Mary Gabriel is a Canadian woman from Edmonton, Alberta, who recently racked up against some big guns, such as the Canadian Poker Tour's Lacey Jones, to take home the Great Canadian Freezeout main event championship.  She took home prize winnings of $60k, a winners bracelet valued at $6k and the bragging rights from the  Cash Casino in Calgary. The tournament had a prizepool of $217k and 319 players.

Mary won a wildcard entry into the invitational’s tournament in January playing against the top 50 players from 2009 Canadian Poker Tour, plus 6 other wildcard players. She managed to grind her way to one of the six CPT sponsorships.

“During the break on Day one, we all chatted with Mary” said Jon Harnish.  “Mary told us she had a previous championship shot and was pressured into a chop she has since regretted. She had made up her mind that this one she was playing until she had no more chips, or all the money.”

True to her word, late Sunday night with five players left, the deal talk came up. Mary immediately shut it down, not even chip leader at the time. A few hours later she went for coffee and went home with her championship title.