Team India All Set to Take EPT Sochi by Storm; Series Hits Casino Sochi Today

EPT Sochi Cover
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  • Attreyee Khasnabis March 20, 2019
  • 5 Minutes Read

Last year PokerStars took its European Poker Tour (EPT) to Sochi for the first time and given the resounding success of the inaugural stop, EPT Sochi is once again making a return to the Sochi Casino & Resort for a second edition this week. Running from March 20-29, the series will feature 12 events and is expected to be attended by quite a few Indian players including the likes of PokerGuru Team Ambassadors Tathagata Sengupta, Kartik Ved, and Jayjit Ray, along with 2017 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Aditya Sushant as well as Anant Purohit.

Indians at the EPT Sochi

Indian poker players have been avidly traveling far and wide in the pursuit of high-value tournaments, and already this year we have covered reports of Team India`s exploits in Vietnam, Australia, Barcelona, Czech Republic and now Russia.

Last year, two of our Indian challengers – Vivek Rughani and Alok Birewar were present at the series, and both managed to make one final table each. Notably, Birewar missed the $550 NLHE event title by a whisker as he finished 3rd for approx. $12,000 (₹7.80 Lakhs). Rughani bubbled the final table in the same event and finished ninth for $2,500 (₹1.62 Lakhs). Rughani also final tabled the $1,000 NLHE event finishing eighth for $4,500 (₹2.92 Lakhs).

This year an even bigger contingent of Indians will be present at the series. The confirmed roster features PokerGuru Team Ambassadors Tathagata Sengupta and Kartik Ved, along with India`s first WSOP bracelet winner Aditya Sushant, with all of them winning EPT Sochi Main Event Qualifier packages on PokerStars India. Joining these four pros will be another PokerGuru Team Ambassador Jayjit Ray and online pro Anant Purohit. Sriharsha Doddapaneni is another well-known Indian pro likely to be in attendance.

PokerGuru caught up with the Indian battalion headed to Sochi, and most players confirmed that they would be reaching the venue on March 21. While Sushant and Ved are geared up to play all the events, the others have varying plans.

Kartik Ved
Kartik Ved

Ray explained, “There are two big tournaments in the series. I am going to play both of them. One is the EPT NL Holdem National, and the other is the EPT NL Holdem Main Event. And I will also look to play some of the other side events too.”

Jayjit Ray
Jayjit Ray

Sengupta seemed to have similar plans, stating “I will playing both the major events at Sochi, i.e., the EPT National and the Main Event since I have a free ticket for the letter.”

Tathagata Sengupta
Tathagata Sengupta

“I will decide what to play apart from the Main Event after reaching there,” said Purohit.

Nonetheless, an international series like the EPT is bound to draw in some of the big names of global poker, making the fields extremely competitive. So, how are our challengers preparing themselves for the upcoming poker festival?

Ved has been watching Run It Once, while Sengupta has been dedicatedly following the guidelines formulated by his mentor, PokerStars Team pro Aditya Agarwal and reviewing hand histories. Ray too has been attending sessions with Agarwal and watching training videos.

Purohit said that he had been practicing by playing more live tournaments. In fact, he recently posted a score at the second edition of the Deltin Poker Tournament Xpress (DPTX) Sikkim where he finished seventh in the ₹5K Burn N Turn event ₹34,900.

Anant Purohit
Anant Purohit

Perhaps the most accomplished player of the lot would be Sushant who has been on a roll since last year. India’s first WSOP bracelet winner also added a WPT title to his list of achievement last year when he took down the ₹20K Kickoff NLHE for ₹9.35 Lakhs late last year in Goa. Since then he has gone on to add several more scores to his name including two final table finishes in the APT Philippines, Manila and he even won the A$330 NLHE Weekly Wednesday event at 2019 The Star Casino Recurring Tournaments, Sydney for A$11,423 (₹5.77 Lakhs).

Aditya Sushant
Aditya Sushant

When asked how he was preparing for EPT Sochi, India’s poster boy for poker aptly responded, “Just relaxing. Been traveling a lot recently.”

