The start of the Ladies tournament, one of the 37th Annual World Series of Poker that runs through August 10, drew the largest crowd of spectators thus far. A field of more than 1.128 women, by far the largest in poker history, entered the Ladies No Limit Holdem tournament at the 2006 World Series of Poker, each hoping to unseat reigning champion Jennifer Tilly and outlast a host of other Hollywood celebrities who entered the event.
Last year's victory by the Oscar-nominated actress, Jennifer Tilly, generated widespread publicity and sparked a near doubling in the number of entrants from the previous record field of 600 in 2005. "Jennifer Tilly has helped fuel the explosive growth in the popularity of women's poker," said Jeffrey Pollack, commissioner of the World Series of Poker. "She was a gracious winner of last year's event and has been a terrific ambassador for the game."
This year, Tilly joined forces with ELLE magazine and PartyPoker.net to form a team including actress Shannon Elizabeth and some of the country's top female players to raise funds for the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women campaign. The ELLE team members will donate a percentage of any winnings to the American Heart Association and team sponsors will match those donations.