Main Event Day 1b | 2017 PokerStars Championship Sochi

05-27-2017 00:50 UTC+3

Jason Wheeler Claims the Lead After Day 1b of the PokerStars Championship Sochi Main Event

Christian Zetzsche

Level 8 : 400/800, 100 ante

Jason Wheeler is the chip leader after Day 1b in Sochi

Day 1b of the 2017 PokerStars Championship Sochi RUB 150,000,000 guaranteed Main Event saw another 247 players fork out the buy-in of RUB 318,000 (approx. $5,590) and join the action at the Sochi Casino and Resort, Krasnaya Polyana. Along with the 132 entries of yesterday's first starting day, this makes for a field size of 379 entries, however, this number may still increase as the late registration remains open until the cards are back in the air for Day 2 at 12 p.m. local time.

After eight levels of 75 minutes each, it was American poker pro Jason “jdpc27“ Wheeler who used his starting stack of 30,000 and ran it all the way up to 180,800. Wheeler already reached the final table of a Side Event here in Sochi and finished 8th in the RUB 132,000 National High Roller for RUB 452,000 yesterday. Originally from Chicago, Wheeler now calls Amsterdam his home and frequently travels the international circuit while having amassed more than $3.1M in live tournaments and close to $8M in online cashes to date.

Other big stacks and notables that made it through to Day 2 include Lavrentiy Ni (174,800), Sergey Isaev (158,300), Seyed Ghavam (149,400), and Mikhail Galitski (125,000). Well-known Russian tournament grinders Vladimir Troyanovskiy (116,500) and Alexander Lakhov (103,400) ended the day with more than double the average, while early big stack and National High Roller champion Maxim Panyak had to settle for (72,700). EPT13 Malta champion Aliaksei Boika (77,800), Nacho Barbero (71,600), Jonas Lauck (65,100) and Pedro Lamarca (57,700) are further familiar faces of the international poker circuit that advanced to Day 2.

Three players represented the red spade at the Sochi Casino and Resort today: Team Online's Mikhail Shalamov ran short with pocket eights into nines and PokerStars Team pro Aditya Agarwal first bluffed off half of his stack against Alexander Lakhov before ending up second-best to Lakhov with kings versus jacks after a jack appeared on the turn. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier entered the tournament mid-way through the day and scored a late double to advance with 43,200, he will be joining Chris Moneymaker for Day 2 tomorrow.

Other big names that failed to bag up for the night included former EPT Prague champion Martin Finger, 2011 WPT Vienna winner Dmitry Gromov, Andrey Andreev, Yury Gulyy, Andrey Zaichenko, Denis Pisarev, Alex Kravchenko, Sergei Chantcev, Konstantin Maslak, Harry Lodge and Shyngis Satubayev.

Wheeler entered the tournament several levels late and the biggest pot of the American saw him turn trips nines with jack-nine suited to bust an opponent with pocket aces. The big stack of Ni was also the result of an aces cracked story when he called the big river shove of Galitski with king-jack suited for the second nut flush on a paired board. Galitski's relentless aggression after that saw the Russian climb back up and secure more than four times the starting stack for Day 2.

As it stands, just over 200 hopefuls out of a 379-entry strong field will return for Day 2. So far, the Main Event has an overlay of RUB 36,300,000 (approx. USD 642,000) and all players that wish to join before the first card is dealt on Saturday will receive 30,000 in chips at blinds of 500/1,000 with a running ante of 100. Day 2 will play a total of six levels of 75 minutes and it remains to be seen whether the money will be reached or not. The 2017 PokerStars Championship Sochi is the first major festival along with PokerStars Festival Chile where a PokerStars sponsored tour will revert back to the 15% payout structure for its major tournaments.

The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all the action until a winner is crowned on May 31st before the action continues right away at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Main Event Day 2 Seat Draw

Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	1	Alexander Zholnerchik	Belarus	14,200
1	3	[Removed:19]	Russian Federation	69,200
1	4	Mikalai Vaskaboinikau	Belarus	84,700
1	5	Daniil Goldshteyn	Russian Federation	43,800
1	6	Bertrand Grospellier	France	43,200
1	7	Alexander Nekrasov	Russian Federation	92,600
1	8	Daniil Kiselev	Russian Federation	89,000

