The Russian online poker community

Betfair announced in a Wednesday press release that it has opened its online client to the Russian poker community.

On Wednesday Betfair, which boasts of the world’s biggest sports betting exchange, opened it doors to the Russian online poker community. With the emergence of a myriad of Russian pros on tour, the Eurasian nation has become a hotbed for new poker talent.

”Up until now, the clients could only view information on the poker client and promotions in English, Spanish, German, and Italian, ” said Bruce Stubbs Head of Betfair Poker. ”However, we are delighted to start offering updated information to our Russian clients.”

As of yet Team Betfair doesn’t boast of any Russians, Team PokerStars Pro already had a couple from the Russian Federation in the stable; 2008 Aussie Millions winner Alex Kostritsyn and WSOP bracelet winner and 2007 final tabler Alex Kravchenko.

This year, PokerStars added powerhouse Ivan Demidov, who became the first player to make both the WSOP and WSOPE Main Event final tables, finishing in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Fellow Russian Stanislav Alekhin joined Demidov at the WSOPE final table, finishing as runner-up. The WSOPE was sponsored by Betfair.

Full Tilt also has a couple red pros from Russia. Nikolay Evdakov burst onto the scene in 2008, setting a record at the WSOP with 10 cashes for the series. Breaking Humberto Brenes and Phil Hellmuth’s cashing record earned him a deal with Full Tilt.

The WSOP women’s champ also plays on Full Tilt. Svetlana Gromenkova moved from Moscow to the U.S in 2002, went pro in 2005 and claimed her first bracelet in 2008, when she captured the Ladies Event title.

”The Russian market is a fascinating one and one that continues to produced very talented individuals,” continued Stubbs. ”We saw a very strong showing from this region at this year’s WSOP Europe event which we currently sponsor. We hope that the new Russian client shows our commitment to developing and producing new offerings and hope to announce more in the coming year.”

The Betfair announcement comes less than two months after PokerStars announced the formation of the Russian Poker Tour (RPT) The RPT just kicked off their inaugural event in St. Petersburg, a $5,000 that will wrap on Feb 1st. After St. Petersburg, it’s off to the $10K event in Moscow Feb.22-28.