PokerStars has announced the nine finalists for the International Women’s Day Platinum Pass giveaway contest.

Last month, the operator asked players as part of International Women’s Day celebrations to nominate any woman they think who impacted the game of poker or who they believe to be an inspirational woman in poker.

After receiving tons of nominations, PokerStars has finally shortlisted nine nominees (originally meant to shortlist six poker women players).

The nine finalists will compete in a live Sit & Go match, with the winner taking home a Platinum Pass to PokerStars PSPC event scheduled to take place in Barcelona, Spain in August this year.

The nine finalists include:

Daiva Bryne – A professional poker player from Lithuania and ambassador for Betsson Poker. She is also the founder and owner of Fantastic Ladies In Poker (FLIP), one of the largest women’s only groups on Facebook.

Christina Read – A bank sales executive turned semi-professional poker player from the USA. She is also the founder and admin of the Poker Queens ladies poker group.

Katie Stone – A former Chess player and now a professional poker player from New Jersey, USA. She is also a sponsor of Borgata Poker.

Giada Shiyan Fang – A Malta-based Italian professional poker player and former PokerStars Team Online member. She currently represents the Poker League of Nations, one of the largest women’s poker organizations.

Meichelle Culhane – A volunteer poker teacher for senior citizens in Oklahoma, USA. She teaches 19 women including an 89-year old Woman as well as a number of men.

Jan Fisher – A partner in Card Player Cruises from Las Vegas, USA. She was inducted into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame in 2009 June.

Terry Hatcher – She hails from Texas, the USA where she owns a business. She is a certified Tournament Director as well as a former dealer.

Lexi Sterner – A registered nurse from Florida, the USA who learned poker from her cancer survivor dad and her uncle.

Aurelie Reard – A French professional poker player who now lives in Cardiff, Wales. She represented Winamax as their Team Pro from 2015 to 2016.

Jamie Kerstetter and Marle Cordeiro catch up with hedge-fund manager Bill Perkins as he is going head to head with Phil Galfond as the #GalfondChallenge Part 2.

The interview takes place on the duos The Rake podcast.

As you may remember Galfond ended up winning the first Galfond Challenge against Venividi—after a $900K downswing!

Perkins also talks to the pair about the impact of the COVID-19 on his life as well as more information on his upcoming book “Die With Zero”.