Welcome to the 2019 PokerStars EPT Open Sochi Main Event
The 2019 PokerStars EPT Open Sochi already kicked off a few days ago at the stunning Casino Sochi in the Krasnaya Polyana region near the slopes of the former Olympic Winter Games host city and the flagship tournament of the festival awaits with the RUB133,000 Main Event (~$2,040), which takes place from October 9th to 13th 2019 and has a guaranteed prize pool of RUB70,000,000.
It marks the second edition of the EPT Open in Sochi and the third one in total after EPT Open Madrid in June 2019. The defending champion of the first-ever EPT Open is Vyachesav Bondartsev from Kazakhstan, who came out on top of a field of 649 entries. Bondartsev cut a deal with Evgeniy Leonidov in heads-up to secure himself a payday of RUB12,063,300 while Leonidov walked away with RUB11,258,700 for his efforts.
In the 2019 edition, there will be three starting days in total with Day 1a getting underway at noon local time and featuring levels of 60 minutes throughout. The second and third starting day both take place tomorrow on October 10th, 2019, with Day 1b scheduled to kick off at noon and Day 1c at 6 p.m. local time. For both heats, the level duration will be 30 minutes each.
All participants receive 30,000 in chips and unlimited re-entries can be purchased until the end of the late registration period at the start of Day 2 when all Day 1 survivors combine to a single field for the first time.
Many familiar faces from the Russian circuit and nearby countries are expected to take a shot at the festival, which also provides an opportunity to win a Platinum Pass for the 2020 PokerStars Players NL Hold'em Championship (PSPC). The RUB10,500 "Moneymaker's Road to PSPC" runs October 11-13, and the eventual champion will claim the Pass in addition to the first-place prize. Valued at more than �26,000, the Platinum Pass includes a �22,500 entry fee as well as hotel accommodation, transport, and various expenses.
Among the early side event champions during the 2019 EPT Open Sochi were such familiar names as Salavat Shafigullin, Aleksey Krasnov, Sergey Solovev, Aleksandr Paygusov, and Artem Zopunyan. The 2019 WSOP bracelet winner Anatolii Zyrin came close to a PokerStars spadie already and finished runner-up to Paygusov in the Hold'em Event #4.
Stay tuned for the action from Sochi as the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all the action in the days to come.