“White Nights “ Poker Festival,St Petersburg,Russia
Dateline:21 June,2001.
St Petersburg, nestling between the Gulf of Finland & Lake Lagoda in the delta of the Neva river was founded in 1703, & is the world’s largest northernmost megopolis, located on the 60th latitude north. June here is the time of the “White Nights”,which refers to the fact that ,except for a 2 hour period of darkish grey, there is no darkness.
Home to over 5 million spread over 1400 sq.km, St Petersburg is an intriguing mix of the old & the new. Often referred to as the culture capital of Russia, St Petersburg has been modernised to the designs of many of the world’s most noted architects & landscape designers. Famous for The
Hermitage Palace, former home to Peter the Great & founder of the city, which houses priceless collections & requires a 3-day excursion to see it all, St Petersburg offers the tourist an amazing plethora of options. See Letniy Garden which is one of the world’s most spectacular, travel to
Peterhof ,the town of fountains, wander the dozens of old city squares, see the ballet or opera at the world renowned Marinsky Theatre-the choices are enough to keep you busy for weeks. I’m here for the poker,however,& sightseeing will have to wait. From June 21 to 25 poker will be the main focus for scores of players ,many of whom have travelled from Moscow, Finland, Sweden, UK, Australia, Europe & the USA. Events are Texas No limit & Pot limit, Omaha Pot limit & Pot limit 7-Card Stud. 50,000 USD in prizemoney has been guaranteed, & Best All Round Player will win an Opel Astra car, provided by the joint organisers & sponsors Contigroup of Casinos(St Petersburg), Casino Cosmos (Moscow),& the Intellectual Games League, an organization entirely devoted to the pursuit of excellence in various games of skill,primarily chess,preference(the
Russian version of Whist),backgammon,poker & various other games.
The first event,the $100 Pot Limit Hold’em,attracted a field of 63 players,& with unlimited rebuys for 3 levels plus an add-on for double chips,the prizemoney pool reached an unbelievable $21,300 USD.
I’m pleased to report that tonights winner was none other than your Russian on-site poker correspondent,yours truly,Bill Marczak.
The critical hand for me came up when it was 3 handed. On the button with AJ suited,and holding 95,000 chips (total chip count 453,000),I raised the pot to 35,000 (blinds 5,000-10,000) .The small blind & chip leader called,& after a flop of T95 rainbow,both players checked.Turn card 7 & Sergei Varentsov bet 60,000.
Having seen Sergei steal pot after pot with hands like T6 suited,J3 suited ,67,etc, I decided to call,as I felt that an Ace,Jack or 8 would win for me,if I didn’t already hold best hand.Folding would have left me too short stacked to be a realistic chance of winning.Sure enough,Sergei turned over J6 suited,& I won the hand.
More tomorrow from the 7-Card Stud pot limit event.
Bill Marczak in St Petersburg.
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