The EPT Sochi Main Event is quickly advancing into its final stages. Day 4 action is set to start at noon local time with 40 players who made it through all five 90-minute levels played at the host venue Sochi Casino and Resort the previous day.
Local player Ivan Volodko is leading the pack of 40 into the new day of play. The remaining hopefuls are set to play five more 90-minute levels but what organizers really aim is to reach the final 16.
Volodko leads with a stack of 1.65 million. However, there are a number of players who are trailing closely behind him. Mikhail Galitskiy with 1.423 million and Sergey Kerzhakov with 1.419 million are rounding out the chip counts podium.
While there are a number of locally popular players who made it into Day 4 of play, there were also quite some local celebrities who got eliminated on Day 3 of the tournament. Igor Yaroshevskyy left in 74th place, while Anatoliy Filatov and Leonid Bilokur departed in a quick succession in 58th and 55th places, respectively. All three cashed from the event, but failed to win a title on local soil.
Andrey Pateychuk, who won the EPT Season 8 San Remo €4,900 Main Event back in 2011 was the last former EPT champion to be eliminated from the ongoing Sochi Main Event, thus missing the chance to add another title from the series. The player busted in 48th place towards the end of the day.
Day 4 and Prize Pool Information
Day 4 of the event is just minutes away from its start. As mentioned above, 40 players will storm into the host casino to square for a spot among the final 16. Each of the remaining players is guaranteed a minimum cash of ₽498,000. But they are all chasing the ₽27.3 million first-place prize and the first EPT title since the series’ revival.
Here it is important to note that the last EPT was held in late 2016. The series was then replaced by the PokerStars Championship and Festival brands only to be resurrected a year later due to interest among both professional players and poker enthusiasts.
The EPT Sochi Main Event drew a field of 861 entries. The tournament featured three starting flights, one of which was turbo-structured. Registration remained open until the start of Day 2 action. The interest in the event resulted in the guaranteed prize pool of ₽150 million being cracked. The final prize pool thus reached ₽150,692,220. The money was split into payouts for the top 127 finishers. The bubble burst early on Day 3 of the tournament.
The Russian city of Sochi played host to the PokerStars Championship last May. As many as 387 entries bought into the ₽318,000 Main Event. Local player Pavel Shirshikov topped the tournament’s field for a first-place prize of ₽29.1 million.
