Nadezhda Magnus, a Russian-born player now residing in Chicago, Illinois, won the highest buy-in on the WSOP Circuit Potawatomi schedule – the $2,200 High Roller – for her second gold ring and a first-place prize of $71,398.
Although she does not consider herself a poker professional, the player could not contain her overwhelming happiness for her latest success. Magnus captured her first Circuit gold piece back in 2009 when she bested the field of a $235 buy-in Ladies No-Limit Hold’em event at Horseshoe Hammond. Her second WSOP Circuit victory was appreciated much higher by the player herself.
She told interviewers that back in 2009 she had just started playing poker and had not really understood what had happened to her. As for her second triumph, it came after years of studying the nuts and bolts and particularities of the game.
And here is how exactly High Roller action unfolded at Potawatomi Casino. The two-day $2,200 buy-in single re-entry event drew 119 entries to create a $238,000 prize pool up for grabs; twelve lucky players got a share of the money.
Day 1 of the tournament was completed with 35 survivors. The players were led by Ryan Leng on Day 2 and were joined by three more hopefuls who took advantage of the late registration option. Magnus was at the bottom half of the chip counts chart at the time cards were thrown in the air for Day 2 play.
The player managed to climb very quickly, boosting her chip stack significantly within a level of play. Eventually, she found herself heads-up against Eric Rivkin who was responsible for the greater number of eliminations at the final table. Having done most of the hardest work – Rivkin entered the final stage of play as the chip leader.
Despite his commanding lead at the start of heads-up action, the title was clearly not meant for him, as it took Magnus a level of play to finish off her last remaining opponent. It can be said that winning three key hands was what secured the player with the victory. Magnus first won a hand that put her closer in chips to her opponent. On the very next hand, the player emerged as the chip leader, leaving Rivkin with 14 big blinds to contend for the title with.
Rivkin, a one-time WSOP Circuit gold ring winner, never managed to regain the lead from that point on. On the final hand in play, he moved all in and Magnus called. The former tabled [Qs][Jh] and the latter turned over [Ac][3d]. The board ran out [10s][7c][4d][Kc][6c] to hand Magnus the final pot and the title. Rivkin’s runner-up finish secured him with $44,130 from the prize pool.
