Jennifer Shahade Bags £22K in PokerStars Women’s Summer Festival Main Event
Jennifer Shahade came into the PokerStars Women’s Summer Festival Main Event wearing the ambassador patch and carrying the extra weight that comes with it. Everyone knew who she was, and plenty of players in the £400 buy-in field would’ve loved to be the one to send her home. Instead, she battled through 193 entries at London’s Hippodrome, outlasted a tough final table, and walked away with the trophy and £22,200 cash.
The final table had everything — long stretches of cagey play, sudden momentum swings, and a buzzing rail. Players from across the globe — the UK, Ireland, Japan, France, Brazil, Finland — took their shots, and names like Claire Taylor, Lynne Beaumont, and Akiko Ota all had their turns in the driver’s seat. But it was Shahade who closed it out, sealing the win with a rivered straight heads-up against Taylor.
Swingy Battle at the Final Table
When play kicked off at the final table, all eyes were on Morgane Fevrier. She’d bagged the chip lead overnight, but it took exactly one hand for that to crumble — Shahade doubled through her straight away, and suddenly the narrative flipped and it was anyone’s game.
Shahade looked comfortable for a while, stacking chips as the last PokerStars ambassador in the field. But poker doesn’t care about your résumé. She was forced to muck trip aces in a brutal spot against Valerie Morris’ flopped straight – a hand that gave Lynne Beaumont a path to the top, and not long after, Claire Taylor and Akiko Ota were trading the lead as well.
It took more than an hour and a half of tense, cagey play before someone finally broke. Shahade did the honors, finding a king with K-Q to bust Saara Benlamine’s A-Q. Not long after, she picked up pocket eights and held against Morris’ sevens to send the Brit to the rail.
Then, in classic final table fashion, Taylor landed a big blow when her kings outgunned Miriam Balen’s queens, while Ota clawed back from a short stack to knock out Fevrier — the same player who’d started the day at the top. Ota’s comeback stalled in fifth place, though, when Shahade picked her off. Tanya Masters followed in fourth, and suddenly the table had thinned to three.
At that point, Beaumont was the one under fire. Short-stacked and running out of room, she shoved her last handful of blinds into Shahade and didn’t survive. Down to heads-up, Shahade carried a big lead into her duel with Taylor — and from there, she never really looked back.
Heads-Up Showdown
Taylor had shown plenty of grit all day, but starting heads-up in a 3:1 hole against a player running hot is a tough ask.
Taylor hung around and picked her spots, but Shahade kept the pressure steady, taking down pots without showdown and forcing Taylor to play from behind. The end came when Shahade moved in with K-4, and Taylor called with pocket sevens. For a moment, it looked like Taylor might double, but the board ran out A♠ 10♠ 5♥ J♦ Q♣, giving Shahade a straight on the river and the £22,200 win. Taylor bagged £14,000 for her run.
Holding the trophy afterwards, Shahade put it best: “I ran like a goddess.” And it was hard to argue — from the first double through Fevrier to the final river, the cards lined up when she needed them most.
A Win That Matters for Poker
Having Jennifer Shahade take the title might not have been what the rest of the field wanted, but it’s a result PokerStars will celebrate. Too often, sponsored pros flame out early or make a min-cash, and the optics are forgettable. This time, one of their ambassadors went deep, handled the swings, and walked out the winner on stream with the trophy in her hands.
For the Women’s Summer Festival, it’s a strong headline. The series is still carving out its identity, and a recognizable name holding the banner makes it easier to build momentum into future editions. Shahade has the platform to talk about her win, and she’s already been vocal about treating poker like a mind sport and giving more women the chance to play big moments on stream. A final table like this, capped with a high-profile champion, feeds directly into that message.