Writer and broadcaster Vicky Coren has become the first woman to win a major European poker title, fighting off stiff competition from 398 entrants in the London leg of the European Poker Tour. Playing at her home casino, Coren beat some of the world’s best players as well as a number of her friends and colleagues to take home £500,000 at the end of the four-day tournament.
“I am so happy and proud to win this tournament in the Victoria casino,” said Coren. “It’s a fantasy to win any EPT event, but to win in London at the Vic is beyond my wildest dreams.”
The final heads-up battle against Australian Emad Tahtouh, 25, from Melbourne, lasted just two hands. Prior to this, Coren outlasted a number of world-class players such as Joe Hachem, Phil Ivey, and Barry Greenstein, as well as the two previous winners of the event – John Shipley and Mark Teltscher.
Coren, 34, is a regular poker pundit who writes a column for the Guardian newspaper and gained fame as a regular on Channel 4’s Late Night Poker show. Until this event, her previous best win was £25,000 in the 2004 Celebrity Poker Challenge.
The next EPT event takes place in Baden, Austria and is followed by tournaments in Dublin, Copenhagen & Deauville and culminating in the Monte Carlo Grand Final which takes place is Spring 2007.
Writer and broadcaster Vicky Coren has become the first woman to win a major European poker title, fighting off stiff competition from 398 entrants in the London leg of the European Poker Tour. Playing at her home casino, Coren beat some of the world’s best players as well as a number of her friends and colleagues to take home £500,000 at the end of the four-day tournament.