Petit wins big as APTC women's event sets new records

A ‘heated online debate’ about women in poker always seems to be just a click away these days.

But for those more interested in duels on the felt than on social media, the Asian Poker Tour Women’s Championship came to a climax on Saturday, providing an opportunity to watch some of the game’s top female players in action at the Red Space in Taipei.

Sponsored by LIPS — the Ladies International Poker Series — the TWD 35K (~$1,100) event drew 119 entries for a final prize pool of around $111K, with the winner set to receive TWD 905,160 (~$29K) and the prestigious Pewter Lion trophy.

Those numbers mean that yet another record has fallen at this inaugural APT Championship, with the event claiming the #1 spot for the largest $1K+ buy-in women’s event in Asian poker history — as well as cracking the top 5 for women’s events held outside Las Vegas.

In the end it was Austria-based Frenchwoman Rosalie Petit (above) who survived two days of intense competition to emerge victorious and claim the title, the lion’s share of the prizepool and, well, the lion itself.

Petit had already made herself known to the staff at the payout desk in Taipei, after taking down a women's side event earlier in the series. That win paid a little over $3K. For her latest feat, she walks away with over $24K — after a heads-up ICM chop — as well as the prestigious lion trophy and the title of Champion.

'Every tournament's a rollercoaster'

Japan’s Ohta Ami started the final day with the chip lead, sitting atop a field of 48 survivors which also included the likes of Sweden’s Sofia Lövgren — fresh off her victory in last week’s APT Mystery Bounty Championship — ACR Poker pro Monika Zukowicz, and two-time WSOP Ladies Event champion Shiina Okamoto.

Okamoto is always a threat, but couldn't make the final table this time.

Another player mixing it up on Day 2 was Alexandra Loveless, who started the day short-stacked, quickly ran it up but ultimately fell short of the money after losing a big chunk of her stack when her big slick lost a flip against jack-ten.

Loveless, originally of Tennessee, has become something of a fixture in major women’s events around the world, but usually in English-speaking regions.

“I'm a very chatty person,” Loveless shared with PokerOrg, “I like encouraging people at the table, I like having those conversations and getting to know people, so it's a little different here.

“It is a little isolating when you are trying to communicate and not everyone understands, so you feel bad not being able to enjoy the moment with them — especially if they outplayed you, you want to be like, ‘all right, you played that well, good hand’ and they don't always understand.”

Alexandra Loveless: "I know how to say 'thank you' and ‘my Chinese is bad’"

Loveless, who final-tabled a (non-Championship) women’s event here just a few days ago, was unable to add another Taiwanese flag to her Hendon Mob profile on this occasion as she fell just a few spots short of the money bubble.

“It was a rollercoaster, but to be honest, every tournament's a rollercoaster.”

Chasing the lion

40-minute levels kept the action moving throughout the day, and the final table was set well in time for the dinner break. That final table would not feature Lövgren, Zukowicz or Okamoto, all of whom fell before the bubble burst with 17 remaining.

When the final nine was set, four players had put some distance between themselves and the chasing pack, as Yu Lun Huang of Taiwan, Australia's Tayla Pickles, Hera Kim of South Korea and France's Petit all held stacks of over 50bb.

Shandy Wong of the Netherlands was the shortest stack, and wouldn't last much longer, losing her chips to Petit. Taiwan's Chun Jou Chao was next out the door, coming back from the dinner break and straight into a confrontation with Petit. Chao had king-high, Petit had ace-high, the chips went in preflop and neither player improved.

Petit began to pull away, using aggression to extend her lead and dominate proceedings. Yu Lun Huang eliminated China's Zi Cheng Li in 7th to close the gap, shortly before Yotaka Phutiya of Thailand limped with pocket aces, only to snap-call the shove of Yi-Jhen Ke, whose needed plenty of help, and got none. Six were down to five.

Phutiya laid the trap, and it paid off.

Pickles was next out, making a move with a suited king and running into Phutiya's pocket jacks, before a brutal bad beat sent Kim out in 4th.

Kim was looking to get all her chips in preflop with , and she did just that when Huang snapped her off holding . The flop brought a king, though, leaving Kim with a 4th place finish, a little over $10K in prize money and a horror story to tell any future grandchildren.

Bad beat: Hera Kim.

The next elimination would be more of a classic flip, with Phuyita holding a pair with and Petit two overcards — . The flop brought an ace, the runout brought no help, and Petit brought the curtain down on Phuyita's tournament, sending her to the rail in 3rd for ~$12.7K.

Heads-up play started with fairly evenly-matched stacks. Huang opened up a small lead, before play was paused and an ICM deal struck: Huang would take TWD 756,900 (~$24.1K), Petit TWD 730,700 (~$23.3K), and TWD 29,360 — around a thousand dollars — would be left to play for. Plus, of course, that gorgeous Lion trophy and the championship title.

Huang: Close, but no lion this time.

It wouldn't take long for Petit to claw back the lead, strike the killing blow and seal the deal on a win that for some time had looked like hers to lose.

Dealt pocket jacks, Petit flopped a set when came down, and Huang chose the wrong time to bluff with a backdoor flush draw.

Holding , Huang found herself with a tough decision to make when the turn brought the , a fourth diamond. Petit shoved, Huang weighed up the decision and ultimately took the gamble. The on the river was a brick if ever there was one, and the tournament was over.

The Pewter Lion will not be staying in Taipei, but will be heading to Europe.

APT TWD 35K Women's Championship - final table results

* denotes a heads-up deal

More records set in 9-Game and Super High Roller

Elsewhere, other records continue to be set on the red-felt tables of Red Space, Taipei. The TWD 3,931,200 prizepool (~$125K) in the 9-Game Mix Championship is a new record for mixed games at the APT, as is the ~$37K won by the event champion, Wei Kai Lin.

Lin of Taiwan outlasted a field of 65, each ponying up around $2,200, to claim the much-admired Pewter Lion Trophy, with his skills tested across everything from no-limit hold’em to limit 2-7 triple draw, no-limit 2-7 single draw, razz, PLO, stud and more. There was no ‘super hold’em’ in this rotation, though — that particular variant will be played on Sunday evening.

Mixed game champ: Wei Kai Lin.

The TWD 777K (~$25K) Super High Roller, meanwhile, played down to 6, with Roman Hrabec topping the chip charts as the players prepare for the final day of play on Sunday.

Registration remained open for one level on Saturday, allowing the field to reach 81 entries and set new APT high water marks for prizepool and first place prize money outside a main event. TWD 13.3M, or $429K, awaits the winner — as does a rose gold Lion trophy. Play resumes at 11:15am local time on Sunday.

One more lion found a home on Saturday, as the Natural8 Cup Championship drew to a close, with Australia’s JP Rounce-Sue seeing off the Netherlands’ Rob Hollink heads-up for the TWD 7,538,480 first-place prize money (just north of $240K) and a seat in the upcoming Main Event.

The four-day freezeout drew 490 runners and blew through its $1M guarantee, building a prizepool worth over $1.2M.

Hollink, left, with Rounce-Sue and the Pewter Lion.

^{Images courtesy of the APT.}