53 Players Remain with Philipp Zukernik in the Lead in Sochi
Day 3 of the record-breaking 2017 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Russia $5,300 Main Event at the extravagant Sochi Casino and Resort in the Krasnaya Polyana region saw 227 hopefuls out of a 999-entry strong field return to the tables. Only the top 161 spots were paid and seven levels of 75 minutes each later, only 53 players bagged up chips for Day 4.
Leading the field into the penultimate tournament day is Philipp Zukernik with 40,700,000, closely followed by Karen Arutyunyan with 40,175,000 and Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy (37,750,000), while Zdenek Mach (29,650,000) is the only other non-Russian player among the top 10. Day 1b chip leader Dmitriy Kopyl (30,250,000) also bagged up a very healthy stack once again, and he is joined by such familiar names as Michael Sklenicka (24,900,000), Gleb Tremzin (24,225,000), Konstantin Puchkov (22,725,000), $10,300 High Roller champion David Laka (21,950,000), Vladimir Troyanovskiy (21,025,000) and Oleg Titov (19,100,000).
Other big names still in contention include Jeff Lisandro (13,725,000), Maxim Babko (9,375,000), Andrey Pateychuk (8,550,000), Paul Jackson (8,275,000) and 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event finalist Jack Sinclair (7,700,000), while the sole remaining partypoker Sponsored Pro Dzmitry Urbanovich (2,875,000) will start Day 4 with just seven big blinds.
Day 3 action
Among those to miss out on the money in the first three levels of Day 3 were Jeff Hakim, Govert Metaal, Andrey Gulyy, Konstantinos Nanos, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, partypoker Sponsored Pro Richard Dubini, Maxim Lykov, Kenny Hallaert, Dmitry Chop and Dmitry Gromov. After several double ups on the money bubble, it was Markus Ross that was the last to leave empty-handed. The German partypoker qualifier shoved out of the small blind with king-eight and Pavel Frolov snap-called with pocket kings to leave Ross drawing dead on the turn.
What followed was a rainfall of eliminations that started with Natalia Panchenko, and partypoker Sponsored Pro Anatoly Filatov joined the rail soon after. The entertaining and interactive Russian, as usual in action with his mini camera for the fans, ran with pocket eights into pocket kings and failed to improve. Other notables that fell before the dinner break included Manig Loeser and Vladimir Geshkenbein, while partypoker Sponsored Pro Johnny Lodden had to settle for 102nd place.
Just before that, Sylvia Hewitt was eliminated in a spectacular fashion when she got her stack in with ace-queen for top pair and top kicker on a three-way flop. Both Arsen Karmanukyan and Aleksandr Chernikov had ten-nine suited for the flopped nut straight with Karmanukyan also holding a spades flush draw. Instead, running diamonds gave Chernikov a winning flush and his enormous scream of celebration earned him a massive pot and penalty.
Steve O'Dwyer had to settle for 69th place and Vytautas Milbutas was eliminated on the feature table to bow out in 60th place. By then, Philipp Zukernik, Karen Arutyunyan and Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy were already at the top of the counts. Merzvhinskiy won a huge pot on the feature table with queens versus jacks and Arutyunyan held up with jacks versus ace-king to bust Ivan Arbatskiy. A big portion of Zukernik's stack was the result of cracking the aces of Armen Khachatryan when his jacks improved to a runner-runner straight.
Seven minutes of an additional level were played to reduce the field to the last 54 hopefuls, and another elimination on the feature table during the last hand left just 53 participants in contention. They will return with 68 minutes left at blinds of 200,000/400,000 and a button ante of 400,000, and the six remaining tables are moving to the theatre.
The PokerNews live reporting team will provide all the action until a winner is crowned on Thursday September 14th 2017.
