The action at the S19 WPTDeepStacks Sochi Festival is heating up with a promising start for the flagship ₽119,000 Main Event. In the meanwhile, the Opener has determined a champion and the ₽245,000 High Roller reached the final seven contenders in the most expensive tournament of the series.
Let’s take a closer look at what has happened during the last two days at the stunning Casino Sochi.
₽119,000 Main Event Underway
All eyes are set on the pinnacle 2021 WPTDS Sochi Main Event, which officially kicked off on Monday, August 9, 2021. With a starting stack of 30,000 and levels of 60 minutes for the three regular flights, the flagship tournament of the festival provides plenty of room to navigate through the competition. The first of four available starting days attracted a field of 111 entries, of which 44 players bagged and tagged for the night upon completion of level eight.
Only one player outside of Russia was among the top 20 in chips and a trio in close proximity emerged at the top of the leaderboard. Ivan Tukmachev claimed the biggest stack of 173,900, closely followed by Andrey Volkov (164,000) and Stanislav Vinokur (163,900). Above-average stacks also belong to Vitaliy Pankov (121,600), Giorgiy Skhulukhiya (99,900), Arutyun Saakyan (90,000), Stepan Mikhno (84,200), and Lidiya Belyaeva (76,900).
More than half of the contenders ran out of chips, however, including notables such as Konstantin Generalov, German Panchenko, Daria Krashennikova, Marat Shafigullin, Yigit Aksov, and Vitaliy Li. They all have another three chances to secure a stack for Day 2 as two regular flights and a turbo heat await throughout the next two days. Furthermore, the late registration remains open for another four levels on Day 2, which takes place Thursday, August 12.
Top 5 Chip Counts Day 1a:
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Ivan Tukmachev | Russia | 173,900 |
| 2 | Andrey Volkov | Russia | 164,000 |
| 3 | Stanislav Vinokur | Russia | 163,900 |
| 4 | Andrey Gladyshev | Russia | 136,200 |
| 5 | Ivan Zabiyakin | Russia | 135,700 |
Day 1A: 44 / 111 players advanced
Day 1B: Tuesday, August 10 at 12:00 UTC+3
Day 1C: Wednesday, August 11 at 12:00 UTC+3
Day 1D (Turbo): Wednesday, August 11 at 18:00 UTC+3
₽245,000 High Roller Down to Final Seven Players
After two days of higher stakes action, the ₽245,000 High Roller (∼ $3,360) is down to the final seven players. The field in the priciest tournament of the festival consisted of 55 unique players and 42 re-entries, which created a prize pool of ₽21,076,160 (∼ $295,066). Only the top 13 spots were paid and Artsiom Prostak ended up as the bubble boy.
Well-known Russian player Andrey Andreev was among those to fire multiple bullets and earned the min-cash of ₽507,500 (∼ $7,105) after he ran with kings into aces. Aleksey Gortikov, Alexandr Shelukhin, and Arkadiy Stekolshchikov also cashed but were eliminated prior to the end of the night on Day 2.
All remaining seven players have ₽827,050 (∼ $11,579) locked up for their efforts and the winner is slated to take home ₽5,902,960 (∼ $82,641). Best-positioned to do so is Vyacheslav Balaev with a stack of 807,000, only Aleksandr Denisov is somewhat close with 689,000 in chips. Also in contention is WPT Champions Club Member Dmitry Gromov, who holds the second-shortest stack among the finalists.
High Roller Chip Counts of the Final Seven
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Vyacheslav Balaev | Russia | 807,000 |
| 2 | Aleksandr Denisov | Russia | 689,000 |
| 3 | Alexandr Shevlyakov | Russia | 480,000 |
| 4 | Alexandr Kirichenko | Russia | 320,000 |
| 5 | Roman Novoselov | Russia | 274,000 |
| 6 | Dmitry Gromov | Russia | 177,000 |
| 7 | Stefan Prostorov | Russia | 162,000 |
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Vladislav Vinogradov Wins Opener
No deal was cut in the Opener, which drew a field of 364 total entries. The lion’s share of the ₽12,103,000 (∼ $169,442) prize pool was up for grabs on the eight-handed final table, which played down to a winner on August 9. Prior to that, regulars at Casino Sochi such as Andrey Litvinov, Igor Rybak, Nikolay Fal, Nikita Kuznetsov, and Evgeniy Nekrasov had all cashed and hit the rail on Day 2.
