Winning two World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) events in one’s lifetime is an impressive feat. But for Daphne “Tweety” Turner, the accomplishment had a bit more significance than for most other people. In winning the $300 + $50 Mixed Game tournament at the Bayou Poker Challenge held at Harrah’s New Orleans last week, the Richmond, Texas resident became first woman in the six year history of the WSOPC to win two open event titles. For defeating 67 opponents, she pocketed $6,727 and received a gold WSOPC ring.
The Mixed Game event is one of the ultimate tests of poker skill because it not only combines different games, but also different limit varieties. This tournament consisted of Limit Hold’em, Omaha High-Low Split, Razz, Seven-Card Stud, Eight-or-Better, No-Limit Hold’em, and Pot-Limit Omaha.
Turner was second in chips going into the final table. Her 176,000 chips were about 60,000 fewer than the chip leader, Greg Headrick of St. Louis, Missouri, and about 60,000 more than her next closest competitor, Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler, who has a WSOPC ring himself. After Kessler, nobody had even 82,000 in chips.
In the end, it came down to Turner and Kessler for all the marbles. After 90 minutes of heads-up play, which resulted in the entire final table lasting close to eight hours, the final hand was dealt in an Omaha round (based on the video, we’re not sure if it was Pot-Limit Omaha or Omaha High-Low Split). After the river, the board showed K-Q-6-8-T. While Kessler had led through the turn with A-K-5-6 for two pair (it could have been A-Q-5-6 – again, video clarity is the culprit), the river won the tournament for Turner, as she had A-A-J-4, giving her an Ace-high straight.
Afterwards, a WSOP interviewer asked Turner how she felt about making history as the first female to win two open WSOPC events. She responded, “I didn’t know I made history with two. I knew I made history with the first one, but… cool!”
She gave the lion’s share of the credit to her husband: “Really, my husband is the one who got me into tournament poker. I always just stuck with the cash games. So, I had been playing poker for a while, but never tournaments, so it kind of helped to teach me how to play on the felt in a tournament because they say it’s a different game. He just kind of coached me along and basically (told) me what I’m doing wrong and vice versa.”
Turner reportedly does not play in many events, which makes her second WSOPC win that much more impressive. Her previous gold ring came in 2008 in a $500 No-Limit Hold’em event, also at the Bayou Poker Challenge. Turner also placed second in the $300 No-Limit Hold’em Ladies Event at the 2009 Winter Bayou Poker Challenge in New Orleans.