2	1	Ruslan Yakimov	Ukraine	73,000
2	2	Maxim Mamonov	Russian Federation	49,800
2	3	Mikhail Korotkikh	Russian Federation	20,000
2	4	Ruslan Voitovich	Russian Federation	49,400
2	6	Seyed Ghavam	Iran	149,400
2	7	Denis Gashko	Russian Federation	6,100
2	8	Maksim Bura	Russian Federation	45,700

3	1	Dmitry Chop	Russian Federation	76,000
3	2	Vsevolod Nikolaev	Russian Federation	20,800
3	4	Ezatulla Amani	Russian Federation	75,000
3	5	Alimbay Sultanov	Uzbekistan	28,700
3	6	Vitaly Karayan	Russian Federation	19,700
3	7	Artem Nosach	Ukraine	19,600
3	8	Mikhail Manukyan	Russian Federation	26,200

4	1	Vadim Kim	Kazakhstan	19,900
4	2	Tsogtjargal Yadamjav	Mongolia	16,200
4	3	Rustam Kuliev	Russian Federation	11,500
4	4	Vladimir Shabalin	Russian Federation	35,500
4	5	Yury Zinkevich	Belarus	76,800
4	6	Chris Moneymaker	USA	115,200
4	7	Andrey Sakolishch	Russian Federation	19,200

5	1	Sergey Isaev	Russian Federation	158,300
5	2	Alexandr Minakov	Russian Federation	15,500
5	4	Konstantin Ramazanov	Russian Federation	36,700
5	5	Evgeniq Alikin	Russian Federation	48,600
5	6	Konstantin Puchkov	Russian Federation	19,800
5	7	Alexander Kostritsyn	Russian Federation	49,100
5	8	Aleksandr Zhilinskii	Russian Federation	27,300

6	1	Mark Simankov	Russian Federation	69,200
6	2	Sergey Lomakin	Russian Federation	59,000
6	3	Vasilii Polukarov	Russian Federation	41,100
6	4	Vahe Martirosyan	Armenia	7,900
6	5	Hazret Nebejev	Russian Federation	89,500
6	7	Natalia Panchenko	Russian Federation	51,100
6	8	Alexey Nikolenko	Russian Federation	35,500

7	2	Artur Ibragimov	Russian Federation	60,500
7	3	Aleksei Danilov	Russian Federation	25,000
7	4	Andrei Kaigorodtsev	Russian Federation	40,400
7	5	Konstantin Kostyakov	Russian Federation	44,500
7	6	Sertan Citinoglu	UK	59,400
7	7	Sergey Trenin	Russian Federation	51,300
7	8	Artem Savchenko	Russian Federation	49,600

8	1	Evgeny Nekrasov	Russian Federation	18,200
8	2	Michal Majewski	Poland	93,300
8	3	Igor Sharaskin	Russian Federation	27,000
8	4	Denis Davydov	Russian Federation	27,400
8	5	Anton Shamrayevsky	Russian Federation	95,100
8	6	Vladimir Lubyanov	Russian Federation	14,500
8	7	Siarhei Buracheuski	Belarus	75,300

9	1	Vladimir Medvedev	Russian Federation	78,200
9	2	Boris Yanpolskiy	Russian Federation	45,200
9	4	Dzmitry Rabotkin	Belarus	42,400
9	5	Mikhail Soltanov	Russian Federation	104,000
9	6	Gaby Livshitz	Israel	56,600
9	7	Andrey Ivlev	Russian Federation	31,500
9	8	Vladimir Demenkov	Russian Federation	36,200

10	1	Denis Pavlenko	Uzbekistan	21,500
10	2	Timur Bubnov	Russian Federation	102,500
10	3	Dmitry Yurasov	Russian Federation	67,800
10	4	Alexey Chukhnin	Russian Federation	69,600
10	6	Stanislav Vlasov	Russian Federation	58,900
10	7	Konstantin Kazaev	Russian Federation	40,500
10	8	Vadim Kuvshinkov	Russian Federation	26,900

11	1	Laurynas Levinskas	Lithuania	32,600
11	2	Dmitry Manashov	Russian Federation	65,800
11	3	Maxim Panyak	Russian Federation	72,700
11	4	Donatas Pilinkus	Lithuania	108,900
11	5	Alexey Vlasov	Russian Federation	67,000
11	6	Artem Vezhenkov	Russian Federation	70,100
11	7	Robert Askarov	Russian Federation	21,000
11	8	Igor Dimitrijevic	Serbia	57,900

