Female Player Wins Open WPT Title

It is not Vanessa Selbst or Annette Obrestad or Liv Boeree or Jennifer Harman who gets the honor of being the first female player to win an open World Poker Tour (WPT). This honor goes to a totally unknown Russian player by the name of Natalia Nikitina. And just how great is this honor can be gauged from the fact that WPT has been running since 1921 and as yet no woman has won an open competition.

As one poker forum aptly put it, this had to happen in Paris. The event was the WPT National Series, Euro Finals Of Poker Diamond Championship, €5,000 Main Event being held at the Aviation Club de France. The starting field was of 188 players and the final table of eight players. The most known name in the final table was Sam Trickett, who was eliminated in 6th place. Jean Louis Tepper was way in the lead when the table was reduced to three but one deal swung it for Natalia. Tepper was out and she entered the heads up with a slight chip advantage. However Alexandre Brivot controlled the play for most of the time. There was an occasion when Natalia was down and almost out, but then her luck changed and as they say the rest is history. Sporting the Full Tilt Poker logo, Natalia took home €243,830 for this first place win.

After her win Natalia was interviewed by Tatjana Pasalic, the second in Jenny Woo’s sexiest poker plays list. Natalia’s boyfriend acted as interpreter. Natalia said that at first the final table seemed easy but it was taking too long for players to get knocked out. By the time three were left she was feeling extremely sleepy. But in the end she said that she would be back for more WPT tournaments.

It will take a while before the profile of Natalia at poker forums gets filled up. But some statistics are available. After this win Natalia is #31 in the 2011 money list, #28 in the Russian’s all time money list and #53 in the women’s all time money list. The toppers in the Russian’s and the women’s lists are Ivan Demidov and Kathy Liebert respectively.

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Tags: Female Player, Wpt   Posted in Casino Gambling Category