The European Poker Tour (EPT) returned last week after owner PokerStars decided to scrap the new name of the series, PokerStars Championships, that was introduced in 2016.
Russian poker pro Aresniy Karmatskiy became the first champion of the new era of the EPT after having bested a field of 861 runners in the $3,300 buy-in EPT Sochi Main Event.
Karmatskiy received $475,000 in prize money and a PokerStars Platinum Pass which gives him an all-expenses-paid entry to the $25,000 PokerStars Players Championship, a $25,000 buy-in event to debut at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in 2019
"I've never played a $25,000 tournament," Karmatskiy said. "It's going to be a great experience to play such a big tournament. I know the level of poker will be much higher in the Bahamas, but winning an EPT was a good warm up."
According to PokerStars blog, Karmatskiy has only played professionally for one year and he has more than $2 million in online winnings, including a Super Tuesday win. His live tournament earnings are about $825k thanks to his win of the EPT Sochi Main Event!
Final table results (name, country, prize money):
1 Arseniy Karmatskiy Russia 27,300,000 ₽
2 Viktor Shegai Russia 16,560,000 ₽
3 Ernest Shakaryan Russia 11,688,000 ₽
4 Vahe Martiroysyan Armenia 8,766,000 ₽
5 Mikhail Kovalyuk Russia 6,923,280 ₽
6 Sergey Kerzhakov Russia 5,190,000 ₽
7 Andrey Kaygorodsev Russia 3,648,180 ₽