Day 4 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37 | 1 | Daria Feshchenko | Russian Federation | 19,300,000 | 48 |
| 37 | 2 | Karen Arutyunyan | Russian Federation | 40,175,000 | 100 |
| 37 | 3 | Dmitriy Shalnev | Russian Federation | 7,000,000 | 18 |
| 37 | 4 | Gleb Tremzin | Russian Federation | 24,225,000 | 61 |
| 37 | 5 | Viktoriya Shalneva | Russian Federation | 14,075,000 | 35 |
| 37 | 6 | Andrey Pateychuk | Russian Federation | 8,550,000 | 21 |
| 37 | 7 | Sergey Chupodal | Russian Federation | 19,275,000 | 48 |
| 37 | 8 | Gylbert Drolet | Canada | 14,025,000 | 35 |
| 37 | 9 | Oleksiy Kravchuk | Ukraine | 23,450,000 | 59 |
| 38 | 2 | Philipp Zukernik | Canada | 40,700,000 | 102 |
| 38 | 3 | Aleksei Istomin | Russian Federation | 7,400,000 | 19 |
| 38 | 4 | Aleksandr Gofman | Russian Federation | 15,875,000 | 40 |
| 38 | 5 | Michael Sklenicka | Czech Republic | 24,900,000 | 62 |
| 38 | 6 | Paul Jackson | United Kingdom | 8,275,000 | 21 |
| 38 | 7 | Dzmitry Urbanovich | Poland | 2,875,000 | 7 |
| 38 | 8 | Mikhail Surin | Russian Federation | 24,850,000 | 62 |
| 38 | 9 | Aleksandr Chernikov | Russian Federation | 26,450,000 | 66 |
| 39 | 1 | Timofey Vekshin | Russian Federation | 7,075,000 | 18 |
| 39 | 2 | Andrey Berinov | Russian Federation | 11,300,000 | 28 |
| 39 | 3 | Konstantin Puchkov | Russian Federation | 22,725,000 | 57 |
| 39 | 4 | David Laka | Spain | 21,950,000 | 55 |
| 39 | 5 | Alexander Matveev | Russian Federation | 4,075,000 | 10 |
| 39 | 6 | Ilya Kochnev | Russian Federation | 11,575,000 | 29 |
| 39 | 7 | Oleg Titov | Russian Federation | 19,100,000 | 48 |
| 39 | 8 | Yury Masliankou | Belarus | 3,550,000 | 9 |
| 39 | 9 | Maxim Babko | Canada | 9,375,000 | 23 |
| 40 | 1 | Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy | Russian Federation | 37,750,000 | 94 |
| 40 | 2 | Andrey Malyshev | Russian Federation | 13,725,000 | 34 |
| 40 | 3 | Jack Sinclair | United Kingdom | 7,700,000 | 19 |
| 40 | 4 | Fedor Algazin | Russian Federation | 26,700,000 | 67 |
| 40 | 5 | Yuriy Tuzov | Russian Federation | 2,350,000 | 6 |
| 40 | 6 | Gurgen Mkhitaryan | Armenia | 14,200,000 | 36 |
| 40 | 7 | Dmitriy Kopyl | Russian Federation | 30,250,000 | 76 |
| 40 | 8 | Anton Yakuba | Russian Federation | 15,800,000 | 40 |
| 40 | 9 | Vladimir Troyanovskiy | Russian Federation | 21,025,000 | 53 |
| 41 | 1 | Aleksei Kozlov | Russian Federation | 34,575,000 | 86 |
| 41 | 2 | Alexander Krasuntcev | Russian Federation | 17,925,000 | 45 |
| 41 | 3 | Denis Timofeyev | Russian Federation | 6,400,000 | 16 |
| 41 | 4 | Arkady Stekolshikov | Russian Federation | 11,250,000 | 28 |
| 41 | 5 | Andreas Klatt | Germany | 3,250,000 | 8 |
| 41 | 6 | Vadim Lipovka | Belarus | 8,800,000 | 22 |
| 41 | 7 | Leonid Logunov | Russian Federation | 5,050,000 | 13 |
| 41 | 8 | Maksim Tyurin | Russian Federation | 6,950,000 | 17 |
| 41 | 9 | Sergey Tsoy | Uzbekistan | 7,100,000 | 18 |
| 42 | 1 | Yunus Tuguz | Russian Federation | 24,125,000 | 60 |
| 42 | 2 | Anatoliy Zyrin | Russian Federation | 36,825,000 | 92 |
| 42 | 3 | Anatoliy Zuyev | Russian Federation | 1,975,000 | 5 |
| 42 | 4 | Mikhail Pokhlebayev | Russian Federation | 4,475,000 | 11 |
| 42 | 5 | Andrey Kozlenko | Russian Federation | 10,475,000 | 26 |
| 42 | 6 | Jeff Lisandro | Australia | 13,725,000 | 34 |
| 42 | 7 | Zdenek Mach | Czech Republic | 29,650,000 | 74 |
| 42 | 8 | Andrey Tkachenko | Russian Federation | 35,000,000 | 88 |
| 42 | 9 | Aleksandr Levashov | Russian Federation | 12,000,000 | 30 |
and Arutyunyan looked him up with the 
. The board came 
and that was it for Arbatsky.
provided a jack on the flop and that sent O'Dwyer to the rail, while Merzhvinskiy cemented his role near the top of the leader board.
and Puchkov's 
held up on a board of 
on the turn. 
for top pair, top kicker.
for two pair and the 
river was a blank, giving Laka the double up.
turn made the three-way all in even more spicy and Chernikov pointed to the diamond. 
river gave Chernikov the back door flush and he let out a scream that the entire upper floor of the casino could hear. With both opponents eliminated, Chernikov raked in the massive pot and was subsequently given a one-round penalty for excessive celebration.
and the big blind called with 
and that was it for the partypoker Sponsored Pro.