Natalia Nikitina Wins First WPT National Series Event in Paris

The World Poker Tour National Series began this past week with the WPT Paris Euro Finals of Poker Diamond Championship, won by Russian poker pro Natalia Nikitina. She topped a field of 188 players to take the title.

The WPT National Series was created as a way to expand the WPT brand name into national and regional markets, creating a second tier of poker tournaments that fit into the WPT schedule. These tournaments will typically have lower buy-ins than standard WPT events; the Paris event had a €5,000 buy-in.

Nikitina won the title after a heads up battle with Alexandre Brivot. On the final hand, Brivot moved in before the flop with KJ, and was called by Nikitina, who held A3. Neither player found anything on the board to improve their hand, but Nikitina’s ace played, giving her the title.

Nikitina won €243,830 for first place, while Brivot took home €174,170 for second place.

This was Nikitina’s first WPT event, making her one-for-one in her career on the tour – an impressive ratio, if not one that she’s likely to maintain. Still, it’s a great start for the 23-year-old Russian professional, who has now scored her first major victory of her career.

The final table finishers and prizes broke down as follows:

1^st - Natalia Nikitina (€243,830)

2^nd - Alexandre Brivot (€174,170)

3^rd - Jean-Louis Tepper (€113,210)

4^th - Benjamin Pollak (€69,670)

5^th - Tobias Wagner (€52,250)

6^th - Sam Trickett (€43,545)

7^th - Ingo Paulus (€34,835)

8^th - Nicolo Calia (€26,120)

The WPT Regional Series (in the United States) and the WPT National Series (in Europe) were created to bring professional, high quality tournament experiences into more locations and at more accessible buy-ins. While the tournaments do carry WPT branding, they do not count as WPT titles, winners do not earn Player of the Year points, and event champions do not earn free buy-ins into the WPT World Championship.