United Kingdom native Aisling Collins emerged victorious from the talented all-female field that turned out for the third PartyPoker Women’s World Open. Collins pocketed $50,000 for her efforts and defeated Kim Wooka heads-up.
Collins owned nearly a 2:1 chip advantage over Wooka when heads-up play began in the PartyPoker Women’s World Open III. The ending of the live tournament in London occurred when blinds were 10,000-20,000. Collins popped the action to 70,000 pre-flop with J-5 of diamonds and was called by Wooka, who held Q-10. The flop came J-K-9 with two diamonds, giving Wooka the stone cold nuts and Collins a flush draw. The two got it all-in and, sure enough, a diamond hit on the turn, propelling Collins to victory. Collins has worked with some of the game’s best for Sky Poker, including Roland De Wolfe, Neil Channing, and Marty Smyth.
Collins commented in a press release distributed by PartyPoker, “I was so, so nervous going into this tournament, but after a while I found it easy to relax and play my natural game. To win this tournament means absolutely everything to me. My previous biggest poker win was in the region of $8,000, so this is amazing. I’m in shock.” She added that a purchase of Christian Louboutin shoes was likely in the offing, as “I saw Jennifer Tilly’s and they were great!” Collins is a 28 year old television producer from Rickmansworth.
The tournament featured 36 of the top female poker players on the planet. It attracted the likes of 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event Champion Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, European Poker Tour (EPT) Dortmund winner Sandra Naujoks, and Tilly, a WSOP bracelet holder. Six heats were conducted, with the winner of each heat moving onto the final table. In addition, each of the runner-ups participated in a sit and go, with the winner rounding out the seven-handed final table. In the end, the results of the PartyPoker Women’s World Open III were as follows:
1st Place: Aisling Collins (United Kingdom) – $50,000
2nd Place: Kim Wooka (Japan) – $20,000
3rd Place: Shana Casaletto (United Kingdom) – $12,000
4th Place: Cecilia Nordenstam (Sweden) – $10,000
5th Place: Maria Demetriou (United Kingdom) – $8,000
6th Place: Cat O’Neill (United Kingdom) – $5,000
7th Place: Jen Mason (United Kingdom) – $3,000
Mason was the runner-up to Beverley Pace in the inaugural PartyPoker Women’s World Open in 2007 and impressively made her second final table appearance. O’Neill was bought into the tournament by Smyth, a WSOP bracelet holder. Smyth, who hails from Ireland, took down the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha during last year’s tournament series in Las Vegas for $859,000. The final table in that event also featured Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Kido Pham, and Peter Jetten. Nordenstam is a regular fixture in the Swedish poker scene and has five World Poker Tour (WPT) in the money finishes to her name. Casaletto is a former back-to-back winner of Grosvenor U.K. Poker Tour events.
PartyPoker is also campaigning for its host, card room consultant, and ambassador Mike Sexton to be enshrined in the Poker Hall of Fame. A Guest Columnist right here on Poker News Daily, Sexton has gained the endorsements of Obrestad and Irish poker player Padraig Parkinson, who commented in a statement on Thursday, “I thought that Mike was nuts when he shared his vision of where we were going with me, but never for a second doubted that he was the man to lead us there. Unusually for me, I was right.” Sexton and WPT Co-Host Vince Van Patten have brought poker to life ever since the tournament series debuted on television in 2003.
Poker Hall of Fame voting is open to the general public until July 2nd. During the WSOP Main Event, the Top 10 finalists will be announced. Then, members of the media and the 16 living Hall of Fame members will vote, with the induction ceremony taking place in November.
