Aleksey Badulin has won the World Poker Tour (WPT) Russia Main Event after beating a 489-entry field at Casino Sochi. For his victory, the Russian pro earned $261,571, the richest prize of his career.
Russian pros came out in big numbers. Vitaly Lunkin was among those who kept flying the flag for Russia into Day 3, while Natalia Nikitina became the last female to fall in 20th place.The final day of the marquee main event began with 12 players remaining, including one of Russia’s top tournament player in Anatoly Filatov. After Mikhail Sokolovskiy fell out in 12th place, Filatov was next to hit the rail in 11th. Filatov moved all in with jack-ten but Roman Timergazin’s pocket-jacks beat his hand. A little later, Viktor Ustimov and Dmitriy Ponomarev fell in 10th and 9th places respectively.
Vladimir Lappo fell to a bad beat in 8th when trips bested his queens. Next to fall was Egor Voitusenko (7th place). Roman Timergazin exited in 6th place when his Ac 9c failed to beat Ernest Shakaryan’s pocket eights. With five left, the eventual champion Badulin started taking the control.
Badulin then took out Sergey Kharlamov in 5th place to extend his lead. Badulin held Ah 8s against pocket jacks of Kharlamov. The former spiked an ace on the flop and held to win the pot. With four players left, Badulin scored a huge double up against Martirosyan to further strengthen his position.
After Vahe Martirosyan exited in 4th place, it was Badulin who picked pocket kings and went on to knock out Ernest Shakaryan in 3rd place. Once again, Badulin was in a very good spot as his pocket kings were up against KQ of Shakaryan. The kings held and Shakaryan’s FT run finally ended.
Badulin entered heads-up with a chip lead against Vlada Stojanovic and worked to extend his lead from there. Badulin picked up kings again and won a big pot to further extend his lead. A little later, it was all over. Badulin’s As 2c beat Stojanovic’s Qh 2d. With that, Badulin won the title for $261,571.
WPT Russia Main Event Results
- Aleksey Badulin – $261,571
- Vlada Stojanovic – $185,831
- Ernest Shakaryan – $135,833
- Vahe Martirosyan – $102,488
- Sergey Kharlamov – $78,837
- Roman Timergazin – $60,254
- Egor Voitusenko – $46,176
- Vladimir Lappo – $36,040
- Dmitriy Ponomarev – $28,719