This weekend in Kyiv, Ukraine, 123 players sat down for the Main Event and played for the $220,720 prize pool. Some of the biggest names in Russian poker showed up to play, including Alex Kravchenko, Ivan Demidov, Alexander Dovzhenko, WCOOP bracelet winner Vadim Markushevsky, and ET Kyiv champion Maxim Lykov.

On the fourth day of play, the final table players worked their way through an eleven hours battle and down to a dead even heads-up battle between Vadim Markushevsky and Vadim Kursevich. Rather than fight a protracted battle, both players moved all-in on the first hand of play. Markushevsky held ace-seven to Kursevich's king-queen. Kursevich spiked two pair on the flop and held on to win the championship.

Kursevich walked away with the $63,123 first prize, well enough to buy him into the next event on the tour. That tournament will find RPT players headed south to Egypt to play in the Sharm El Shaikh event in two weeks.

Congratulations to Kursevich, and good luck to all the players in Egypt.

His win, good for 14,323,000 rubles - that's about $445,000 - was no fluke: he has a pedigree record of his own having won a WSOP bracelet last summer in the 1,500 No Limit Hold'em event. And he used his undoubted talents to go from second last in chips yesterday to champion of the $7,000 buy-in RPT Moscow.

Final table play started tightly, but then the first elimination was PokerStars qualifier Evgeny Onishuk. He raised from middle position with [7s] [6s] and was re-raised by Demidov from the button. Onishuk called and they say a flop of 9-7-4, giving Onishuk middle pair. He check called Demidov's 70,000 bet but the Team Pro had a pair of kings and the 4 turn and 6 river changed nothing.

Eighth place went to Kravchenko who had moved all in against four opponents, trying to collect some easy chips. Three of them folded, but Vitaly Lunkin decided to look him up, perhaps not surprisingly as he had [jc][jh] - enough against the Team Pro's [7s][4h].

Next out was Dmitry Vitkind, who pushed with [ac][7h] but ran into Lunkin's [as][9s]. The board of [10d][5d][6d][9d][3c] doing the damage. Demidov went in sixth, first losing a big pot to Alexander Khoustov and then leaving when his [Ac][7d] failed to overtake Sergey Artamonov's pocket nines.

At this stage players took a 30-minute break, and then it took a full two hours before the fifth place was determined when Artamonov was busted by Lunkin when his [10c][10h] failed to hold against [ah][js]. Lunkin was at it again soon after, knocking out Oleg Shamardin, who had held the chip lead earlier in the tournament. Lunkin's [Qd][Qc] was too good for Shamardin's [Ac][5c].

It took another hour to lose the third-place finisher, Khaustov, who moved all in with [as][6s] and was called - not surprisingly - by Lunkin who had [9c][9d].

Tournament Director Thomas Kremser introduced the final two to the audience, and with blinds at 20,000-40,000 it was always going to be a brief heads-up seeing as Lunkin had 2,790,000 chips to Vyacheslav Goryachev's 310,000. Indeed, just minutes later Goryachev moved all-in with [ad][6c] and was called by Lunkin who once again found a hand at the right time with pocket tens. The board came [Qd][8d][6h][4c][8s] and Vitaly Lunkin became Champion of RPT Moscow.

Final table payouts (in rubles):

1. Vitaly Lunkin, 14,323,000
2. Vyacheslav Goryachev, 7,877,000
3. Alexander Khoustov, 4,028,000
4. Oleg Shamardin, 3,133,000
5. Sergey Artamonov, 2,685,000
6. Ivan Demidov, Team PokerStars Pro 2,238,000
7. Dmitry Vitkind, 1,790,000
8. Alex Kravchenko, Team PokerStars Pro, 1,342,000
9. Evgeny Onishuk, 895,000

What's all that got to do with the RPT in Moscow? Well it just so happens that this year's Eurovision showpiece was held last night in a huge concert venue just down the road from our poker tournament - Norway won, by the way - yet despite that distraction, the poker provided enough thrills and spills of its own to keep everyone enthralled.

While the Russian entry did not fare so well in the Eurovision, its poker players were on fire in the RPT, where they'll make up all nine of the final table! Among them are Team PokerStars Pros Ivan Demidov, who final tabled last year's WSOP Main Event, and Alexander Kravchenko, who came fourth in the same event a year earlier.

Final table seats and chips:
Seat 1: Artamonov Sergey - 375,500 chips
Seat 2: Vitkind Dmitriy - 115,500
Seat 3: Ewgeny Onischuk - 347,000
Seat 4: Goryachev Vyacheslav - 310,500
Seat 5: Demidov Ivan - 425,000
Seat 6: Kravchenko Alexander - 173,500
Seat 7: Shamаrdin Oleg - 805,000
Seat 8: Khaustov Alexander - 288,000
Seat 9: Lunkin Vtaliy - 255,000

Day three had seen 36 players come back to play down to the final table of nine, and under the expert stewardship of tournament director Thomas Kremser, there was enough play to ensure all players had a chance to showcase their skills over nine hours. There were still a rush of early eliminations, with Vitaly Lee, Ilya Burtsev, Kirill Gerasimov, then Alexander Panov picking up their coats. With 27 places paid, the last to leave with nothing was bubble boy Alexey Maslov.

