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This Week In Poker: June 17 – 23

PG News June 23, 2015
5 Minutes Read

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

The tidal wave of WSOP has swept the entire world of poker and after having surfed the initial torrents, our Indian challengers are now riding the current of its fast paced action.

In the preceding weeks, we had Aditya Agarwal making a deep run in the Monster Stack for a 64^th place cashing the highest to date at this years’ WSOP with $16,480. Raghav Bansal cashed in the same event and made $3,980 from his 492^nd place finish.

Kunal Patni and Apoorva Goel both cashed in Event 30 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold`em, finishing 142^nd and 150^th respectively pocketing $2,168 each. Akash Malik made a 79^th place finish in the event for $6,722.

This past week, several of our players participated in Events 42 – $1,500 Extended Play No-Limit Hold`em, but were busted before making the money. The event saw Apoorva Goel and Sahil Agarwal making it to Day 2, however, both were eliminated short of the money. Aditya Agarwal, Amit Ajwani, Amit Jain, Aditya Sushant and Pranav Bagai all hit the rails on Day 1.

Keeping our players busy, were the attractive side events at the Venetian and Rio whenever interesting WSOP events were not on. Headlining the action at these events was Shashank Jain, who made an impressive 6th place finish in Event 37 of the Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza III series, cashing $43,567.

Now we saw three more Indian`s cashing at the Rio Daily Deepstack side events on Sunday. Jasven Saigal made a 6^th place in the $185 No Limit Hold’em (NLH) for $1,752. In the $235 NLH, Amit Ajwani and Kunal Patni both cashed at 45^th place for $681 and 53^rd place for $612 respectively.

WSOP is now well past its mid-point and the bracelet dream continues to manifest for several new winners, some bracelet-virgins and some experienced specialists. Read on as we bring you the updates from Events 28 to 41, where pros, such as Jeff Madsen, Dan Idema and Jason Mercier bagged their multiple bracelets. Perry Shaio, a poker dealer, Andre Boyer a septuagenarian and more were fresh winners present to bag their first bracelets, proving that WSOP is indeed a truly level playing field for all.

In our other news section, we have the latest from the Sikkim govt on its online gaming stand and the recent imbroglio from Goa, between the govt, casinos and the anti-casino faction.

The international reports cover the parting of ways between Sam Trickett and Everest Poker, besides the recently concluded UKIPT 5 Marbella Spain.

Just as Shashank Jain emerged the highest earner in Vegas, Arvindhan L was equally busy at the virtual felts and with two cashes totalling almost $6K, he is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week.”

Online Railbird Report

Even as the well-known pros are battling it out at WSOP, a number of other young players were busy scoring at the virtual tables.

Among the scorers this week, Karan “Don Radia” Radia, Amit “motabhai” Varma, Amit “bblacklegend” Jain and Sabyasachi “Infusion_leo” Chakraborty are all well past the magical $100K mark in lifetime online cashes. However, Arvindhan L “tiltalert86” and Arsh “BigggTymeR” Grover are fast catching up.

Arvindhan scored a double-win this week and is our ‘PokerGuru Star of the Week’.

Arvindhan started the week with a bang and finished 4th in PokerStars ‘The Big $55, $75K GTD’ for $5,736 on Tuesday. He followed this up by final tabling a smaller event and finished 4th for $316 in PokerStars ‘The Hot $2.20 (Turbo) $3K GTD’.

Young Gun Karan Radia is a close second in cashes this week. Karan made a total of $5,180 in two events. The first was a 1^st place in the Party Poker Daily Major: $20,000 GTD [Re-Entry] for $3,900 and 2^nd place in the Full Tilt Triceratops for $1,280.

Others notable scores include:

– Arsh Grover who made $1,668.38 for 1^st place in PokerStars ‘$21 NL Hold’em [Super-Knockout], $17.5K GTD’.

– Amit “bblacklegend” Jain, made a 6^th place finish for $1,646.37 in PokerStars ‘The Hot $16.50 [Turbo], $40K GTD’.

– Amit ‘motabhai’ Varma won $1,137.76 for 1^stplace in PokerStars ‘$82 Weekly 8-Game, $3K GTD’.

– Phalgun ‘phalgun27’ Korikana won $1,883.74 for 3rd place in PokerStars ‘The Hot $22 [Turbo], $10K GTD’.

– Anant ‘anantp’ Purohit won $1,680.07 for 3rd place in PokerStars ‘The Big $16.50, $12.5K GTD’.

On Full Tilt, Sabyasachi ‘Infusion_Leo‘ Chakraborty cashed $1,043.97 for 3rd place in the ‘The Mega Stack’.

Read on for all the other weekly poker news, starting with WSOP…

2015 WSOP

Team India is busy in Vegas, keen to leave their impact in the global battlefield of poker. Aditya Agarwal has the highest cash in WSOP 2015 so far, with Shashank Jain pocketing the most from the side events.

The battle for the elusive gold bracelet however rages on for the Indian challengers.

Sahil Agarwal and Apoorva Goel both played Event 42- $1,500 Extended Play No-Limit Hold’em , but were eliminated short of the money.

Sahil posted the development saying,

“Resuming day 2 at 250/500(50) in the extended levels with 16600.#TeamThrill”

“Ah well busted AA<JJ.”

Almost the entire Indian contingent played Event 45 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold`em.

Raghav Bansal decided to skip the event though and go for the Electronic Daisy Carnival, a music extravaganza held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, organized by the Insomniac Events.

Amit Jain was one of the first to hit the rails and got very unlucky to go out holding AKs vs an opponent’s AQ. Others to bust early were Aditya Agarwal, Kunal Patni and Amit Ajwani.

Sahil Agarwal too hit the rails before the end of play.

The highlight of the day was the 6th place finish of Amit Ajwani in the Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza III event.

