Marie Ware has added to the legacy of successful female players in the Australian Deaf poker community after winning the 2024 DPA Championship Main Event.
Now calling Queensland home, the former Western Australian added to her original state title she won back in 2015, which also featured 2011 WA Deaf State Poker Champion William Jahn, three-time DPA State Champion Adrick Martin, 2018 Victorian Deaf Poker Champion Matthew Phillips, and 2022 Australian Deaf Poker Champion Baze Boskovski.
Showing great tenacity and nerves of steel throughout a star-studded final table, Ware was all smiles after she took it down against South Australia’s Vanessa Hale. This was the second time an all-female heads-up battle for the title has been contested in DPA Championship history after Stacey Reilly defeated Kathleen Odgers for the crown in 2011.
Ware also joined Reilly along with Michelle Rowlands (2013), Rhonda Quinn (2015) and Alisha Wormald (2018) as the fifth woman to win the Australian Deaf Poker Championship in the event’s 14-year history, but not to be outdone, Hale then shipped the Crazy Pineapple tournament the following day, earning herself an additional $1,220 in prize money.
2024 DPA CHAMPIONSHIP MAIN EVENT ($250 buy-in, 106 entries, 10 players paid)
| Place | Name | State | Amount |
| 1st | Marie Ware | Western Australia | $6,080 |
| 2nd | Vanessa Hale | South Australia | $3,720 |
| 3rd | Samuel Savrda | Queensland | $2,580 |
| 4th | William Jahn | Western Australia | $1,900 |
| 5th | Basil Kroon | Tasmania | $1,430 |
| 6th | Matthew Phillips | Queensland | $1,200 |
| 7th | Patrick Kuok | Queensland | $1,000 |
| 8th | Baze Boskovski | Victoria | $800 |
| 9th | Adrick Martin | New South Wales | $650 |
| 10th | Eric Coppage | New Zealand | $600 |
The 2024 DPA Championship series – hosted by Empire Poker at the Wantima Country Club in Brisbane’s north-western suburbs – brought several international Deaf players from beyond either side of the Tasman, headlined by Irish Poker Open Ambassador Darren Chow.
The Canadian poker vlogger and snowboarder, who has spent the last several years grinding the Deaf and mainstream circuit throughout North America and Southeast Asia, flew in to take part whilst promoting the upcoming World Deaf Poker Championship, set to take place in Dublin next year.
It was fitting given that Deaf Poker Australia broke new ground for RFID feature table broadcasting and accessibility in what may be a world first: the incorporation of simultaneous auto-captioning and picture-in-picture sign language, with commentary and analysis in Auslan and spoken English.
The 2024 DPA Championship series also showcased a reworked version of the Australian Deaf community poker’s unique shoot-out/tag team format formerly known as the DPA State of Origin: the DPA Super 6s.
Multiple changes to the rules allowed for more flexibility in team selection, cash prizes for each shoot-out table winner and a stronger focus on strategy, adding a fresh new dynamic to the game after it was shelved the previous year.
Despite four wins in the shootout phase, the Outlaws lost a crucial hand before being felted by Victorian team K-6, who went on to battle heads-up against the A-Team, captained by German import Mike Koirala.
Alongside fellow former countrymen Stefan Soos and Johann Hermann, as well as two-time DPA Championship Main Event runner-up Carlos Navarro, Kim McCann, and Gavin Ulyatt, the plan eventually came together, with the A-Team snatching victory from the jaws of defeat to earn themselves the top prize of $4,500.
The 2025 DPA Championship is earmarked for October next year; however, PokerMedia Australia understands that planning for the series will commence as soon as possible once the non-profit organisation has elected a new Board of Directors, with DPA Founder Sokong Kim telling the community that a mutual decision was reached between all members of the current Board to “pass the torch to a new generation”.
More information, including images, event results, and full replays of the RFID feature table broadcasts, can be found on the Deaf Poker Australia Facebook page.
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