Russia will have plenty of opportunities to add to its total of 22 total WSOP bracelets this summer.

Russia is an absolute powerhouse when it comes to online poker. From their high-profile top-tier tournament pros to their stables of small-stakes grinders, the results put up by Russia has the country as a perennial presence in the top-3 of the PocketFives Overall Country Rankings.

When it comes to capturing World Series of Poker bracelets, Russia is down a little bit on the list – tied for sixth overall with France with 22 total gold bracelets. But if there was ever an ideal time for Russian players to break that tie it’s here in 2020 as Russians are cleared to play in all 54 bracelet events on GGPoker.

So let’s take a look at some of the Russian crushers that may find themselves in the headlines during the 2020 WSOP.

Artem Vezhenkov

The name Artem Vezhenkov may not ring many bells for the recreational poker player, but for those who have followed online poker over the past five years or more will certainly recognize his screen name of ‘veeea’. A former #1-ranked online player in the world, Vezhenkov has amassed nearly $10 million in total online earnings throughout his impressive career. He has eight six-figure online scores, three of which were victories in the PokerStars Sunday Million for a total of over $491,000.

His live resume isn’t much to speak of by professional poker player’s standards, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know how to show up big when there are huge prize pools at stake. He’s earned titles in both the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker and Spring Championship of Online Poker. And at the end of last year, Vezhenkov picked up a career-high score by taking down the PokerStars High Rollers Series Main Event for $457,344.

Alexander Mordvinov

Like Vezhenkov, Alexander Mordvinov may be hard to identify by his real name alone. However, his screen name of ‘NoPlanB’ is sure to register with online tournament grinders worldwide.

The former #3-ranked online player in the world has made a habit in his career of racking up accolades including a pair of Triple Crown awards and topping the PocketFives Monthly PLB. He has scored six-figure cashes on three different online sites including a runner-up finish in the 888poker XL Eclipse $500,000 Super High Roller for $114,700 and a final table finish in the 2016 PokerStars SCOOP Main Event High for $104,000.

Mordvinov may not be a player you’ll see in the highest buy-ins online but he thrives in large field events like what is expected on GGPoker. He’s a PokerStars Sunday Warm-up winner as well as a PokerStars WCOOP and partypoker POWERFEST champion and if the cards fall the right way he may add a WSOP bracelet to those titles.

Artur Martirosyan

While many people scoff at the notion that 2020 has been a ‘good year’, for Russian high roller Artur Martirosyan it actually has. In fact, it’s been great.

Also known by his screen name ‘marathur1’, it was tough to escape the amazing results of Martirosyan during a number of the recent high-profile online series that have taken place including the PokerStars 2020 SCOOP, the Poker Masters Online series, and the Super High Roller Bowl Online series.

Martirosyan picked up multiple SCOOP titles this year the first of which saw him besting Fedor Holz in heads-up play in Event #17-H ($10,300 NLHE 8-Max High Roller) to take home the title and a $271,790 payday. Then just days later he found the gold medal again in Event #29-H ($5,200 NLHE Midweek Freeze) for another $157,426 score.

The heat from SCOOP carried over to the Super High Roller Bowl Online series as Martirosyan earned a total of $1.8 million over eight cashes, seven of which were good for podium finishes. His big takeaway during the series occurred when he scored an outright victory in Event #16 for $234,604.

Maksim Vikrorovic

Maksim Vikrorovic is another name that is unlikely to be well-known to most poker fans however, playing under his screen name ‘MAMOHT_T’, he has assumed the mantle as the #1-ranked player in all of Russia with more than $8.2 million in career online earnings.

Vikrorovic is playing with a hot hand as of late having recently booked big wins including a victory in the PokerStars Turbo Series Event #1 ($215 NLHE PKO) for $81,421 and also a runner-up finish in the February 16 edition of the partypoker MILLION which brought him $112,000.

He’s picked up a major title on just about every online poker site including a SCOOP title on PokerStars and a POWERFEST title on partypoker. He’s been grinding the tournaments on GGPoker as of late and a World Series of Poker title would fit nicely on his ever-expanding resume

Vladimir Troyanovskiy

Perhaps one of the most respected names in all of Russia when it comes to poker is that of Vladimir Troyanovskiy. The Saint Petersburg native has been a staple of the Russian poker scene for the better part of two decades and has traveled the world while accumulating nearly $8 million in live tournament earnings.

His extensive list of results tells the tale of a gifted player who routinely makes deep runs in some of the biggest events of any given year. On the European Poker Tour alone he’s won side events in Berlin, Deauville, Monte Carlo, and at the PCA.

In 2019, he added $1,325,000 to his bankroll which included a career-high cash in the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Europe from Rozvadov where he earned $945,845 for his second-place finish.

Online, Troyanovskiy is known to compete at the highest stakes under his screen name ‘vovtroy’.