Davidi Kitai Wins WPT Celebrity Invitational

The World Poker Tout (WPT) Invitational has just recently seen its conclusion last Wednesday night, with Davidi Kitai crowned as the new champion. Kitai walked away with $100,000 worth of prize money and a shiny new WPT title.

Final Table Play

In some final tables, the play goes on for hours on end before an elimination is finally made. At the WPT celebrity invitational, though, it took only nine hands for the first two short-stacked players to be sent packing. Dinara Khaziveya was the first one to go, courtesy of Almira Skripchenko. Next to go was Damon Schramm, who was eliminated only two hands later. Schramm was eliminated by Dan Heimiller, who had the good fortune to be blessed with Pocket Aces. The board was no help to Schramm even though a King on the flop gave him a small fighting chance. In the end, he had to leave at fifth place. The game slowed down a bit after that and it took quite a while before the next elimination occurred.

It was George Rechnitzer who would be eliminated next, courtesy of Skripchenko. Heimiller followed him closely, courtesy of Kitai. Then, it was just Kitai and Skirpchenko left to battle it out on heads up.

Kitai vs. Skripchenko

The two were pretty much evenly matched as they sat down to play heads up at the WPT Celebrity invitational. They had already made it farther than some of the biggest pros in the game, and it was clear that both of them wanted the prize equally. But it all boiled down to one hand. Kitai had Q-3 of hearts, while Skripchenko had A-2. Kitai had already moved all in pre-flop and Skripchenko decided to call. The flop was revealed to be A-J-3, with both players getting a pair, although Skripchenko had the better one. The turn was revealed to be a Queen, though, so the ball was once again passed to Kitai. Skripchenko’s chances of winning all depended on the river which, unfortunately for her, simply did not deliver.

The river turned out to be a King, which improved neither of their hands, which meant that Kitai was the new champion of the WPT celebrity invitational. Skripchenko banked $50,000 for her efforts while Kitai ended up winning a sizeable $100,000. This is Kitai’s first ever World Poker Tour title – a huge accomplishment for the Belguim-born pro.

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