Mikita Badziakouski Continues His Golden Run at King’s Casino

Mikita Badziakouski has been enjoying an incredible run of successes in 2018, and furthermore the Belarusian pro shows no signs of slowing down after taking down yet another title this week.

Badziakouski took part in a €25,000 buy-in Short Deck Poker event taking place at King’s Casino Rozvadov in the Czech Republic, and following a full day’s action he managed to best the small field but tough field of nine players, including Seng Yee Leow heads-up, to claim a top prize of €213,750 ($246,298).

WSOPE Short Deck

The 2018 WSOP Europe is currently in full swing at the King’s Casino Rozvadov, and has now concluded seven of its ten bracelet schedule. Running alongside the prestigious tournament series are a number of non-bracelet side events, including the €25,000 buy-in event that Badziakouski entered.

Just nine players participated in the Short Deck Poker tournament (36 cards from the pack), which  together with six re-entries ensured that €356,250 ($410,497) in prize  money was up for grabs. Nevertheless, only two money places were avaialble, and amongst those failing to cash was such high-stakes regulars as Richard Yong, Winfred Yu, Paul Phua, Wai Kin Yong, Choon Tong Siow, Wai Leong Chan, and the King’s Casino owner himself Leon Tsoukernik.

In the end, however, the competition would ultimately be contested between Mikita Badziakouski and Malaysian pro Seng Yee Leow, with €71,250 ($82,099) separating a first and second place finish. While in 2017 Badziakouski won two titles but recorded runner-up finishes in four tournaments, this year the Belarusian has refused to finish second best, and he was not about to start this late in 2018, either.

Following their heads-up battle, Bodyakovskiy subsequently polished off his final opponent to book his fifth tournament title of the year, while Seng Leow had to settle for a runner-up finish worth €142,500 ($164,199).

Poker Background

Mikita Badziakouski has been playing online No-Limit Holdem high stakes cash games on PokerStars since 2011, during which time he has amassed almost a quarter of a million dollars in winnings under the screen name fish2013.

He also cut his teeth competing at live tournaments in the Ukraine between 2010 and March 2013, never entering any event with a buy-in more than $2,500, during which time he amassed $113,221 in winnings. Following an almost two year break, Badziakouski upped the ante in 2015, so to speak, and began trying his hand at the bigger buy-ins. He  hasn’t looked back since, and after winning $116,657 in 2015, followed up by earning $1,349,457 in 2016, and $4,599,500 in 2017.

2018 a Golden Year

As can be seen, Badziakouski’s tournament earnings have been rising exponentially over the past few years, but 2018 has proved a new high point in his short but meteoric career after winning an incredible $12,658,265.

In January, Badziakouski signaled his intentions for the year ahead after taking down the HK$ 80,000 AAPT High Roller in Macau for HK$ 2,324,000 ($297,198). In May, he then claimed his biggest score ever at that time following victory at the HK$ 1 million Triton Super High Roller Main Event in Montenegro for HK$ 19,618,400 ($2,499,184). That record didn’t last very long, though, as in July Badziakouski took down the HK$ 2 million Triton Jeju Main Event for a whopping HK$ 41,250,000 ($5,257,027)

August then saw the player lock up the €100,000 EPT Barcelona Super High Roller for €1,650,300 ($1,912,903), with Badziakouski’s latest triumph in the Czech Republic continuing his golden run in 2018.

Needless to say, Nikita Bodyakovskiy sitting on $18,590,799 in winnings is currently light years ahead of his nearest rival on the Belarus ‘All Time Money List’, with a second placed Ihar Soika having won just $3,368,134 in comparison. Next target for Bodyakovskiy is crossing the $20 million in winnings threshold, and he will certainly not have any shortage of options available in order to make that happen. On Oct. 31, for instance, the King’s Casino will be running its €50,000 Short Deck Hold’em Championship, while a €100,000 buy-in Super High Roller event called LEON’s High Roller will be taking place on Oct. 30-31.