The stage is set for the first major live streamed final table of the WPT World Championship festival at Wynn Las Vegas, with eight players still in contention to win the 2023 WPT Ladies Championship.
Thanks to a late push, longtime poker vlogger Ashley Sleeth carries the chip lead into Friday’s final table with 2,820,000. She’s followed by Chris Read (2,425,000) and Lisa Costello (2,190,000) at the top of the chip counts.
It was nearly a back-to-back final table appearance for 2022 Poker Hall of Fame nominee Kathy Liebert. But a coinflip with a painful runout kept the WSOP bracelet winner and six-time WPT final tablist from a chance at improving on her fifth place finish from a year ago.
The second edition of this championship event will crown a champion on Friday afternoon in Las Vegas, with the action set to begin at 1 p.m. local time. Once eight play down to six the live stream will begin, with hosts Jamie Kerstetter and Melissa Schubert on the broadcast (on a 30-minute delay). Action will continue until there is just one woman standing, claiming the title and a first-place payout of $85,297.
Before the action starts, lets learn more about each of the final eight players.
1. Ashley Sleeth – 2,820,000
Hometown: Loxahatchee, Florida
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $331,680
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $31,300, 2nd, 2018 Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza $1,100 No Limit Hold’em Double Stack
Other Prominent Scores: 1st, 2019 Run it Up Reno $600 Thursday Thirlla for $24,000
With over 30,000 followers on YouTube, Ashley Sleeth is often found battling it out in online tournaments and live streamed cash games. She’s found success in the live poker streets as well, capturing a World Series of Poker Circuit ring in February 2019, among other prominent results.
Over the last three months, however, Sleeth hasn’t released a video as she stepped back from the game entirely.
“I’ve been taking a very long break from poker,” Sleeth said, “So it just feels fun again, which is really refreshing.”
The WPT Ladies Championship environment has worked out well for her thus far, and Sleeth will have a chance at a career-best result with a finish of fourth or better on Friday.
“I think that definitely contributes to the overall feeling of just being relaxed,” Sleeth said of the Ladies Championship. “It feels a little more like a party, a home game – everybody’s just making jokes, having fun, drinks are going around. And the energy’s just way more relaxed.”
On the final hand of play on Thursday, as Anastasia Knapp was eliminated by Aylar Lie on the other table, Sleeth’s flopped set of eights was good enough to eliminate Jessica Richards in a tie for ninth place, reducing the expected carryover field for Friday by one.
2. Chris Read – 2,425,000
Hometown: Biloxi, Mississippi
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $380,081
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $28,466, 1st, 2023 $500 Lodge Ladies Event ($50,000 Added)
Other Prominent Scores: 2nd, 2021 $400 One Year Anniversary Super Monster Stack, Little Kings and Queens (Buford, GA), for $18,890; 4th, 2020 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Jacksonville Fall Frenzy Main Event for $17,796
Chris Read finds herself in a familiar spot – the final table of a major Ladies Championship. Read won the well-publicized $500 buy-in Ladies Event with $50,000 added to the prize pool at The Lodge in Round Rock, Texas back in May, for a career-best result.
Read has won five more Ladies event titles over the last seven months, including one that netted her a WSOP Circuit ring and one that took place in Malta. As she starts the final table in second place, Read will be in a position to chase a career-best result of her own.
3. Lisa Costello – 2,190,000
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $224,110
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $30,583, 9th, 2017 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open $560 Deepstack Kickoff
Other Prominent Scores: 1st, 2014 Venetian $600 No Limit Hold’em Ladies Event for $14,175
Lisa Costello’s prospects for making the WPT Ladies Championship final table seemed bleak. Just before dinner break on Day 2, her 
went up against Sleeth’s pocked queens. A clean runout for Sleeth left Costello with just 6 big blinds. But upon players returning, Costello quickly tripled up, grinded her way up, and then played two more pots of note – both with Kathy Liebert.
On the first, Costello took down a 700,000-chip pot without showdown, leaving Liebert with 800,000 behind. Then, for the second time in just a few hours, Costello had a player all in with 
against pocket queens. Once again, the runout was headed in the wrong direction for her, with a jack-high flop and 
turn. But the 
river sent up audible gasps through the rest of the field, making Costello a straight and sending Liebert out.
