partypoker LIVE was in Sochi, Russia where a massive $1 million was played for. Poker players from around the globe battled it out at the Sochi Casino and Resort, in the hope of becoming the winner of the first partypoker LIVE event ever held in Russia.
Scroll down and check out the highlights from the event below.
Day 4: Dmitry Chop Crowned partypoker LIVE Sochi Champion
partypoker LIVE Sochi champion, Dmitry Chop
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dmitry Chop | $225,000 |
| 2 | Lev Mnatskanyan | $150,000 |
| 3 | Pavel Kovalenko | $95,000 |
| 4 | Roman Korenev | $60,000 |
| 5 | Asker Aloev | $40,000 |
| 6 | Arkadij Oganisyan | $30,000 |
| 7 | Boris Yanpolsky | $22,500 |
| 8 | Mikhail Korotkikh | $15,000 |
Dmitry Chop has written his name into poker’s history books after he became the winner of the inaugural partypoker LIVE Sochi Main Event and walked away with the $225,000 first place prize.
The day started with 10 players across two tables but the live streamed eight-handed final table was reached after the eliminations of Alexander Kuznetsov and Rinat Shakirov, the latter bagging $11,150 for his ninth-place finish.
Mikhail Korotkikh was the first casualty of the official final table and he was followed to the sidelines by Boris Yanpolsky, Arkadij Oganisyan, Asker Aloev, Roman Korenev and Pavel Kovalenko, the latter’s exit sending the tournament into the heads up stages.
The one-on-one battle only last a couple of hands before Lev Mnatskanyan raised to 3.2 million with 
and Chop called with 
. The flop fell 
. Mnatskanyan bet 10 million then called when Chop raised all-in, putting more than 100 million chips in the middle of the table. The 
landed on the turn followed by the 
, which bust Mnatskanyan in second place and left a delighted Chop to lift aloft the coveted winner’s trophy.
partypoker LIVE Sochi winner’s trophy
Day 3
The tension was high at the start of Day 3 because the money bubble was looming, but there was also a lot of tension outside of the casino as thrill seekers headed outside to participate in some bungee jumping!
Bungee jumping at partypoker LIVE Sochi
Back in the casino, there were two players eliminated at the same time to burst the money bubble. Igor Kruzalov and Stanislav Wagin fell when the former’s ace-king was no match for Gurgen Mkhitaryan’s aces, and the latter bust when his pocket threes lost to the queen-ten of Boris Yanpolsky when that qieen-ten improved to a full house.
Bubble time at partypoker LIVE Sochi
Sadly, our ambassador Natalia Breviglieri bust in 122nd place when her jacks didn’t improve against her opponent’s pair of queens and missed out on adding to her live tournament winnings tally.
Play ended with only 10 players in contention for the title and it was Dmitriy Chop who bagged up the most chips. Chop had the welcomed problem of trying to fit 26,500,000 chips into his chip bag and is on course to win a cool $225,000.
Dmitriy Chop: End of Day 3 chip leader
While people were throwing themselves off the side of a mountain and players were heading towards a potentially life changing sum of money, a high stakes cash game involving partypoker LIVE President John Duthie and partypoker ambassador Sam Trickett took place. The whole game was streamed on the partypoker Twitch channel and you can watch the saved video here.
Day 2
Day2 began with 194 players returning to their seats at the Sochi Casino & Resort and ended with 130 players cramming chips into their overnight chip bags. With 116 places paid, the money bubble was yet to burst.
partypoker LIVE President John Duthie gets play underway
Among the 130 survivors was partypoker ambassador Natalia Breviglieri who bagged up an impressive 481,000 chips at the close of play, but a figure that was dwarfed by the monster-sized 2,830,000 stack of overnight chip leader Nikolay Pancenko.
partypoker ambassador Natalia Breviglieri in action at partypoker LIVE Sochi
Each of the 130 surviving players went to bed knowing they were only 14 eliminations away from securing a payout for their efforts in the $1,000,000 guaranteed Main Event. A min-cash would lock up $2,000 with the eventual champion walking away with a wallet-filling $225,000.
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $225,000 |
| 2 | $150,000 |
| 3 | $95,000 |
| 4 | $60,000 |
| 5 | $40,000 |
| 6 | $30,000 |
| 7 | $22,500 |
| 8 | $15,000 |
| 9 | $11,150 |
| 10-12 | $9,250 |
| 13-15 | $8,500 |
| 16-18 | $7,750 |
| 19-27 | $7,000 |
| 28-36 | $6,250 |
| 37-45 | $5,500 |
| 46-54 | $5,000 |
| 55-63 | $4,500 |
| 64-72 | $4,000 |
| 73-81 | $3,500 |
| 82-90 | $3,000 |
| 91-108 | $2,500 |
| 109-116 | $2,000 |
A big stack at partypoker LIVE Sochi
Day 1d
The biggest story of Day 1d was the fact the monster-sized $1 million guarantee was hit, which is a remarkable achievement.
The guarantee was finally his when Sergei Ananjev bought in and became entrant number 1,000. He may be one of the last players to enter partypoker LIVE Sochi, but will he be the last one standing when the dust finally settles in Russia?
Sergei Ananjev, the 1,000 entry into partypoker LIVE Sochi
Among those helping the prize pool beat the guarantee were partypoker ambassadors Natalia Breviglieri and Jan-Peter Jachtmann who both took advantage of being able to re-enter, while the legendary Sam Trickett showed up and bought in, too.
partypoker ambassador Sam Trickett
Joining the members of Team partypoker were the likes of Dmitiry Urbanovich, Vitaly Lunkin and Anatoly Filatov who have combined live tournament winnings in excess of $12.8 million.
Anatoly Filatov
Vitaly Lunkin
Natalia Breviglieri and Dmitry Urbanovich
Away from the tables, players and tournament staff took advantage of Sochi’s location and headed to the slopes for some skiing action. Dusk Till Dawn’s Simon Trumper headed to the piste, as did partypoker’s Jay Kanabar and dozens of others.
Jay Kanabar and Simon Trumper
Before we sign off for the day, we thought we’d share this video of Natalia Breviglieri heading into the Sochi Casino and Resort at the start of Day 1d. If you want to follow the action, head to the bottom of this page where you’ll find the link for the live updates page.
Day 1c
The poker room is packed to the rafters with more than 340 hopefuls, each vying for a piece of the $1 million pie that awaits those skilful, and fortunate, enough to navigate their way to the payout places.
Among those in battle are partypoker ambassadors Natalia Breviglieri and Jan-Peter Jachtmann. Both pros are more than capable of winning this event and will be trying their utmost to put in a good performance while flying the partypoker flag.
partypoker ambassador Natalia Breviglieri
partypoker ambassador Jan-Peter Jachtmann
All of the players are under the watchful eye of the one and only Christian Scalzi who will keep them in check throughout the festival.
The one and only Christian Scalzi
While the money places are some way off, one player has already helped himself to a sizable score. Andrei Kotelnikov was one of 53 players to buy into the $3,300 High Roller but he was the only one to have chips in front of him after the final hand. Kotelnikov was awarded with the partypoker LIVE Sochi High Roller trophy and $47,000 in cash.
partypoker LIVE Sochi High Roller champion Andrei Kotelnikov
To keep up to date with all things partypoker LIVE Sochi, we suggest following the partypoker LIVE dedicated Twitter feed and heading to the official Live Updates page.
