Teenage Girl Wins France Poker Series For $94k
March 28, 2012 12:30 pmVeronika Pavlikova has won the France Poker Series, after overcoming a field of 296 players over three days to lift the title, and collect the €70,000 ($93,387) top prize.
What makes Veronika’s victory all the more impressive is that the young Czech winner was an 18 year girl amongst a field of predominantly male players, which has lead to comparisons being made between herself and Norway’s poker legend Annette Obrestad, who won the 2007 WSOPE Main Event at the same tender age.
Of course, Obrestad had already established herself as an online pro aged just 16 and the WSOP Europe is a more prestigious tournament, but nevertheless Veronika Pavlikova’s triumph in the French Alps is very impressive and could bode well for her future poker career.
By the time the final table of eight had been reached of the €1,100 buy-in event, a whole slew of top pros had been eliminated including Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov, Thibaud Guenegou, and Matthias de Meulder.
It then looked like the trophy was destined for the remaining high profile danger man Guillaume Darcourt, who went into the lead after dispatching Damien Denis in 6th (€12,000).
However, the highly aggressive Veronika Pavlikova had different ideas and a while later eliminated Darcourt (Qc-Jc) in 4th (€21,160) holding A-9 before seeing off the remaining competition and going heads-up against Ludovic Marguerat.
All the same, the one sided affair was soon over after the players were all-in with Veronika’s A-6 up against the 10s-7s of her opponent. The board subsequently fell 4-6-A-10-K consigning Ludovic Marguerat to a runner-up spot worth €43,500, while Veronika Pavlikova picked-up her first tournament victory and was declared the 2012 FPS Snowfest Champion.
Here are the final payouts at the FPS Snowfest Main Event:
1. Veronika Pavlikova: €70,000
2. Ludovic Marguerat: €43,500
3. Serge Didisheim: €27,500
4. Guillaume Darcourt: €21,160
5. Gregory Raffalli: €16,000
6. Damien Denis: €12,000
7. Gilles Mellet: €8,500
8. Morgan Franz: €6,000