Russia is known for producing a lot of great chess players. Some of the chess world's brightest minds have turned to poker in recent years for the oppurnity of making some serious cash, including Kontatnin Maslak - the winner of Event #13: $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo.
Maslak, a 30-year old chess grandmaster from Volgograd, Russia topped a field of 474 players to lay hands on his first gold bracelet and $269,612 - the biggest score of his poker career that started back in 2009.
"I am a chess grandmaster," Maslak said afterward. "But I saw my friends playing poker and decided to try it. I liked it, so I continued to play. I mostly play on the Internet."
This was his third cash at this year's WSOP. He finished in-the-money in The Colossus, and also min-cashed the $1,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low Split event.
Winner info:
Name: Konstantin Maslak
Birthplace: Volgograd (Russia)
Age: 30
Current Residence: Volgograd (Russia)
Marital Status: Married
Children: None
Profession: Poker Player and Sports Gambler
Number of WSOP Cashes: 8
Number of WSOP Final Table Appearances: 1
Number of WSOP Gold Bracelet Victories (with this tournament): 1
Best Previous WSOP Finish: 46th (2013)
Total WSOP Earnings: $309,070
Personal Facts: Chess Grandmaster who began playing poker in 2009
FUN FACTS:
The average player age in this event was 44.1 years, considerably higher than the WSOP tournament average by about seven years.
The gender breakdown was 458 males and 16 females.
There were 75 players from countries other than the U.S.
There were 31 first-time WSOP players in this event.
