Today, the Russian Poker Series announced it will hold its Grand Final in Kiev, Ukraine, May 11-20 at the famous Kreschatik Poker Club. The $3,000 buy-in event will boast a $750,000 guarantee.

Newly-appointed Russian Poker Series tournament director Artur Voskanyan said, "The Russian Poker Series is the richest and most prestigious poker tour in Russia and CIS, and I'm delighted to join a much-loved and well-run live tour. I believe that the series has considerable potential and I will do my utmost to further its development".

The Russian Poker Series final in Kiev will also feature a Ukrainian League event, a $600 buy-in main event with a $20,000 guarantee.

Once the Grand Final is complete, the tour will announce the Player of the Season. The winner will get a 2012 PCA prize package and a special Tag Heuer watch. Among the players vying for the top spot are EPT San Remo winner Andrei Pateychuk and Russian Team PokerStars Pro players Ivan Demidov and Alex Kravchenko.

For more information, see the Russian Poker Series website.

Kravchenko went in sixth place when he moved all-in from the button with [qc][jc] and got a call from Anton Ponomarey with [kh][kd]. The flop made a set of kings for Ponomarey but also gave Kravchenko a flush draw. No clubs on the turn or river ended his event, although the $29,500 prize money was a consolation.

Ponomarey went on to finish in third in the $2,500 buy-in event, leaving Prokhorov heads-up against Vadim Ostomaty. The final hand saw Ostomaty move in on a [8c][3c][jh] flop with 8-4, only to be called Prokhorov's pocket nines which went on to make a set on the turn. Ostomaty got $112,800 for his second place.

He had taken a large chip lead in the middle of the third day, and carried it through to the final where he wasted little time in dispatching some of the shorter-stacked players. After just a couple of hours, the final table had been halved and the remainder seemingly settled for an Ilyin win and set about beating each other up to try and clinch second.

When they eventually got to the heads-up stage at the Royal Casino and Spa and Hotel Resort, with Ilyin playing Sergei Pilyugin, the winner had a huge chip lead of more than 3.5 million chips. The final hand saw Pilyugin hit top pair, top kicker with [ac][qd] on a [qc][js][6c][2c] board - but that man Ilyin had two pairs, holding [2s][6s]. Pilyugin got €43,400 for his runner-up spot.

A note about Team PokerStars Pro Ivan Demidov, who finished fourth in Riga for €17,400, a second consecutive RPS final table that likely puts him at the top of the Russian Poker Series Leader Board.

In all, 121 players forked out €2,000 to play the Riga main event, a decent turnout considering it was slap bang in the middle of PokerStars SCOOP, and some players had already headed to Las Vegas for the early WSOP prelim events.

The next stop will be the Russian Poker Series will be in Odessa, with events running from August 14 through 21. Visit the Russian Poker Series website for more details about how you can take part.

On the last hand of the night, Shashkov raised preflop up to 250 000 chips, Gromov re-raised to 650,000. Shaskov quickly moved all-in and got the call.

Dmitry Gromov: [Th][Ts]
Denis Shashkov: [Ac][8h]

The board offered no help for Shashkov and he finished on a second place for $140,000. That left Gromov to collect the title.

The RPS Grand Final clocked in as the biggest poker tournament in the region. Nearly 300 players registered for the main event. The top 36 earned a piece of the $787 ,000 prize pool.

Meanwhile, Alexey Zharko won "Best Player of RPS Series" and Konstantin Puchkov was picked as "Player of the Year."

Congrats to Gromov for his championship win.

His heads-up opponent was Ernst Hermans from Netherlands, who took €62,000 for second. The final action saw Hermans shove with [Ah][Tc], called by Dollenz who tabled [Ac][9h]. The board ran [Qs][Td][Jd][8d][8h] giving Dollenz the straight.

RPS Sharm-El-Sheikh, the third stop on the PokerStars.net Russian Poker Series has been a success with a field of 212 players and a prize pool of €380,434. A total of 69 players won their seats to the event online by playing on PokerStars.

The next stop on the RPS is the Grand Final in Kiev from November 30 to December 6.

After three days of play, the Russian Poker Series event in Sharm-El-Sheikh Egypt is down to the final table.

Thirty-six players started on Day 3 and played well into Friday morning before reaching the final nine players. Among the notable players finishing in the money: Alexander Nudin: 19 place (€6800) and Evgeniy Agafonov: 12th place (€6800), the top-ranking PokerStars qualifier of the day.

Now it's time for the final table and the run for the €104,484 first prize. Tomorrow's championship battle is expected to last into the early hours of Saturday morning. Everyone left is guaranteed €87,00. Chip leader Rafael Arendt leads the field with an impressive 1,532,000 stack. His nearest competitor is Ricardas Vymeris with 925 000. Both players will face some strong competition, notably in the form of the experienced Ernst Hermans (PokerStars Qualifier) who will start the final table in 3rd place.

