Insurance Salesman Kirill Gerasimov Becomes Russian Poker Star

Born June 5th, 1971 in Moscow, Kirill Gerasimov has been long known as one of the most successful Russian poker players. Up until he started playing poker, Kirill was an insurance salesman. He started entering poker tournaments in Europe in 2001. He was taught how to play poker by Marcel Luske, and Kirill went on to teach the famous player Yevgeny Kafelnikov how to play in later years. One of his first biggest wins was in the World Poker Tour $25,000 championship when he won second to Alan Goehring. He manages to take home $506,625 dollars in prize money from the event.

His career soon started to grow and in 2003 he made it to his first World Series of Poker final table. He ended up finishing 6th in the $1,500 No Limit Hold-Em event with $24,000 dollars. The next year he placed again in two final tables. In the first he finished 5th with $30,060 in the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold-Em, and in the second he won 2nd with $100,000 in the $1,500 No Limit Hold-Em shootout event.

He returned again to WSOP in 2005 and cashed in four events. One was for a seven-card stud tournament in which he took second place with $108,775. This was also the year he made it to the Main Event for the first time. He finished early however, only making it to 444th place with $16,055 dollars. Kirill played in many large events over the coming years including the European Poker Tour.

Up until this time there were very few Russian stars in professional poker. Kirill had over $2 million in tournament winnings that was not surpassed until Alex Kravchenko won the 2007 WSOP. Although Kirill himself has never won a WSOP tournament, he wins many other small finishes and has gathered a lot of cash over the years.

One of the most memorable moments in poker history was when Kirill was playing a hand against another opponent in a WSOP tournament. Accidentally thinking his opponent had checked, he showed his hand to the table. He had a ten-high, missed flush draw. To his surprise, his opponent claimed that he had not checked. After a floor ruling was made it was determined that he could still bet, and he went all in. Kirill called, believing it was a bluff, and won the pot.