Shirley Rosario Scores Her First Six-Figure Cash at WSOP

A long and storied career in gaming that began as a casino cocktail waitress and included the launch of the Poker Babes website reached a high point recently when Shirley Rosario final tabled WSOP Event #10 for her largest live poker payday.

A fourth place finish in $10,000 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo was good for a cash of $146,522 for the former Bicycle Casino prop player who was among the first to promote women in poker. Rosario rolled out Poker-babes.com in 2003, eventually selling the site to PokerStars seven years later.

While the website has likely enticed a number of young ladies to enter the realm of poker throughout the years, Rosario's recent six-figure cash at the WSOP will also go a long way in showing women that success can be achieved in a game that remains dominated by men. Coincidentally, that final table included another lady, Melissa Burr, who took home $51,768 for eighth place.

Prior to her big score at the WSOP, Rosario has been cashing at live poker events in and around California since 2002. The Hendon Mob lists her first championship as the summer of 2004 in a $330 No Limit Hold'em Shootout at the Grand Slam of Poker in Gardena for $15,490.

Five cashes later, Rosario was again in the winner's circle in 2005 at the Legends of Poker in Los Angeles in $550 Omaha Hi/Lo for what was at the time the biggest score of her career at $31,000. Other titles came her way such as the $545 Omaha Hi/Lo in 2007 at Big Poker Oktober and the 2009 California State Poker Championship where a $1,065 buy-in resulted in a gain of $26,634 competing in H.O.R.S.E.

Since that 2009 victory, Rosario binked four other live tournaments in either H.O.R.S.E. or Omaha Hi/Lo before her deep run in this summer's WSOP. She considers Omaha Hi/Lo to be her best game and the results certainly bear that out.

While her success on the felt and launching websites has now spanned some 13 years, some may also remember Rosario as a commentator on the "L.A. Poker Scene" television broadcast on the Poker Channel in the mid-2000s. Shortly following that poker endeavor, Rosario was diagnosed with breast cancer and after a difficult period of chemotherapy, now counts herself as a breast cancer survivor.

Rosario has written for a number of poker publications, as well as launching other websites pertaining to poker. Her idea of getting more women involved in the game of poker continues to this day and her resume speaks for itself with regard to success and the possibilities available.