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It has been a good year to be poker pro Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn (pictured). Despite 2015 being just three weeks old, Kostritsyn is up almost $1 million already at the high-stakes tables, according to HighStakesDB. In fact, he piled up almost $200,000 in profit on Wednesday alone and is the month's biggest winner thus far. We'll focus on Wednesday's session for Kostritsyn right now. According to HighStakesDB, a chunk of his damage came early in the day: "Most of joiso's winnings came from playing $1k/$2k 2-7 Triple Draw heads-up against EireAbufor a little over an hour. The pair switched tables after an hour, with joiso already up $143.6k. They played on for another ten minutes at a new table, with joiso adding a further $26.5k for a $170.1k win." The rest of Kostritsyn's winnings on the day came at the $400/$800 Mixed Game tables. All told, he was up $198,000 on Wednesday on PokerStars and $930,000 for the month of January. HighStakesDB began following Kostritsyn in 2011 and, since then, he has piled up $1.2 million in profit. He is up $844,000 lifetime in PLO and is up $348,000 in Draw Games. He is a breakeven No Limit Hold'em player and has dropped $383,000 in Omaha High-Low. On the live scene, the Russian may be best known for winning the 2008 Aussie Millions Poker Championship for $1.4 million. He won a PokerStars Caribbean Adventure side event in 2014 for $263,000 and has $2.9 million in career live winnings, according to the Hendon Mob, which is good for #8 all-time in Russia. He was #25 worldwide on the 2008 money list. Want the latest poker headlines and interviews? Follow PocketFives on Twitterand Like PocketFives on Facebook. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed.

A number of players hold a special place in the history of the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker. Former #1-ranked Calvin Anderson is the only player with 10 career SCOOP titles and on Saturday, Shawn Buchanan is his closest threat with six and more than a handful of players have won five each. On Saturday, Benny Glaser added his name to that list thanks to his win in Event #6 High ($2,100 8-Game). Glaser topped the 122-entry field to win $54,854 and an 8-Game SCOOP title for the second time in two years after winning Event #41 High ($1,050 8-Game) in 2019. Runner-up 'donthnrmepls' picked up $42,070 while 'at0216' earned $32,266 as the third place finisher. UK-based grinder 'com 157' had the single biggest score of the day, winning $128,391 for taking down Event #5 High ($1,050 No Limit Hold'em). Runner-up Dimitar 'KuuL' Danchev narrowly missed out on a six-figure runner-up consolation prize, taking home $94,888 for finishing second. Third place finisher Max 'mikki696' Lehmanski had to settle for $70,128. Two-time Sunday Million winner 'Lucky_Jew_17' pulled off a rare feat in Event #7 High ($530 NLHE PKO), winning more in bounties than first place paid. Finishing on top of the 1,893-entry field came with a $60,864 score and they collected another $63,768 in bounties. Diego 'Die Ventura' Ventura wasn't as fortunate, earning $60,863 from the prize pool and another $14,376 in bounties. 'Ervedosa' won $36,111 and $11,142 in bounties for coming in third. Alexander 'joiso' Kostritsyn took down Event #11 High ($1,050 No Limit 5-Card Draw PKO) for $9,198 and $14,468 in bounties. Runner-up 'Parasol6Ka' scored $9,198 and just $250 in bounties while Denis 'aDrENalin710' Strebkov won $5,882 and $4,094 in bounties for finishing on the final spot of the podium. The final High event on Saturday had 736 runners who fired a total of 612 rebuys and 470 add-ons to build a $369,054 prize pool. 'Eleres88' won the event outright for $62,622. Second place finisher 'conejin_20' picked up a $44,639 score and 'TheGrinderØ' added $31,820 to their bankroll for coming in third place. Other SCOOP winners on Saturday included 'corresao' (Event #5-Low) 'staanemer' (Event #5-Medium), 'Nr1InEurope' (Event #6-Low), 'fish_sah' (Event #6-Medium), 'YouGoBrokeOk' (Event #7-Low), 'Lackoo87gcb' (Event #7-Medium), 'PufuMiu' (Event #11-Low), 'MarkBang' (Event #11-Medium), 'Malicious20' (Event #12-Low), 'cassolGana' (Event #12-Medium), Event #5 (High) - $1,050 No Limit Hold'em Entries: 741 Prize pool: $741,000 com 157 - $128,391 Dimitar 'KuuL' Danchev - $94,888 Max 'mikki696' Lehmanski - $70,128 Consi11- $51,829 Kenny 'SpaceyFCB' Hallaert - $38,305 Easterdamn - $28,309 Rafael 'GM_Valter' Moraes - $20,922 disquesi! - $15,463 Josip 'Jozinho6' Simunic - $11,428 Event #6 (High) - $2,100 8-Game Entries: 122 Prize pool: $244,000 Benny 'RunGodlike' Glaser - $54,854 donthnrmepls - $42,070 at0216 - $32,266 joiso - $24,746 Jens 'Fresh_oO_D' Lakemeier - $18,979 Fake Love888 - $14,556 Phil 'flong78' Long - $11,164 Event #7 (High) - $530 NLHE PKO Entries: 1,893 Prize pool: $946,500 Lucky_Jew_17 - $60,864 + $63,768 in bounties Diego 'Die Ventura' Ventura - $60,863 + $14,376 in bounties Ervedosa - $36,111 + $11,142 in bounties Jesseonboss - $25,741 + $8,223 in bounties jenssegers36 - $18,349 + $4,418 in bounties Odonkor1 - $13,080 + $1,508 in bounties KkruchitAAs - $9,324 + $6,896 in bounties dadaking001 - $6,646 + $2,843 in bounties pochi - $4,738 + $1,262 in bounties Event #11 (High) - $1,050 No Limit 5-Card Draw PKO Entries: 78 Prize pool: $78,000 Alexander 'joiso' Kostritsyn - $9,198 + $14,468 in bounties Parasol6Ka - $9,198 + $250 in bounties Denis 'aDrENalin710' Strebkov - $5,882 + $4,094 in bounties Rui 'RuiNF' Ferreira - $4,397 + $2,375 in bounties sprocketsAA - $3,287 + $1,500 in bounties Ulett_23 - $2,457 + $2,438 in bounties Skint Paddy - $1,837 + $500 in bounties Event #12 (High) - $215 NLHE Turbo w/Rebuys Entries: 736 Prize pool: $369,054 Eleres88 - $62,622 conejin_20 - $44,639 TheGrinderØ - $31,820 Ahhh Is It? - $22,682 progre69 - $16,169 Jamil11 - $11,526 Felipe 'lipe piv' Boianovsky - $8,216 drupa-lucker - $5,857 Witalii - $4,175