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Archive for the ‘Russian Poker Tour’ Category


Vitaly Lunkin wins PokerStars RPT Moscow

Monday, May 18th, 2009

rpt.jpgIf you happened to be a patriotic Russian looking to support a local player at a big poker tournament, then Moscow yesterday was the place to be. All nine players at the successful PokerStars Russian Poker Tour final table in Moscow were from the home country. And two of them - Ivan Demidov and Alex Kravchenko - were Team PokerStars Pros. Even their experience, both being previous World Series of Poker Main Event final tablists, was not enough to take down this event. Instead, that went to Vitaly Lunkin, a former backgammon player.

His win, good for 14,323,000 rubles - that's about $445,000 - was no fluke: he has a pedigree record of his own having won a WSOP bracelet last summer in the 1,500 No Limit Hold'em event. And he used his undoubted talents to go from second last in chips yesterday to champion of the $7,000 buy-in RPT Moscow.

rptwins.jpgVitaly Lunkin

Final table play started tightly, but then the first elimination was PokerStars qualifier Evgeny Onishuk. He raised from middle position with [7s] [6s] and was re-raised by Demidov from the button. Onishuk called and they say a flop of 9-7-4, giving Onishuk middle pair. He check called Demidov's 70,000 bet but the Team Pro had a pair of kings and the 4 turn and 6 river changed nothing.

Eighth place went to Kravchenko who had moved all in against four opponents, trying to collect some easy chips. Three of them folded, but Vitaly Lunkin decided to look him up, perhaps not surprisingly as he had [jc][jh] - enough against the Team Pro's [7s][4h].

Next out was Dmitry Vitkind, who pushed with [ac][7h] but ran into Lunkin's [as][9s]. The board of [10d][5d][6d][9d][3c] doing the damage. Demidov went in sixth, first losing a big pot to Alexander Khoustov and then leaving when his [Ac][7d] failed to overtake Sergey Artamonov's pocket nines.

demidrpt.jpgTeam PokerStars Pro Ivan Demidov

At this stage players took a 30-minute break, and then it took a full two hours before the fifth place was determined when Artamonov was busted by Lunkin when his [10c][10h] failed to hold against [ah][js]. Lunkin was at it again soon after, knocking out Oleg Shamardin, who had held the chip lead earlier in the tournament. Lunkin's [Qd][Qc] was too good for Shamardin's [Ac][5c].

It took another hour to lose the third-place finisher, Khaustov, who moved all in with [as][6s] and was called - not surprisingly - by Lunkin who had [9c][9d].

Tournament Director Thomas Kremser introduced the final two to the audience, and with blinds at 20,000-40,000 it was always going to be a brief heads-up seeing as Lunkin had 2,790,000 chips to Vyacheslav Goryachev's 310,000. Indeed, just minutes later Goryachev moved all-in with [ad][6c] and was called by Lunkin who once again found a hand at the right time with pocket tens. The board came [Qd][8d][6h][4c][8s] and Vitaly Lunkin became Champion of RPT Moscow.

Final table payouts (in rubles):

1. Vitaly Lunkin, 14,323,000
2. Vyacheslav Goryachev, 7,877,000
3. Alexander Khoustov, 4,028,000
4. Oleg Shamardin, 3,133,000
5. Sergey Artamonov, 2,685,000
6. Ivan Demidov, Team PokerStars Pro 2,238,000
7. Dmitry Vitkind, 1,790,000
8. Alex Kravchenko, Team PokerStars Pro, 1,342,000
9. Evgeny Onishuk, 895,000


RPT Moscow: Russian Team PokerStars Pros on song for final

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

rpt.jpgEach year in Europe there is a musical spectacular in which countries fight it out to become winners of the Eurovision Song Contest. Some take it more seriously than others, but it involves a glittering show in which 25 nations perform their song, and then the population of 42 countries vote over the telephone for their favourites. Our US readers might be a bit baffled by all this, but they need only know that some of the music is excrutiatingly painful and instantly forgettable - but occasionally a little gem launches a stunning career, just as it did for ABBA with Waterloo back in 1974.

What's all that got to do with the RPT in Moscow? Well it just so happens that this year's Eurovision showpiece was held last night in a huge concert venue just down the road from our poker tournament - Norway won, by the way - yet despite that distraction, the poker provided enough thrills and spills of its own to keep everyone enthralled.

While the Russian entry did not fare so well in the Eurovision, its poker players were on fire in the RPT, where they'll make up all nine of the final table! Among them are Team PokerStars Pros Ivan Demidov, who final tabled last year's WSOP Main Event, and Alexander Kravchenko, who came fourth in the same event a year earlier.

