Women dominate tourney

In the first 27 years of the World Series of Poker, more than 320 champions were crowned in events open to players of both sexes, but just two of them were women -- a dismal .006 winning percentage.

In the first six events of this year's granddaddy of all gaming tournaments at Binion's Horseshoe, the women's victory average is a sparkling .333, as they equaled in two days the number of wins by females in open events from 1970-96.

Maria Stern, the 57-year-old Cuban-born wife of noted Costa Rican poker player Dr. Max Stern, won the $1,500 buy-in, limit 7-card stud title Saturday night to close out the first week of action in the monthlong tournament.

On Thursday night, Linda Johnson, publisher of Card Player magazine, captured the $1,500 buy-in, limit 7-card razz (lo-ball) event and collected $96,000.

After the first four events, women had a .500 winning percentage for the tournament. That was remarkable considering it took a woman 12 years to win a first open World Series event and 14 years for another woman to win again.

The late Vera Richmond won the 1982 $1,000 buy-in, limit ace-to-5 draw title. Barbara Enright, a two-time women's world 7-card stud champion from Oceanside, Calif., won the $2,500 buy-in, pot-limit Texas hold 'em title last year to bring her career World Series winnings to $350,960 -- the most ever for a woman.

"The women are doing better and better and the first-time visitors are doing better and better," said Tournament Director Jim Albrecht.

"Obviously, experience and a lot of inherent ability adds to the equation. It's possible for just about anybody to make the final table -- not to diminish the women's role. But over the past four or five years, we've started to see some remarkable things happen."

On Saturday, Stern collected $140,708 -- quite a leap from the $38,500 Richmond pocketed 15 years ago -- and jumped into third place on the women's money list behind Las Vegan Annie Duke, who has finished in the money nine times in open events to bring her lifetime WSOP earnings to $185,346.

It was Duke's impressive run and Enright's final table finish at the 1995 $10,000 buy-in, no-limit Texas hold 'em world title game that helped spark a boom in women's poker.

Last year, women set a World Series record when 14 of them won $472,330 in open events (not to mention several thousand more in the women's $1,000 buy-in, 7-card stud event on Mother's Day).

That record is in serious danger of falling as three women already have won $243,608, with 1987 women's world 7-card stud champ Linda Ryke Drucker placing seventh in the $1,500 buy-in, limit Omaha hold 'em game and collecting $6,900.

Maria Stern was a secretary for an advertising agency when she moved to Costa Rica, where she met and eventually married Max, 57, now a retired pediatrician. He is credited with introducing Texas hold 'em to his homeland after learning to play the game at the World Series.

A familiar face on the poker circuit, Max placed third in the event Johnson won. The 1995 Omaha hold 'em hi-lo World Series champion won $24,000 last Thursday to bring his career winnings to $205,470.

Ironically, it took him seven in-the-money finishes over many years to earn just $65,000 more than his wife cashed in for just one victory.

Max and Maria Stern have homes in Las Vegas and Miami.

Johnson, who is sixth on the women's all-time money list with $104,195, indicated she is not surprised women now are making their mark on the game.

"I think the women who play poker percentage-wise are very good players," she said. "When you consider that of all the players who have entered World Series events, perhaps 3 percent are women. It shows how well the women are doing."

The 21-event World Series of Poker continues with daily action and concludes May 12-15 with the $10,000 buy-in, no-limit Texas hold 'em championship to be televised by ESPN.

SUN REPORTER Bob Shemeligian contributed to this report.

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