Russian Poker Tour to launch in 2009
The recent success of Russian poker players in some of the world's most prestigious poker tournaments has led to the founding of the Russian Poker Tour.
The most notable Russian poker players to emerge over the past year were Alex Kravchenko and Ivan Demidov, with the latter making it to the heads-up battle of the 2008 World Series of Poker main event.
The Russian Poker Tour will kick off on the 25th of January in St. Petersburg before heading to Moscow in February. Further stops on the tour are yet to be confirmed.
The buy-ins for the Russian Poker Tour events will rival those paid for the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour, with a seat at the RPT St Petersburg event going for $5000, while a seat at the RPT Moscow event will cost $10,000.
The Russian Poker Tour will not mark the first time major tournament poker has been played in the country. In 2007 the country hosted the Moscow Millions tournament, which attracted 53 entries and saw Tony G emerge as the winner with a $200,000 cheque.