Final table seats and chips:
Seat 1: Artamonov Sergey - 375,500 chips
Seat 2: Vitkind Dmitriy - 115,500
Seat 3: Ewgeny Onischuk - 347,000
Seat 4: Goryachev Vyacheslav - 310,500
Seat 5: Demidov Ivan - 425,000
Seat 6: Kravchenko Alexander - 173,500
Seat 7: Shamаrdin Oleg - 805,000
Seat 8: Khaustov Alexander - 288,000
Seat 9: Lunkin Vtaliy - 255,000

demidrpt.jpgTeam PokerStars Pro Ivan Demidov

Day three had seen 36 players come back to play down to the final table of nine, and under the expert stewardship of tournament director Thomas Kremser, there was enough play to ensure all players had a chance to showcase their skills over nine hours. There were still a rush of early eliminations, with Vitaly Lee, Ilya Burtsev, Kirill Gerasimov, then Alexander Panov picking up their coats. With 27 places paid, the last to leave with nothing was bubble boy Alexey Maslov.

Alsp spare a thought for Sergey "gipsy" Rybachenko - chip leader earlier in the event - who went out in 27th, at least with a little cash to show for his efforts. He was eliminated by Oleg Shamardin on a 8-9-J-7-J board - a ten for Rybachenko (for the straight) no good against Shamardin's J-9 for a full house.

Shamardin continued his momentum to take a chip lead into the final table with 805,000. Team Pros Kravchenko with 173,500 and Demidov, who was down to the felt at one stage but rallied to 425,000, will have him in their sights as they hunt down the first prize of 14,323,000 rubles - that's about $445,000.

We'll have a final table report for you later tonight or early tomorrow, depending on how long the final lasts. If you can read Russian, or just want to try and understand what is going on from pictures and using an online translation tool, then head over to the Russian PokerStars Blog, where our man Pavel Sychev is doing a grand job updating the masses. Warning: letters look very odd.


RPT Moscow: Russian Team Pros enjoying home game

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

rpt.jpgIt's fair to say that Team PokerStars Pro covers the globe. It has world champions in the US, Australia and Denmark, and a selection of the highest quality performers from all continents in between. At day two of the PokerStars-sponsored Russian Poker Tour event in Moscow, it was fitting that the two home stars were stealing the show.

Russians Ivan Demidov, final tablist at last year's World Series of Poker, and Alex Kravchenko both made it through the day and into the last 36. While Kravchenko was never huge in chips, he did accumulate steadily and ended with 83,500, while Demidov flirted with 170,000.

kravrpt.jpgAlex Kravchenko

With 122 sitting down at the start of play (more than half of the 206 starters in the $7,000 event), it seemed there was a rush for the exit as it took only eight hours to rattle through the field to the required 36, who will be back on day three to play down to a final table.

Among those falling were Team Pros Chad Brown and Katja Thater - the latter unlucky when her K-K was outdrawn by A-Q which made a wheel straight on the river. Ouch. Also exiting was Oleg Suntsov, who won the first RPT event in St Petersburg earlier in the year.

Full coverage of RPT Moscow is happening over on our Russian PokerStars Blog, where blogger Pavel Sychev is bringing you all the news and pics. You can look at those even if you can't read a word of Russian.

We'll report back here tomorrow (Sun) on who made it to the final table - and whether a Russian member of Team PokerStars Pro will still be hunting down the RPT Moscow crown, which comes with a very attractive 14,323,000 rubles first prize - that's about $445,000 to you and me.

demidrpt.jpgIvan Demidov


RPT Moscow: Team PokerStars Pro in hunt

Friday, May 15th, 2009

rpt.jpgPokerStars is involved in many quality live tours around the world. The European Poker Tour continues to break new ground, while the LAPT and APPT have both established themselves nicely in recent years. This year the ANZPT tour kicked off, and in January the first ever PokerStars-sponsored Russian Poker Tour event was held in St Petersburg.

The RPT was an instant success, and it looks like the second and final event of the first season, in the capital Moscow with a $7,000 buy-in, will be even better. Some 206 players sat down for Day 1 yesterday, enough for the organisers to tag an extra day on to the event to ensure a steady and fair structure. PokerStars qualifiers were joined by a formidable selection of Team PokerStars Pro, include local favourites Alex Kravchenko and Ivan Demidov, and Katja Thater and Chad Brown.

katjarptmosc1.jpgKatja Thater

Only Vanessa Rousso, still on a high from winning the EPT Monte Carlo €25K High Roller event, failed to make it through to today's Day 2. The two Russians (Demidov is big in chips), Brown and Thater fared better and will be back at the felt today. Overnight chip leader was Sergey "gipsy" Rybachenko, who managed to turn his 15,000 starting stack into a healthy 76,000. Of the 206 starters, 122 made it through the day.

How's your Russian? If it's better than ours - and that wouldn't be difficult - then you can catch up on the latest news from our colleague Pavel Sychev over on the Russian PokerStars Blog. If you can't read Russian, you can still take a look and marvel at the weird letters - and enjoy the pictures, of course.


RPT Moscow

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

After the success of the first PokerStars sponsored RPT event in St Petersburg earlier this year, the RPT moves to the Russian capital for its next stop.

The three-day event begins on May 14 and has a $7,000 buy-in. For more info, visit the official RPT page.