Kakhmazov Leads 82 After Day 2 in Sochi; ElkY and Moneymaker in Contention
216 players made up the Day 2 field here at the PokerStars Championship Main Event at the Sochi Casino & Resort, including eight who bought in at the start of the day. When all was done and dusted, only 82 hopefuls remained in contention for the first ever trophy and title of a PokerStars sponsored event on Russian soil.
Today was a shortened day of just five 75-minute levels, and the blinds started at 500/1,000 with an ante of 100. And by the end of those five levels it was Nadar Kakhmazov who leads with 481,500. The Russian came into the day with a healthy stack of 120,000 and emerged as one of the bigger stacks early on, easily cresting the 200,000 mark. As the day drew on he picked up chips in both rooms and is now in prime position ahead of Day 2.
Shortly behind him is Seyed Ghavam (415,500), Oleg Chebotarev (371,500), Sergey Isaev (282,500), Timur Khamidullin (272,500) and Alexander Lakhov.
There were two PokerStars Team Pros in the field at the start of the day, and two remain at the end of Day 2. Both former EPT Champion Bertrand ‘Elky’ Grospellier (265,000) and former WSOP Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker (118,000) bagged up healthy stacks, and will be aiming to make the money on Day 3.
Day 1b chip leader Jason Wheeler is still in the mix having enduring a swingy day remarking at one point: "It's going to be one of those fucking days," after doubling up an opponent when his Ace-Queen failed to overcome the others Ace-King. “It’s just frustrating when you run rings around people, and they get dizzy and you lose flips,” he was heard to remark later in Day 2. Regardless of how his day went, Wheeler will still be taking 210,000 into Day 3.
Other notables include WPT Amsterdam champion Daniyar Aubakirov (240,000), Nacho Barbero (216,000), Mikhail Rudoy (223,000), Jonas Lauck (219,000) and Vladimir Troyanovskiy (161,500).
The exact prize pool and payouts of the PokerStars Championship Sochi Main Event were also confirmed today. The RUB 150,000,000 prize pool meant that a whopping RUB 29,100,000 (€459,364 / $514,026) will be going to first prize, along with the title and trophy of PokerStars Championship winner. 55 places will be paid, and a min-cash is worth RUB 735,000 (€11,602 / $12,983). The money bubble expected to burst early on Day 3.
The plan for Day 3 is to play one 75-minute level, followed by four levels of 90 minutes. There will be a break after every level.
| Level | Duration | Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 75 min | 1500 | 3000 | 500 |
| 15 | 90 min | 2000 | 4000 | 500 |
| 16 | 90 min | 2500 | 5000 | 500 |
| 17 | 90 min | 3000 | 6000 | 1000 |
| 18 | 90 min | 4000 | 8000 | 1000 |
Main Event Day 3 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Yurii Zdanovskyi | Ukraine | 122,000 |
| 1 | 2 | Michal Majewski | Poland | 75,000 |
| 1 | 3 | Yehor Filipenko | Ukraine | 30,500 |
| 1 | 4 | Denis Pavlenko | Uzbekistan | 77,500 |
| 1 | 5 | Yulius Sepman | Russian Federation | 35,800 |
| 1 | 6 | Oleg Chebotarev | Russian Federation | 371,500 |
| 1 | 8 | Igor Dimitrijevic | Serbia | 76,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Seyed Ghavam | Iran | 415,500 |
| 2 | 2 | Nadar Kakhmazov | Russian Federation | 481,500 |
| 2 | 3 | Nacho Barbero | Argentina | 216,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Artem Vezhenkov | Russian Federation | 157,000 |
| 2 | 6 | Daniyar Aubakirov | Kazakhstan | 240,000 |
| 2 | 7 | Oleg Lipkin | Russian Federation | 161,500 |
| 2 | 8 | Vitaliy Li | Russian Federation | 210,000 |
| 3 | 2 | Jonas Lauck | Germany | 219,000 |
| 3 | 3 | Andrey Ivlev | Russian Federation | 57,500 |
| 3 | 4 | Daniil Kiselev | Russian Federation | 64,000 |
| 3 | 5 | Boris Yanpolskiy | Russian Federation | 95,000 |
| 3 | 6 | Mikhail Rudoy | Russian Federation | 223,000 |
| 3 | 7 | Alexander Nekrasov | Russian Federation | 67,500 |
| 3 | 8 | Said Butba | Russian Federation | 250,000 |
| 4 | 1 | Ruslan Voitovich | Russian Federation | 65,000 |
