EPT9 Barcelona: Liya Gerasimova in ‘chip and a chair’ win

The winner of the PokerStars Women Live tourney at EPT Barcelona is Liya Gerasimova. The Russian player made a remarkable final table comeback to take home €10,700 and the PokerStars Women trophy.

At one point Liya had less than one big blind, but a three hand series of double-ups put her in a position to threaten at the final table once again. Read the full story of how this happened here.

From a chip and a chair to victory

Some 63 players took their seats in the PokerStars Women Live €550 tourney, among them names we recognised, including PokerStars Women qualifiers Jan ‘jamjars69’ Combes and Claudia ‘Dasultanz’ Csongei.

The final table was made up of many experienced women including Friend of PokerStars Charlotte van Brabander, Leo Margets, Barabara Martinez, and Liya Gerasimova, a regular at EPT side events, as she travels to these with her boyfriend Team PokerStars Pro Ivan Demidov.

Liya Gerasimova

It was the Belgian Friend of PokerStars Charlotte Van Brabander who was first to exit the final. She missed her flush draw then her all-in bluff was called by Lucia Martinez holding a pair.

Lucia was the chip leader at the start of play, and increased her lead with a series of well-timed confrontations with short-stacks. Next to run into Lucia’s stack was Leo Margets who never got into her stride at the final table, eventually pushing with K♥ 6♠ and missing the board.

Hannah Dombroski found J♠ J♥ to be no good when Barbara Martinez held K♠ K♦ . Hannah was out in sixth place.

Tatiana Toplakova had travelled from Russia to play the EPT Women’s tourney, she took home fifth place prize money when her A♠ K♥ ran into J♥ J♠ .

Barbara Martinez’s 10♥ J♠ couldn’t beat Lucia’s K♦ K♥ and was next out in fourth place. Three players remained, with Liya Geresimovaza and Darya Hulyk playing short stacks while Lucia Martinez held a tower of chips. However when Liya lost the majority of her chips to Darya, the Russian player was all in blind with less than a big blind – and luck was with her. She won with Aces, beat Kings, and then hit a flush. These three hands in a row gave her just enough chips to get back in the game.

Not long after Darya was out when her A♥ 4♦ all-in was beaten by Lucia’s A♠ J♣ . So it was to be a heads up battle between Lucia, the Casino Barcelona cash game regular, and Liya, the experienced Russian tourney player. There were just a few minutes of heads-up play before both players found a hand to commit their chips to.

Lucia held J♠ 3♠ and found a full house on the J♥ 3♣ 3♠ flop. Liya re-raised all-in on the 7♣ turn holding top two pair with J♦ 7♦ . Lucia must have thought she had the tourney won, but the crowd gasped when the river 7♥ was dealt, giving Liya the win.

Liya’s first word when the chips were counted and the win confirmed was a ‘sorry’ to Lucia, although it was little needed, the cards were cruel but Liya had done nothing but play her hand.

Liya was modest about her win, noting that luck had been with her. Her take on it was that this was due to her dress, ‘”They’re Spanish colours!” I’d noticed that she’d worn this same pretty red and yellow dress on day one. She told me she’d played well yesterday, but insisted that luck had seen her to the win today.

Liya is a mother to a two-year-old boy, who was splashing in the sea while she won this tourney. She told me her poker career had had to take a backseat to motherhood when her son was small, but she was now finding it easier to play more regularly. We’ll have to see whether our PokerStars Women Live winner wears her lucky dress next time she plays.

Here’s the final prize pay-outs at PokerStars Women Live EPT Barcelona.

1. Liya Gerasimova (Russia) € 10,700
2. Lucia Martínez (Spain) € 6,720
3. Darya Hulik (Ukraine) € 3,985
4. Barbara Martínez (France) € 2,900
5. Tatiana Teplyakova (Russia) €2,140
6. Hannah Dombroski (Spain) € 1,520
7. Leo Margets (Spain) €1,370
8. Charlotte Van Brabander (Belgium) €1,220

If you want to read our coverage today, click the following links.