Now, Costello will try to take that run of momentum and turn it into a title. She, too, has a Ladies Event title (2014, at the Venetian), as well as a final table bubble in the 2015 WSOP Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship.
4. Kathy Stahl – 1,880,000
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $248,092
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $62,000, 1st, 2015 HPT Thunder Valley $425 No Limit Hold’em
Other Prominent Scores: 6th, 2011 WSOP Ladies Championship for $29,909
Kathy Stahl, another Las Vegas local, steadily built her stack throughout the day and didn’t get involved in many of the big all-in and call confrontations that her opponents got tied up in late in the day. She’s comfortably within range of the top stacks, and carries with her the kind of final table experience that should come in handy on Friday.
Stahl has the second-largest cash of these final eight players, for a second-place result at Thunder Valley back in 2015. She also made the final table of the 2011 WSOP Ladies Championship, finishing 6th.
5. Aylar Lie – 1,700,000
Hometown: Oslo, Norway
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $538,588
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $45,117, 1st, 2017 Merit Mediterranean Poker Cup $800 No Limit Hold’em Warm Up
Other Prominent Scores: 519th, 2023 WSOP Main Event for $35,000; 5th, 2022 Merit Poker Retro Series Kyrenia $2,200 No Limit Hold’em Warm Up for $28,030; 650th, 2022 WSOP Main Event for $23,000
Aylar Lie is the only international representative at the 2023 WPT Ladies Championship final table. Born in Iran and hailing from Oslo, Norway, the majority of Lie’s best poker results were earned in Europe, including three of her top four live cashes in Kyrenia, Cyprus. She has also gone on runs and cashed in each of the last two WSOP Main Events.
Lie was one of the more active players in the late hours of Day 2 of the WPT Ladies Championship, and despite losing several tough pots, Lie picked up a crucial one when she eliminated Anastasia Knapp on the final hand of the night to secure a pot that has her in a competitive spot when play resumes
6. Alida Veliu – 1,060,000
Hometown: Wycoff, New Jersey
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $343,987
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $155,639, 3rd, 2013 Borgata Poker Open $560 No Limit Hold’em Deepstack
Other Prominent Scores: 1st, 2009 $300 Ladies No Limit Hold’em for $21,060; 1st, 2008 WSOP Circuit Atlantic City $340 Ladies No Limit Hold’em
Alida Veliu reached a crossroads with 11 players left in this tournament. She was all in with pocket nines against Chris Read’s 
and Tara Schwartz’ 
. With a clean runout, Veliu nearly tripled up, busted Schwartz and put herself on a path to the final table.
Like most of the players among the final eight, Veliu has shown an ability to close out tournaments. She has multiple Ladies Event titles to her credit and two career WSOP Circuit rings.
7. Ada Lang – 945,000
Hometown: Tomball, Texas
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $146,151
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $16,311, 5th, 2013 Seven Clans Poker Cup (Kinder, Louisiana) $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event
Other Prominent Scores: 3rd, 2018 Venetian New Year’s Extravaganza $250 No Limit Hold’em for $12,650; 5th, 2017 Wynn Fall Classic $600 No Limit Hold’em for $11,144
Ada Lang had some good fortune come her way during 10-handed play. She was on the verge of going out in 10th, on the final table bubble, until her 
spiked a 
on the river to beat Anastasia Knapp’s 
. That million-chip pot is essentially what Lang will carry into Friday.
Lang will set a new career high-water mark with a finish of 6th or better at this final table. She’s enjoyed some of her biggest successes at Wynn Las Vegas, with two of her six biggest results coming at the property, and on Friday she’ll be on stage in the Encore Ballroom with a chance to add to her record.
8. Michelle Gibson – 675,000
Hometown: West Springfield, Massachusetts
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $18,591
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $5,760, 1st, 2016 WSOP Circuit Foxwoods $250 Ladies No Limit Hold’em
Other Prominent Scores: 2nd, 2021 Hard Rock Tampa $200 No Limit Hold’em for $4,655
While Gibson is the wild card among the final eight players in the 2023 WPT Ladies Championship, she’s still had success in this kind of spot before. She’s a WSOP Circuit ring winner, having taken down a Ladies Event at Foxwoods back in 2016.
Gibson was also at risk during 10-handed play, but managed to find a double-up with 
to keep her hopes alive. She’ll start Friday’s final table as the short stack, but with 17 big blinds, she’s far from out of contention.