In June, Russia’s Viktor papan9_p$Ustimov won the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up after a three-way deal and walked off with $66,000. That was the largest amount given out and Ustimov was one of four PocketFivers to make the final table. Although it was just his ninth tracked win, he has almost $500,000 in online tournament scores to his credit.

“It’s a great feeling,” Ustimov told us after his big win. “In MTTs, you always want to be the first place finisher.” The Warm-Up had over 2,300 entrants that week, although there was an overlay since the prize pool fell short of its $500,000 guarantee.

He trades aluminum alloys by day and gets to play poker about four times a week. Other big scores for the Russian include third place finishes in the Bigger $55 and Sunday Second Chance for $40,000 combined as well as another final table in the Warm-Up a year ago for $18,000. He’s the 25th-ranked player in his home nation.

Ustimov started playing poker with friends in school. For him, the game marked a rivalry of sorts with his friends, which is why to this day he sticks to MTTs over cash games. He has $332,000 in winnings on PokerStars and another $112,000 on Full Tilt. He plays as papan9_p$ on both sites, so he’s really easy to keep track of.

As the title of our article relayed, Ustimov was on the national American football team in Russia called the White Wolves (pictured at top) as the first running back. He calls himself a “master of sports” in American football.

The Russia poker community on PocketFives has almost 1,900 members who together have generated $182 million in winnings over the years. $12.2 million of that total came in the last three months. Russian players have amassed over 400,000 in the money finishes over the years.

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