Igor Dimitrijevic raised to 200 from the cutoff. Driss Ekadioin called in the small blind, as did [Removed:19] in the big blind.
The flop was and Ekadioin bet 500. Sokolovskiy folded and Dimitrijevic called. The turn was the and Ekadioin continued for 1,000.
Dimitrijevic raised to 3,000 and Ekadioin called.
The river was the and Ekadioin gathered up five 1,000-value chips and strew them haphazardly into the middle. Asylan Bakhitov at the far end of the table pointed this out to the dealer, and it was ruled as a string bet. The bet was 2,000.
Dimitrijevic called and Ekadioin turned over the . Dimitrijevic showed for two-pair, but his opponent also held the for trip fours and took down the pot.
Meanwhile Sokolovskiy, who folded on the flop, was remonstrating in Russian. Then in English, he said: "Queen-nine. Straight on the turn and I have you both!"
PokerStars Team Pro Luca Pagano was among those to be in their seats right from the start and same also applies for High Roller regular Orpen Kisacikoglu. Other early notables include Alex Watson, [Removed:19] and Ricardo Tavares.
In one hour from now as of 12 p.m. local time, the flagship event of the 2017 PokerStars Championship Sochi festival at the Sochi Casino and Resort, Krasnaya Polyana, kicks off with Day 1a of the RUB 318,000 PokerStars Championship Main Event (approx. $5,590). It is the first time that a PokerStars sponsored tour is heading to the home country of team pro Igor Kurganov and the 12-day festival features a total of 43 events, and the Main Event has a guaranteed prize pool of RUB 150,000,000 guaranteed.
Each of the two starting days will play a total of eight levels of 75 minutes each with a break every two levels and a dinner break at the end of level six, all participants receive 30,000 chips and the action will conclude at midnight. The vast majority of participants will be sporting the Russian flag along with some nearby countries represented as well, but an asset of PokerStars Team Pros such as Luca Pagano, Chris Moneymaker and Felipe Ramos also made the trip to Sochi.
Day 1 level structure
Level
Duration
Small Blind
Big Blind
Ante
1
75 min
50
100
2
75 min
75
150
3
75 min
100
200
25
4
75 min
150
300
50
5
75 min
200
400
50
6
75 min
250
500
75
7
75 min
300
600
100
8
75 min
400
800
100
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all the action until the first PokerStars Championship Main Event winner is crowned on Russian soil, so make sure to tune back regularly.
and Ekadioin bet 500. Sokolovskiy folded and Dimitrijevic called. The turn was the 
and Ekadioin continued for 1,000. 
and Ekadioin gathered up five 1,000-value chips and strew them haphazardly into the middle. Asylan Bakhitov at the far end of the table pointed this out to the dealer, and it was ruled as a string bet. The bet was 2,000.
. Dimitrijevic showed 
for two-pair, but his opponent also held the 
for trip fours and took down the pot.
