Home / Poker News January 2009 / PokerStars moving to conquer uncharted territory
PokerStars moving to conquer uncharted territory
Posted by: James Carter. - Sat, 2009-01-03 05:35
The abundance of Russian players in all sorts of high profile live international events like the EPT and even the WSOP, as well as the fact that Russia had declared poker a sport some time ago, have definitely attracted PokerStars’ attention. As you probably know,
PokerStars is the main sponsor of the overwhelming majority of live poker events world-wide. They are behind the EPT, the APPT and the LAPT and now they plan to take Mother Russia by assault through the RPT (Russian Poker Tour) that is rumored to be launched soon.
The Russian contingent currently sailing the international seas of live poker events is by no means a modest one. The fact that so many Russian players are in the top echelon of international poker events hints to the coming of age of poker in Russia and to the enormous popularity it enjoys in that country.
A slow shift in poker-power relations is also noticeable, most probably as a direct consequence of the above mentioned decision by Russian lawmakers to label poker as a sport rather than a game of chance.
Some of the biggest current Russian poker players are Ivan Demidov (finished 2nd in the 2008 WSOP’s Big Dance), Alexander Kostritsin, Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Kerill Gerasimov. Most of these players are young, up-and coming talents, a clear indication of where the power balance of poker will tilt in the future.
The RPT is rumored to take place between January 25th February 1st 2009 and it will include one $5,000 buy-in event in St Petersburg and a massive $10,000 buy-in one at Moscow. Of course, if these two events prove successful enough, and there will be additional interest in the country, it is not excluded that other Russian towns get their own RPT event too.
The $10,000 buy-in of the Moscow event rivals that of the WSOP’s Main Event, and will in time turn the RPT event into a direct challenger of the WSOP Big Dance. Whether the number of registrants will reach that of the WPSOP Main Event is probably only a question of time. Look for online qualifiers offered by PokerStars.
