Battling through a host of the finest women players in the game today, England’s Pippa Flanders defeated fellow countrywoman Helen Firth to emerge as the champion of the PartyPoker Women’s World Open IV last night.
The $3,000 buy-in tournament featured 24 of the top female players in poker fighting their way through multiple heats over two days of play to work their way to the final table. Some of the notable players making up the field included the inaugural winner of the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOP) Main Event Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, Team PartyPoker pro and “High Stakes Poker” commentator Kara Scott, defending champion Aisling Collins, runner-up Kim Wooka, PartyPoker Women’s World Open II champion Soraya Homam, Christine Klecz, and Maria Demetriou. While all of these talented ladies were eliminated in the preliminary heats of the event, the final table shaped up to be an epic battle in its own right.
Flanders and Firth seemed to dominate the action from the start of the six-handed final table. Croatia’s Tatjana Pasalic, who had originally been on-hand to present awards for the tournament, played herself into the mix at the final table, but was the first to depart at the hands of Firth. Pasalic pushed with a baby ace, only to find Firth waking up with Big Slick; once no help arrived, Pasalic left in sixth place. Soon after, Flanders stepped up to eliminate French journalist Claire Renaut, who was being cheered by top French pro Fabrice Soulier. Renaut was completely dominated in the hand against Flanders, with Renaut holding A-Q to Pippa’s A-K, and left the table in fifth place.
Another journalist, Eliza Burnett, dropped from the tournament in fourth place, which was the same position that Burnett finished in during the PartyPoker Women’s World Open II. Caroline Cove, who came to the final table with the chip lead, couldn’t maintain her superiority and finished in third place. Down to heads-up play, Flanders held a slight lead over Firth before the fireworks began.
Firth, who started the final table as the second to lowest stack at the table, took the battle to Flanders and was soon able to pass her fellow English native. Flanders, flanked by her lucky stuffed donkey that she calls Eemore, was able to withstand Firth’s assault and slowly regained her lead. On the final hand, Pippa raised with A-Q, only to see Firth come back over the top holding K-Q. After deliberating momentarily, Pippa made the difficult call and, while ahead from the start, made two pair by the river to take the championship and the $72,000 first place prize.
“That was a wild merry-go-round,” said Pippa during the post-tournament interview. “It’s absolutely brilliant to have won – this really is so special to me.” When asked about her lucky charm, Flanders commented, “I would hate to lose Eemore – he brings me such good luck!”
Although not known to a huge segment of the poker community, Flanders has a successful track record. Pippa won another PartyPoker tournament, the PartyPoker World Open II in 2006, where she captured what was, at the time, one of the largest paydays for a European female at $200,000.
Here are the results for the final six players at the PartyPoker Women’s World Open IV, the only participants who departed with money from the event:
1. Pippa Flanders (UK) – $30,000
2. Helen Firth (UK) – $15,000
3. Caroline Cove (UK) – $10,000
4. Eliza Burnett (UK) – $8,000
5. Claire Renaut (France) – $6,000
6. Tatjana Pasalic (Croatia) – $3,000
The event, which is a joint venture between PartyPoker and Matchroom Sport, will be televised in England on the Five Network and available for international broadcast after its premier in the U. K. Eddie Hearn, the Managing Director of Matchroom Sport, said after the completion of the tournament, “The Women’s World Open is always a favorite with broadcasters and this tournament will make for great television, with the lively table talk and fantastic action.”
