Adda52 Team Pro and COO of PSL (Poker Sports League) Nikita Luther has given us a big reason to celebrate as she captured and brought home her first World Series Of Poker (WSOP) bracelet by taking down the $1,000 NLH Tag Team Event in the Sin City – Las Vegas. Luther and her tag team partner German Poker Pro Giuseppe Pantaleo survived a tough field on their way to the final table but their hard work and dedication finally paid off and they managed to clinch the Champions title. As the 1^st prize, they received two WSOP gold bracelets and six-figure $175,805 cash to share between them.

The team of Luther and Pantaleo faded a field of 28 teams (composed of two to four players each) on the final table to earn the coveted bracelet and first place payout.

This is the second time India won the WSOP bracelet. The first WSOP gold bracelet was taken down last year by poker geniuses of Indian origin – Aditya Sushant and Nipun Java in the WSOP $1,000 tag team NLH event. They defeated the field of 843 teams to earn the title.

The $1000 NLH Tag Team Event

The event attracted record 1032 team entries seeking the bracelet, which created a prize pool of $928,800 and paid top 155 teams.

Luther entered the WSOP 2018 tournament with Event #34: $1000 Double Stack NLH and reached 525^th place for $2,038. She landed the 17^th place in Event #54: Big Blind Antes $3,000 NLH for $18,495. She teamed up with Pantaleo for $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Tag Team Event and multi-tabled on the first day while playing Event #54. On the second day, she played and Pantaleo multi-tabled as he was participating in $5000 NLH Six-Max Event.

The 3^rd day of the event began with 28 teams, and Luther and Pantaleo entered with 260,000 chip stack.

Fight For The Title

When the team of Thomas Moore and Norman Straughn eliminated at the 10^th spot, the remaining 9 teams including Luther and Pantaleo reached the final table. They decided to implement the strategy to play aggressively to put pressure on other teams. Third and fourth finishers were Manig Loeser-Joelle Parenteau-Daniel Weinand and Alex Rocha-Megan Milburn-Joanne Milburn respectively.

The heads-up battle started between Pantaleo-Luther and Kazuki Ikeuchi- Hiroki Iwata- Sho Mori teams. In the final hand, Pantaleo moved all-in preflop with pocket deuces and Iwata called with A and 9 of Diamond. The flop brought an Ace but river showed another deuce. Iwata’s team eliminated at the 2^nd place and Luther-Pantaleo won the pot along with the bracelets for their countries.

Final table results:

1. Giuseppe Pantaleo-Nikita Luther – $175,805
2. Kazuki Ikeuchi-Hiroki Iwata-Sho Mori – $108,608
3. Manig Loeser-Joelle Parenteau-Daniel Weinand – $76,797
4. Alex Rocha-Megan Milburn-Joanne Milburn – $55,016
5. Gabriel Neto-Carlos Caputo – $39,936
6. Adam Lamphere-Ao Chen-Yijie Zhang – $29,380
7. Salah Levy-Frank Mariani-Cord Garcia – $21,910
8. Bon Koo-Bienvenido Caballero – $16,565

Nikita Luther is one of the most renowned poker faces in India. She is a regular in several national and international poker events. In 2017, she finished at the 5^th place in WPT500 Aria and won cash prize worth $65,000. She is the first Indian woman who won HK$3600 + 400 NLH Team Event at Macau Poker Cup 26, Macau.

It’s Luther’s first WSOP gold bracelet which she was dreamed about since she started playing the game professionally. She participated first time in WSOP last year and finished 71^st at $3000 NLHE and won $8,173. This year, the poker gods were on her side who rewarded her for her passion and dedication to the game.

Poker is still considered as a male-dominated game and an unconventional way to earn fame and money in India. We hope that the phenomenal success of Nikita Luther in the biggest poker tournament of the world motivate Indian women to enter the world of poker and start enjoying this brilliant card game on online and offline poker platforms.