| 4 | 2 | Dmitry Chop | Russian Federation | 161,000 |
| 4 | 3 | Andrei Chernokoz | Russian Federation | 190,000 |
| 4 | 4 | Anton Gililov | Russian Federation | 220,000 |
| 4 | 5 | Kostiantyn Tupalo | Ukraine | 178,500 |
| 4 | 6 | Pavel Ignatov | Russian Federation | 74,000 |
| 4 | 7 | Arash Khosravi | Iran | 127,000 |
| 5 | 1 | Dmitriy Motorov | Russian Federation | 48,500 |
| 5 | 2 | Mikalai Vaskaboinikau | Belarus | 42,700 |
| 5 | 3 | Aram Vartevanyan | Russian Federation | 127,500 |
| 5 | 4 | Vladimir Demenkov | Russian Federation | 69,500 |
| 5 | 5 | Olga Finogenova | Russian Federation | 77,500 |
| 5 | 6 | Andrey Razov | Russian Federation | 139,500 |
| 5 | 7 | Dmitry Nikitin | Russian Federation | 131,000 |
| 5 | 8 | Pavel Shirshikov | Russian Federation | 230,000 |
| 6 | 1 | Artsiom Zhadinsky | Belarus | 206,000 |
| 6 | 2 | Alexander Lakhov | Russian Federation | 268,500 |
| 6 | 3 | Alexandr Potievskiy | Russian Federation | 163,000 |
| 6 | 4 | Andrey Morgun | Russian Federation | 35,000 |
| 6 | 5 | Alexey Nikolenko | Russian Federation | 36,500 |
| 6 | 6 | Bertrand Grospellier | France | 265,000 |
| 6 | 7 | Igor Sharaskin | Russian Federation | 45,000 |
| 6 | 8 | Vladislav Tonkikh | Russian Federation | 83,000 |
| 7 | 1 | Gaby Livshitz | Israel | 72,500 |
| 7 | 2 | Roman Seleznev | Russian Federation | 80,500 |
| 7 | 3 | Lavrentiy Ni | Kazakhstan | 81,500 |
| 7 | 4 | Nikolay Prokhorskiy | Russian Federation | 210,000 |
| 7 | 5 | Ivan Neiaskin | Russian Federation | 108,500 |
| 7 | 6 | Alexey Fedin | Russian Federation | 39,000 |
| 7 | 7 | Abraham Passet | Germany | 69,500 |
| 7 | 8 | Dmitry Ponomarev | Russian Federation | 134,000 |
| 8 | 1 | Mikhail Soltanov | Russian Federation | 56,000 |
| 8 | 2 | Dmitrii Grinenko | Russian Federation | 114,000 |
| 8 | 3 | Ulrich Jungen | Switzerland | 99,000 |
| 8 | 4 | Vladimir Troyanovskiy | Russian Federation | 161,500 |
| 8 | 5 | Sergey Feklisov | Russian Federation | 237,000 |
| 8 | 6 | Mikhail Galitski | Russian Federation | 92,000 |
| 8 | 7 | Mikhail Molchanov | Russian Federation | 149,500 |
| 9 | 1 | Maxim Lykov | Russian Federation | 96,500 |
| 9 | 2 | Andrei Shkerin | Russian Federation | 176,000 |
| 9 | 3 | Jorg Bohme | Germany | 69,500 |
| 9 | 4 | Dmitry Vitkind | Russian Federation | 215,000 |
| 9 | 5 | Yury Filimonov | Russian Federation | 46,500 |
| 9 | 6 | Aleksandr Zhilinskii | Russian Federation | 56,500 |
| 9 | 7 | Maksim Pisarenko | Russian Federation | 207,000 |
| 9 | 8 | Junya Yamada | Japan | 147,000 |
| 10 | 1 | Sergey Isupov | Russian Federation | 194,000 |
| 10 | 2 | Konstantin Tolokno | Russian Federation | 136,000 |
| 10 | 3 | Ivan Kozyrev | Russian Federation | 47,000 |
| 10 | 4 | Vladimir Dobrovolskiy | Russian Federation | 120,000 |
| 10 | 5 | Konstantin Bugaev | Russian Federation | 50,000 |
| 10 | 6 | Pavel Kovalenko | Russian Federation | 187,500 |
| 10 | 7 | Alexandr Minakov | Russian Federation | 140,500 |
| 10 | 8 | Jason Wheeler | USA | 210,000 |
| 11 | 1 | Dmitry Manashov | Russian Federation | 87,500 |
| 11 | 2 | Timur Bubnov | Russian Federation | 272,500 |
| 11 | 3 | Artem Savchenko | Russian Federation | 168,000 |
| 11 | 4 | Chris Moneymaker | USA | 118,000 |
| 11 | 5 | Sergey Isaev | Russian Federation | 282,500 |
| 11 | 6 | Vahe Martirosyan | Armenia | 122,000 |
| 11 | 7 | Gevorg Oxojan | Ukraine | 192,000 |
and Barbero scored a big double. Vaskaboinikau couldn't believe his bad fortune and Barbero added "Sorry, I have 40 big blinds, nothing I can do."
and [Removed:19] was eliminated early in the last level of the day.
![[Removed:19]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Kostritsyn headed to the rail, while Isaev is among the biggest stacks right now.
.
and Bubnov claimed two scalps.
and Lauck checked to Sokolovskiy who moved all in for 33,600. Grospellier quickly called and Lauck got out of the way.
of his opponent and slammed his 
down on the table in disgust.
and the river the 
giving ElkY a full house and eliminating his opponent.
and ElkY check-called a bet of 8,000 from his Russian opponent.