Among the eight finalists was also Daria Krashennikova, who made it all the way to sixth place eventually. For her efforts, she scored a payday of ₽530,950 (∼ $7,433). It then took more than half an hour for the next two casualties, which happened to be Rustem Muratov and Yuriy Suvorov. Ivan Tukmachev was eliminated in third place for ₽1,249,850 (∼ $17,498) and proceeded to bag the lead on Day 1a of the ₽119,000 Main Event.
The heads-up duel for the title took fewer than half an hour and Vladislav Vinogradov defeated Artur Adamyants to claim the top prize of ₽2,544,500 (∼ $35,623). Adamyants, who was the chip leader on Day 1a, had to settle for a consolation prize worth ₽1,695,050 (∼ $23,731).
Final Table Result Opener:
| Position | Player | Country | Prize (in Rubles) | Prize (in USD) |
| 1 | Vladislav Vinogradov | Russia | ₽2,544,500 | $35,623 |
| 2 | Artur Adamyants | Russia | ₽1,695,050 | $23,731 |
| 3 | Ivan Tukmachev | Russia | ₽1,249,850 | $17,498 |
| 4 | Yuriy Suvorov | Russia | ₽923,300 | $12,926 |
| 5 | Rustem Muratov | Russia | ₽696,150 | $9,746 |
| 6 | Daria Krashennikova | Russia | ₽530,950 | $7,433 |
| 7 | Aleksey Savenkov | Russia | ₽409,150 | $5,728 |
| 8 | Aren Bezhanyan | Armenia | ₽319,200 | $4,469 |
Vladislav Vinogradov
Another Side Event champion was crowned in Event #6 Turbo Big Stack, which featured a buy.in of ₽30,800 (∼ $431). There were a total of 70 entries including seven re-entries and the top 11 finishers earned a portion of the ₽1,862,000 (∼ $26,068) prize pool. From start to finish, it took under seven hours and Ezatulla Amani (pictured below) narrowly missed out on his second victory of the festival.
The Ukraine’s Franchesko Davoyan was the unfortunate bubble boy to ensure a payday of ₽46,550 (∼ $652) for all remaining 11 contenders. Notables to make it further were Sergey Nikulin, Igor Zakharov, and Pavel Shiryaev. The aforementioned Amani narrowly missed out on the second 2021 WPTDS Sochi trophy as he bowed out in third place for ₽253,050 (∼ $3,543). In a short-lived heads-up duel of around 15 minutes, Dmitriy Rikhard came out on top against Aleksandr Babayan to earn ₽530,600 (∼ $7,428) for his efforts.
Top 5 Finishers in Event #6 Turbo Big Stack:
| Position | Player | Country | Prize (in Rubles) | Prize (in USD) |
| 1 | Dmitriy Rikhard | Russia | ₽530,600 | $7,428 |
| 2 | Aleksandr Babayan | Russia | ₽362,600 | $5,076 |
| 3 | Ezatulla Amani | Russia | ₽253,050 | $3,543 |
| 4 | Vadim Konushin | Russia | ₽185,850 | $2,602 |
| 5 | Pavel Shiryaev | Russia | ₽134,400 | $1,882 |
Ezatulla Amani
The festival in cooperation with partypoker LIVE and Poker Club Management further gears up with the remaining three starting days of the Main Event on August 10 and 11. The WPT.com live reporting team will pick up the coverage as of Day 3 on August 13, the final table action will be streamed on various social media channels.