IPC January Edition Gets An Encouraging Response From the Indian Poker Community

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  • PG News December 28, 2014
  • 4 Minutes Read

In Nov, IPC’s Sameer Rattonsey, Rajeev Kanjani and Amin Rozani took over the management of Goa’s largest and prestigious poker room at the Casino Deltin Royale. The move heralded a new hope for better times in Indian poker and players were not disappointed, when IPC announced the return of its Indian leg, with a tournament series from Jan 21-25, 2015.

For the January 2015 series, IPC has tied up with Thrill Poker for online satellites and has put up some exciting offers for its poker room patrons. IPC January edition has received a tremendous initial response and several known names have already confirmed participation.

IPC is looking to give players an international and professional poker experience at the tournament series. A fun addition will be a player’s party set for Wednesday, Jan 21 at the Whiskey’s lounge, Level 2 of the Deltin Royale.

Besides the Jan festival, IPC went on to announce its entire year’s schedule giving a fillip to expectations that poker in India is indeed headed towards better times.

A number of professional players have responded with growing excitement, looking forward to the coming series, and believe that IPC will restore the glory and buzz of playing poker in Goa.

Speaking to Gutshot Magazine, many pros gave delighted comments.

Amit Varma, author and blogger stated, “I’m delighted that the IPC is making a comeback. It was good news for Indian poker when my friends Rajeev (Kanjani), Amin (Rozani) and Sameer (Rattonsey) took over the Deltin Royale poker room. Having been longtime players themselves, I am sure they will do a lot to nurture the ecosystem. The return of the IPC is the cherry on top. Indian players need a well-organized and well-attended tournament series with lots of value, and I expect the IPC to provide that. 2015 should be a good year for Indian poker!”

Clockwise (from top left) Sahil Agarwal, Amit Varma, Amit Jain, Dhaval Mudgal, Kunal Patni and Kunal Chandra
Clockwise (from top left) Sahil Agarwal, Amit Varma, Amit Jain, Dhaval Mudgal, Kunal Patni and Kunal Chandra

Young Gun`s Sahil ‘antilog’ Agarwal, Dhaval Mudgal and Amit ‘bblacklegend’ Jain, all accomplished pros, also echoed the sentiment and Jain said, “IPC is where poker started for me so I’m super excited for their upcoming event… also IPC is the most reputed live series in India hence its very nice to see it come back.”

2013, Sunday Million runner up, Aditya ‘donkab0mber’ Sushant from Chennai added, “IPC has been one of the leading tournament brands in India since the beginning. They’ve always been well received by everybody and were consistently putting up record breaking numbers for their events managing to break their previous numbers on more than one occasion back when poker in Goa was really booming. I’m glad to know the IPC is coming back. I have no doubt there will be no stones left unturned by the Sam, Pete, Rajeev and Amin to ensure the opening event is a resounding success.”

Several other notables like Kunal Patni, Kunal Chandra and Abhishek Goindi reiterated the excitement and thrill for the return of IPC.

PokerGuru caught up with IPC co-founder Peter Abraham and got an exclusive inside from him about the upcoming IPC series and the response received….

Peter Abraham
Peter Abraham

The initial response to IPC January edition has been phenomenal. Can you name a few notables who have confirmed their participation at the series?

Yes, the response has been very encouraging and we are quite happy with it. We expect a number of pros to be in attendance. Some of the known names expected to come include Abhishek Goindi, Sangeeth ‘Samoh’ Mohan, Aditya ‘Donkab0mber’ Sushant, Amit ‘bblacklegend’ Jain, Sahil ‘Antilog’ Agarwal, Danish Shaikh and Kunal Chandra to name a few.

 

What are your expectations when it comes to turn out at the series? Are you gunning for record fields in January?

Our expectations are the same with any event – a good turnout where players have a good time at the IPC. Since we are guaranteeing 100 players approx. for the first two events, we do expect a pretty good turnout. Main goal is to ensure a good player experience. Judging from the current response, there does seem to be a lot of excitement for the upcoming IPC, so we’re looking forward to some intense poker in a fun-filled environment.

 

You have tied up with Thrill Poker as your exclusive online partners. Please tell us more about this collaboration. How has been the response in the online satellites on Thrill Poker?

The January edition is powered by ThrillPoker.com, who is our online gaming partner. As with tournaments across the world, there is usually an online partner who adds value by way of providing players with an opportunity to win seats at a much lower amount. In Thrill Poker’s case they have also thrown in round trip air tickets as a value add, which is terrific for participating players. The response has been excellent and already a number of players have won seat packages from here.

We encourage more players to take part as this is a great opportunity for them to not only win a seat package into the IPC but also experience gaming at the biggest and most luxurious poker room in the country, the Deltin Royale Poker Room. The IPC Satellite Series takes place from Tuesday to Friday and you can get more information at www.thrillpoker.com or www.indiapokerchampionship.com on the same.

 

Are you running live satellites at Deltin Poker Room for the event? How many seats have been locked up in satellite winners so far, how many do you think you will be able to secure before the series?

Yes, live satellites are also in the works at the Deltin Poker Room. We expect the poker room to begin these satellites post 3rd January. More information will be released shortly.

 

How has been the player feedback to the 15% rake deduction?

If you see rake structures of events in Macau and Manila like the MPC, APPT and APT, there is an 8-10% tournament entry fee that is levied and they also deduct about 3% to offset tournament staffing costs effectively taking the overall rake to 11-13%. That said, considering the TDS component is being borne by us, players are understanding of the 15% entry fee seeing how similar it is to what’s being charged abroad. Thus far feedback has been positive since there is not much of a difference as against what they are paying in the rest of Asia.

 

A lot of players are excited about the Players Party. What can one expect at the party?

It’s been a while since a tournament has happened in Goa and we expect a lot of new faces and old ones to be part of this. Our intention with the Players Party is to create a fun, sociable atmosphere where people get an opportunity to interact with other members of our poker community. The idea is for everyone to let loose and have a good time before the intense poker action over the next few days. We have a few fun things planned for the party which will involve copious amounts of alcohol 🙂

The Players Party takes place after 10pm at Whiskeys Lounge (Level 2) on Wednesday, 21 January.

Player Image Courtesy: Gutshot

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