After nine hours of play, the field of 124 players that started Day 2 has been reduced to 36. Those runners now move on to Day 3 where most will make the money in Sharm-El-Sheikh.

Evgenij Agafonov from Russian Federation began the day with 64,725 chips. He rolled though Day 2 and finished as chip leader with 462,000.

Hot on Agafonov's heels in second place is Patrik Westlin from Sweden with 376,500. In third place is Jose Severino with a healthy stack of 321,100. Not too far behind are Alexander Nudin with 318,500 and Ernst Hermans with 282,500.

Day 2 also had its share of causalities with Vadim Markushevskiy and Angel Guillen finishing out of the money.

Tomorrow the 36 remaining players will play down to the money. The top 24 players will walk away with cash. The €380,434 prize pool up carries a €104,484 first prize that will be awarded in a couple of days.

Among the those sitting down today were Team PokerStars Pros Ivan Demidov, Maxim Likov, Vadim Markushevskiy, Jose Ignacio Barbero, and Angel Guillen. Each one of them began the day with a chance at the €104,484 first place prize.

When Day 1 ended, 124 players were left with chips. Vladislav Shuravin led the field with 179,725. Not far behind are Alexander Nudin with 139,500 and Filippo Oreto with 134,000.

Among the players still in contention are Team Pros Vadim Markushevskiy and Angel Guillen.

Day 2 may or may not see the money bubble pop at 24 players. In any case, three days of play remain before the RPS names its next champion.

The remaining 124 players return Wednesday for Day 2.

He beat a field of 183 players in the second leg of the debut RPS season, taking the lion's share of an impressive €328,393.50 prize pool.

Kuperman's heads-up opponent was PokerStars qualifier Murat Ganeev from Russia, who took €59,100 for his second place. The final action saw Ganeev shove all-in with K-10. He was called by Kuperman who tabled A-7.

Due to the televised nature of the final table the full board will not be revealed yet, but you can probably guess the result!

A total of 84 players won their seats to the event online by playing on PokerStars, and many more will be trying to do the same for the next RPS stop in Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt.

That event, which takes place between 31 October - 7 November, 2010, looks likely to be another cracker.

They're all already guaranteed €6,550, but that's peanuts up against the hefty €95,468.50 waiting for the winner in Latvia.

The final table was set after 36 players started out yesterday and broke through the money bubble. Players who cashed include Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko (€4,250) and EPT Deauville champion Jake Cody (€3,600).

You can follow the final table action today over on our sister Russian blog. We appreciate not many of you can read Russian, but Google translate will see you safely through the day.

Final table
Egorov Artur, 1,392,000
Joao Miguel Rosa Candeias, 1,027,000
Martin Meciar, 829,000
Yaroshevskiy Igor, 490,000
Ernesto Jimenez Estevez, 463,000
Alexander Kuperman, 363,000
Zaycev Evgeniy, 356,000
Ganeev Murat, 351,000
Rudenko Mikhail, 289,000

Miguel Candeias, from Spain, began the day with 81,325 chips and continued his surge through today's play and finished as chip leader on 522,900. In second is PokerStars qualifier Ernesto Jimenez Estevez, also from Spain, with 332,800. Hot on his heels in third is Toby Lewis from the United Kingdom with a healthy stack of 327,900. Lewis final tabled the PokerStars Italian Poker Tour event in Venice last week.

Other highly-placed players are EPT Deauville champion Jake Cody with 257,700 and Team PokerStars Pro Russia Alex Kravchenko with 159,600. Among the casualties was Day 1 overnight chip leader Nandor Solyom hitting the rail.

Now the 36 remaining players will come back to break through the money (21 are paid) and play down to a final table of eight. With a healthy €328,393.50 prize pool up for grabs and a €95,468.50 first prize, there's a lot to play for in Latvia. Using Google translate, you can keep up with the action as reported by Pavel Sychev over on our sister Russian blog.

Of the 110 players who made it safely through yesterday's Day 1, PokerStars qualifier Nandor-Csaba Solyom is chip leader with 222,500. Also in contention is Russian player Evgeniy Zaytsev on 142,500 and EPT Deauville champion Jake Cody from the UK with a respectable and above average 59,075.

Big names on Day 1 included Team PokerStars Pros Ivan Demidov, Alex Kravchenko and Vadim Markushevski. Kravchenko made it through and will take his seat for today's Day 2 with 42,353. 21 players will get paid.

You can follow the action over on our sister Russian blog, where Pavel Sychev is producing the goods for readers. If reading Russian is not one of your many qualifications, you can keep track by using Google translate.

