When you start a final table as the short stack, you have two real choices: show no fear and go for the win, no matter how unlikely, or exert minimal risk and hope to climb a few cash positions.

Oleg Suntsov was in just this sticky spot yesterday, starting the final table of the inaugural Russian Poker Tour event in St Petersburg so behind the pack he was in danger of being cast adrift.

Oleg Suntsov

In fact, so short was he that his 64,000 chip stack needed to double, double again - and then yet again before he could get up to the dizzy heights of chip leader Dimitru Gaina, from Moldova, who had more than 500,000 in front of him.

Yet Oleg had been chip leader after day one, a fact that implied he would not have been content to sit back at the final table in order to cash a bit extra to add to his bankroll.

And so it proved: he wanted the win, and he wanted it bad. Hours, and eight defeated players later, he had got his prize - the big prize of more than 10 million Russian rubles. That's about $300,000 to you and I.

Impressive stuff, then, from the young Russian, who is a regular player on the tournament scene in his home city of St Petersburg.

Suntsov, right, collects his bumper prize

This was a fine destination to kick off the PokerStars-sponsored Russian Poker Tour. In total, 201 players forked out $5,000 to play - way above expectations - including PokerStars qualifiers, Team PokerStars Pros Alex Kravchenko and Vanessa Rousso, and Ivan Demidov, the PokerStars-sponsored player who final tabled the WSOP Main Event just months ago.

Such was the interest that esteemed tournament director Thomas Kremser and his staff ran a list of alternates in order to squeeze everyone in.

Here's how the final table looked when they sat down:

1. Dimitru Gaina, Moldova, 501,000
2. Sergey Popuk, Russian, 302,000
3. Sergey Solntsev, Russia, 256,000
4. Vadim Markushevsky, Belarus, 256,000
5. Anatoly Ozhenilok, Russia, 203,000
6. Bulat Bikmetov, Russia, 181,000
7. Evgeny Zaytsev, Russia, 178,000
8. Alexander Pantukhin, Russia, 76,000
9. Oleg Suntsov, Russia, 64,000

First out of the door was Evgeny Zaytsev. He pushed all-in with J-J against Bikmetov's Q-Q, but neither of his two outs arrived to save him.

Soon after, Suntsov got the first of his necessary double ups - against chip leader Gaina. Gaina then completed his riches-to-rags story when he busted, pushing with an open-ended straight draw but running into Vadim Markushevsky's nut flush draw, which filled up on the river.

Dimitru Gaina

Out in seventh place was Ozhenilok, unluckily with As-Ks against Bikmetov's Q-8. The flop was 8s-4s-9x giving Bikmetov the pair, but Ozhenilok the nut flush draw. The turn, Qs, filled his flush and put Bikmetov behind with two pair - but the river was another 8, filling Bikmetov's full house.

Next out - and also very unluckily - was Sergey Popuk, who must have thought his A-A was safe against Alex Pantukhin's K-Q. Nope! The board came K-Q-5-8-7 and Popuk was collecting his coat.

Out in fifth was Bikmetov, who ran his A-8 into Markushevsky's A-J (the turn was a jack and so, in one of those completely unnecessary moments, was the river!). Markushevsky then dominated for a period - and got lucky to eliminate Solnstev in fourth place, calling with A-5 against 8-8, and waiting until the river to see an ace win him the hand.

Vadim Markushevsky

It was that man Markushevsky again who accounted for the third-place finisher, Pantukhin. This time Markushevsky called with Q-J to 7-7 - and hit a jack on the flop.

Suntsov had been quieter while Markushevsky was on his wrecking-ball run, but he had still moved up to 800,000 when the pair got to heads-up - not far short of Markushevsky's 1.2 million.

Suntsov picked up a few small pots to edge himself into the chip lead and then, as so often happens, one sledgehammer hand finished the three-day tournament off.

Markushevsky raised to 60,000, Suntsov called. The flop came 6-9-3, and both players parted with another 100,000. On the turn - a five - Suntsov bet 220,000, Markushevsky moved all in... call! Markushevsky had K-9, Suntsov the dominating Q-Q, and the harmless two on the river meant Suntsov took the crown.

