Shiina Okamoto’s Legendary WSOP Streak Continues With Back-to-Back Ladies Championship Wins

Shiina Okamoto’s three-year run in the World Series of Poker $1,000 ladies championship is the stuff of legends. The Japanese player exploded out of relative obscurity to finish as the runner-up in the 2023 running, which set a record for the largest turnout ever for the event with 1,295 entries. The following year, she one-upped herself, outlasting 1,245 entries to earn her first bracelet. While that back-to-back showing alone is already impressive, Okamoto turned out to be saving the best for last.

In 2025, the tournament set a new field size record with 1,368 entries. Somehow, even with the booming attendance during her spree, Okamoto managed to successfully defend her title. Not only did she win: she closed out the victory in dominant fashion, surging across the finish line to capture her second bracelet and a new career-best score of $184,094.

I defended.#WSOP

— Shiina Okamoto / 岡本詩菜 (@shiina_pkr) June 30, 2025

With this win, Okamoto has now cashed for $474,594 in this event over the past three years, which accounts for the majority of her $877,201 overall tournament earnings.

Outside of the ladies championship, Okamoto’s top score was the $64,564 she earned for a win in a Red Dragon Poker Tour Jeju $1,110 event late last July. She beat out 356 entries in that tournament in South Korea for her lone career victory away from the Horseshoe Las Vegas.

Setting The Stage For History To Be Made

The record turnout this time around resulted in a prize pool of $1,203,840. The top 206 finishers made the money, including deep runs from Angela Jordison (35th), three-time bracelet winner Barbara Enright (34th), Robbie Jade Lew (30th), bracelet winner Allyn Shulman (28th), and the player who beat Okamoto heads-up in 2023: Tamar Abraham (20th). Jessica Cai (16th), poker photographer and player Katerina Lukina (14th), and Joanne ‘J.J.’ Liu (13th) all made it down to the final few tables.

The final day began with Okamoto leading the remaining seven contenders. Stephani Hagberg was able to win a big pot with kings up besting the tens up of Juliet Hegedus to overtake the top spot. Okamoto then took a hit, attempting a bluff against the trip aces of Sonia Shashikhina that was quickly picked off.

It didn’t take long for Okamoto to right the ship, though. She picked up A♣Q♣ in the cutoff facing an under-the-gun shove of 12 big blinds from fellow Japanese player Sumire Uenomachi. The A♥10♦ of Uenomachi was in rough shape preflop, and a runout of K♠Q♠3♥A♠2♠ ended her run in seventh place ($26,131).

The next key clash saw Shashikhina square off against Okamoto in a four-bet pot. Okamoto was the three-bettor from the hijack after Shashikhina had raised from under-the-gun. Shashikhina four-bet and Okamoto flopped top pair of jacks after calling. It went check-check on the flop, and then Shashikhina fired on the turn and river with her unimproved overcards. Okamoto called down to win the hefty pot, expanding her lead as six-handed play continued.

Okamoto Surges As Finish Line Approaches

Hegedus’ final stand saw her three-bet shove for eight big blinds with 4♦4♣ from the small blind.  Okamoto had opened from the cutoff for a min-raise with A♥6♥. She called the shove and the board came down K♥6♦9♦5♥10♣.  Okamoto made a pair of sixes to win the pot and narrow the field to five. Hegedus earned $34,667 for her sixth-place showing.

Five-handed action was short-lived. Soon after Hegedus’ elimination, Shashikhina got the last of her short stack in with K♦7♠ from under the gun. Julie Huynh called for around four more big blinds with A♠A♥ from the small blind and hit top set on a A♦8♠5♦ flop. The 8♣ turn made the river Q♦ a mere formality. Shashikhina walked away with $46,614 for her top-five finish.

The next key hand saw Okamoto turn sevens up against the top pair of aces and nut flush draw of Hagberg. After the flush draw bricked out, Hagberg went for a hefty value bet with her top pair, top kicker. The wager was quickly called by Okamoto, who chipped up to 17,900,000 after the hand. That amounted to just shy of two-thirds of the total chips in play.

A preflop cooler all but eliminated Huynh. She ran pocket jacks into the pocket aces of longtime poker dealer and 2018 WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Southern Indiana main event champion Heather Alcorn. It was aces full of fours in the end for Alcorn, and Huynh was left with fewer than two big blinds. She was forced all-in as the big blind on the following hand, thanks to the big-blind ante. Her J♥9♠ was outrun by the 7♦6♥, which ended up making the nut straight by the river. Huynh was awarded $63,517 for her fourth-place finish.

Closing Out The Win

The next key clash saw Hagberg raise to 600,000 from the small blind with 10♦9♥ and Okamoto called with 6♣5♣ from the big blind and the flop came down J♥10♣7♣. Hagberg checked-called with middle pair and the 9♣ rolled off on the turn. After another check from Hagberg, Okamoto fired 1,600,000 with her newfound flush. Hagberg check-raised to 4,000,000 with her two pair, only to have Okamoto re-raise to 7,000,000 to put her all-in. Hagberg went into the tank and eventually made the call. She was in need of a ten or a nine on the river, but instead the 7♥ appeared to see Hagberg sent packing in third place ($87,695).

Shiina Okamoto takes out Stephani Hagberg in third place of the @WSOP Ladies Championship. pic.twitter.com/cL5BqiaWIs

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 30, 2025

Heads-up play began with a massive chip advantage for Okamoto, who held 25,100,000 to Alcorn’s 2,275,000. Alcorn managed one double up early, but was soon all-in again with A♦2♠ against the 9♠9♣ of Okamoto. The board came down K♣10♠3♥J♥3♣ and the pocket nines held to bring the event to a close. Alcorn took home $122,654 as the runner-up, the second-largest score of her playing career. The 2019 WSOP dealer of the year award winner now has more than $483,000 in tournament earnings to her name.

Final Table Results

Photos by: Drew Amato.