Alsp spare a thought for Sergey "gipsy" Rybachenko - chip leader earlier in the event - who went out in 27th, at least with a little cash to show for his efforts. He was eliminated by Oleg Shamardin on a 8-9-J-7-J board - a ten for Rybachenko (for the straight) no good against Shamardin's J-9 for a full house.

Shamardin continued his momentum to take a chip lead into the final table with 805,000. Team Pros Kravchenko with 173,500 and Demidov, who was down to the felt at one stage but rallied to 425,000, will have him in their sights as they hunt down the first prize of 14,323,000 rubles - that's about $445,000.

We'll have a final table report for you later tonight or early tomorrow, depending on how long the final lasts. If you can read Russian, or just want to try and understand what is going on from pictures and using an online translation tool, then head over to the Russian PokerStars Blog, where our man Pavel Sychev is doing a grand job updating the masses. Warning: letters look very odd.

Russians Ivan Demidov, final tablist at last year's World Series of Poker, and Alex Kravchenko both made it through the day and into the last 36. While Kravchenko was never huge in chips, he did accumulate steadily and ended with 83,500, while Demidov flirted with 170,000.

With 122 sitting down at the start of play (more than half of the 206 starters in the $7,000 event), it seemed there was a rush for the exit as it took only eight hours to rattle through the field to the required 36, who will be back on day three to play down to a final table.

Among those falling were Team Pros Chad Brown and Katja Thater - the latter unlucky when her K-K was outdrawn by A-Q which made a wheel straight on the river. Ouch. Also exiting was Oleg Suntsov, who won the first RPT event in St Petersburg earlier in the year.

Full coverage of RPT Moscow is happening over on our Russian PokerStars Blog, where blogger Pavel Sychev is bringing you all the news and pics. You can look at those even if you can't read a word of Russian.

We'll report back here tomorrow (Sun) on who made it to the final table - and whether a Russian member of Team PokerStars Pro will still be hunting down the RPT Moscow crown, which comes with a very attractive 14,323,000 rubles first prize - that's about $445,000 to you and me.

The RPT was an instant success, and it looks like the second and final event of the first season, in the capital Moscow with a $7,000 buy-in, will be even better. Some 206 players sat down for Day 1 yesterday, enough for the organisers to tag an extra day on to the event to ensure a steady and fair structure. PokerStars qualifiers were joined by a formidable selection of Team PokerStars Pro, include local favourites Alex Kravchenko and Ivan Demidov, and Katja Thater and Chad Brown.

Only Vanessa Rousso, still on a high from winning the EPT Monte Carlo €25K High Roller event, failed to make it through to today's Day 2. The two Russians (Demidov is big in chips), Brown and Thater fared better and will be back at the felt today. Overnight chip leader was Sergey "gipsy" Rybachenko, who managed to turn his 15,000 starting stack into a healthy 76,000. Of the 206 starters, 122 made it through the day.

How's your Russian? If it's better than ours - and that wouldn't be difficult - then you can catch up on the latest news from our colleague Pavel Sychev over on the Russian PokerStars Blog. If you can't read Russian, you can still take a look and marvel at the weird letters - and enjoy the pictures, of course.

Oleg Suntsov was in just this sticky spot yesterday, starting the final table of the inaugural Russian Poker Tour event in St Petersburg so behind the pack he was in danger of being cast adrift.

In fact, so short was he that his 64,000 chip stack needed to double, double again - and then yet again before he could get up to the dizzy heights of chip leader Dimitru Gaina, from Moldova, who had more than 500,000 in front of him.

Yet Oleg had been chip leader after day one, a fact that implied he would not have been content to sit back at the final table in order to cash a bit extra to add to his bankroll.

And so it proved: he wanted the win, and he wanted it bad. Hours, and eight defeated players later, he had got his prize - the big prize of more than 10 million Russian rubles. That's about $300,000 to you and I.

Impressive stuff, then, from the young Russian, who is a regular player on the tournament scene in his home city of St Petersburg.

This was a fine destination to kick off the PokerStars-sponsored Russian Poker Tour. In total, 201 players forked out $5,000 to play - way above expectations - including PokerStars qualifiers, Team PokerStars Pros Alex Kravchenko and Vanessa Rousso, and Ivan Demidov, the PokerStars-sponsored player who final tabled the WSOP Main Event just months ago.