12	2	Dmitrii Filimonov	Russian Federation	58,900
12	3	Ramil Boyazitov	Russian Federation	87,700
12	4	Danila Solovyev	Russian Federation	63,200
12	5	Andrei Chernokoz	Russian Federation	49,500
12	6	Alexey Bilyuchenko	Russian Federation	30,500
12	7	Andrey Shatilov	Russian Federation	8,500
12	8	Mikhail Galitski	Russian Federation	125,000

13	1	Suleyman Suleymanov	Russian Federation	56,900
13	2	Sinopiants Arkadii	Russian Federation	42,700
13	3	Viktor Sorokin	Russian Federation	50,500
13	4	Nadar Kakhmazov	Russian Federation	120,000
13	6	Andrey Morgun	Russian Federation	54,800
13	7	Vladimir Volov	Russian Federation	48,800
13	8	Denis Chiginev	Russian Federation	59,800

14	2	Olga Finogenova	Russian Federation	69,500
14	3	Vasily Andrienko	Russian Federation	91,900
14	4	Timur Khamidullin	Russian Federation	23,600
14	5	Ricardo Tavares	Brazil	20,500
14	6	Alexey Makarov	Russian Federation	31,000
14	7	Ivan Arbatskii	Russian Federation	38,500
14	8	Vladimir Dobrovolskiy	Russian Federation	50,400

15	1	Yurii Zdanovskyi	Ukraine	59,100
15	3	Andy Tyler	UK	38,600
15	4	Dmitriy Motorov	Russian Federation	51,100
15	5	Pedro Lamarca	Spain	57,700
15	6	Osman Yel	Russian Federation	61,400
15	7	Yeow Chung Chong	Singapore	82,100
15	8	Aleksei Dedov	Russian Federation	20,400

16	1	Ivan Kozyrev	Russian Federation	22,900
16	2	Sergey Chernega	Russian Federation	19,700
16	3	Vitaliy Li	Russian Federation	89,600
16	4	Jason Wheeler	USA	180,800
16	5	Sergey Isupov	Russian Federation	84,700
16	6	Hugo Dos Santos Videira	Portugal	61,200
16	8	Van Thach Vu	Russian Federation	92,800

17	1	Alexander Lakhov	Russian Federation	103,400
17	2	Egor Gerasimchuk	Russian Federation	64,000
17	3	Mikhail Medvedev	Russian Federation	14,800
17	4	Vitaliy Beter	Russian Federation	31,300
17	5	Ivan Neiaskin	Russian Federation	63,000
17	6	Ekaterina Kaminskaia	Russian Federation	14,300
17	7	Maksim Nosenko	Russian Federation	61,200
17	8	Konstantin Rysev	Russian Federation	70,200

18	1	Pavel Kovalenko	Russian Federation	85,000
18	2	Dmitry Vitkind	Russian Federation	67,000
18	4	Nacho Barbero	Argentina	71,600
18	5	Pavel Ignatov	Russian Federation	45,600
18	6	Lavrentiy Ni	Kazakhstan	174,800
18	7	Arash Khosravi	Iran	41,400
18	8	Yury Filimonov	Russian Federation	51,000

19	1	Sergey Feklisov	Russian Federation	69,600
19	3	Nikita Bochkin	Russian Federation	37,300
19	4	Maksim Reshetov	Russian Federation	44,000
19	5	Maxim Lykov	Russian Federation	78,700
19	6	Yulius Sepman	Russian Federation	47,800
19	7	Aliaksei Boika	Belarus	77,800
19	8	Ivan Glushkov	Russian Federation	23,900

20	1	Roman Seleznev	Russian Federation	35,400
20	2	Anton Pozdniakov	Russian Federation	43,800
20	3	Andrei Shkerin	Russian Federation	144,400
20	4	Jonas Lauck	Germany	65,100
20	5	Said Butba	Russian Federation	96,800
20	7	Dmitry Grishin	Russian Federation	12,400
20	8	Alexey Fedin	Russian Federation	24,900

21	1	Aram Vartevanyan	Russian Federation	87,900
21	2	Andrey Golubev	Kazakhstan	65,100
21	4	Igor Arekin	Russian Federation	31,500
21	5	Ulrich Jungen	Switzerland	89,300
21	6	Natan Chauskin	Belarus	66,200
21	7	Matheus Rodrigues Duarte	Brazil	32,800
21	8	Oleg Lipkin	Russian Federation	35,800

