On July 31, two weeks after our poker travel in Nevada I published a post with my august objectives. These objectives had mostly to do with online-grind. A difficult decision was taken to play a lot on the internet in the remaining part of the year and do theory, as poker live cannot be cold a job both in terms of permanent wages as well as settled way of life.

On the same evening when I was playing there were few tables and I was rambling through lobbies of different poker sites looking for some action. I saw a satellite on Millions Sochi by Partypoker (for those not aware, a satellite is a qualifying tournament where you get participation in a more expensive tournament as a prize). It's worth mentioning last year I visited that very festival liked it VERY much. This year I was struggling to decide whether to go to Sochi or to stay at home. And then I come across this satellite. An overlay one. (It means no guaranteed prize fund is raised. For example, organizers guarantee a prize pool of 5000 USD, participation costs 50 USD. So organizers have to get a minimum of 100 participants. Otherwise they'll have to add the remaining sum from their own pocket. Overlay is a rare thing in contemporary poker, but sometimes you can see it). I thought: I'll have a go on this sat. If I go through, I'll head for Sochi, if I fail I'll sit at home. And I did qualify! Just to sit and think afterwards: am I happy or am I not? Probably I wanted to stay at home more than to go. But then there was not any choice. To add to that, I was sure the series start round 10 August and I'll have a minimum one week to relax at home. But it turned out it all starts on 3rd and I have to fly in just one day. I had to buy tickets and book a hotel quickly.

But when I made my first step out of Adler airport I realized I had been a fool to hesitate. This was a big luck I won the sat and got a chance to be there. Although the mountains are in some distance, the air gives you a boost at once. As I live in the very downtown of Kiev with windows on a busy street, I miss fresh air.

The tournament itself is held at Krasnaya Polyana, a one-hour drive from Adler, in the village build for the recent Sochi Olympics. An amazingly beautiful casino is located in the former press-centre building.

I was accommodated at Gorky Gorod apartments. When we had been here for the first time we were favourably surprised by the rooms. It's clear everything was built not long ago, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had USSR-style décor with painted walls and flower tiles. But everything is in modest beige, a plasma-TV in every bedroom, expensive air conditioner, a big bed with a good mattress. And we pay just something like 40 USD per night (a two-bedroom apartment), which is manifold cheaper than in most budget European cities.

On the first day I headed for a tournament with a 1000 USD entry fee with a guarantee of 1 mln USD (you can count yourself how many supporters the organisers had planned to bring). It was a tournament with unlimited entries. If you loose, you just pay another 1000 USD and play on. And this option can be exercised until the end of late registration. I managed to go through on the second day with my third bullet. Before Day 2 there was a day-off. In a company of three we went to recharge our batteries with mountain energy. We went up to 1600 meters above the sea and faced a tie park. We took the next decision in just seconds.

It was great fun, we liked it very much. And mountain atmosphere helped a lot. Both of us moved on to Day three, and I took 38th place and 4500 USD of prize money. Pasha went as high as 25th!

There was a cool moment when I was not too far away from the prize zone. I moved in at triple preflop all-in against QQ and TT for a 15 mln bank and lost it (average stack was 8 mln by that time). I had just 2 mln and I dropped to the risk zone. I really could have finished without any prize money at the tournament. But instead of getting eliminated I beat those two, who won that move-in. And after that I got those 15 mln. Remarkably, a 1000 registrations were made at the tournament, exactly the amount the organizers needed to raise 1 mln USD. A coincidence? Yes, it is) In the main tournament I won a huge dealing and finished Day 1 as a chip leader with 5 mln chops. Before the start of Day 2 we were sitting with my friends at a hookah bar and discussed the upcoming day. Many of them were amazed at the stack I was going to start the next day. I reasonably answered it did not matter at that moment and there was still a long way to go to real money. The next day I can get Dima Yurasov (who had made more than myself on day 1 and was sitting next to me during this chat), and he can easily grab all my chips in a couple of dealings. And imagine our faces, when we learnt we would start Day to at the same table. 52 tables, more than 400 players, and we were drawn at the same table! Coincidence? Of course it was. Day 2 was really hard. Apart from Yurasov there were a couple of skilled professionals. Amateurs could not keep pace at the table. Nevertheless I finished Day 2 with a comfortable stack of 8 mln chips.

On Day 3 I was drawn at the same table with Tolya Filatov, Partypoker ambassador. He had about 8 mln like me, and a against on me, which he used well. Unfortunately I lost key dealing to him and he turned out to be table chipleader before the bubble, and I had a smaller stack. Bubble is, for example, there are 100 persons in prize zone, and 105 in the game. The 5 top-eliminates will not get anything. This is why everyone plays really accurately, and big stacks are on the contrary aggressive and make even bigger stakes on the bubble. For the first time in my life I did this bubble. When just 121 persons remained in the game (just 1 away from prizes), Kostya Puchkov, a legend of Russian poker, had a AK, and I received QQ, best hand stood. Believe it or not, but despite I had more chips and that moment all of us entered prize zone, it was not a pleasing moment for me to eliminate Kostya. As a result 60 players moved to Day 4, I had almost 10 mln while an average stack equaled 15 mln.

Unfortunately, Day 4 started badly and I was eliminated as 46th. I did not manage to improve my last year record (18th place). And Tolya Filatov won the tournament and received 886K USD…

Although I was frustrated I made it far at both tournaments, but was eliminated shortly before serious money was at stake, I was very happy with the trip. Sochi poker stage is gradually becoming my favourite and will probably become a habit. That would be great to come here in winter to combine poker and alpine skiing — this would be an ideal combination.

Those who want to try themselves in live poker, just know that Sochi is ideal for that! Be brave!