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The player under-the-gun opened to 1,500 and got a call from Maxime Panyak in mid-position. A player then bumped it up to 5,200 from late position before Vladimir Troyanovskiy fired out a cold four-bet of 10,800 from the small blind.
Everyone would end up folding and Troyanovskiy collected the pot
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
62,500
-500
|
-500 |
The pots are getting bigger as the blinds slowly but surely force some players to make their moves. On nearby tables, two different scenarios played out, with one of them being a battle of short stacks and the other of above-average stacks.
Aleksei Opalikhin got his stack in after a flop of 
and Andrey Ivlev, who had defended his big blind, quickly called the shove for 6,500 with 
for a flush. Opalikhin had 
for a set and the 
turn and 
river gave him a full house. Ivlev was left with dust and Opalikhin has around the same stack as on the very same table Bertrand Grospellier now.
Nikolay Fal in the big blind and Sarkis Karabadzhakyan on the button battled for a much higher amount. Until the 
turn, there were already 21,000 in the middle and Fal made it 9,500 to go. Karabadzhakyan moved all in and Fal took a long time before electing to fold.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
65,000
65,000
|
65,000 |
|
30,600
30,600
|
30,600 |
|
14,000
14,000
|
14,000 |
|
14,000
-12,000
|
-12,000 |
|
||
Jason Wheeler raised to 1,000 from under the gun and Arkadi Hovhannisyan shoved for his last 11,750 and Maksim Nosenko on the button asked for a count before moving all in himself. The players in the blinds and Wheeler quickly folded.
Arkadi Hovhannisyan: 
Maksim Nosenko: 
"My ace-jack is gonna win for sure now," Wheeler joked and the board came 
." The American then added "if another queen shows up, we have a problem." Wheeler has slightly more than the average and the same applies for PokerStars qualifier Nosenko.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
42,000 | |
|
38,000 | |
|
||
Maxim Panyak, fresh from his triumph in the PokerStars National High Roller and his runner-up finish in last night's hyper-turbo event is back in action today and is still steaming along nicely in the Main Event.
On a 
board Panyak bet 2,150 in to a pot of around 5,000 and watched as his opponent Roy Korthouwer raised to 7,000. Panyak called and Korthouwer showed .
The Russian then rolled over 
and took down the pot with his two pair.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
69,000
7,000
|
7,000 |
|
22,000
-19,000
|
-19,000 |
On a 
Sergei Petrushevski checked from the big blind heads-up in a pot against Team PokerStars Pro Nacho Barbero who was in the big blind.
Barbero bet 1,100 and Petrushevskii called. The turn was the and Petrushevskii check-called another bet for 2,500.
The river was the and Petrushevskii checked for a third time. Barbero bet 3,900 and Petrushevskii took a quick glance at his opponent's stack and counted out his own, before calling.
Barbero showed 
and his opponent mucked.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
60,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
|
||
|
57,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
|
57,000
57,000
|
57,000 |
|
|
26,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
|
||
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
65,000
-5,000
|
-5,000 |
|
|
63,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
|
62,000 | |
|
|
38,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
|
|
||
|
35,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
34,000
-16,000
|
-16,000 |
|
33,000 | |
|
27,000
-7,000
|
-7,000 |
|
|
18,000
-36,000
|
-36,000 |
|
|
16,000
-5,000
|
-5,000 |
|
9,000
-27,000
|
-27,000 |
|
8,500
-15,500
|
-15,500 |
The stack of Sergei Chantchev had plummeted to less than 20,000 and the Russian just got it in for his last 18,675 with . He found a caller in Beka Iordanishvili, who took the flip with 
.
The flop of 
provided both over cards, and the 7d] turn and river were no thread to see Chantcev double.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
39,000
13,000
|
13,000 |
|
14,000
-37,000
|
-37,000 |
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!
