Poker’s popularity is truly global, and the first Russian Poker Tour sponsored by PokerStars.com is proof. The first leg of the tournament premiered in St. Petersburg in February 2009.

The contest drew 201 players to the casino, all of whom paid approximately $5,000 to enter, and generated a prize pool of about one million US dollars. Top prize amounted to over 10 million Russian rubles, or about $300,000 US.

The field of competitors included some recognizable names: Ivan Demidov, a Russian who finished second in the Las Vegas 2008 World Series of Poker. Poker pros Vanessa Roussa and Alex Kravchencko also participated.

The final table featured seven Russian players, with the chip leader, Moldavian Dimitru Gaina, who eventually finished in eighth place. The tournament was ultimately won by Oleg Suntsoy, who started the final table short-stacked, but made an incredible run to win it all. Two double ups and several eliminated players eventually put Suntsoy heads-up against Belarussian player Vadim Markushevsky. But Suntsoy had the bigger stack, and won it all with pocket Queens against K-9.

The event winners were: 1. Oleg Suntsov 2. Vadim Markushevsky 3. Alexander Pantukhin 4. Sergey Solntsev 5. Bulat Bikmetov 6. Sergey Popuk - 7. Anatoly Ozhenilok 8. Dimitru Gaina 9. Evgeny Zaytsev