Maxim Sekretarev Wins 2021 World Poker Tour Russia Main Event

Maksim Sekretarev is the latest player to have his name inscribed on the Mike Sexton World Poker Tour Champions Cup. The 19-year-old Russian defeated a field of 251 total entries to take down the 2021 WPT Russia ₽245,000 ($3,229 USD) buy-in no-limit hold’em main event. He earned ₽11,996,600 ($160,694 USD) as the champion of the event. This was by far the largest live tournament cash of his career.

In addition to the title and the money, Sekretarev was also awarded 612 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified final-table finish of the year, but it alone was sufficient to move him into 26th place in the 2021 POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.

The final day began with just six players remaining from the field of 251 entries. Sekretarev bagged up the chip lead at the end of day 3 with 67 big blinds. Ravil Khamatgareev had the next largest stack with 58 big blinds to start, while the other four players all had 24 big blinds or fewer.

Sergey Bobrik was the first to fall when his 99 failed to hold up against the K6 of Sekretarev. A king on the flop gave Sekretarev a lead which he never relinquished and Bobrik was sent home with $33,183 USD.

Sekretarev earned his second knockout at the final table when his AQ beat out the KJ of Vanush Mnatsakanyan. Neither player improved by the river and ace-high was enough to secure the pot for Sekretarev. Mnatsakanyan settled for $43,530 USD as the fifth-place finisher. He kept his spree going by busting Vladimir Bozinovic. In a battle of the blinds, Bozinovic shoved from the small blind for 5.5 big blinds with KJ and Sekretarev called with K5 from the big blind. Sekretarev rivered a wheel to extend his lead even further. Bozinovic was awarded $57,942 USD for his fourth-place showing in this event.

With that Sekretarev grew his stack to over 6 million heading into three-handed action. There were plenty of swings in the early going, but the most impactful hand ended up being a preflop race between Ravil Khamatgareev and Sekretarev. The former called all-in with JJ and was flipping against the AQ of the latter. The board came down Q3298 and Sekretarev made a pair of queens to send Khamatgareev packing in third place ($78,232 USD).

Sekretarev held nearly a 4:1 lead over Andrey Volkov when heads-up play began. It didn’t take long for him to convert that lead into the victory. Just four hands into their final showdown, Volkov shoved from the big blind for around 25 big blinds with 108 after Sekretarev had limped in with KQ. Sekretarev made the call and the board ran out J633A. Volkov took home $107,135 for his runner-up finish.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded on the final day:

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