Natalia Nikitina became the latest woman to win a major title this week when she took down the World Poker Tour (WPT) Paris National Series event at the Aviation Club de Paris. Nikitina bested 188 players, including the scorching hot Sam Trickett at the final table, to earn €243,830 ($330,500) in prize money.
The €5,000 buy-in contest wasn’t an official WPT event, but Nikitina’s win still represented the first title for a female player on the WPT National Series. She entered the final table in the middle of the pack trailing chip leader Benjamin Pollak and was able to survive the four-and-a-half hours it took for the table to lose its first player, Nicolo Calia.
As more players exited, Nikitina moved up the pay ladder and finally grabbed the chip lead three-handed when she picked off a bluff by Jean-Louis Tepper. Nikitina called Tepper’s shove with Ks-9s and was relieved to see the 7h-5h of Tepper. Her hand held up and, after Tepper was sent packing a few hands later, Nikitina was heads-up for the crown against Alexandre Brivot, a French pro who took 14th at WPT Amneville in November.
Nikitina held a slight chip advantage over Brivot when play began, but lost the lead quickly as Brivot chipped away at her stack and then doubled up with Ad-9d against Nikitina’s Ks-9s. That left her with a huge obstacle, but she was able to double through her adversary twice before securing the win with Ac-3s against the all-in shove of Brivot with Ks-Jh. Her hand finished best and Brivot was sent to the rail with €174,170.
“That was a long and hard contest,” said Nikitina, who earned her first major live cash with the victory. “Three hours before the end, I was actually finding it hard to stay awake and keep concentrating on my game, but I am delighted to win. I am going to celebrate by buying a BMW 6 Series!”
The always impetuous Tony G was on hand during the event and commented about Nikitina’s victory: “I hosted a PartyPoker challenge at the WPT Paris National Series to prove that the French are the second worst players in the world after the Russians. What can I say now? The Russians are coming – the French are definitely the worst.”
The story going into the final table was U.K. superstar and Titan Poker pro Trickett, who was coming off an incredible January during which he earned close to $2.9 million at the Aussie Millions. Trickett won the AUD $100,000 High Roller event in Melbourne for U.S. $1.5 million and then five days later took second in the AUD $250,000 Super High Roller tournament to Erik Seidel for another U.S. $1.4 million.
Trickett rode that momentum into another final table in Paris, but his hot streak ended when he ran pocket fives into the pocket nines of Tepper. Trickett collected €43,545 for his sixth place finish, bringing his 2011 earnings even closer to $3 million. In total, the 24-year-old has more than $4.6 million in career live tournament earnings.
Here’s a look at the final table results of the WPT Paris National Series:
1. Natalia Nikitina – €243,830
2. Alexandre Brivot – €174,170
3. Jean-Louis Tepper – €113,210
4. Benjamin Pollak – €69,670
5. Tobias Wagner – €52,250
6. Sam Trickett – €43,545
7. Ingo Paulus – €34,835
8. Nicolo Calia – €26,120