Another two exciting days have wrapped up at the S19 WPTDeepStacks Sochi Festival. The pinnacle 2021 WPTDS Sochi Main Event has completed all four starting days and will be playing down to the money on Day 2 this Thursday, August 12. Another three Side Events have determined a champion including the ₽245,000 High Roller and you can find all the key details below.
The inaugural WPTDeepStacks Sochi Festival takes place in cooperation with partypoker LIVE and Poker Club Management. Host venue in the Krasnaya Polyana region is the stunning Casino Sochi. It is the home of live poker in Russia and only a short ride away from the ski slopes of the former Olympic Winter Games.
₽119,000 Main Event
After a strong start to the ₽119,000 Main Event (∼ $1,630) with 111 entries on Day 1a, another three flights were available for poker enthusiasts from near and far. The second regular starting day drew a field of 99 entries and by far fewer hopefuls bagged and tagged chips after the completion of level eight. Only 24 players made the cut this time and none other than Andrey Andreev claimed the top spot with a stack of 251,000 to take over the overall lead. All other contenders in the top five surpassed Day 1a chip leader Ivan Tukmachev.
Notable casualties throughout Day 1b included Alisa Sibgatova, WPT Champions Club member Dmitry Gromov, Eduard Barsegyan, Vladislav Vinogradov, Sergey Chudapal, and Aleksandr Chernikov to name all but a few. They had the chance to qualify for Day 2 in the remaining two flights the following day, however.
Top Five Counts Day 1b:
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Andrey Andreev | Russia | 251,000 |
| 2 | Ivan Mogoryanu | Russia | 221,100 |
| 3 | Dmitriy Khotskiy | Russia | 220,700 |
| 4 | Yuriy Salikaev | Russia | 215,700 |
| 5 | Yuriy Suvorov | Russia | 180,300 |
Andrey Andreev
Wednesday, August 11, featured two starting days. The regular flight consisted of eight levels of 60 minutes each while the final turbo heat saw the level duration cut into half. Another solid turnout boosted the field to 105 entries and another 39 hopefuls punched their ticket for Day 2. Alexandr Shepel joined the big stacks for Day 2 with a stack of 186,300 and the only other two known pros in the top 10 were Aleksey Savenkov (127,900) and Vladimir Shabalin (115,300).
Day 1c Top Five Counts:
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Alexandr Shepel | Russia | 186,300 |
| 2 | Ivan Kalintsev | Russia | 166,600 |
| 3 | Georgiy Bandura | Russia | 144,000 |
| 4 | Vitaliy Demyanenko | Russia | 141,600 |
| 5 | Vadim Kuvshynov | Russia | 140,000 |
The fourth and final flight was the smallest with 41 entries and half of them made it through the night as 20 players advanced. Vadim Gayduk and Oleg Eltsov were the first two players to bust but the latter went on to bag the lead on Day 1b with a stack of 179,000 ahead of Aleksandr Denisov (174,500). Gayduk also made it through albeit with a below-average stack of 50,700. Dmitriy Kopyl and Alexandr Savchenko were notable casualties while Vasiliy Kurdin (77,500) finished just outside of the top five in chips.
Day 1d Top Five Counts:
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Oleg Eltsov | Russia | 179,000 |
| 2 | Aleksandr Denisov | Russia | 174,500 |
| 3 | Furkan Beg | Turkey | 145,900 |
| 4 | Aren Bezhanyan | Armenia | 81,200 |
| 5 | Viktor Podofedenko | Russia | 77,900 |
Main Event Stats:
Day 1A: 44 / 111 entries advanced
Day 1B: 24 / 99 entries advanced
Day 1C: 39 / 105 entries advanced
Day 1D (Turbo): 20 / 41 entries advanced
Qualified for Day 2: 127 / 356 entries at the start
The late registration on Day 2 will be open for another four full levels and the following break. Several dozen new entries or re-entries can be expected based on previous festivals at Casino Sochi and the day will conclude once the money bubble has burst.
₽245,000 High Roller
The most expensive tournament of the entire festival was the ₽245,000 High Roller (∼ $3,360), which saw seven players out of 97 entries return for the final day. They all had locked up a slice of the ₽21,076,160 (∼ $295,066) prize pool already and the tournament wrapped up with a deal between Vyacheslav Balaev and Alexandr Shevlykov. After the elimination of Aleksandr Denisov, it took nearly one hour to determine a champion and start-of-the-day chip leader Balaev walked away with ₽5,500,740 (∼ $77,010).