Continuing with event results, we begin with Event 28…

A poker dealer Perry Shiao realized his dream, when he won the Monster Stack Event 28 for $1,286,942, after beating a monstrous player crowd of 7192. Aditya Agarwal made a 64^th place for $16,480, with Raghav Bansal also cashing at 492^nd place for $3,980.

Argentina got its first bracelet, when Ivan Luca won Event 30 – $1000 No Limit Hold’em for $353,491. The event had a prize pool of a prize pool of $1,935,900. Among those Indians, who cashed were Kunal Patni and Apoorva Goel for 142^nd and 150^th places, making $2,168 each.

Event 31 – $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better was won by pro Jeff Madsen, who claimed $301,414 for the title and his fourth bracelet, after beating 480 entries.

Once again a pro took the title, this time it was Jason Mercier, who got his third bracelet in Event 32 – $5,000 No Limit Hold’em 6-handed. Mercier pocketed $633,357 for the win.

A poker writer from Britain, Benny Glaser beat top pros in Event 33 – $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball to make $136,215 and his first WSOP bracelet.

72-year old Andre Boyer upset young and notable players, when he walked away with the bracelet and the first place prize of $250483 in Event 34 – $1,500 Split Format.

Event 35 – $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. had pro Dan Idema bagging his third bracelet, despite being the lowest in chips at the time of the last three-handed play.

Prayers do get answered, so proved Corrie Wunstel, when he won Event 36 – $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha, for $250,483, after beating a field of 978. Wunstel dedicated his win to the Lord. Raghav Bansal and Akash Malik played the event, but were eliminated on the opening day.

Heads up play between two equally good pros, saw Byron Kaverman beating artificial intelligence vanquisher, Doug Polk in Event 37 – $10,000 No-Limit Hold`em 6-Handed. Kaverman collected $657,351 for the well-deserved win.

Akash Malik cashed at 79^th place for $6,722 in Event 38 – $3,000 No-Limit Hold`em. Thiago Nishijima was the eventual winner for $546,843 and his first bracelet.

Brian Hastings became the first pro to collect two bracelets this year. After the first in Event 25, he now took down Event 39 – $1,500 Ten-Game Mix for his career’s third bracelet and a payday of $133,403.

Travis Baker emerged the winner in Event 40 – $1,000 Seniors No Limit hold’em Championship. Baker took home $613,466, plus the coveted bracelet for defeating 4,193 entries.

Max Pescatori became the second to grab two bracelets this WSOP season in Event 41 – $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship. For Pescatori it was his career’s fourth bracelet and he took home a payday of $292,158 for the win.

Several of our Indian challengers thronged Event 42 – $1,500 Extended Play No-Limit Hold`em, but only Apoorva Goel and Sahil Agarwal made it to Day 2. However, both busted short of the money. Currently 26 players are left and veteran player Barny Boatman is leading with 1,152,000 chips.

Side Events in Las Vegas

Las Vegas is buzzing with action as several big tournaments running parallely to the WSOP keep the action going each day. Many of the Indian players did remarkably well in a few of these events and here is a complete recap.

Venetian DeepStack Extravanganza III – Event 37

Delhi`s Shashank Jain collected the biggest cash by the Team so far when he finished 6th for $43,567 in the Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza Event 37.

Shashank was 2^nd in chips when the ten-handed final table began. He busted holding on the flop of with top pair, an open ended straight and flush draws and the money went in on the turn . His opponent had pocket Jacks and held on the river.

Rio Daily DeepStack $185 No-Limit Hold’em

On Sunday Jasven Saigal finished at 6^th place for $1,752. The event had a prize pool of $38,135, with 263 entries and 23 places paid.

Rio Daily Deepstack $235 No-Limit Hold’em

Only the top 108 made the money. The event had 1,039 entries and prize pool of $197,410.

Both Amit Ajwani and Kunal Patni cashed in this event.

Amit posted “Out 45th ak to a5 to jj flop 5510” when he made a 45^th place finish for $681.

Kunal finished in 53^rd place for $612 and wrote, “Busted 53rd with AK“.

Indian News Round-Up

Sikkim Rebound

The Indian state govt. continue to play “one step forward and two steps back’ with their attitude towards gaming. The latest is Sikkim, which had issued three online licenses has now rebounded on these. The govt. has asked all three companies to withhold operations, as changes are to be made to the existing gaming laws in the state. The govt believes that the earlier formed laws do not take into account the new development of “go live” licenses and need to be suitably altered to make provisions for the same.

Read the complete story here.

Goa Casino, Anti-Casino Faction Faceoff

In Goa, the faceoff between the casinos and the anti-casino faction continues. The state BJP govt has finalized four alternate locations for the shifting of the floating casinos.

Acceding to the agreement with the govt, the casinos association is ready to move out of the Mandovi River, provided proper infrastructure for operations are given by the state.

Not satisfied, the anti-casino faction has elevated its demand for the casinos to be removed from Goa waters altogether. To add oil to the fire, the opposition Congress party has joined the fray and is accusing the govt of favoring the casino operators.

Read the complete story here.

International News

Sam Trickett, Everest Poker Break-Up

Another brand collaboration, between UK top pro Sam Trickett and Everest Poker ended, after mutual parting of ways. The liaison had lasted a full year and the break up was amicable, with both parties releasing cordial statements to the same. Trickett is at WSOP currently, busy in the bracelet hunt.

Read the complete story here.

Isidoro Barreña Claims Main Event Title At UKIPT 5 Marbella

The UKIPT 5’ stop at the Casino Marbella in Spain ended with the €1,000 + €100 Main Event. Isidoro Barreña won the event for €150,800, after beating a player-field of 841 that created a prize pool of €807,360. In all, 12 other events were played in this stop.