It can be said that PokerStars’ decision to retire the EPT tournament series back in 2016 in favor of a new live poker brand was received poorly by many fans of the game. But now the series is back and stronger than ever after its hiatus that luckily did not last that long.
Sochi Casino and Resort in the Russian city of Sochi is currently playing host to the revived tournament series. The first EPT festival in a while kicked off on March 20 and is set to run through March 29.
And eyes are now set on the ₽192,000 Main Event, which began yesterday at the host venue. As many as ten levels were scheduled to be played on Friday at Sochi Casino and 254 entries registered for the event throughout the day. That number also included a number of re-entries who decided to shoot one more bullet into the major tournament. Here it is important to note that the event offers a single re-entry option.
By the time all ten 60-minute levels were completed at around midnight, there were only 110 players left at the tables designated for the Main Event. They will return for Day 2, which will be played Sunday at the host venue.
The Day 1A field is about to be boosted with the survivors from Days 1B and 1C. The final Main Event starting flights will be played today. Day 1B is scheduled to kick off at noon Sochi time and will feature ten 60-minute levels. Day 1C will begin at 8 pm local time and will feature a Turbo structure.
Chip Leaders and Other Highlights
Day 1A of the Main Event did not end with a runaway chip leader, a player who had managed to pull well ahead of his remaining opponents. While there were quite a few sharp chip counts rises after the dinner break, the top stacks eventually almost evened out at the end of the day.
Vitaliy Gusak will lead the Day 1A survivors into Day 2 of action with 206,300 in chips. The player is followed closely by Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy who bagged 195,900 last night and Roman Zhuravlev with 191,400. Ivan Safarov and Andrei Krylou are the other two players to comprise top 5 of the chip counts chart with 190,600 and 187,100.
The ₽192,000 Main Event at Sochi Casino came with a guaranteed prize pool of ₽150,000,000. It is yet to be seen whether the guarantee will be cracked. The final prize pool and the places paid are to be announced by organizers on Day 2 of the prestigious tournament.
Reigning champion Pavel Shirshikov also joined the event yesterday, but failed to make it to the end. Last May, the player won the PokerStars Championship Sochi Main Event at the same host venue to collect ₽29,100,000 for is efforts.
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