Anton Makiievskyi is in a precarious position. With the second-lowest stack against some very fierce players going into the World Series of Poker Main Event final table, he has his work cut out for him. If he can manage to pull it off, however, he’ll become the youngest person ever to win a WSOP Main Event title. This native of Dnipropetrovsk, the third-largest city in the Ukraine and a metropolitan area with an extensive history, was awed when he took his first trip to the United States (and the World Series of Poker) and found that it was one that is truly life-changing. At only 21 years of age, Makiievskyi is the youngest player at the table, and he’s stated that he finds his standing at the WSOP to be surreal.
Because the Ukraine has relaxed regulations concerning online poker (especially compared to places like the US, which is currently struggling to keep its players within the country), Makiievskyi is one of many players from the Eastern European country who have turned up at this year’s WSOP. If he can manage to bring his stack up and win the event, he will not only be the fifth Ukranian player to win a bracelet at this year’s WSOP, but also the first ever Ukrainian to win the main event. One thing is certain– if Makiievskyi wins, it’s a day that will go down in poker history.
Although he’s been playing professional poker for a couple years now, Makiievskyi’s takeaway from the WSOP Main Event is by far the largest win of his live poker career (not a big surprise given that the majority of his previous experience has been in Eastern Europe, where the buy-ins have been considerably smaller). Even if he’s the first man out come November, Makiievskyi is still guaranteed to walk away with $782,115, an amount that eclipses even the largest of his past wins by a factor of more than 40. Don’t confuse this player’s lack of large paydays for a lack of experience, however; he managed to come in second in two separate events at the Yalta Summer Poker Festival in 2009, taking home $18,787 in the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event and $15,100 for the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em. Six months later, Makiievskyi was swimming with the big fish of poker at the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure during the North American Poker Tour. He came away in 170th place– hardly a stellar finish, but good enough to net him a $17,500 win.
Makiievskyi headed back home after his big-league poker experience and quickly won a satellite to the Russian Poker Tour Main Event, followed two months later by a ninth place finish at the RPT Yalta $500 No Limit Hold’em Six Max event. By the end of 2010, he was drawing attention to himself again, this time with a money finish with $5k at the RPS Main Event in Kiev.
This Ukranian supernova went radio silent for the early part of 2011, but when he sat down to play in the WSOP Main Event, he would be one young man who quickly made a name for himself among the Americans and Europeans who dominated the tournament. While he sits in eighth place with 13,825,000 in chips going into the main event, only 1.5 million ahead of Brit Sam Holden, who is currently bringing up the rear, and almost 30 million behind Martin Staszko, who has the lead, Makiievskyi is definitely a player to watch.