22	2	Oleg Chebotarev	Russian Federation	73,000
22	3	Daniyar Aubakirov	Kazakhstan	133,500
22	4	Vladimar Shashkov	Russian Federation	72,000
22	5	Vladislav Tonkikh	Russian Federation	69,000
22	6	Ilya Sumzin	Russian Federation	15,300
22	7	Sergei Petrushevskii	Russian Federation	69,500
22	8	Aleksei Savenkov	Russian Federation	26,000

23	1	Pavel Shirshikov	Russian Federation	44,600
23	2	Abraham Passet	Germany	50,200
23	3	Arman Atshemyan	Armenia	105,500
23	4	Viktor Shener	Russian Federation	68,100
23	5	Vadim Botosan	Russian Federation	31,700
23	6	Maksim Pisarenko	Russian Federation	87,500
23	7	Ramin Hajiyev	Azerbaijan	49,200
23	8	Iurii Simonov	Russian Federation	54,900

24	1	Igor Yaroshevskyy	Ukraine	23,800
24	2	Andrey Gulyy	Russian Federation	36,500
24	3	Alexey Sorochinskiy	Russian Federation	1,000
24	5	Konstantin Bugaev	Russian Federation	35,800
24	6	Aleksandr Denisov	Russian Federation	77,000
24	7	Vladimir Kartachov	Russian Federation	48,400
24	8	Evgeny Platonov	Russian Federation	41,600

25	1	Nikolay Prokhorskiy	Russian Federation	60,900
25	3	Oleg Sklyanov	Russian Federation	30,600
25	4	Sergei Kan	Uzbekistan	111,500
25	5	Vyacheslav Bondartsev	Kazakhstan	21,000
25	6	Nikolay Fal	Russian Federation	26,100
25	7	Sergey Baburin	Russian Federation	26,300
25	8	Kostiantyn Tupalo	Ukraine	43,900
26	1	Dmitrii Makarov	Russian Federation	48,200
26	2	Artsiom Zhadinsky	Belarus	115,600
26	3	Gevorg Vazgenovich	Ukraine	43,600
26	5	Alexandr Potievskiy	Russian Federation	39,900
26	6	Roman Kundasov	Russian Federation	23,900
26	7	Benjamin Lamprecht	Austria	26,300
26	8	Yuriy Zabolotniy	Russian Federation	62,600

27	1	Roman Tutoyan	Russian Federation	37,600
27	2	Andreas Walter	Germany	46,700
27	3	Dmitrii Merzlikin	Russian Federation	25,200
27	4	Grigorii Rodin	Russian Federation	16,200
27	5	Jorg Bohme	Germany	81,800
27	6	Mikhail Molchanov	Russian Federation	36,400
27	8	Jorge Cantos	Argentina	22,900

28	1	Alexandr Prysev	Russian Federation	38,000
28	2	Mikhail Rudoy	Russian Federation	141,100
28	3	Ihar Soika	Belarus	30,400
28	4	Alexander Kovalev	Russian Federation	48,100
28	5	Yerlan Aisin	Kazakhstan	39,500
28	6	Dmitriy Shutenko	Russian Federation	19,500
28	7	Sergei Hohlov	Russian Federation	24,800
28	8	Fiodar Skrunda	Belarus	7,300

29	1	Dmitry Nikitin	Russian Federation	103,000
29	2	Vladimir Troyanovskiy	Russian Federation	116,500
29	3	Junya Yamada	Japan	36,900
29	4	Alexander Lukyanov	Russian Federation	52,800
29	5	Konstantin Tolokno	Russian Federation	58,700
29	6	Yehor Filipenko	Ukraine	87,000
29	7	Dmitrii Grinenko	Russian Federation	32,700
29	8	Sarkis Karabadzhakyan	Russian Federation	59,400

Tags: Aditya Agarwal Alexander Lakhov Aliaksei Boika Andrey Andreev Andrey Gulyy Bertrand Grospellier Chris Moneymaker Dmitry Gromov Jason Wheeler Jonas Lauck Jose Ignacio Barbero Lavrentiy Ni Martin Finger Maxim Panyak Mikhail Galitski Mikhail Shalamov Pedro Lamarca PokerStars Championship Sochi Seyed Ghavam Shyngis Satubayev Vladimir Troyanovskiy Yury Gulyy

05-26-2017 23:14 UTC+3

Huge Pot For Lavrentiy Ni

[user252447]

Level 8 : 400/800, 100 ante

Lavrentiy Ni was on the button contesting a big pot with small blind Mikhail Galitski.

There were over 70,000 chips in the middle on the river of a board reading .

