World Poker Tour Online Poker
While major live poker events are on a hiatus almost everywhere, a few selected festivals are still going ahead. One such event was the 2021 WPT Russia, which ran from February 19 to 28 at Casino Sochi.
The festival was hosted in cooperation with partypoker LIVE and concluded this past weekend.
- We’d Love To Hear From You! PLEASE NOTE: The contact form below is NOT for online poker game support. If your inquiry is related to customer support for ClubWPT.com, please click here for more.
- ClubWPT™ is the official subscription online poker game of the World Poker Tour®. VIP and Diamond users pay a monthly subscription fee for exclusive access to member benefits including full episodes.
Enjoy playing poker online at the official website of the World Poker Tour® FREE for 14 days. for and a chance to win $100,000 in cash & prizes each month, including a televised WPT® Main Event seat VIP. WPT Enterprises, Inc., is the creator of the World Poker Tour® (WPT®) – the premier name in internationally televised gaming and entertainment with brand presence in land-based tournaments. PlayWPT - Play Free Texas Holdem Poker by the World Poker Tour.
With travel restrictions during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic still in place, the fields in each of the trophy events consisted almost entirely of players from Russia.
It was the first major live poker festival on European soil in 2021. However, more well-known operators are expected to make a decision about their activities in the months to come.
The festival itself ran without a hitch, albeit with no presence of WPT or partypoker LIVE international staff at the venue.
“The coordination of all the teams at Casino Sochi, partypoker LIVE, and WPT created a unique model for this festival and despite the challenges of working remotely with the time difference, everything went very smoothly,” Hermance Blum, WPT Vice President Europe, told PRO.
The World Poker Tour Montreal Online $3,200 buy-in main event featured a $2,000,000 guarantee. A total of 888 entries were made during the two starting flights, creating a final prize pool of $2,664,000 that was paid out among the top 133 finishers. The lion’s share of that money ultimately went to the United Kingdom’s Jack Hardcastle, who emerged victorious with his first WPT main tour title and the top prize of $447,859.
This is the largest recorded score of Hardcastle’s career, beating out the $130,000 he took home as the seventh-place finisher in the 2020 MILLIONS UK $10,300 buy-in main event. He also took down the WPT UK ‘Opener’ $550 buy-in event back in the fall of 2019 for another $100,000.
The final table was set in this event after three days of action, with American high roller Dan Shak sitting atop the leaderboard. Three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Upeshka De Silva was the first to be eliminated. He got all-in with A-K offsuit and was called by the AK of Rayan Chamas. The board brought three clubs to give his opponent a flush and De Silva hit the virtual rail with $37,024. This was yet another brutal finish for De Silva in a major event, after having been disqualified from the 2020 WSOP main event ‘Domestic Tournament’ after testing positive for COVID-19 the day before he was set to play at the final table.
Marcel Kunze was the next to fall, with his A-J running into the A-K of Andrei Kriazhev. He took home $46,685 as the eighth-place finisher. Jakob Miegel’s run in this event came to an end at the hands of Hardcastle. Miegel got the last of his stack in with A3 and Hardcastle called with AK. Neither player improved by the river and Hardcastle’s superior high cards were enough to take down the pot. Miegel was awarded $58,650 for his seventh-place showing.
Hardcastle secured his second knockout of the day by picking up pocket kings after Charles Chattha had shoved with K-Q suited. The big pair held up and Chattha was eliminated in sixth place ($74,119).
Download World Poker Tour
Shak found a fortunate runout after being on the wrong side of a preflop cooler to set up the next bustout. He got all-in with AK against the AA of Kriazhev. The board brought three spades to give Shak the flush and the pot. Kriazhev was left on fumes and eliminated shortly after in fifth place. He earned $95,672 for his deep run.
The next big pot saw Felix Schulze call all-in on a J105 flop in a three-bet pot with AJ and was ahead of Chamas’ K10. The 4 on the turn kept Schulze ahead, but the K on the river gave Chamas a winning two pair to send Schulze packing in fourth place ($139,164).
With that Chamas edged out Hardcastle to take a slight lead into three-handed play. Hardcastle regained the top spot soon by picking off a multi-street bluff from Shak, though. The American was left short and was soon all-in, calling for his tournament life with KJ from the big blind. The A5 of Hardcastle improved to a pair of of fives by the river, which was enough to eliminate Shak in third place ($212,459).
World Poker Tour Online
Hardcastle took nearly a 2:1 chip lead into heads-up play against Chamas, who managed to mount an early comeback effort. Hardcastle rebuilt his lead by the time the final hand was dealt, though. Chamas min-raised from the small blind with J3 and Hardcastle called holding 98. The flop came down A97 and Hardcastle check-called a bet of 3,396,600. The turn brought the K and Hardcastle again check-called, this time to the tune of 5,520,871. The 8 on the river prompted yet another check from Hardcastle. Chamas had just jack high for showdown value, and less than a pot-sized bet left in his stack. He moved all-in for 20,797,515 and Hardcastle made the call with his rivered two pair to secure the pot and the title. Chamas earned $308,703 as the runner-up finisher.
Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:
Place | Player | Earnings |
1 | Jack Hardcastle | $447,859 |
2 | Rayan Chamas | $308,703 |
3 | Dan Shak | $212,459 |
4 | Felix Schulze | $139,164 |
5 | Andrei Kriazhev | $95,673 |
6 | Charles Chattha | $74,119 |
7 | Jakob Miegel | $58,650 |
8 | Marcel Kunze | $46,685 |
9 | Upeshka De Silva | $37,024 |
Winner photo credit: partypoker LIVE.