Ivan Soshnikov, a young poker pro from Russia, triumphed in a fast and furious European Poker Tour High Roller live tournament in Prague this week in which 176 talented players each ponied up $10,000 to enter.
Soshnikov’s chances of victory didn’t look that good when the final table was reached; he was the low-stack man facing a tough series of opponents that included Olivier Busquet; Dmitry Yurasov; Thomas Muhlocker; Mike “Timex” McDonald; Andy Seth; Vanessa Selbst; Max Heinzelmann; Jeff Rossiter and Oleksii Khoroshenin.
However, after just six levels of play, it was Oliver Busquet and Soshnikov who faced each other in the heads up when Dmitry Yurasov was despatched by his Russian countryman in third for Euro 177,500.
That left Soshnikov with a massive chip lead over Busquet, and in the next two hands it was all over.
The Russian leveraged his advantage to the full to bundle Busquet out in second for Euro 257,850 before claiming the honours and the first prize cash of Euro 382,050.