They say Poker takes 5 minutes to learn, but it takes a lifetime to master. But Nikita Luther has managed to do it in no more than 4 years. She says: “I used to be one of those annoying girls with their hand always in the air at school, and now it’s the same with Poker. I keep winning.” The truth is, Nikita is one of those women who has paved the way for other women to feel more comfortable at a male-dominated poker table. Let’s look at her life and see how she has done it all.
Who is Nikita Luther?
Luther was born on Jan 17, 1991, in New Delhi, India. Her father is a military officer, and her mother is a university lecturer. She was a regular math wiz at school and got her bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing from the University of Delhi. Then, she moved on to the University of Illinois, US. The most significant point about Nikita is that she looks at Poker as a mathematical game, not a game of chance. She has been advocating this in India ever since she started playing professionally.
Nikita Luther’s early poker days
Nikita first encountered Poker in a game called Zenga. It is an American poker game that does not involve any real money. After some time, finding herself on the game’s leaderboard all the time, she realized she could play the game for real money. She started with a few hundred dollars at a friend’s birthday in the United States. Finding out that she could use her strategic mind and mathematical skills to win one poker game after another, she was unstoppable.
Nikita Luther’s most important wins
Nikita’s first official win happened on Aug 13, 2015, in the Indian Poker Championship. She finished 4th in this tournament and earned $2,913. The first five figures she made were in the Aria Poker Classic 2017. She won the fifth place in these competitions and pocketed $65,000. She then moved on to the World Series of Poker competitions. Her first attempt at these tournaments earned him only a 242nd ranking and $2,249 prize money. In only one year, she had improved so much that the next round of WSOP tournaments got her a golden bracelet, a first-place title, and $87,902.
After the gold bracelet, she started traveling all around the world playing Poker. So far, some of the cities she has played in are Prague, Barcelona, Madrid, Hanoi, and Seoul. Nikita’s largest win so far has been $109,300, which she won at the 2019 Aria poker classic. She continues to play games and win tables and looks like she is nowhere near stopping. Her most recent win was a $13,600 prize at the WSOP in Paradise Island in December 2023.
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Luther’s TV appearances
Nikita Luther is going to appear in the new season of Poker After Dark, which will air on Nov 8, 2023. Poker After Dark has been a popular poker TV program on NBC since 2007. This program has hosted many incredibly famous poker players throughout the years. Some of these names are Jeniffer Tilly, Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, and Phil Laak. During the 2023 season, Luther and 15 other players will sit at the table for one hour and fight to win $456,000.
Luther’s personal life
Like many other poker players, Luther has kept her private life away from social media. Although she has a strong presence on Instagram and X (Twitter), she usually shares the news about her poker life. Therefore, not much is known about Nikita’s personal life other than the fact that she has a little brother called Aditya.
She mentioned her parents in an interview and said that her mother had been her poker career’s advocate from the very beginning. Like herself, Nikita’s mother sees Poker as a mathematical game and, therefore, a mind sport. On the other hand, her father did not approve of Nikita’s career change and took a long time to accept the idea.
Nikita Luther’s career path
Nikita has always been after staying on her own feet financially. Therefore, the first contract she signed was the ambassadorship of a startup called Adda52 in 2016. She ended her contract a few years later. Now, she is the ambassador for Natural8 India, a poker platform for Indians. This platform’s main purpose is to make Poker accessible to everybody, including novice players who haven’t been in the game for long.
Nikita Luther has also signed a contract to be the TeamPro at Spartan Poker. Spartan Poker is another poker platform for Indian enthusiasts. This platform prides itself on being completely legal and the first to offer a rake-based online poker model to Indian citizens.
Because Nikita insists on never spending an idle moment, there are some other initiatives she has taken part in or initiated. For example, she founded the Poker Sports League in India in 2016. Moreover, she has inspired women from all over India to realize their dream of playing Poker and see it not as a game of chance but as a mind game.
Nikita Luther’s net worth
Unfortunately, nothing has been released on Nikita’s net worth so far. The only thing we know is that her total winnings in Poker have reached half a million dollars. She is also number 16th in India’s all-time money list. This can give you a clear idea of her net worth as well.
Nikita Luther’s life in a box
Name | Nikita Luther |
Nicknames | The female Acer Superwoman of Indian Poker |
Born | Jan 17, 1991 |
Origin | New Delhi, India |
First official poker game | India Poker Championship |
Highest win | $109,300 in Aria Poker Classic in 2019 |
Total live poker winnings | $521,984 |
World Series of Poker bracelets | 1 (2018) |
Popularity ranking | 1,125 |
GPI ranking | 4,103 |
GPI India Ladies ranking | 1 |
@nikitaluther with 19.6K followers | |
@nikitaluther with 3,112 followers |
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