Balaev was responsible for the first final table knockout when he held with pocket jacks against the fives of Stefan Prostorov. Alexandr Kirichenko lost a flip with eights against the ace-queen of Balaev to bow out in sixth place. Dmitriy Gromov, who was the second-shortest stack on the final day, subsequently laddered all the way to fourth place to take home ₽1,880,200 (∼ $26,323) when Denisov flopped a flush. For Denisov, it was all over in a flip against Shevlykov, who then agreed to a deal with eventual winner Balaev.
Top Five Finishers in the High Roller:
| Position | Player | Country | Prize (in Rubles) | Prize (in USD) |
| 1 | Vyacheslav Balaev | Russia | ₽5,500,740 | $77,010 |
| 2 | Alexandr Shevlyakov | Russia | ₽4,337,620 | $60,727 |
| 3 | Aleksandr Denisov | Russia | ₽2,671,200 | $37,397 |
| 4 | Dmitriy Gromov | Russia | ₽1,880,200 | $26,323 |
| 5 | Roman Novoselov | Russia | ₽1,374,450 | $19,242 |
Vyacheslav Balaev
Event #7 ₽53,900 Big Stack
The one-day Big Stack with a buy-in of ₽53,900 attracted a field of 90 unique players and 18 re-entries, resulting in a prize pool worth ₽5,027,400 (∼$70,384). Only the top 15 finishers earned at least ₽87,850 (∼$1,230) for their efforts and no deal was cut to determine a champion. Stepan Mikhno, Elshan Aliev and Mustafa Biz cashed but missed the final table.
Igor Zakharov took the first spot on the podium and Nikita Kuznetsov once more fell short of a trophy during the festival after losing the heads-up to Evgeniy Starinkov. Kuznetsov walked away with a payday of ₽906,850 (∼$12,696), which was only topped by Starinkov’s prize of ₽1,327,900 (∼$18,591).
Top Five Finishers Event #7 Big Stack:
| Position | Player | Country | Prize (in Rubles) | Prize (in USD) |
| 1 | Evgeniy Starinkov | Russia | ₽1,327,900 | $18,591 |
| 2 | Nikita Kuznetsov | Russia | ₽906,850 | $12,696 |
| 3 | Igor Zakharov | Russia | ₽632,450 | $8,854 |
| 4 | Roman Kolotyuk | Russia | ₽464,450 | $6,502 |
| 5 | Igor Vakhnenko | Russia | ₽336,350 | $4,709 |
Final Table Event #7 Big Stack
Event #8 Turbo Super Bounty
The second Super Bounty event of the festival came with a buy-in of ₽38,500 and sixty percent of each entry minus fee was up for grabs with each knockout. There were 95 unique players who re-entered 35 times and eight percent of the field earned a portion of the ₽1,592,500 (∼$22,295) cash prize pool.
Konstantin Generalov and Garik Tamasyan fell just short of the cash bubble and the top 10 spots were paid at least ₽39,900 (∼$559). Sergei Chudapal and Vladislav Vinogradov bowed out prior to the top five and two players from Armenia broke through the dominance of locals during the festival so far. Arman Bezhanyan finished in fourth place while his brother Aren walked away with the trophy.
Top 5 Finishers Event #8 Turbo Super Bounty
| Position | Player | Country | Prize (in Rubles) | Prize (in USD) |
| 1 | Aren Bezhanyan | Armenia | 474,250 | $6,640 |
| 2 | Vadim Gabriel | Russia | 322,000 | $4,508 |
| 3 | Ilya Kochnev | Russia | 223,300 | $3,126 |
| 4 | Arman Bezhanyan | Armenia | 158,900 | $2,225 |
| 5 | Vadim Konushin | Russia | 115,150 | $1,612 |
The festival will run for another three days at Casino Sochi and the conclusion of the Main Event awaits. As of August 13, the WPT.com live reporting team will pick up the action of the flagship tournament. The final table will also be live-streamed with cards-up coverage and commentary on August 14.