Russian wins ironic poker title

07.3.2009 | 11:32 am | Casino.co.uk

What is the definition of irony? Rain on your wedding day? A free ride when you”ve already paid? Or a Russian man winning an international poker tournament just as the game is effectively banned in his own country?

Well that’’s what happened last weekend in the Czech Republic, when Vladislav Shuravin took out the competition to scoop the title at the European Masters of Poker Prague.

The Russian bagged €39,675 (£34,000) for his efforts out of a total prize pool of €163,000, generated from a field of 163 players.

Petr Pesko of the Czech Republic came in second, while Sweden’’s Henrik Johansson took third place.

The European Masters of Poker will make its fourth stop on the tour in Barcelona from July 29th to August 1st.

A new law came into effect this week which forced the closure of tens of thousands of casinos across Russia, banishing the venues to remote areas eons away from the capital Moscow.