PETER THE GREAT IS CROWNED POKER TSAR AT PARTYPOKER.COM ST PETERSBURG OPEN<\/p>\n
PLENTY OF FOREIGN INTEREST IN RUSSIA\u00e2\u0080\u0099S BIGGEST EVER POKER TOURNAMENT<\/p>\n
27-year-old poker professional Peter Vlasenko has been crowned Russia\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Poker Tsar after he won $84,000 in the inaugural PartyPoker.com St Petersburg Open in Russia last week. The event at the Golden Garden Casino in the famous city boasted the biggest prize pool in Russian poker history with over $500,000 up for grabs over four days.<\/p>\n
Peter, who plays online under the name Peter_Russ was more Peter the Great as he swept aside the challenges from hard nosed pros from around the world and was delighted with his win. \u00e2\u0080\u009cI normally only play high stakes limit games online and this was my first tournament of this kind,\u00e2\u0080? he said. \u00e2\u0080\u009cThis is the biggest win I have had in a single day by far though I once won $30,000 in 24 hours online.\u00e2\u0080? Runner-up was veteran Russian pro Mark Vronskiy, a 43 \u00e2\u0080\u0093 year-old pro from Moscow whose pocket threes failed to beat Peter\u00e2\u0080\u0099s pair of eights, which he hit on the turn.<\/p>\n
Peter is encouraged by the rise and rise of the Russians in the poker world, something that also impresses veteran pro and World Series of Poker bracelet holder Mel Judah, who was in attendance. He has played a lot in Russia and insists that in the future they could take the game by storm. \u00e2\u0080\u009cPoker has come on leaps and bounds. I can see the Russian players becoming a real threat in the future just like Scandinavia is now. At the moment a lot of the players don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t have the experience but that will come.\u00e2\u0080?<\/p>\n
There were plenty of foreign competitors in the tournament but the final table featured five Russians and British semi-professional David Rudling, a 39-year old IT consultant from Essex, England. David has been on the scene for a while and won \u00c2\u00a350,000 last year in London\u00e2\u0080\u0099s famous poker den in Leyton. Of 35 players who qualified online for the tournament through PartyPoker.com, the top finisher was Tom Strathoff, a 26-year old from The Hague in The Netherlands and Thomas Greaux, a 24 year old internet hotshot from Little Ferry, New Jersey in the US. Of the 35 online qualifiers 14 qualified for absolutely nothing through freerolls. Amongst them were players from the US, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Ukraine, Norway, Russia and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
Most of those who flew to St Petersburg all discussed the same issue. As Jon Pallis, an internet qualifier from The Hague in the Netherlands put it. \u00e2\u0080\u009c A lot of the Russians played very aggressively but sometimes you just think that because they look like mean dudes around the table and you can\u00e2\u0080\u0099t understand what they are saying.\u00e2\u0080? The tournament director for the event was the well respected Thomas Kremser.<\/p>\n
PartyPoker.com spokesman Warren Lush said: \u00e2\u0080\u009cWe\u00e2\u0080\u0099re delighted to be involved with an event that boasted the biggest prize in Russian poker history and congratulate Peter on his win. For the first time in a long time none of the internet qualifiers made the final table. This alone suggests that Russia could be a poker superpower in the future.\u00e2\u0080?<\/p>\n
RESULT \u00e2\u0080\u0093 PartyPoker.com St Petersburg Open Main Event, Golden Garden Casino \u00e2\u0080\u0093 16th\/17th May 2006 (All Russia unless stated)<\/p>\n
1st \u00e2\u0080\u0093 Peter Vlasenko \u00e2\u0080\u0093 Moscow – $84,000<\/p>\n
2nd \u00e2\u0080\u0093 Mark Vronskiy \u00e2\u0080\u0093 St Petersburg – $46,000<\/p>\n
3rd \u00e2\u0080\u0093 Nikolay Losev \u00e2\u0080\u0093 Moscow \u00e2\u0080\u0093 $25,400<\/p>\n
4th \u00e2\u0080\u0093 David Rudling \u00e2\u0080\u0093 Essex \u00e2\u0080\u0093 UK – $20,300<\/p>\n
5th \u00e2\u0080\u0093 Sergey Feklisov \u00e2\u0080\u0093 Moscow – $15,200<\/p>\n
6th \u00e2\u0080\u0093 Sergey Pevzner \u00e2\u0080\u0093 St Petersburg – $12,700<\/p>\n
There were 127 entries and a $254,000 prize pool that paid down to 18th place. For more information or pictures contact warrenl@partygaming.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PETER THE GREAT IS CROWNED POKER TSAR AT PARTYPOKER.COM ST PETERSBURG OPEN PLENTY OF FOREIGN INTEREST IN RUSSIA\u00e2\u0080\u0099S BIGGEST EVER POKER TOURNAMENT 27-year-old poker professional Peter Vlasenko has been crowned Russia\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Poker Tsar after he won $84,000 in the inaugural PartyPoker.com St Petersburg Open in Russia last week. The event at the Golden Garden Casino<\/p>\n