Such was the interest that esteemed tournament director Thomas Kremser and his staff ran a list of alternates in order to squeeze everyone in.

Here's how the final table looked when they sat down:

1. Dimitru Gaina, Moldova, 501,000
2. Sergey Popuk, Russian, 302,000
3. Sergey Solntsev, Russia, 256,000
4. Vadim Markushevsky, Belarus, 256,000
5. Anatoly Ozhenilok, Russia, 203,000
6. Bulat Bikmetov, Russia, 181,000
7. Evgeny Zaytsev, Russia, 178,000
8. Alexander Pantukhin, Russia, 76,000
9. Oleg Suntsov, Russia, 64,000

First out of the door was Evgeny Zaytsev. He pushed all-in with J-J against Bikmetov's Q-Q, but neither of his two outs arrived to save him.

Soon after, Suntsov got the first of his necessary double ups - against chip leader Gaina. Gaina then completed his riches-to-rags story when he busted, pushing with an open-ended straight draw but running into Vadim Markushevsky's nut flush draw, which filled up on the river.

Out in seventh place was Ozhenilok, unluckily with As-Ks against Bikmetov's Q-8. The flop was 8s-4s-9x giving Bikmetov the pair, but Ozhenilok the nut flush draw. The turn, Qs, filled his flush and put Bikmetov behind with two pair - but the river was another 8, filling Bikmetov's full house.

Next out - and also very unluckily - was Sergey Popuk, who must have thought his A-A was safe against Alex Pantukhin's K-Q. Nope! The board came K-Q-5-8-7 and Popuk was collecting his coat.

Out in fifth was Bikmetov, who ran his A-8 into Markushevsky's A-J (the turn was a jack and so, in one of those completely unnecessary moments, was the river!). Markushevsky then dominated for a period - and got lucky to eliminate Solnstev in fourth place, calling with A-5 against 8-8, and waiting until the river to see an ace win him the hand.

It was that man Markushevsky again who accounted for the third-place finisher, Pantukhin. This time Markushevsky called with Q-J to 7-7 - and hit a jack on the flop.

Suntsov had been quieter while Markushevsky was on his wrecking-ball run, but he had still moved up to 800,000 when the pair got to heads-up - not far short of Markushevsky's 1.2 million.

Suntsov picked up a few small pots to edge himself into the chip lead and then, as so often happens, one sledgehammer hand finished the three-day tournament off.

Markushevsky raised to 60,000, Suntsov called. The flop came 6-9-3, and both players parted with another 100,000. On the turn - a five - Suntsov bet 220,000, Markushevsky moved all in... call! Markushevsky had K-9, Suntsov the dominating Q-Q, and the harmless two on the river meant Suntsov took the crown.

The event had been a great success, and next the RPT moves to Moscow, where the main event starts on February 25.

If St Petersburg was anything to go by, it should be a cracker.

For fuller coverage of the St Petersburg event, you'll have to learn to read Russian. Once you've done that, head over to our Russian blog, and enjoy.

But for now, you may be content with a parting picture of the city...

1. Dumitru Gaina, Moldova, 501,000. The young player is determined to seize his chip lead and turn his PokerStars satellite win into a bumper, $300,000 pay day.

2. Sergei Popyuk, Russia, 302,000. Sergei, a former military pilot from Arkhangelsk, may be seen as a tight player, but his image obviously worked as he shot down his opponents to reach the final table comfortable in chips.

3. Sergei Solntsev, Russia, 256,000. Sergei is playing in his home city and looking to keep the trophy on home soil.

4. Vadim Markushevsky, Belarus, 256,000. Vadim plays like an online poker warrior - fearlessly entering many pots, and nearly always as the aggressor. What's impressed many, however, has been his ability to read his opponents.

5. Anatoly Ozhenilok, Russia, 203,000. Another player from St Petersburg, Ozhenilok is actually a cash game specialist. But he's proved here he has quite a tournament game as well, and is looking to get his year off to a flyer.

6. Bulat Bikmetov, Russia, 181,000. Strong and aggressive, but he recognises he has his work cut out here if he is going to lift the trophy.

7. Evgeny Zaytsev, Russia, 178,000.

8. Alexander Pantyuhin, Russia, 76,000. Alex, from Kaliningrad, won a satellite to this event, but was not going to play the main event until his friends persuaded him. Now he's in for a shout at a $300,000 title! But he has a mountain to climb as one of the shorter stacks.

9. Oleg Suntsov, Russia, 64,000. Oleg, who regularly plays tournaments in his home city of St Petersburg, was chip leader after day one, and has made it all the way though to the final table, albeit as the short stack.

There's blow-by-blow coverage of the final right now over at our Russian PokerStars blog. Warning! Strange, unreadable language! Instead, you may prefer to wait for the English version of the tournament result on this page.