The PokerStars Russian Poker Series welcomes the second event of its first season to Riga, the beautiful capital of Latvia, where the €1,850 main event begins tomorrow (Friday).

The tournament is being held in the Royal Casino Spa & Hotel Resort - one of the largest and most comfortable casinos in Latvia - and already 70 players from 25 countries have signed up, with many more poised to do so making this probably the biggest tournament ever held in Latvia.

All will be trying to repeat Kirill Telezkin's victory at the season's first event in Kyiv back in June, when he won $171,350.

You can follow the action from Riga over on our sister Russian blog, where Pavel Sychev will be writing in characters and words that we'll never understand. Fear not, however, as using Google translate will help us make sense of it all.

After four hard days, it was 18-year-old online player Kirill Telezkin who came out on top at the Kreschatyk Poker Club, taking home $171,350 and an entry into the PokerStars.net RPS Kiev Grand Final event.

The young Russian beat players from 20 different countries to the title, including tough opponents like Team PokerStars Pros Ivan Demidov (16th place) and Vadim Markushevski, as well as a member of Team PokerStars Online, Denis 'Diatty' Sherbakov (21st place). Nikolay Chorny from Ukraine finished second for $103,200.

The final, played under the lights of a TV set, produced some great poker and was largely a local affair. English PokerStars qualifier Steven Taylor was the exception. He busted in seventh place when his A-J failed to overtake his opponent's pocket queens. When asked if he found it difficult being the only non-Russian speaker at the table, he joked: "No, it doesn't bother me too much. Anyway, they understand me perfectly when I say 'all in'."

PokerStars Russian Poker Series Kiev Main Event results:
1. Kirill Telezkin (Russia) - $171,350
2. Nikolay Chorny (Ukraine) - $103,200
3. Andrey Guliy (Russia) - $75,700
4. Valery Ilikian (Russia) - $55,050
5. Mark Kitov (Russia) - $43,600
6. Shakhnovich Mikhail (Russia) - $34,400
7. Sergey Schipcov (Russia) - $27,150
8. Steven Taylor (Great Britain) - $20,600
9. Zharko Aleksey (Ukraine) - $15,100

If you read Russian, and it's really not that hard once you get the hang of it*, then you can head over to our sister Russian blog for more detailed RPS reports.

For more information about the Russian Poker Series and how you can get your seat at the next event, scheduled for Latvia in August, visit the RPS tour page.

* Of course I don't read Russian. Have you seen the letters they use?

Seat 1: Mikhail Shahnovich, Russia - 298,000 chips
Mikhail is a PokerStars player, winner of the PokerStars Sunday Million, frequent participant of big live events held by PokerStars (RPT, EPT). Mikhail managed to outstay most of the players and take a seat at the final table.

Seat 2: Sergey Shchiptsov, Russia - 400,000 chips
Experienced online player who doubled up two times in a row at the end of Day 3 and guaranteed himself place at the final table.

Seat 3: Nikolay Chorny - 2,003,000 chips
Strong offline player from Ukraine. He has vast experience in ring games and very good tournament results (he won one of the big side events of EPT Deauville and became champion of the first Championship of United Ukrainian Poker Sport Federation). He's played poker for more than 20 years.

Seat 4: Steven Taylor, UK - 725,000 chips
A young player from United Kingdom, who qualified for the RPS Main Event through a satellite on PokerStars. Today he has real chance of becoming the first non-Russian speaking Champion of the Russian Poker Series.

Seat 5: Kirill Telezhkin, Russia - 580,000 chips
In spite of his young age (18 years old), Kirill is a successful player and quite famous in the online poker community. His achievements include several cashes in online tournaments with total winnings of more than $50,000. Most of his opponents say that he's extremely good in understanding the game and prefers an aggressive style.

Seat 6: Valeriy Iliyakin, Russia - 1,624,000 chips
Valeriy is a legend of the Russian poker scene and one of the most interesting and emotional players of this final table. Iliyakin is well-known among Russia's professional players. He has a number of successful big tournaments in his records. He's one of the first Russian players who started to participate in world-class tournaments, including tournaments in the USA. For the moment his best result if 7th place in the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final.

Seat 7: Mark Kitov, Russia - 812,000 chips
Mark is a young and experienced player, who for long time specialized in online heads-up tournaments. During the last two years Mark took part in different big tournaments in Russia and abroad.

Seat 8: Andrey Guliy, Russia - 779,000 chips
Andrey is a player from Russia and he's well-known in Moscow's poker community. He's a specialist in ring games and plays at a high level.

Seat 9: Alexey Zharko, Ukraine - 515,000 chips
Successful online player who specializes in MTTs. An interesting fact about Alexey is that he worked as a dealer and now is a manager of poker club.