Spotting the Fish: Grigoriy Shvarts Talks Poker and Caviar at Borgata

By Sean Chaffin

Grigoriy Shvarts (pictured) knows a lot about fish – the kind in a poker tournament, but also those served up at a nice restaurant in New York. His family owns a wholesale fish business and he divides his time between working at the company and hitting the poker tables.

“My grandfather started the business 20 years ago,” says Shvarts, who moved to New York from St. Petersburg, Russia, about that same time. “We sell seafood and caviar. I just deal with black caviar even though we have different types of fish. It’s the most expensive and healthiest.”

Black caviar is traditionally produced by harvesting the eggs of sturgeon and considered one of the finest forms of this gourmet food. The fish eggs can be used in various recipes, but as Shvarts notes, they’re also tasty just on a piece of bread.

With fewer than 40 players left, he’s now among the remaining players running deep in the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open. With more than $279,000 in live tournament winnings, the New Yorker is proving to be anything but a fish at the poker table. His best score came at WPT Maryland in Season XVI, where he finished fifth for $92,015. He has several other wins and final tables over the last two years at smaller buy-in events at northeast casinos including the Borgata.

In October at the Parx, Shvarts topped a 307-player field in a $1,200 Big Stax for $82,549 and has started playing a lot more poker lately. Now with his second WPT score under his belt, an opportunity awaits for an even bigger finish.

As the action played out at Borgata on Day 3, Shvarts was among the chip leaders at the dinner break and looking to keep the deep run in Atlantic City going. A trip to Las Vegas to play a final table in front of the television cameras at HyperX Esports Arena in Luxor would be a huge accomplishment, and he’s hoping to make it happen.

If so, a celebration might be in order. A little wine and caviar anyone?

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas, and his work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions.