Maria Lampropulos closes the curtain of the 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure by beating the 582-player field in the $10,300 Main Event to bank her second seven-figure score in the past ten months. 

There is a hole in the tapestry of poker. It used to have the name of Vanessa Selbst woven into it. Poker got tough; Selbst couldn’t sell it, hence the hole. Who will fill it? Maria Lampropulos has a needle in her hand.

The 36-year-old from Argentina has taken down the 582-player $10,300 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event. She is the first female player to do so and banked $1,081,100 and a $30,000 Platinum Pass in the process.

The line between luminous light and luck is as thin as lint, but those with a penchant for bathing in glory made it to the very end of this thing. No disrespect to Daniel Coupal, but after the Canadian hit the rail Lampropulos had to face three of the most celebrated poker players in the world. Had Gandalf the Grey been a poker player (Middle Earth banned him because of his magic) he would have called her a fool and told her to run. But he doesn’t exist. Fortunately, Shawn Buchanan simplified things by kissing a grenade and hurling it on the table.