2019 EPT Sochi is expected to run from March 20 – 29, and though Sushant and Ved will most likely head home after the series, Sengupta and Ray will be off to explore the beautiful cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow.

 

2018 EPT Sochi & the Upcoming Series

The inaugural EPT Sochi stop ran its course from March 20-29, 2018 and consisted of a total of 12 events. While the ₽191,800 EPT Sochi Main Event was the star attraction with its ₽150,000,000 guaranteed prize pool, other events like the ₽77,000 buy-in EPT National also managed to pull in the big crowds.

The Main Event saw 861 players compete for the top prize which was eventually won by Arsenii Karmatckii for ₽27,300,000. The EPT National was taken down by Czech Republic’s Matous Houzvicek who outlasted 439 entries bagging ₽7,770,000 in prize money.

This year, the series is slated to run from March 20-29, with the ₽191,800 EPT Sochi Main Event kicking off on March 24 and ending on March 29. Featuring a ₽150,000,000 guaranteed prize pool, the Main Event will most definitely be the star attraction of the series; however, the ₽77,000 EPT National and ₽371,000 High Roller are also expected to pull in the big numbers. The EPT National is the series opener and will run from March 21-24. Running from March 27-29, the High Roller will be one of the last events to close out the series.

 

2019 European Poker Tour (EPT) Sochi Full Schedule

DateTimeEvent
Thu 21 Mar12:00 p.m.₽77,000 No Limit Hold’em EPT National Event Day 1A
7:00 p.m.₽77,000 No Limit Hold’em EPT National Event Day 1B
Fri 22 Mar12:00 p.m.₽77,000 No Limit Hold’em EPT National Event Day 1C
6:00 p.m.₽18,200 No Limit Hold’em Bounty
Sat 23 Mar12:00 p.m.EPT National Day 2
4:00 p.m.₽18,200 No Limit Hold’em Deepstack
Sun 24 Mar12:00 p.m.EPT National Final Day
12:00 p.m.₽191,800 No Limit Hold’em Main Event Day 1A
12:00 p.m.₽32,200 Pot Limit Omaha
12:30 p.m.Deepstack Final Day
Mon 25 Mar12:00 p.m.₽191,800 No Limit Hold’em Main Event Day 1B
7:00 p.m.₽191,800 No Limit Hold’em Main Event Day 1C
Tue 26 Mar12:00 p.m.Main Event Day 2
4:00 p.m.₽70,000 No Limit Hold’em
Wed 27 Mar12:00 p.m.Main Event Day 3
12:30 p.m.No Limit Hold’em Day 2
2:00 p.m.₽32,200 Pot Limit Omaha
4:00 p.m.₽371,000 No Limit Hold’em High Roller Day 1
6:00 p.m.₽18,200 No Limit Hold’em EPT Cup Day 1A
Thu 28 Mar12:00 p.m.Main Event Day 4
12:00 p.m.₽18,200 No Limit Hold’em EPT Cup Day 1B
2:00 p.m.High Roller Day 2
4:00 p.m.₽70,000 No Limit Hold’em Deepstack
8:00 p.m.₽18,200 No Limit Hold’em EPT Cup Day 1C
Fri 29 Mar12:00 p.m.Main Event Final Day
12:00 p.m.Deepstack Final Day
12:30 p.m.High Roller Final Day
2:00 p.m.EPT Cup Final Day
2:00 p.m.₽12,600 No Limit Hold’em
4:00 p.m.₽32,200 No Limit Hold’em

Besides the nail-biting action on the felts, there will be a lot of exciting things happening off the felts as well. All players attending EPT Sochi have the chance to meet the Team PokerStars Pros and can get involved in a bowling competition with free drinks and snacks from 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. on March 26.

Additionally, PokerStars will be giving away free players’ merchandise to all Main Event players and helping to arrange a wide range of tourist activities including the Doctor Frankenstein Escape Room, night skiing and snowboarding!

However, no poker festival is complete without a party and on March 23, from 11:00 p.m. onwards, there will be a player party with an open bar featuring Russian singer, television personality and fashion designer – Elena Temnikova!

Keep following PokerGuru for more exciting updates from the 2019 EPT Sochi!

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