Galitski had moved all in and with 70,000 behind the decision was on Ni for his tournament life. It took a few minutes before he committed his chips.

Galitski showed but Ni had turned a flush with his to make the river call on a paired board to win a huge pot and put the hurt on Galitski who looked mildly stunned at the result in the last level of play,

Player	Chips	Progress
Lavrentiy Ni	195,000	195,000
Mikhail Galitski	50,000	-25,000

Tags: Lavrentiy Ni Mikhail Galitski

05-26-2017 22:31 UTC+3

Ghavam Busts Nordman and Mnatsakanyan

Christian Zetzsche

Level 7 : 300/600, 100 ante

Mika Nordman moved all in for 4,200 and Seyed Ghavam called from the button. Lev Mnatsakanyan instantly moved all in for 40,000 from the small blind and the big blind folded, Ghavam tossed in a single chip for the call after a few seconds of consideration.

Seyed Ghavam:
Lev Mnatsakanyan:
Mika Nordman:

After a board of , the pocket tens held up and Ghavam knocked out two players with a full house to jump into the top spot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Seyed Ghavam	145,000	45,000
Lev Mnatsakanyan	Busted
Mika Nordman	Busted

Tags: Lev Mnatsakanyan Mika Nordman Seyed Ghavam

05-26-2017 22:28 UTC+3

Bertrand Grospellier Enjoying "Beautiful" Sochi Casino & Resort

[user252447]

Level 7 : 300/600, 100 ante

Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand Grospellier's table was the latest to break and he was moved to a new one and promptly raised from under-the-gun to 1,300. It folded all the way around to Alexander Lakhov in the big blind.

"Seven-Deuce, never lose," said Lakhov flashing . To his credit Grospellier showed and took down the small pot.

"It's beautiful here," said Grospellier to us after we asked him if he was enjoying his time so far, "It's a beautiful place and a beautiful casino.

"I've slept for 12 hours so it feels like I'm floating a little bit. It's nice playing poker with fresh faces, but I'm used to playing online with Russians in all the major tournaments so it's not that bad."

We'll see if ElkY can survive the last one-and-a-half levels and make it to Day 2.

Player	Chips	Progress
Bertrand Grospellier	28,000	-5,000

Tags: Bertrand Grospellier

05-26-2017 20:05 UTC+3

PokerStars Team Pro Aditya Agarwal Eliminated

Will Shillibier

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante

We didn't see the hand, but PokerStars Team Pro Aditya Agarwal has been eliminated from the PokerStars Championship Main Event here at the Sochi Casino & Resort.

According to Twitter he ran pocket Kings into pocket jacks and was eliminated shortly before the scheduled dinner break.

Busted kk vs jj #PSCSochi
— Aditya Agarwal (@AdiAgarwal_int)

Alexander Lakhov, who had tangled with Agarwal not long ago, confirmed that it was him that three-bet out of the big blind and called the four-bet shove for 17,000 with jacks and spiked a set on the turn.

Player	Chips	Progress
Alexander Lakhov	90,000	12,000
Aditya Agarwal	Busted

Tags: Aditya Agarwal Alexander Lakhov

05-26-2017 19:58 UTC+3

Natalia Panchenko Flops Quads

[user252447]

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante

Maksim Tiurin opened to 1,200 and picked up a call from small blind Natalia Panchenko before Hugo Dos Santos Videira asked to see how much Tiurin was playing. It was just over 15,000 and Videira min-raised to 2,400. Both Tiurin and Panchenko called.

The flop was and all three players checked.

The turn was the and a check from Panchenko saw Videira bet 2,850. Tiurin folded but Panchenko called.

The river was the and a check from Panchenko saw Videira check behind.

Panchenko turned over and Videira couldn’t beat those quad Tens.

Player	Chips	Progress
Hugo Dos Santos Videira	55,000	31,000
Natalia Panchenko	52,000	12,000

Tags: Hugo Dos Santos Videira Natalia Panchenko

05-26-2017 19:04 UTC+3

Bohme busts Talagaev

Christian Zetzsche

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante

Jorg Bohme opened the action with a raise to 1,000 and Alimbay Sultanov three-bet to 2,200. Mikalai Vaskaboinikau called before Evgeny Talagaev in the small blind raised to 16,000 with another 10,150 behind. Bohme moved all in and that got Sultanov and Vaskaboinikau out of the way. In table chat, Sultanov mentioned he folded pocket queens.

