By Kevin Taylor
Yesterday was quite a day for Nadya Magnus here at the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open. She started the day with 480,000, and after five levels of play she had over ten times that, ending with just over four million. She told us that she got off to a slow start, but that things have been clicking for her ever since.
“I do feel good about my stack now. It wasn’t a smooth sail the whole day. The first couple of levels were kind of tough so I just sat back and held tight. And then I caught a few hands, and now here I am with four million,” said Magnus.
She has been the last woman standing for quite some time now, as Kristine Zakaite busted in 89th place on Day 2. When asked what it meant to her to be the last one left, Magnus told us that it gives her a great deal of pride, and that she is ready to represent for all the women in poker.
“It definitely feels good to be the last woman standing and to represent women, because honestly guys don’t respect women enough in poker. Time and time again I come back to the tables and I get all kinds of attitude from guys, and it feels good right now to be representing for them,” said Magnus.
Magnus has been coming to the Seminole Hard Rock for a few years now, and has seen the property transform over time. She even joked that the property is so big now that she got lost when she came back for this event.
“I absolutely love this place. I love Florida, I love Seminole, it’s just amazing. I’ve always seemed to run good here too, and with the new hotel and everything, it’s huge now. I got lost actually, when I got here. I parked in the wrong spot and didn’t know where I was. It’s more like Vegas now,” said Magnus.
If Magnus were to make the final table here at the Seminole Hard Rock, it would be her first WPT final table. If she does event better, and wins the event, she would become only the second woman to win an open WPT Main Tour event, after Ema Zajmovic won the 2017 WPT Playground Main Event in Montreal, earning over $200,000. Magnus said that winning this title would mean so much to her, but that she didn’t want to get ahead of herself just yet.
“It would mean the world to me. Everything that I’ve worked for ever since I started playing poker, even though I only started playing seriously about three years ago. But I can’t imagine what it would feel like to make it, and honestly I don’t even want to think about it because then I might not be able to sleep. I just want to fight for it, it would really mean a lot to me,” she said as she jokingly put her fists up for a fight.
Play has just gotten underway here on this Day 4. Be sure to stick around to find out if Magnus is able to make history here at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino!