Russian player Mikhail Plakkhin is leading the final 16 players in the EPT Sochi Main Event with 3.046 million. The 16 remaining hopefuls are set to return at Sochi Casino & Resort today at noon local time.
While play is set to continue at the host venue, spirit will certainly be subdued as Russia is mourning the deaths of at least 64 people, 41 of whom children, in the recent fire in the city of Kemerovo.
Day 4 of the tournament kicked off yesterday with 40 hopefuls looking to make it through the day. Players were scheduled to play five 90-minute levels or until the final 16 were determined. Play stopped during the final level of the day, as the target was reached.
As mentioned above, Plakkhin is leading the remaining players into Day 5 of action. The Russian was the only to crack the 3-million mark on Tuesday. He is followed by Sihao Zhang, who competes under Luxembourg’s flag, and Russia’s Andrey Kaigorotsev with 2.193 million and 1.88 million, respectively.
The remaining players will have the important task to determine the final six who will progress into the event’s final table. The tournament’s finale is set to be played tomorrow at the host casino.
More about the EPT Main Event
The ongoing Main Event is the first one to be played within the European Poker Tour since late 2016, when PokerStars retired the series. While the poker operator hoped that its new poker brands, PokerStars Championships and PokerStars Festivals, would be able to built on the success of their predecessors, things did not go exactly that way.
Last year, PokerStars announced that it would resurrect its EPT brand and it seems now that the decision was the right one.
The ₽192,000 Main Event attracted a total of 861 entries. They generated ₽150,692,220 in prize money, beating the ₽150-million guarantee. The money bubble burst on Monday. The top 127 finishers will leave the tournament with a payout. The winner will be awarded ₽27.3 million in prize money and the coveted PokerStars EPT trophy.
Each of the 16 remaining players is guaranteed a minimum cash of ₽1.206 mullion from the tournament. And each of the six finalists who will progress into the final day of action is guaranteed at least ₽5.19 million.
The EPT Sochi will be completed tomorrow with the end of the Main Event. The series will next head to the French Riviera for the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo Casino EPT festival. One of the most popular live tournament events is scheduled to take place on April 24-May 4. This means that, among other things, the super exciting €100,000 Super High Roller (Single Re-Entry) will be back, luring some of the world’s most experienced high roller players. Germany’s Ole Schemion won the last EPT Monte Carlo Super High Roller back in 2016 for a first-place prize of €1,597,800 for besting a field of 46 of poker world’s finest.
