3-Bet: Viaan Industries Announces ‘PokerRaj International – The 100 Series’, PokerStars to Run Lex Live Spring Festival & WPTDeepStacks European Championship Schedule Unveiled

A bevy of tournament and series announcements have kept the ball rolling for live tournament players.

Viaan Industries Ltd, parent company of online poker site, PokerRaj has announced ‘PokerRaj International – The 100 Series.’ An invite-only tournament, The 100 Series will make its inaugural run at the Bally’s Casino in Columbo, Sri Lanka from March 22-23. The tournament offers high stakes action, with a tournament buy-in of $5,500 (₹3.93 Lakhs) and a $500,000 (₹3,57,32,500) prize pool guarantee with $150K (~₹1.07 Crore) reserved for the winner. While the event is expected to see participation from a number of invited players and celebrities, players can also apply at the PokerRaj website to participate in the event.

Yet another exciting poker series comes from the house of leading online poker brand, PokerStars. Dedicated to PokerStars Team pro Lex Veldhius, the Lex Live Spring Festival will run from March 27-31 at Grand Casino de Namur in Belgium. The festival highlights include the €100K GTD Main Event, a €550 High Roller and a number of turbo and hyper turbo events, with several non-poker activities thrown in the mix.

Not one to be left behind, the World Poker Tour (WPT) has announced the schedule for its season-ending WPTDeepStacks European Championship. Signifying the conclusion of the WPTDeepStacks Europe season, the series will run from May 9-12 at the Casino Barrière Deauville in Deauville, France.

Viaan Industries Announces ‘PokerRaj International – The 100 Series’

One of the prominent stakeholders in the Indian licensing, entertainment and gaming segment is Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty Kundra-owned Viaan Industries. After launching their online poker site PokerRaj last year, the company is now going international with its first live poker offering.

Viaan Industries has announced ‘PokerRaj International – The 100 Series’ – a high stakes $5,500 (₹3.93 Lakhs) buy-in, two-day event which promises a prize pool of $500,000 (₹3,57,32,500) with $150,000 (~₹1.07 Crore) reserved for the winner.

The inaugural event is slated to be hosted at the Bally’s Casino in Columbo, Sri Lanka from March 22-23.

While top poker pros and invited celebrities are expected to attend the event, players interested to participate in the tournament will have the option to go to PokerRaj and apply to enter. Selected players will be contacted by PokerRaj with participation details.

Viaan Industries plans to host subsequent editions of the event across several international stops.

Chairman of Viaan Industries, Raj Kundra explained the concept for the brand’s new offering. “We have created this IP as an exclusive 100 player only tournament and will travel with it around the world hosting 4-5 events a year. It’s a unique offering and an event that promises to bring glamour, poker and some of the best players together.”

Sri Lanka is one of the most exotic poker locations in Asia, and in addition to the headline event that will be played in the Texas Hold ‘em format, players can expect a lot of cash game action to take place.

The two-day event promises exciting high-stakes action that will cap off with an exclusive closing party. Among the many poker pros and celebrities expected at the series is brand ambassador of PokerRaj, Bollywood and TV actor Anita Hassanandani.

The tournament begins at 6 pm local time on March 22, and players will get a starting stack of 50,000 (250 big blinds). Late registration will remain open till Level 7 while Rebuy period is open till start of Level 8. Each level will be of 30-minute duration. On Day 2 i.e. March 23^rd, action will resume at 2.30pm and play down to a winner.

PokerRaj has already announced payouts for the event. While the top 10 players will earn at least $10,000 (₹7,14,650), anyone who walks away with the title will also pocket a hefty $150,000 (₹1,07,19,750).

PokerStars Announces Lex Live Spring Festival

Team PokerStars pro Lex Veldhius is one of the most popular poker streamers on Twitch. The stage just got bigger for the poker pro who is now about to host his own live poker festival. In conjunction with Veldhius, online poker giant PokerStars has announced the Lex Live Spring Festival.

Featuring events of formats ranging from turbos, hyper turbos, a €550 High Roller and the €100K GTD Main Event, the festival is slated to be hosted at the Grand Casino de Namur in Belgium, from March 27 to 31.

Expressing his excitement at the upcoming fest, Veldhius said, “When my community starting growing on Twitch, people started talking about having a meet-up where everyone could meet each other and hang out. It’s cool to be able to take the next step and strengthen the relationships.”

According to him, players are in for a surprise at how big the festival is going to turn out to be. Alongside the tournaments, PokerStars and Veldhius have chalked out several non-poker activities for players to get involved in.

“We’re going to be playing poker. There are going to be some other activities, too, and we’re going to be hanging out at the bar,” Veldhius explained.

He is not the only pro from the PokerStars stable to headline a live poker series. Jason Somerville’s was the key figure behind the Run It Up Reno series, and PokerStars even ran Moneymaker PSPC Tour in 2018, with Chris Moneymaker in the mix.

“There will be some cool twists on some tournaments. People will recognize a lot from the stream in it. I just can’t wait for it, because I feel like over the past year the stream has grown so much it just deserves some kind of big event as well.”

All events at the Lex Live Spring Festival will be played with a big blind ante. The Main Event will feature four starting days, with the fourth flight featuring a turbo blind structure and a 15-minute clock, while the other opening flights will have a 30-minute clock. Day 2 and the final day will have 45-minute levels.

Lex Live Spring Festival Dates

WPTDeepStacks European Championship to Run From May 9-12 at the Casino Barrière Deauville

On February 14, WPTDeepStacks announced that the season-ending WPTDeepStacks European Championship will run from May 9-12 at the Casino Barrière Deauville in Deauville, France.

This Championship series signifies the conclusion of the WPTDeepStacks Europe season. The Main Event, which will be the most awaited attraction of the series, carries a buy-in of €1,500 and is slated to run from May 6-12.

Players who win the WPTDeepStacks Europe Main Event will earn a €2,000 WPTDeepStacks European Championship Package. Upcoming WPTDeepStacks Europe stops include WPTDeepStacks Barcelona powered by partypoker LIVE from March 14-17, WPTDeepStacks Amsterdam from March 28-31, and 888poker WPTDeepStacks Malta from April 11-14.

Players will also be able to enjoy a plethora of amenities at the festival including the WPTDeepStacks Europe Player of the Year party on Saturday, May 11 at the Barrière O2 bar, discounted hotel room rates at the Hotel Barrièrel’Hotel du Golf, Hotel Barrière Le Royal Deauville and Hotel Barrière le Normandy, along with discounts at all Casino Barrière Deauville restaurants.

Talking about the series, the WPT Vice President Europe Hermance Blum said, “WPTDeepStacks Europe is proud to announce this season’s WPTDeepStacks European Championship at Casino Barrière Deauville. WPT looks forward to finishing this season of WPTDeepStacks Europe on the highest note, and what better place to do so than at one of the top poker destinations in the world.”

Vice President of Global Tour Management for the WPT Angelica Hael added, “Casino Barrière Deauville has proved to be an epicenter for a wonderful playing experience, making them a perfect location for our WPTDeepStacks European Championship.”

Casino Director of Casino Barrière Deauville Bruno Chauvin expressed his excitement on hosting the series and commented, “It is an honor to host the WPTDeepStacks European Championship. We are delighted to welcome all our players who will discover Deauville and the Barrière Resort in the summertime. All our teams across the Casino Barrière Deauville and the Hotels are dedicated to make this season-ending WPTDeepStacks Festival an unforgettable experience.”