Such was the case for Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko yesterday. He'd been comfortable enough in day two of the debut Russian Poker Tour event in St Petersburg, and was looking to make a deep run into the money, which started in 18th place (201 entries).

With 19 still in with a shout, and with 50,000 chips behind him, the home favourite moved all in confidently with A-A when chess player Alex Grishuk pushed with what turned out to be a rather feeble A-2.

The double up would make Kravchenko, a former WSOP Main Event final tablist, a force to be reckoned with. But wait! A two on the flop, and another falling devastatingly on the river was enough to send Kravchenko to the rail in 19th place - just one off the money.

Grishuk's slice of luck did not last, though. Just a short while later he got all his chips in with 10-10 and was busted by Vadim Markushevsky's A-K when the king fell on the river.

That gave Markushevsky the momentum to last the day and reach today's final table of nine players, where Dumitru Gaina from Moldova will lead the pack chasing the 10,600,000 rubles first price (about $300,000):

1. Dumitru Gaina, Kishinev, Moldova - 501,000
2. Sergey Popuk, Arkhangelsk, Russia - 302,000
3. Sergey Solntsev, St. Petersburg, Russia - 256,000
4. Vadim Markushevsky, Minsk, Belarus - 256,000
5. Anatoly Ozhenilok, St. Petersburg, Russia - 203,000
6. Bulat Bikmetov, Novokuznetsk, Russia - 181,000
7. Evgeny Zaytsev, Lubertsy, Russia - 178,000
8. Alex Pantuhin, Kaliningrad, Russia - 76,000
9. Oleg Suntsov , St. Petersburg, Russia - 64,000

It had taken 90 minutes to burst the final table bubble, so spare a thought for Mark Vronsky, who pushed with pocket nines but ran into a mighty - and ultimately - conquering J-Q.

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso started day two but was unable to make things happen with her short stack of little more than 10,000. She pushed with an ace, was called by Q-7, and a seven on the board was enough to eliminate her. She was gracious in defeat, though, and offered a "good luck" in Russian to everyone at the table. PokerStars sponsored player Ivan Demidov also fell early in the day in 39th place.

Today's final kicks off at 3pm local time. If you can decipher Russian - and let's face it, it's easy enough... NOT! - you can follow the action with Pavel Sychev, our Russian blogger right here. If you can not understand a word of it, don't worry - we'll report on the progress on these esteemed pages later!

When PokerStars sponsored the Russian Poker Tour, it did so in the belief that this new series of events would be a popular addition to the poker calendar. Sure enough, as the tour kicked off in St Petersburg this week, it became clear that the confidence was well placed.

Side events were well attended, and the main event, which kicked off at 3pm local time last night, exceeded all expectations by attracting 201 players, each paying $5,000 for the chance to take down the first RPT title.

Among them were a merry band of PokerStars qualifiers, two members of Team PokerStars Pro - Vanessa Rousso and local favourite Alex Kravchenko - plus PokerStars sponsored player Ivan Demidov, the Russian who made the final table of the 2008 WSOP Main Event in November.

The size of the field took organisers by surprise, with tournament director Thomas Kremser agreeing to move to a ten-handed format at the start of play in order to fit everyone in. Even then there was a list of alternates waiting for their chance to join the action.

But with many bust outs in the early levels, they soon got to sit down. Early fallers were popular Russians Sergey Rybachenko and Alexander Kostritsyn, who would not add to his $1.7 million in tournament cashes.

Kravchenko (33,000), Rousso (10,900) and Demidov (38,700) all made it through with 69 others to today's Day Two, when overnight chip leader Oleg Suntsov will return with an 85,600 chip mountain to lead the charge to the final table.

If you can read Russian, or even if you can't but have a penchant for words that make no sense all, then you can try and follow the action as it happens over at PokerStars' Russian blog. The prize payouts can be found here, and we'll put up the offical list of overnight chip counts just as soon as we have them.

PokerStars has just introduced the Russian Poker Tour. The RPT already has its sights set on Moscow and St. Petersburg and it's going to give you a chance to win your seat.

January 25-February 1, PokerStars will host its first Russian Poker Tour event in St. Petersburg. A few weeks later, it's on to Moscow.

In recent years, we have seen some of the world's best players come out of Russia, most notably Team PokerStars Pro Alexander Kravchecnko and World Series runner up Ivan Demidov. As of this moment, the two men have won more money playing poker than any other Russians.

PokerStars has already kicked off satellites for the RPT. Winners get an $8,000 package that covers the buy-in, hotel, and travel cash. You can qualifiy for as little as $2.22 or 111 Frequent Player Points. You can find the satelllites under Events-Special in the PokerStars tournament lobby.

For more information, visit the Russian Poker Tour page at PokerStars.com.

See you in St. Petersburg!