Ah. So that was you ! We ve played together a little bit on day2.

Thanks Ilya it was nice to meet you too and GG.

I was very impressed with this event. Of course it would have been nice to win tho! I am glad I got the opportunity to come and I will advise any one who wants to come play in any future russian tournaments not to have fears or qualms about it at all.
Pros-
- The dealers and floor staff were all exceptional. Very surprisingly the best and most professional dealers as a whole I have had in any major tournament. Better than either PCA, WPT foxwoods events, ept dublin or any wsop events I have played. They seemed to be "locked in", never losing concentration, making mistakes or missing any action while also dealing/collecting antes at a solid pace.

- This hotel is top notch, one of the nicest aesthetically I have stayed at

-The field was about as soft as you can get for a 7k buy in, no offense ment to any of the russian players as some are very good but as big buy in tournaments such as the wpt have been around in the US for awhile now they simply dont draw as many casual player/players that shouldnt be playing them as they used to.

-The language barrier is not severe for the most part, id estimate about half of the russians who were part of the tournament staff of players spoke and understood enough english.

Cons (not really many but a few comments of note/suggestions to future players)

-I wish I had arrived a day earlier as the travel/time change is brutal and I never got over serious jetlag. I was unable to sleep more than 3-4 hours a night while then feeling awful/exhausted every day i was in the mtt.

-The only time language was a problem for me was when a player put a single large chip into the pot and said something in russian, I wouldnt know if he was calling or raising and if so what to. About half the dealers spoke english so they could tell me but if not I would have to rely on having an english speaking player at the table tell me. There was one other time when I went to 750 on a turn bvb by betting a 1k chip and 2 25 chips while first looking at the dealer and saying "bet 750". I was in the 1 seat and got an instant nod of confirmation from the dealer before i put any chips into the pot. Before i could really react though, my opponent called by also putting in 1050 and the dealer burnt and turned without making change, apparently he didnt understand what i said when i said bet 750 and he nodded. After some brief confusion and me trying to correct the situation along with confirmation from a Russian who spoke english at my table neither the dealer or my opponent objected to giving us each our 300 in change. While that was well and good, after making a semi scene to bet 300 less than my opponent was willing to call on the turn I of course could not 3 barrel the river with my air (I wouldnt have in this particular spot anyways). In summery, it would be a good idea to learn at least a little russian before coming here but not absolutely necessary.

ha, cool. Who were you?

He was Ivan Demidov ) - the former "hottest player on the planet" according to Chad and McEachern.

Today he will take down this baby

ha, i played my worst hand of the tournament vs you where I made a dumb turn bet then then bluffed a scare card river vs you after you had checked the 10s8s3x flop after opening the button. oh wells

good luck today!

Busted 6th. Played with almost no mistakes, but lost 3 allins in a row and ran bad overall. Still a good showing, but feeling like you have zero control over outcome sucks tbh.

I received the bank deposit today and am sending out to everyone now. PM me if I missed anyone.

Also, I may be selling a piece my Main event action for about 1.2-1 or so, ill let you know

Thanks Again!