A record 431 women entered the 2026 WSOP Main Event, building on the historic momentum of Leo Margets‘ final table run last year.
Now, as the field thins and the pressure mounts heading into Day 5, poker vlogger and comedian Caitlin Comeskey is uniquely positioned to make history of her own. Bagging up a massive 1,740,000 chips, Comeskey has navigated coolers, table antagonists, and a 9,208-player field to emerge as a leading voice in the ultimate test of poker endurance. And perhaps a serious contender.
Poker’s Female Boom?
Last year, Leo Margets broke poker’s glass ceiling by becoming the first woman in three decades to make the Main Event final table. While women only accounted for 4.68 percent of the 2026 field, that still far exceeded last year’s 3.8 percent.
“I’ve been there in my dreams, and now it’s actually here”
Caitlin Comeskey has made a career out of making poker a safer place for women to compete. The comedian, vlogger, and content creator is among a host of women moving on to Day 5.
“I’m on cloud nine. I feel amazing. It’s a dream. It’s like I’m walking through a dream,” she said. “I visualized this so many times. I’ve been there in my dreams, and now it’s actually here, and I just got to wait for it to happen, you know?”
Comeskey’s Main Event got off to a rocky start when she not only had to overcome a host of coolers but also some troublesome opponents.
“Day 1 was really fun. Except for the guy who told me that his friend warned him that I was insufferable. Didn’t love that. But he was rooting me on, and also he stone-bubbled today.
“Day 2 was shitty. I started the day with Maurice Hawkins, who started antagonizing me almost immediately. I shut it down, but it was still a lot of stress to deal with, and I encountered a lot of coolers on Day 2,” she said.
“My last two days have just been a dream. It’s just been fun. Cards have been cooperating. I’ve been in a good mood. It’s been awesome.”
Comeskey hopes that a deep run in the Main Event can serve as an example, not just to women, but to all players that poker should be fun. She recognizes her role as one of poker’s leading women ambassadors, and with history within her grasp, it’s a responsibility she’s ready to take on.
“I take representing women in poker very, very seriously. I take standing up for issues that affect women, and all people in poker. Like, on the PokerNews Podcast, I really talked about how people get mistreated at the table, and I was talking about women, but I was talking about everybody.
“We need to have more fun at the tables in general. We need less card-throwing, we need less tilting off, we need less cursing and name-calling. And I think that we can get there, and if we can create a more fun, universal environment, we’ll get more women into the game. But it’s not gonna happen if they feel like they have to jump into the lion’s den to play. So I’m just trying to be an advocate for change in that regard.”
Comeskey and hundreds of others have already made it through all the pitfalls and land mines that encapsulate the 9,208-player Main Event field, but there is still a long way to go. The real fun is still to come tomorrow.
“I’m very much looking forward to tomorrow. I feel like every cell in my body’s on fire. I’m gonna go home. I’m gonna eat some Taco Bell. I’m gonna hang out with my friends and just try to enjoy the rest of the ride. I’m in a position to make history, and I hope I’m able to,” she said.
Lead image courtesy of WSOP
Will Shillibier
Managing Editor