was responsible for partnerships, PR & Consumer Engagement for PokerStars across poker, sports and casino globally.

She has many many accomplishments within the corporation which included leading all women’s initiatives including creating the first female insights community, women-only bootcamps, learning and progressing opportunities and partnerships. Rebecca always looked for opportunities where her position and Poker Stars could elevate women in the industry.

She also acted as global diversity and inclusion champion, pushing for equal rights and treatment internally and externally, and always aiming to improve the playing and working environment for all with various inclusion-focused initiatives.

She has moved on and founded QueenBHive, a new-age PR and marketing agency connecting talent and elevating brands. From sports and igaming media consulting to talent management, and strategic communications and activation planning, Rebecca has worked with many key players in the gaming, sports and entertainment industry, not only aiding them in achieving their communications and business’ goals, but also protecting and enhancing their reputation along the way.

Rebecca is a published author, presenter, multimedia producer and advocate for women in gaming.  She is a four-time inspiration of the year finalist at the Women In Gaming Awards. 

Annette Obrestad

Annette Obrestad is/was an online poker superstar. She is also the youngest person ever to win a WSOP bracelet. Although she hasn’t been seen at the poker tables in recent years, you can find her building a YouTube channel, Annette’s Makeup Corner. She rose to poker fame for her skills and age when entering the poker world.

Annette registered for an online account although she wasn’t quite of the legal age to be playing. She didn’t make a deposit and just played freerolls. She played under the screen name Annette_15, 15 being her age at the time. She built a bankroll from winning freerolls then used that money to enter real money events. Soon, she was making more money from poker than her mother was from her job.

Annette made almost a million dollars playing poker between September 2006 (Annette’s 18th birthday) and February 2007. She won $500,000 on PokerStars, $200,000 on Ultimate Bet and $136,000 on Full Tilt Poker.

Annette had already made a lot of money by this stage. But her big win came on 17th September 2007 with the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event. She took down first place a day before her 19th birthday, making her the youngest WSOP bracelet winner of all time.

The prize was 1 million GBP, which also means she broke the record for the highest single-event payout for a female player. One million GBP was roughly $2.01 million back in 2007, meaning Annette edged out Annie Duke’s $2 million cash in the 2004 WSOP Tournament of Champions.

Although she has been out of poker for awhile, she still sits firmly in 6th Women’s All Time Money List with close to 4 Million in tournament winnings.

Jennifer Shahade

Jennifer balances her passions between the Chess and Poker Worlds. In her early life, she became the first woman to win the U.S. Junior Open in 1988. Then in 2002, she won the U.S. Women’s Chess Championship in Seattle, Washington. At the next U.S. Women’s Championship, she earned her second International Master norm, and in 2004, she won her second U.S. Women’s Chess Championship.

Like many chess players and other game professionals, she found her way to the poker world. In 2014, she became the MindSports Ambassador for PokerStars. On December 9, 2014, Shahade won the first TonyBet Open Face Chinese Poker Live World Championship High Roller Event, taking home €100,000.

Shahade is the host of the poker podcast the GRID, which she produces with her husband Daniel Meirom. In 2019, the GRID won the Global Poker Award for Podcast of the Year. She is also a former coach for the training website Run It Once.

Both the Chess and Poker worlds are prodominetly male. And it was in the Chess world where Jennifer had to make a stand. As a board member of the World Chess Hall of Fame, she became the woman’s program director at the U.S. Chess Federation, which brings chess programming to thousands of girls in the country. Shahade resigned from the US Chess Federation on September 6, 2023 when she claimed that the Federation treated her with “hostility instead of support” and that she was “constantly minimized or ignored” when she came forward with allegations of assault against a Grand Master. She released a statement on her social media regarding her resignation, stating: “Based on what I’ve seen, I cannot currently lend my credibility to the organization in good conscience. This is especially true since I’ve become a de facto confidante for so many women and girls—making it essential for me to have faith in executive decision-making and communication.” We applaud her for her willingness to take a stand against actions such as this even when it isn’t popular and is difficult to do. She is a champion for women on and off the felt and the game board.