The money bubble in the flagship tournament of the S19 WPTDeepStacks Sochi Festival has burst, sending all remaining players into a well-deserved break prior to the penultimate day of the festival at the stunning Casino Sochi. Out of a field of 413 entries in the ₽119,000 Main Event, only 53 players remain in contention and they have all locked up a portion of the ₽42,432,670 (~$576,815) prize pool.
Upon completion of the four available starting days, 127 hopefuls had bagged and tagged chips but the late registration on Day 2 remained open for another four hour-long levels and subsequent break. Another 57 new entries and re-entries emerged to push the overall field above 400 entries. The goal for the day was reaching the money stage and it would take eight full levels and fewer than two minutes of the ninth level to achieve just that.
When the dust had settled, Yuriy Salikaev had pushed his stack to nearly one million in chips, claiming 982,000 to his name. Aleksey Savenkov follows in second place with 709,000 and Frenchman Francois Najjar sits in third with 597,000. Najjar is only one of two non-Russian contenders in the overnight top 10 alongside Artsiom Prostak (411,000).
Three well-known regulars will return for Day 3 at Casino Sochi with big stacks: Vladimir Shabalin (541,000), Giorgiy Skhulukhiya (444,000), and Viktor Kudinov. Other familiar faces such as Artem Vezhenkov, Nikolay Fal, Alisa Sibgatova, Sonia-Veronika Shashikhina, Viktor Podofedenko, Anatoly Korochenskiy, and Mustafa Biz all made the cut as well.
WPT Champions Club member Dmitry Gromov is perhaps the biggest name left in contention. He finished fourth in the ₽245,000 High Roller and also returns with a shot at glory in the 2021 WPTDeepStacks Sochi Main Event as well. Gromov secured a stack of 102,000, which represents just over 20 blinds when Day 3 on August 13 kicks off at noon local time.
There were also plenty of big names who failed to make the cut. Day 1b chip leader Andrey Andreev entered as one of the chip leaders but bowed out multiple times. His final bullet went down in flames with his kings ran into a flopped set. He was joined on the rail by Arutyun Saakyan, Nikita Kuznetsov, Natalia Nikitina, Vadim Gayduk, Sergey Chudapal, Vladislav Naumov, Andrey Litvinov, and Konstantin Generalov.
The money bubble burst around 90 seconds into level 17. It was a classic flip between two of the shorter stacks when Artur Khostiyan got it in with ace-queen. Andrey Gladyshev isolated with pocket jacks and prevailed thanks to a king-high board, sending all remaining 53 players in the money.
Almost the entire level at blinds of 3,000/5,000 and big blind ante of 5,000 is left to play for. It will be another long day in the office for those wishing to advance once more, as the tournament will play down to the final table.
Top 10 Counts for Day 3:
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Yuriy Salikaev | Russia | 982,000 | 196 |
| 2 | Aleksey Savenkov | Russia | 709,000 | 142 |
| 3 | Francois Najjar | France | 597,000 | 119 |
| 4 | Vladimir Shabalin | Russia | 541,000 | 108 |
| 5 | Giorgiy Skhulukhiya | Russia | 444,000 | 89 |
| 6 | Oleg Eltsov | Russia | 435,000 | 87 |
| 7 | Viktor Kudinov | Russia | 430,000 | 86 |
| 8 | Artsiom Prostak | Belarus | 411,000 | 82 |
| 9 | Andrey Glushkov | Russia | 409,000 | 82 |
| 10 | Artur Adamyants | Russia | 385,000 | 77 |
_
The WPT.com team will provide live updates for the final two days of the ₽119,000 Main Event and the final table is also slated to be live-streamed with cards-up coverage and commentary on a delay.
Vladimir Shabalin
It wasn’t just about the Main Event at Casino Sochi, however, as one Side Event awarded the WPTDS trophy while the Day 1a of Event #9 Closer wrapped up.
Event #9 Closer
With an elevated price tag of ₽77,000 (~$1,078), Event #9 Closer was among the pricier tournaments on the schedule. In the first of three flights on August 12, a field of 41 entries emerged. It took until level 14 at blinds of 1,500-2,500 to determine the seven survivors and Daniil Shalaev jumped into a massive lead.
Notables such as Konstantin Generalov also made the cut and avoided firing another bullet in one of the remaining two starting days on Saturday, August 13. Andrey Andreev, Georgiy Filippovich, Vadim Gayduk, and Lev Margolin were not as fortunate and fell on the wayside.
Final Chip Counts Day 1a:
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Daniil Shalaev | Russia | 457,500 |
| 2 | Evgeniy Nekrasov | Russia | 178,000 |
| 3 | Konstantin Generalov | Russia | 150,000 |
| 4 | Maxim Ivanov | Russia | 133,500 |
| 5 | Pavel Kovalenko | Russia | 126,000 |
| 6 | Eduard Barsegyan | Russia | 123,000 |
| 7 | Aleksey Perevalov | Russia | 61,500 |
Event #10 Pot-Limit Omaha
Four cards instead of two were dealt in Event #10 Pot-Limit Omaha, which featured a buy-in of ₽30,800. The tournament attracted 24 unique players and eight re-entries, who battled for the ₽851,200 (~$11,917) prize pool.
Among the first six casualties, Sergey Chudapal appeared three times and his fourth bullet was also not crowned by success, as he was eliminated in 10th place. Vitaliy Karaivan ended up as the bubble boy in sixth place and from there on, it only took another 45 minutes to determine a winner. Nikolay Fal defeated Vahram Afandyan in heads-up to claim the trophy and top prize of ₽318,150 (~$4,454).
Final Result Event #10 PLO
| Position | Player | Country | Prize (in Rubles) | Prize (in USD) |
| 1 | Nikolay Fal | Russia | 318150 | $4,454 |
| 2 | Vahram Afandyan | Armenia | 220150 | $3,082 |
| 3 | Yuriy Suvorov | Russia | 151900 | $2,127 |
| 4 | Dmitrii Anchikov | Russia | 105000 | $1,470 |
| 5 | Andrey Danilyuk | Russia | 56000 | $784 |
The penultimate day of the festival in Sochi will be all about Day 3 of the Main Event and the final two starting days of Event #9 Closer. Stay tuned to find out who reaches the final table of the flagship tournament right here on WPT.com.