Jorg Bohme:
Evgeny Talagaev:

The board came and Talagaev was eliminated, while PokerStars qualifier Bohme jumped to twice the average.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jorg Bohme	70,000	70,000
Alimbay Sultanov	47,000	47,000
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau	45,000	11,000
Evgeny Talagaev	Busted

Tags: Alimbay Sultanov Evgeny Talagaev Jorg Bohme Mikalai Vaskaboinikau

05-26-2017 18:27 UTC+3

ElkY Barrels Amid Confusion

[user252447]

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante

There was an open to 800 from one player and as the action proceeded the dealer mistakenly mucked the opener’s cards. Understandably the player was unhappy at this turn of events and the floor was called. Mistakes happen, protect your cards, was the ruling; the chips stayed in.

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier was in the small blind and he made it 1,200. Timur Khamidullin was in the big blind and he defended.

The flop was and Grospellier continued for 1,400. Khamidullin called to see the hit the turn. A bet of 2,600 from Grospellier saw Khamidullin call again as a decent percentage of Grospellier’s stack headed to the middle.

The river was the and Grospellier bet 6,700 and saw Khamidullin push his cards away.

Player	Chips	Progress
Timur Khamidullin	57,000	57,000
Bertrand Grospellier	26,000	3,000

Tags: Bertrand Grospellier Timur Khamidullin

05-26-2017 18:04 UTC+3

Canadian Spin & Go Qualifier Jamie Stephens

[user270022]

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante

It wasn't until after he had won, that Canadian Spin & Go qualifier Jamie Stephens realized what lay ahead of him. A native of Brantford, Ontario, Stephens is one of only three players from Canada to qualify for the PokerStars Championship Main Event here in Sochi, and it took an email response from PokerStars to discover what exactly the 37-year old had secured.

A regular morning for Stephens involves firing up a few $7 Spin & Go’s on PokerStars. One morning the $8 Sochi package Spin and Go caught his eye and he decided to register one and test his luck. Stephens wasn’t entirely sure what the package actually entailed and was happy to see when the wheel stopped rolling it had landed on the ticket. He initially assumed the ticket was for a satellite or some sort of feeder into a Main Event package.

It wasn’t until he noticed how weird and super tight his opponents were playing that he thought anything more of it. He decided to pump up the aggression and continued to push around his two tablemates.

Stephens recalls one particular hand where he got a player all-in but was way behind, holding pocket nines against his opponent’s monster pair. A nine on the river gave him a sizable chip lead as he got to heads-up play. Not long after, Stephens disposed of them as well and a congratulations window appeared showing he had won a Main Event package to the PokerStars Championship Sochi.

Still a bit confused, he googled the event and found some details. He immediately emailed PokerStars support and got a response indicating he indeed did win a seat in the Main Event.

Stephens, who plays occasionally at a local casino in Brantford, began to play more often in preparation for the event, even finding a few final tables in some daily events. Wanting a bit more practice, Stephens flew to Florida to play at the Hard Rock and found a final table in a daily event there. Stephens also scored his first win on the trip, playing at a poker room in St. Petersburg, FL. Taking down a $33 daily with about 60-odd runners.

Having the ability to bring someone with him, Stephens’ uncle also made the journey along with a friend, all of whom relished the opportunity to travel to Sochi.

Stephens has really been enjoying his time so far, saying: "PokerStars has been treating us really good."

At the “Meet and Greet” with PokerStars Team Pros, Stephens was able to have a lengthy conversation with Chris Moneymaker and was even able to share a story with Moneymaker about a prop bet one of Stephens’ poker buddies had won against Moneymaker in the Bahamas.

If Stephens can spin his package into a cash, it will be the first live-recorded tournament cash of his poker career and will give him a profile on the Hendon Mob. The self-employed event planner has aspirations of winning the World Series of Poker Main Event and getting PokerStars Team Pro and fellow Canadian Daniel Negreanu to fold a hand when they meet across the felt!

Tags: Chris Moneymaker Jamie Stephens PokerStars Championship Sochi

05-26-2017 17:14 UTC+3

Game Over for Shalamov

Christian Zetzsche

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante

Down to around 8,000, Mikhail Shalamov was all in before the flop with . Alexander Zubov looked him up with the superior stack and the better hand in . The board of provided no help and that was it for the PokerStars Team online pro on home soil.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mikhail Shalamov	Busted

Tags: Mikhail Shalamov Alexander Zubov