Irina Nikolaidi Wins WPT National London

In November last year British pro Eleanor Gudger won the WPT500 in Nottingham besting a field of more than 2,000 entries. Yesterday Irina Nikolaidi followed in her footsteps when she won the more affordable £220 PartyPoker WPT National London Main Event for £25,130 ($39,170).

The tournament had three starting flights with an accumulator structure, meaning that players were given the opportunity to buy-in to one, two, or all three of the Day 1 flights. At the end of each flight, chips were bagged and moved forward to Day 2. The tournament saw 667 entries and among the notables were Tony Dunst, Sin Melin, James Dempsey, Surinder Sunar and Matthew Noonan.

As reported by PokerNews UK  Irina Nikolaidi won a huge pot on Day 2 against British pro Sin Melin. On a board of

and after a lot of betting both pre-flop and on the flop, all the chips went into the middle, creating a huge pot of 2,140,000. When Sin Melin turned over for a set of fours she was well in front of Nikolaidi’s , but Nikolaidi caught the on the river to give her a straight and knockout Sin Melin.

Going into the final day of play only 24 players remained, and Nikolaidi was the big chip leader. While Noonan and Dempsey fell before the final table, Nikolaidi was able to hold on to her lead, and down to the nine-handed final table Nikolaidi was responsible for the final three eliminations. In the last hand of the night all the chips went in on a flop reading

. Simon Green must have been pretty confident he had the best hand with , but Nikolaidi turned over for a better two pair, and neither the on the turn nor the on the river changed the outcome.

After the win Nikolaidi gave a brief interview:

According to the Hendon Mob the £25,130 first place prize is by far the biggest live tournament cash of Nikolaidi’s career. Until yesterday Nikolaidi had only £950 in tournament earnings. Huge congrats to the new champion on an impressive performance.

Photo: Irina Nikolaidi, PartyPoker WPT National London.