High Roller Champion David Laka Aims for Repeat Victory in Sochi
The final table of the 2017 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Russia $5,300 Main Event is set and just eight hopefuls remain out of a 999-entry strong field. Among the finalists are four Russians and one Belarussian, but it is none other than $10,300 High Roller champion David Laka that leads the official final table line-up with a decent lead over the other hopefuls.
Laka bagged up 253,900,000, good for 159 big blinds in the remaining three minutes at blinds of 800,000/1,600,000 and a button ante of 1,600,000. Anatoliy Zyrin follows in second place with 175,600. Fellow Russian Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy completes the overnight podium with 155,500,000, while Leonid Logunov (73,900,000), Vadim Lipovka (71,300,000) and Day 3 chip leader Philipp Zukernik (68,100,000) are in the middle of the pack with near identical stacks.
Aleksandr Gofman (39,900,000) and Michael Sklenicka (31,600,000) also made it through to the final day and the last eight all have 81,200 Casino Units (~$70,000) locked up. However, all eyes in the stunning Sochi Casino & Resort are set on the trophy and payday of 1,160,000 Casino Units (~$1,000,000) for the eventual champion.
Final Table Seat Assignments
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Laka | Spain | 253,900,000 | 159 |
| 2 | Leonid Logunov | Russia | 73,900,000 | 46 |
| 3 | Anatoliy Zyrin | Russia | 175,600,000 | 110 |
| 4 | Philipp Zukernik | Canada | 68,100,000 | 43 |
| 5 | Vadim Lipovka | Belarus | 71,300,000 | 45 |
| 6 | Aleksandr Gofman | Russia | 39,900,000 | 25 |
| 7 | Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy | Russia | 155,500,000 | 97 |
| 8 | Michael Sklenicka | Czech Republic | 31,600,000 | 20 |
Day 4 Action
Only 53 players returned to the tables on Day 4 and Yuriy Tuzov was eliminated in the very first hand. He was soon joined by Andreas Klatt, who three-bet shoved queen-jack suited into ace-jack. Aleksei Istomin's day was over after his pocket kings ended up second best to queens and fours, and Andrey Pateychuk had to settle for 45th place. The 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event 8th place finisher Jack Sinclair got it in with ace-six versus king-jack and Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy flopped the nut straight to eliminate Sinclair.
Just after David Laka cracked the pocket aces of Konstantin Puchkov with pocket jacks, it was the last remaining partypoker Sponsored Pro that was sent to the rail. Dzmitry Urbanovich had a flip with pocket nines against ace-king and Sergey Chupodal spiked an ace on the river. Urbanovich never recovered from that big setback and was gone within two hands soon after. Jeff Lisandro was also among the casualties in quick succession.
Maxim Babko and Anton Yakuba were among those to miss out on the last three tables while Paul Jackson had to settle for 27th place. The Brit three-bet pocket kings and jammed a six-high turn against two opponents. One of them was Daria Feshchenko and the last woman standing called with seven-nine suited for a gutshot and flush draw, which got there on the river.
Gleb Tremzin's run came to an end in 21st place and Day 1b chip leader Dmitriy Kopyl was the next casualty. Kopyl three-bet shoved with ace-queen and Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy's pocket jacks held up on a nine-high board. The bubble for the last two tables was a tough one and it was Mikhail Surin that missed out on the pay jump. Only half an hour later there were just 14 players left after Oleksiy Kravchuk, Yury Masliankou, Sergey Tsoy and Daria Feshchenko bowed out in quick succession. Again it was Merzhvinskiy who was responsible for an elimination when his ace-king bested Feshchenko's ace-ten, and the Russian was challenging Anatoliy Zyrin at the top of the counts.
The Canadian partypoker online qualifier Gylbert Drolet lost a flip with ace-king versus pocket queens and suddenly there were just 13 players remaining. What followed was the incredible run good of David Laka. He first knocked out Yunus Tuguz and Vladimir Troyanovskiy in the same hand when the former shoved with ace-nine and the latter reshoved with ace-queen from one seat over. Laka looked down at pocket kings in the big blind and there was no surprise on an eight-high board. Only ten minutes later the unofficial final table was set. Sergey Chupodal limp-called the shove of Vadim Lipovka with ace-nine versus king-queen and a queen showed up on the flop before Laka struck again another pair of kings in the big blind just one orbit later. This time it was Aleksei Kozlov who three-bet shoved pocket tens in the small blind and found no help.
Less than half an hour was played on the nine-handed table when it was none other than David Laka that claimed the final spotlight. He raised from the button with ace-six and a short-stacked Karen Arutyunyan put his hopes on ace-queen in the small blind. Little did Arutyunyan know that not just one but two sixes would show up on the flop right away and that set up the official final table.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize in Casino Units | ~ Prize in USD |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,160,000 | $1,000,000 |
| 2 | 696,000 | $600,000 |
| 3 | 464,000 | $400,000 |
| 4 | 348,000 | $300,000 |
| 5 | 232,000 | $200,000 |
| 6 | 174,000 | $150,000 |
| 7 | 121,800 | $105,000 |
| 8 | 81,200 | $70,000 |
The eight finalists will return at 12 p.m. local time on Thursday, September 14 to determine a champion and the action will be shown via live stream with hole cards displayed on a security delay of half an hour. The PokerNews live reporting team will provide all the action until a winner is crowned.