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PokerStars.com European Poker Tour's Sixth Season Starts in Kyiv, Ukraine

The PokerStars.com EPT's 6th season kicked off on August 18th, 2009 in Kyiv, Ukraine, a little more than 750 kilometers from where PokerStars had first planned. The European Poker Tour season was set to begin in Moscow, Russia, this month before the Russian Ministry of Youth, Sports and Tourism approved an order on July 20th, 2009 removing the status of poker as a sport in Russia.

Four designated gaming zones were established on Russia on July 1st, effectively shutting down more than 500 casino facilities and slot machine parlors in Moscow. Poker had been on a list of officially recognized sports in Russia drafted back in 2007 and as a result, the cardrooms were permitted to continue operating. Several casino facilities then jumped on board under the guise that they were only offering poker games, forcing the Russian government to do something and PokerStars to move its stop to Kyiv.

Russian Team PokerStars Pro Alexander Kravchenko was one of the 129 players who showed up in Kyiv for Day 1a of the 5,000 euros PokerStars EPT Kyiv Sports Poker Championship and he said his government's move came as no big surprise. Kravchenko said that it was not a big surprise for him because of what the casinos in their country are doing. He said that he expects the game of poker will be forced to stay in the designated gaming zones and he will have to ply his skills away from home.

The designated gaming zones are all at least 1,000 kilometers from Moscow and since the construction of the casinos is not even close to completion, the rest of Russian poker community appears headed to play out of the country as well. A total of 54 participants out of the 129 players in Day 1a starters in Kyiv were Russian. Poker had seen a huge growth in Russia after Kravchenko and fellow Russian poker player Ivan Demidov made the final table of the WSOP Main Event in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Demidov also made the final table of the world series of poker Europe Main Event along with fellow Russian poker pro Stanislav Alekhin, while Alexander Kostritsin won the 2008 Aussie Millions. Catching the wave from the poker boom, PokerStars launched the Russian Poker Tour in 2008 with stops in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

09/14/2009, Monday
Todd Sanders

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