Anatoly Filatov Triumphs at partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Russia Main Event

Anatoly Filatov Triumphs at partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Russia Main Event

Russian pro Anatoly Filatov has triumphed over a 916 player field at the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Russia RUB318k (US$4,700) Main Event to claim a top prize of RUB60 million ($944,231). The cash represents by far his biggest score to date, and comes just a few short days after his birthday.

“Very tired, very exhausted, I don’t realize yet that I won this tournament, especially in my home country,” commented Filatov following his victory. “On the eighth of August it was my birthday, 30 years old, such a good beginning for this year. I am very glad.”

Sponsored pro

Anatoly Filatov not only won the Main Event on his native soil, but he also did so while flying the colors of his sponsored site partypoker, the competition’s chief sponsor. When Filatov became a partypoker sponsored pro in March 2017 he had $1.4 million in live earnings, but has since more than doubled that tally to $3,048,212. Anatoly ‘Nl_profit’ Filatov has also amassed a further $3,169,017 playing tournaments online, $486,374 of which has been won on partypoker.

Partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Russia

The partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Russia kicked off at the Casino Sochi on August 3rd, and featured 14 tournaments throughout its 12-day run. The five-star casino complex provided a spectacular setting for the partypoker sponsored series, too, with the venue situated in a dedicated gambling zone on the Russian Black Sea coast, right next to the Gorky Gorod ski resort.

$4,700 Main Event

The partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Russia Main Event featured a $4,579,518 prize pool, and was attended by such players as Maria Lampropulos, Bertand “Elky” Grospellier, and Dzmitry Urbanovich. While they ultimately fell short of one of its 119 money spots, amongst those recognizable pros seeing a return on their buy-ins was Philipp Gruissem in 101st ($11,803), Vladimir Troyanovskiy in 58th ($14,163), and Niall Farrell in 14th ($33,048).

Needless to say, the Main Event was a Russian heavy affair, and by the time the final table had been set all but Belarusian Victor Hodorenko haled from the host country. Filatov (K-Q) then proceeded to eliminate Konstantin Uspenskii (A-K) in 8th, before being dealt pocket kings and doing likewise to Mikhail Galitskiy (A-Q) in 7th.

Filatov (K-J) followed up by sending Alexey Melnikov (A-6) to the rail in 5th, and after being dealt pocket queens doled out the same treatment to Viktor Khodorenko (A-7) who subsequently bowed out in 4th. Gor Kazaryan (Q-J) then took out Andrey Malyshev (A-K) in 3rd to usher in heads-up play for the title.

Anatoly Filatov vs Gor Kazaryan

Kazaryan started the final phase holding a 534m to 378m chip advantage over Filatov, but the lead changed hands on several occasions before Filatov won the deciding hand 80 minutes later.

Kazaryan (Q-9) limp-called Filatov’s (J-10) preflop raise, after which the Q-9-7 flop saw Filatov check call Kazaryan, now sitting on two pair. A king on the turn turned the tables, though, and after Filatov disguised his hand by checking, Kazaryan put out a bet leading to an all-in move by his opponent. Kazaryan made the call, but an ace on the river brought him no relief, and so he had to settle for a runner-up finish, albeit one worth an impressive $575,319, while partypoker sponsored pro Anatoly Filatov claimed the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Russia Main Event title.

Final Table Results

1: Anatoly Filatov $885,106
2: Gor Kazaryan $575,319
3: Andrey Malyshev $394.315
4: Viktor Khodorenko $265,532
5: Alexey Melnikov $177,021
6: Gleb Tremzin $123,914
7: Mikhail Galitskiy $88,510
8: Konstantin Uspenskii $61,957

Next Stop Sweden

Next stop on the partypoker LIVE sponsored circuit is the Swedish Championship, which will take place at the Olympic Casino in Estonia from August 29th – September 2nd. A total of 18 events are scheduled across its five day schedule, with its Main Event costing a reasonable €550 to enter.