On Wednesday, every winner of a preliminary event during the WPT Choctaw festival was invited to compete in the WPT Festival of Champions Free Roll, where one champion would win a seat into the $3,700 buy-in WPT Choctaw Main Event. That champion was Karen Norman, who won Event #49 two days earlier, outlasting 82 players in the $200 buy-in event to win $4,803.
Norman has never cashed in a World Poker Tour event, but does have 11 total cashes at Choctaw Casino Resort. Norman calls Denton, TX home, and is known for carrying a basket of lollipops to the poker table (pictured above), and giving them out to her fellow competitors.
Norman defeated John Richards heads up to earn her seat into the televised, $3,700 buy-in WPT Choctaw Main Event. Richards was entered into the WPT Festival of Champions Free Roll after winning Event #18: $500 buy-in PLO for $12,749.
The $3 million guaranteed WPT Choctaw Main Event begins Friday at noon. For more information, including how to register online, click here.