Denys Shafikov Wins the WPT Russia Main Event for 240,000 Casino Units

By Lisa Yiasemides & Aaron McBride

Denys Shafikov has been crowned the 2019 WPT Russia ₽198,000 Main Event champion after he came through a 503 player-field at the Casino Sochi.

Shafikov defeated Aleksey Gortikov heads-up for the win after he dominated the official final table of six.

The action was concluded when Shafikov raised from the button with pocket nines and was happy to call Gortikov’s 30 big blind all-in holding ace-seven suited. Shafikov held his advantage after the flop fell and was crowned champion when he hit a set on the turn.

Today’s final day of action capped seven days of Main Event poker. This coincided with a full WPT Russia festival in Sochi, including the WPTDeepStacks, High Roller and Ladies events.

Just six players returned for the final day all with the hope of securing the 240,000 Casino Units first-place prize, as well as the illustrious $15,000 WPT Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions seat for later this year in Las Vegas.

WPT Russia Main Event Offical Final Table Results:

* 1 Casino Credit = 1.063579 USD$

First to hit the rail was Oleg Pavlyuchuk, who was the chip leader at the end of Day 3. Pavlyuchuk had pocket eights in the hole and moved in for fewer than fifteen big blinds against Aleksey Gortikov. Gortikov looked down to see pocket nines and used a couple of time-bank chips before making the call. The runout held for the overpair and Pavlyuchuk left in 6th place for 48,000 Casino Units.

Next to fall was Mikhail Galitskiy.  Galitskiy was making his second final table appearance at Casino Sochi in the space of six months after a 7th-place finish in the 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Russia Main Event. The Russian had been getting progressively active, which resulted in his stack dwindling to little more than ten big blinds. He got the last of it in with jack-nine suited and was looked up by Shafikov who had pocket fives on the button. Shafikov hit a full house by the river and Galitskiy headed to the cashier to collect 59,000 Casino Units for his 5th place finish.

Nikolay Fal began the day with the shortest stack and had done well to ladder a couple of positions by this point, but it was to come to an end when having struggled to improve in the counts, Fal made a move with king-ten. Shafikov woke up with ace-king behind, and our champion knocked out his second opponent since the final table began. Fal left in 4th place and is 75,000 Casino Units better off as a result. Fal’s deep run this week in Sochi has also pushed his live tournament earnings into seven-figures.

Then there were three. Shafikov was a long way ahead of his opponents, both of whom did their best to stay in the game but in the end, a cooler for Yauhen Kontush saw his hopes of going the distance, come to an end. Gortikov found pocket jacks in the small blind and pushed Kontush all-in. With another pair in the hole and fewer than fifteen big blinds left, Kontush made the call with pocket nines only to find he was dominated and the board did nothing to change that. Kontush walked away with 104,117 Casino Units to accompany his 3rd place result.

Following a short break, our final two returned to get stuck into their heads up battle. There was a lot of back and forth that saw Gortikov reduce the chip deficit he began with and at one point the two players were at level-pegging. Gortikov put up a good fight, but in the end, he got it in with ace-seven suited and was behind to Shafikov’s pocket nines. A set on the turn locked up the victory for the Ukranian and Gortikov is the Main Event runner up, a wonderful achievement in itself and he goes home with 161,000 Casino Units to accompany his fantastic result.

With that, Shafikov became the last man standing. He is now the newest member of the exclusive WPT Champions Club and was congratulated in person by WPT President and CEO Adam Pliska (pictured below). Shafikov’s victory comes little more than a month after his debut cash in a WPT event. In December, the Ukrainian made it into the top 100 of a 1000-strong field in the $10,400 buy-in WPT Five Diamond Poker Classic at the Bellagio Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Shafikov now has the opportunity to return to Las Vegas, where he will take part in the Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions later this year.

Next up on the WPT schedule is the Borgata Winter Poker Open running January 27-31, with the Final Table taking place  March 13, 2019, and will be filmed for television at HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas at Luxor.

Followed by the return of the WPTDeepStacks in Montreal and Brussels in February, as well as the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic. 

Not to mention the return of the WPT Main Tour to Europe in March, in cooperation with partypoker LIVE, as WPT Barcelona kicks-off on March 8.  The WPT 500, WPT DeepStacks and WPT Main Event will also be taking place across a full festival that includes over €5,500,000 in guarantees.

For now, that’s all from us here at WPT.com in Sochi, we look forward to welcoming you at our next events!