This Week in Poker: July 1 – 7

In the PokerGuru feature ‘This Week in Poker’ we bring to you the weekly round up of the biggest online scores by Indian MTT players along with the top stories from both the live and online poker circuit.

Here are this week`s top stories

Another week that has been completely dominated by WSOP has come to a close, with all player and spectator emotions swamped by the mega-daddy of poker festivals. WSOP has now ascended to a thrilling finale of the $10,000 Main Event; the ultimate dream of any poker player.

Day 1A and 1B of the Main Event are now in the books. Day 1A saw 741 entries and by the end of the day, only 480 remained with William Kakon leading the pack with 152,325. Indian origin players, Vivek Rajkumar and Amit Makhija have both made it to Day 2A.

Apoorva Goel played Day 1B and has survived with a stack of 14,600 chips. Day 1B saw 1,716 entries and of these 1,154 survived with Hamid Feiz leading with 182,675 chips. Indian origin player Srikanth Koneru is close behind in 3^rd place with 154,725 chips. Pratyush Buddiga and Numit Agrawal are other Indian origin players to survive.

Team India brought in several cashes and deep runs at different events the past few days. Jasven Saigal played Event 59 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em, making $4,654 for an 82^nd place finish. Apoorva Goel cashed $10,658 for a 51^st place finish in Event 61 – $1,111 The Little One for One Drop. Gaurav Law made an impressive run in Event 62 – $1,500 Bounty No-Limit Hold’em, finally busting at 22^nd place for $9,534.

In Event 66 – $777 LUCKY SEVENS No-Limit Hold’em, Rahul Byraju, who was a late entrant at WSOP, was the only Indian to survive to Day 3 and made it to 51^st place, cashing $8,048. Amit Ajwani and Shashank Jain were the only other Indians to cash in the same event at 331^st place for $1,764 and at 440^th place for $1,361 respectively.

In side events at Vegas, Shashank Jain played the Wynn Summer Classic $1,600 Championship Event and made a 13^th place finish for $7,300.

In this edition of our weekly recap, we bring you the updates from WSOP Events 59 to 67.

The breaking news of the week is the legal battle initiated by KN Suresh of the IPA, which has resulted in a landmark judgement for poker in India. You can read all about that in our weekly news round up from India. There is also news from Goa, with the BJP govt offering casinos, the historic location of Aguada fort for operations. And then, there is another important news from Bengaluru, of a first ever poker training, sports academy being opened.

Moving on to our international section, we have reports of a new Vietnam Poker Cup to be launched in August by the Ho Tram Resort and Casino. Then there is the released schedule of the upcoming WSOP Circuit Season 12. Following that, is the tournament coverage of the $500K Super High Roller Bowl that played out at the Aria in Las Vegas.

You will also find news of the 2^nd Chad Brown Memorial Charity poker tournament hosted by Maria Ho. Finally, there is the update of PokerStars launching its poker pros tour in the US, called “Let California Play.”

We begin as usual with our Online Railbird Report, where once again, Abhishek Rathod has topped the cashes list, with $3,592.26 for 3^rd place in the ‘Winamax AFTER WORK’ tournament. For this, Abhishek is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week.”

Online Railbird Report

In a cheer for online poker enthusiasts, PokerStars has announced the return of its MicroMillions 11^th edition from July 16 to 26, featuring a rich $5,000,000 prize pool across 100 exciting events.

Abhishek “abhi147” Rathod once again tops the cashes list on the virtual felt, for his highest score of $3,592.26 for 3^rd place in the ‘Winamax AFTER WORK’ tournament. For this, Abhishek takes the “PokerGuru Star of the Week” title for the second week in a row.

Other significant scores include-

– ‘indiadurr‘ who won $3,506.25 for 4th place in the PokerStars ‘$162 Nightly Thirty-Five Grand, $35K GTD’.

– Akash ‘Buddhaluv’ Sanghvi won $2,445.86 for 1st place in the PokerStars ‘$82 NL Hold’em [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo], $7K GTD’.

– Sanat ‘sanatkaikini’ Kaikini won $2,451.31 for 4th place in the PokerStars ‘The Bigger $33, $35K GTD.’

– Clawin ‘Clawindsouza’ Dsouza won $1,350.24 for 1st place in the PokerStars ‘$8.80 NL Hold’em [6-Max, Turbo], $5K GTD.’

2015 WSOP

Indian Participation

Team India lost no opportunity to make inroads in several WSOP and peripheral events, across Las Vegas.

In Event 59 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Jasven Saigal made an 82^nd place finish for $4,654. Immediately after that, he dived into the $1,111 Little Drop, but failed to make it past the opening day.

However, Apoorva Goel did cash in the $1,111 The Little One for One Drop, Event 61 making $10,658 from his 51^st place finish.

Gaurav Law ran deep in in Event 62 – $1,500 Bounty No-Limit Hold’em, making $9,534 for 22^nd place finish.

Rahul Byrraju joined in late, but went to work instantly in Event 66 – $777 LUCKY SEVENS No-Limit Hold’em, where he became the only Indian player to make Day 3, finally cashing $8,048 from a 51^st place finish. Amit Ajwani and Shashank Jain also cashed in the same event at 331^st place for $1,764 and at 440^th place for $1,361 respectively.

