Last month, the 888 Poker Sunday Challenge, a $90 buy-in tournament with one rebuy, attracted a field of 841 players. The $100,000 guaranteed tournament passed its minimum prize pool by 13% and Vasily Tsapko (pictured), who is known as Ravic85 on PocketFives, was among those who turned out. In the end, he came away with the outright win and banked $23,000.

“I am very happy,” Tsapko told PocketFives in an exclusive interview. “Online, this is my biggest win. In addition, it is especially nice to take first place. I went into heads-up play with one-third as many chips as my opponent, but I managed to gather strength and play my A-game.” 888 Poker player byoonwas his heads-up foe and second place was worth $15,000.

Tsapko recalled that in the beginning of the tournament, he amassed a big stack and was active once the contest reached the bubble. However, he was short down the stretch and explained, “Near the final table, I went short. I felt I had an advantage over my competitors, though. My heads-up opponent played well, but in the heads-up session, luck was on my side and I was able to use it well.”

He is over $600,000 in tracked online poker MTT cashes in his PocketFives profile, about two-thirds of which has come on PokerStars. Most of the money will likely be recycled into his bankroll: “I do not have specific plans for the money. I just want to add to my schedule and play a few more expensive tournaments. I play about four days a week for 25 events per session and do not miss Sundays. I will try to play more to get into the top 10 in the Russia poker community on PocketFives.” He is currently #33 in Russia and #645 in the world.

Other tournaments he’s seeking to add to his schedule include the Big $162 on PokerStars, PartyPoker $530 High Roller, and Sunday $100 Rebuy.

As we said in the title of this article, Tsapko got into poker after playing Magic: The Gathering. He explained, “My roommate played $0.10/$0.25 on PokerStars and told me I could earn $1,000 a month playing poker if I played well. For me, it was good money and I became interested in it.”

His mother was apparently “suspicious at first, but after a few years, I took her with me to Las Vegas and she realized that professional gambling was not so bad. Many of my friends became interested in poker too. Often, interest waned with the first difficulties, but some of them are now playing mid-stakes games.” He hails from Moscow and has been a member of PocketFives for the last two months.

Outside of poker, Tsapko is a fan of going to the gym, swimming, listening to music, going to concerts, and hanging out with friends. Recently, he has gotten into boxing. “I wish patience and perseverance to all players in poker,” he concluded. “This is a very difficult path, but it can give a person a lot of good. In addition,I would like to see more players from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus in the top 10 in the world on PocketFives. I think they are worthy and will soon occupy a good place.”

PocketFives’ Russian contingent consists of over 1,100 registered players who have collectively generated over $98 million in tracked winnings, including $13 million in the last three months.

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