IPC: Jai Saha Bags Main Event Day 1B Chip Lead; Alok Birewar Headlines 130 Runners to Day 2 

Jai Saha
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  • Attreyee Khasnabis January 19, 2020
  • 3 Minutes Read

The magnum opus of the India Poker Championship (IPC) January 2020 edition, the ₹50K Main Event, has successfully smashed its guarantee to collect a colossal prize pool of ₹3.36 Crores! Day 1A had registered 360 entries, and Day 1B pulled in another 330 entries to log in a total of 693 entries. Though this number was 84 entries short of last edition’s record-shattering 777 entries, with an increased buy-in of ₹50,000, the event still managed to surpass the previous edition`s prize pool record of ₹2.65 Crores.

After 16 levels of play, the field was narrowed down to just 58 runners. The young and talented Jai Saha (cover image) grabbed the pole position on Day 1B with a stack of 439,000. Hot on his coattails were PokerGuru Ambassadors Laksh Pal Singh (429,000) and Rohit Mishra (414,000), who rounded out the top three stacks.

Jai Saha
Jai Saha

 

Notably, Mishra had finished runner-up in the recently concluded BPT ₹100K High Roller, banking a cool ₹22.02 Lakhs for his efforts. Singh too has been performing well on the live felts and finished runner-up in the $1,100 Main Event Warm-Up at the 2019 WPT Cambodia for $17,509 (~₹12.58 Lakhs). Both young pros will be looking to run deep in the Main Event and are players to watch out for on Day 2.

The noteworthy players who made it across Day 1B featured the likes of Manish Gandhi (345,000), Abhishek Rathod (331,000), PokerGuru Staking’s Vikram Kumar (294,000), Neel Joshi (281,000), Vaibhav Sharma (231,000), Rajeev Kanjani (211,000), Eka Vedantham (156,000), Abhishek Jalan (115,000), Chetan Hansraj (87,000), Maqsood Peera (83,000), Rubin Labroo (77,000) and Young Gun Ujjwal Narwal (61,000), along with PokerGuru Ambassadors Faiz Alam (142,000), Naresh Veeravalli (92,000), Gokul Raj (86,000) and Madhav Gupta (67,000).

The Main Event allowed players who had progressed from Day 1A to qualify from Day 1B as well, with the biggest stack being considered for Day 2. Mayank Lakhani, who had amassed 63,000 on Day 1A, also qualified from Day 1B with 119,000, along with Gaurav Sood, who had bagged 55,000 on Day 1A and did just slightly better on Day 1B, collecting 56,000 in chips.

The top 86 runners are assured a min-cash of ₹82,700, while the ultimate Main Event champion will walk away with a phenomenal ₹61.80 Lakhs in prize money. Not only that. The winner will also be crowned as the ‘India Poker Champion’ and will receive a one-year sponsorship deal worth a whopping ₹20 Lakhs from Spartan Poker, along with a gorgeous engraved Panerai watch worth over ₹5 Lakhs!

Top 10 Chip Counts at the End of Day 1B

1. Jai Saha – 439,000

2. Laksh Pal Singh – 429,000

3. Rohit Mishra – 414,000

4. Manish Gandhi – 345,000

5. Abhishek Paul – 336,000

6. Abhishek Rathore – 331,000

7. Anup Palod – 330,000

8. Madan Kumar – 297,000

9. Vikram Kumar – 294,000

10. Neel Joshi – 281,000

For the complete end of Day 1B chip counts, click here.

A total of 130 players will return for Day 2 with Alok Birewar (460,000) as the start-of-day chip leader. Play will resume at 1PM on January 19 from Level 17, with blinds set at 3,000/5,000 and a running ante of 5,000. Unlike the two starting flights, Day 2 will have 45-minute levels.

Alok Birewar
Alok Birewar

 

Sunday promises to see an action-packed finale to the series as the last event on the schedule, the ₹15K Head Hunter, which offers a ₹22.50 Lakhs guarantee, will also kick off at 6PM.

Top 10 Chip Counts For Day 2

1. Alok Birewar – 460,000

2. Jai Saha – 439,000

3. Laksh Pal Singh – 429,000

4. Rohit Mishra – 414,000

5. Goonjan Mall – 375,000

6. Akanksha Singh – 366,000

7. Manish Gandhi – 345,000

8. Abhishek Paul – 336,000

9. Abhishek Rathode – 331,000

10. Anup Palod – 330,000

For the Day 2 Seat Draw, click here.

Read our complete coverage of the event here.

Keep following PokerGuru for more exciting updates from the IPC January 2020!

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