The Staten Island, New York, native outlasted a field of 2,541 players to win her first WSOP bracelet for $609,017 in Event 60 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em.
“I can’t believe I won a bracelet today,” Harwood said. “It’s pretty unbelievable. Third time’s the charm.”
It was hardly a fluke victory for the 23 year old as she already had five cashes at this summer’s WSOP and two final tables. She finished fourth in another $1,500 event for $210,456 barely over a week ago.
She beat Yongshuo Zheng heads-up to claim the bracelet. Harwood’s victory allowed her to shatter a number of records at the WSOP.
Her $609,017 payday was the largest ever recorded by a female player at the WSOP in Las Vegas.
She also smashed her way to eighth place on the all-time WSOP female winners list with $874,698, which she accomplished in a single WSOP.
Second Bracelet of the Summer for a Female in an Open Event
Harwood's victory marked the second bracelet won by a female player in an open event at the 2013 WSOP. Just last week Dani Castaneda become the first woman not named Vanessa Selbst to win a bracelet since 2007.
“I just think Vanessa Selbst is the best woman out there. Her success is really inspiring.”
Prior to this summer Harwood mostly stuck to smaller circuit events. She learned poker at an early age from her father.
“My dad played online my whole life,” she said. “He was very successful on PokerStars and he taught me. I just watched him for hours.”
Last January Harwood graduated from college and decided to play poker full-time. She moved to Florida to play cash games but quickly found a knack for tournaments and started traveling to play them.
Harwood jumped to third place in the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard with her victory. When asked if she would travel to the World Series of Poker in Europe to chase the title, she had a one simple answer.
“I’m just gonna win the Main Event.”
Here are the complete final-table payouts from Event 60:
1st: Loni Harwood - $609,017 2nd: Yongshuo Zheng - $378,607 3rd: Mika Paasonen - $267,978 4th: Yngve Steen - $193,265 5th: Asi Moshe - $141,124 6th: Daniel Cascado - $104,282 7th: Cy Williams - $78,006 8th: Bijon Notash - $59,036 9th: Hiren Patel - $45,212Visit www.pokerlistings.com