The event had been a great success, and next the RPT moves to Moscow, where the main event starts on February 25.

If St Petersburg was anything to go by, it should be a cracker.

For fuller coverage of the St Petersburg event, you'll have to learn to read Russian. Once you've done that, head over to our Russian blog, and enjoy.

But for now, you may be content with a parting picture of the city...

It's taken two days to get down from a bumper 201 entries to the final nine players in the first Russian Poker Tour event in chilly St Petersburg. Top of the pile sits a PokerStars qualifier:

1. Dumitru Gaina, Moldova, 501,000. The young player is determined to seize his chip lead and turn his PokerStars satellite win into a bumper, $300,000 pay day.

2. Sergei Popyuk, Russia, 302,000. Sergei, a former military pilot from Arkhangelsk, may be seen as a tight player, but his image obviously worked as he shot down his opponents to reach the final table comfortable in chips.

3. Sergei Solntsev, Russia, 256,000. Sergei is playing in his home city and looking to keep the trophy on home soil.

4. Vadim Markushevsky, Belarus, 256,000. Vadim plays like an online poker warrior - fearlessly entering many pots, and nearly always as the aggressor. What's impressed many, however, has been his ability to read his opponents.

5. Anatoly Ozhenilok, Russia, 203,000. Another player from St Petersburg, Ozhenilok is actually a cash game specialist. But he's proved here he has quite a tournament game as well, and is looking to get his year off to a flyer.

6. Bulat Bikmetov, Russia, 181,000. Strong and aggressive, but he recognises he has his work cut out here if he is going to lift the trophy.

7. Evgeny Zaytsev, Russia, 178,000.

8. Alexander Pantyuhin, Russia, 76,000. Alex, from Kaliningrad, won a satellite to this event, but was not going to play the main event until his friends persuaded him. Now he's in for a shout at a $300,000 title! But he has a mountain to climb as one of the shorter stacks.

9. Oleg Suntsov, Russia, 64,000. Oleg, who regularly plays tournaments in his home city of St Petersburg, was chip leader after day one, and has made it all the way though to the final table, albeit as the short stack.

There's blow-by-blow coverage of the final right now over at our Russian PokerStars blog. Warning! Strange, unreadable language! Instead, you may prefer to wait for the English version of the tournament result on this page.

Let's be honest, starting a new poker tour is a bit of a leap into the unknown. You do know the destinations will appeal, and you do know the event organisation and format will be second-to-none. What you don't know is just how many players will take the trouble to find out for themselves by signing up.

When PokerStars sponsored the Russian Poker Tour, it did so in the belief that this new series of events would be a popular addition to the poker calendar. Sure enough, as the tour kicked off in St Petersburg this week, it became clear that the confidence was well placed.

Ivan Demidov: on his way to Day Two

Side events were well attended, and the main event, which kicked off at 3pm local time last night, exceeded all expectations by attracting 201 players, each paying $5,000 for the chance to take down the first RPT title.

Among them were a merry band of PokerStars qualifiers, two members of Team PokerStars Pro - Vanessa Rousso and local favourite Alex Kravchenko - plus PokerStars sponsored player Ivan Demidov, the Russian who made the final table of the 2008 WSOP Main Event in November.

The size of the field took organisers by surprise, with tournament director Thomas Kremser agreeing to move to a ten-handed format at the start of play in order to fit everyone in. Even then there was a list of alternates waiting for their chance to join the action.

But with many bust outs in the early levels, they soon got to sit down. Early fallers were popular Russians Sergey Rybachenko and Alexander Kostritsyn, who would not add to his $1.7 million in tournament cashes.

Kravchenko (33,000), Rousso (10,900) and Demidov (38,700) all made it through with 69 others to today's Day Two, when overnight chip leader Oleg Suntsov will return with an 85,600 chip mountain to lead the charge to the final table.

Vanessa Rousso, left, enjoying her RPT debut

If you can read Russian, or even if you can't but have a penchant for words that make no sense all, then you can try and follow the action as it happens over at PokerStars' Russian blog. The prize payouts can be found here, and we'll put up the offical list of overnight chip counts just as soon as we have them.