From 30 to 16: Who Will Reach Day 5 in Sochi?
After three tournament days and 17 levels, the 387-entry strong field of the 2017 PokerStars Championship Sochi 318,000 RUB (approx. $5,590) Main Event has been cut down to the last 30 hopefuls at Sochi Casino and Resort, Krasnaya Polyana. Three days remain to crown a champion for the first-ever PokerStars sponsored event on Russian soil and Pavel Shirshikov is best-positioned to claim the title, trophy and first-place payout of 29,100,000 RUB (approx. $514,893) after bagging up 1,604,000 yesterday evening.
Shirshikov is followed by 2017 WPT Amsterdam champion Daniyar Aubakirov (1,018,000) and well-known Russian High Roller regular Vladimir Troyanovskiy (807,000). PokerStars Team Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier follows in 4th place with 763,000 and Timur Bubnov (734,000) rounds up the top five heading into Day 4. The red spade will also be represented by 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker, who advanced with a stack of 289,000.
Other notables still in contention include former 2014 WPT Cyprus champion and two-time WPT Main Event runner-up Alexander Lakhov (572,000), Seyed Ghavam (538,000), Day 3 chip leader Nadar Kakhmazov (500,000), Dmitry Vitkind (430,000), Jonas Lauck (334,000), Dmitry Chop (300,000) and Mikhail Rudoy (197,000).
The action will resume at 12 p.m. local time with level 18 and blinds of 4,000/8,000 with a running ante of 1,000. A maximum of five 90-minute levels or down to the last 16 will be played, whichever of the two comes first.
Remaining Payouts PokerStars Championship Sochi Main Event
| Place | Prize (RUB) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 29,100,000 | $514,893 |
| 2 | 18,450,000 | $326,453 |
| 3 | 13,335,000 | $235,948 |
| 4 | 10,785,000 | $190,829 |
| 5 | 8,535,000 | $151,017 |
| 6 | 6,570,000 | $116,249 |
| 7 | 4,890,000 | $86,523 |
| 8 | 3,540,000 | $62,636 |
| 9 | 2,865,000 | $50,693 |
| 10-11 | 2,370,000 | $41,934 |
| 12-13 | 2,055,000 | $36,361 |
| 14-15 | 1,815,000 | $32,114 |
| 16-17 | 1,635,000 | $28,929 |
| 18-20 | 1,485,000 | $26,275 |
| 21-23 | 1,335,000 | $23,621 |
| 24-27 | 1,185,000 | $20,967 |
| 28-30 | 1,035,000 | $18,313 |
Main Event Day 4 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Jonas Lauck | Germany | 334,000 |
| 1 | 2 | Yehor Filipenko | Ukraine | 101,000 |
| 1 | 3 | Yurii Zdanovskyi | Ukraine | 160,000 |
| 1 | 4 | Dmitry Vitkind | Russian Federation | 430,000 |
| 1 | 5 | Dmitry Chop | Russian Federation | 300,000 |
| 1 | 6 | Anton Gililov | Russian Federation | 421,000 |
| 1 | 7 | Mikhail Rudoy | Russian Federation | 197,000 |
| 1 | 8 | Lavrentiy Ni | Kazakhstan | 107,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Alexander Lakhov | Russian Federation | 572,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Vitaliy Li | Russian Federation | 303,000 |
| 2 | 3 | Artsiom Zhadinsky | Belarus | 205,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Timur Bubnov | Russian Federation | 734,000 |
| 2 | 6 | "Bertrand ""ElkY"" Grospellier" | France | 763,000 |
| 2 | 7 | Denis Pavlenko | Uzbekistan | 188,000 |
| 2 | 8 | Mikalai Vaskaboinikau | Belarus | 58,000 |
| 3 | 1 | Oleg Chebotarev | Russian Federation | 435,000 |
| 3 | 2 | Artem Savchenko | Russian Federation | 246,000 |
| 3 | 3 | Nadar Kakhmazov | Russian Federation | 500,000 |
| 3 | 4 | Seyed Ghavam | Iran | 538,000 |
| 3 | 5 | Ruslan Voitovich | Russian Federation | 135,000 |
| 3 | 6 | Junya Yamada | Japan | 306,000 |
| 3 | 7 | Vladimir Troyanovskiy | Russian Federation | 807,000 |
| 3 | 8 | Chris Moneymaker | USA | 289,000 |
| 4 | 1 | Said Butba | Russian Federation | 141,000 |
| 4 | 2 | Daniyar Aubakirov | Kazakhstan | 1,018,000 |
| 4 | 3 | Oleg Lipkin | Russian Federation | 155,000 |
| 4 | 5 | Mikhail Galitski | Russian Federation | 171,000 |
| 4 | 6 | Ulrich Jungen | Switzerland | 170,000 |
| 4 | 7 | Dmitrii Grinenko | Russian Federation | 159,000 |
| 4 | 8 | Pavel Shirshikov | Russian Federation | 1,604,000 |
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to catch all the action, and you can also check out the live stream of the feature table as well by clicking here.
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and Kakhmazov checked to Ghavam who bet 22,000. Moneymaker called and Kakhmazov folded.
and Ghavam checked to Moneymaker who bet 40,000. Ghavam then check-raised to 130,000. Moneymaker, who came into the day with just under 300,000 in chips then moved all in and Ghavam called.
and he doubled to over 650,000.
fell on the turn. A blank 
river changed nothing anymore and Jungen headed to the rail in 27th place.
. 
and Grospellier’s cards went into the muck after a costly pot.
flop changed nothing much, but Galitski was left with just four outs after the 
giving Chop a higher flush and eliminating Zhadinsky.