At the side event, the Wynn Summer Classic, Shashank Jain participated in the $1,600 No-Limit Hold’em Championship Event, $300K GTD. The event holds a prize of $128K for the winner, but Shashank fell 12 places short of the prize. He made $7,300 for a 13^th place finish.

Event Reports 59 to 67

Alex Lindop emerged the victor, from an entry field of 2,155 in Event 59- $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em. He collected his first bracelet and the top prize of $531,037.

Lawyer turned poker pro, Anthony Zinno was the winner in Event 60 – $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha, which had one of the riches payouts for the winner of $1,122,196.

24-year old Paul Hoefer, a German student took down Event 61 – $1,111 The Little One for One Drop for his first bracelet and prize of $645,969, after beating a tough final table that had two bracelet winners.

In Event 62 – $1,500 Bounty No-Limit Hold’em, Jack Duong was the winner, and bagged his first bracelet along with the winning purse of $333,351.

Andrew Barber waded through 204 entries in Event 63 – $10,000 H.O.R.S.E Championship, to pick up the gold, plus the top prize of $517,766.

The inaugural Event 64 – WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em saw Anthony “casedismised” Spinella makes history. Spinella won the event for the first-ever online WSOP bracelet event and prize money of $197,743.

British Businessman Gerald Ringe became the third from his country to win a gold this edition, in Event 65 – $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better. Ringe beat 547 entries to pocket the top prize of $180,943.

In Event 66 – $777 LUCKY SEVENS No-Limit Hold’em Jersey pro Connor Berkowitz smashed 4,422 entries to win his first cash and bracelet, besides the victor’s share of $487,784.

Poker pro Quinn Do took down Event 67 – $10,000 Dealers Choice Championship, pocketing his second bracelet and the top prize of $319,792.

Indian News Round Up

A renaissance that began last year with several incidents is now turning into a full tide for poker in India.

Kolkata Landmark Verdict

KN Suresh did for Kolkata, the same he had for Bengaluru. About to start a new poker room in the city of Kolkata, Suresh faced the usual harassment by the Police. He immediately filed a petition in the High Court, citing a hitherto unknown law that allowed poker to be played as a game of skill.

Hailing a victory not just for his poker room, but as a milestone for poker in India, Suresh got the High Court to pass a favorable judgement, one that allows poker to be played in the State without any hindrance from the police authorities.

Read the complete story here.

First-Ever Poker Academy in Bengaluru

In another news, AndyzFC founder, Andy Morgan has launched a Sports Academy to train members in various games, including the complexities of poker. Morgan feels the time is right for such a venture and that poker needs to be given its rightful due. Specialized coaches will be present to train patrons in the respective sports.

Read the complete story here.

Fort Aguada As Casino Bastion In Goa

The historic fort of Aguada has been offered to the floating casinos, as an alternative location by the current BJP govt. The tourism Minister, Dilip Parulekar has said that the fort would be vacant shortly and could be the ideal land-hub for the casinos, on the basis of permission taken from the govt.

Read the complete story here.

International News

First-Ever Vietnam Poker Cup (VPC)

After tasting huge success in the APT Vietnam Series held in May, the Ho Tram Resort and Casino, along with the World Players Entertainment (WPE) have launched the Vietnam Poker Cup to be run from Aug 21 to 23.

This first-ever home produced poker series is slated to be an annual one and will feature a rich Main event, Super High Roller and several other regular events for international players. A number of known Vietnam pros are expected to attend the inaugural series.

Read the complete story here.

WSOP Circuit Season 12

The schedule for the WSOP Circuit Season 12 has been released. The popular series has several changes incorporated this time to give it an international feel and will begin from Aug 6. There are its usual domestic stops, with a new one – Bally’s Las Vegas thrown in and this time, six new international stops have been added.

Additionally, the series will have a new Global Casino Championship in place of its season-ending National Championship.

Read the complete story here.

Brian Rast Wins $500K Super High Roller Bowl

The $500K Super High Roller Bowl played out at the Aria in Vegas and 43 players signed up for the event.

Brian Rast was the ultimate winner, beating a final table studded with pros, before heads up play with Scott Seiver. Rast collected $7,525,000 for the win.

Read the complete story here.

2^nd Chad Brown Annual Memorial Charity Tournament

The 2^nd annual Chad Brown Memorial tournament was held at Planet Hollywood with hundreds of celebrity poker players thronging to do their bit for charity. The re-entry tournament was held to benefit the T.J. Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer & AIDS Research. Maria Ho was the host and also won the charity tournament, which was preceded with cocktails and a silent auction.

Read the complete story here.

“Let California Play” By PokerStars

PokerStars launched its second initiative to push its online operations in California, with a PokerStars pro tour called “Let California Play.”

The tour will include some of the top PokerStars pros, such as Daniel Negreanu and will commence on July 17. The pros will play a number of local players at different local casinos, in a move to educate the public, as to how online poker can benefit both, consumers, as well as the local brick and mortar casinos.

Read the complete story here.

That ends this edition of our weekly recap, but we will be back again same time next week with all the top headlines from the world of Poker.