EPT Sochi 2019: Elvin Sarkarov Leads 9-Player High Roller Final Table With Over 1 Million in Chips
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- Attreyee Khasnabis March 29, 2019
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3 Minutes Read
Day 2 of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Sochi ₽371,000 EPT High Roller was full to the brim with intense action on the felts of Casino Sochi. With late registrations open till the start of Day 2, five more players were seen jumping into the action, taking the field size to 84 entries in total. Thus, Day 2 kicked off with 38 runners competing for the ₽7,840,000 (₹83.50 Lakhs) top prize.
From India, PokerGuru Team Ambassador Kartik Ved (139,000) and World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Aditya Sushant (56,000) had qualified for Day 2. After having scored in the EPT National event, where Ved had finished fourth for RUB 3,059,000 (₹32.75 Lakhs) and Sushant had placed 30th for RUB 227,500 (₹2.43 Lakhs), both players were looking to make another deep run in the event. In fact, Ved was the 10th largest stack progressing to Day 2. However, following a rough day at the felts, both Indian pros were eliminated before the money bubble was breached.
Azerbaijan’s Elvin Sarkarov (1,049,000) dominated the last few levels of the day and ultimately emerged as the final table chip leader with only nine players still remaining in contention.
The final table of the High Roller will culminate later today, alongside the Main Event which is also down to its six-handed final table.
Day 2 Recap
The 33 Day 1 survivors were joined by five late entries just before late registration ended, taking the total player pool to 84 participants creating an attractive prize pool of ₽28,518,000 (₹3,03,74,352). The eventual champion will walk away with the biggest share of the kitty worth ₽7,840,000 (₹83,50,337).
PokerGuru Team Ambassador Kartik Ved returned to Day 2 with a respectable 139,000 but had a stormy day on the felts. In Level 12, Ved was on Table 4, and Roman Novoselov opened the action by betting 65,000 on which Ved 3-bet to 17,000 from the small blind. Day 1 chip leader Sergey Kolyasnikov made the call, and Novoselov moved all in for 98,000. Ved sensed it wasn’t going the right way and got out of the way. The hand eventually saw Kolyasnikov eliminate Novoselov with his improving to a pair of jacks on the flop, enough to dominate Novoselov’s . Several hands later, Ved hit the rail.
India’s first WSOP bracelet winner Aditya Sushant had carried an above-average stack of 56,000 to Day 3 and made a valiant effort to spin it up. In Level 14, he sent Andrey Kotelnikov packing when the latter moved all in preflop with and found a caller in Sushant who held . On the [ s12][dX] board, Sushant made a broadway straight and Kotelnikov was eliminated. At this point, Sushant chipped up to 255,000. However, Sushant couldn`t keep the chips for long as soon after that he lost a big pot to Irshat Shaykhov to come down to 42,000. In the next hand, Sushant held ace-ten but couldn’t hold up against Shaykhov’s hand and was eliminated empty-handed.
Other prominent players who also busted out before crossing the money line included Denis Timofeev, Gor Kazaryan, Maksim Panyak, Wenling Gao, 2019 EPT National winner Yury Masliankou, Oleg Vasylchenko, Petr Bartagov, Andrey Kotelnikov, and Anton Yakuba.
Artem Vezhenkov was the unfortunate tournament bubble as he was knocked out of the competition by Elvin Sarkarov.
Sarkarov then built on his momentum and eliminated defending champion Arseniy Karmatskiy who became the first player to finish in the money. He finished 11th for ₽714,000.
Karmatskiy was soon joined at the rail by Oleg Titov. Titov’s ran into Rushad Iskandarov’s . The board blanked, and Titov was not only the last elimination of the day but was also the final table bubble boy as he placed 10th for ₽714,000.
Elvin Sarkarov emerged as the final table chip leader with a massive stack of 1,049,000. Being the only player above the 1 Million-mark, he seems well poised to make a deep run on the final table.
Pete Chen (666,000) and Rushad Iskandarov (521,000) are an extremely distant second and third in chips. Other notable names on the final table include Day 1 chip leader Sergey Kolyasnikov (447,000) and PokerStars PSPC Champion Ramon Colillas (150,000).
The final table will resume later today and will play down to a champion.
Final Table Chip Counts
1. Elvin Sarkarov – 1,049,000
2. Pete Chen – 666,000
3. Rushad Iskandarov – 521,000
4. Maksim Bukreev – 496,000
5. Sergey Kolyasnikov – 447,000
6. Irshat Shaykhov – 409,000
7. Valery Yantsevich – 326,000
8. Ramon Colillas – 150,000
9. Daniil Kiselev – 137,000
Content & Images Courtesy: PokerNews
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Kartik Ved
