IPC: Series-Opener ₹10K Freezeout Registers Record-Breaking 437 Entries; Kavish Kukreja Leads 9 Finalists to Day 2

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  • Attreyee Khasnabis September 12, 2019
  • 4 Minutes Read

After a nearly 4-year hiatus, one of India’s biggest live poker tournament series made a fantastic comeback last night! Hosted at the Casino Big Daddy, the 2019 India Poker Championship (IPC) got off to a flying start as the series-opener – ₹10K Freezeout – logged in a staggering number of 437 entries! Sporting a ₹10,000 buy-in, the event quickly obliterated its advertised ₹25 Lakhs guarantee, collecting approximately ₹43.70 Lakhs in prize money! This is not only the biggest turnout for an opening event at the IPC but also the biggest field registered in a ₹10K Freezeout event in the coastal state of Goa.

The return of the series had been aggressively marketed by the IPC team, with sponsor’s Spartan Poker hosting multiple satellites on its platform. According to tournament organizers, almost ₹1 Crore worth of tickets were given away through online satellites alone.

The previous IPC record was registered in the ₹11,500 No-Limit Hold’em event in August 2015 which had attracted 319 entries and was shipped by Young Gun Arsh Grover for ₹6.80 Lakhs. The last edition of the IPC which had taken place in February 2016 had pulled in 232 entries in the ₹10,000 No Limit Hold’em Kickoff and was championed by another one of our Young Gun’s – Sahil Chuttani for ₹3.65 Lakhs.

Tournament Director Dexter Mercado, who had previously conducted the IPC series back in 2016, is once again in charge of administering the tournament at the ongoing edition along with his team from the Philippines.

The ₹10K Freezeout, which was meant to be a single-day event, was forced to extend the final table to the next day due to the astounding number of entries clocked in at the event. At the end of the play, it was well-known pro Kavish Kukreja who bagged a large stack of 1.06 Million and will be headlining the nine finalists returning for the final day that is scheduled to start at 3:30 pm today.

Kukreja will be joined by the likes of Siddharth Mundada (970,000) and former IPC Main Event champion Kanishka Samant (950,000), who are placed second and third in chips, respectively. All players returning for the final day are assured a minimum payout of ₹88,100, while the eventual champion is expected to walk away with a ₹8.80 Lakhs payday!

After a bumper opening, prospects for an even better turnout in future events at the IPC look bright. A large contingent of Indians had recently participated in the third edition of the WPT Vietnam series and are presently making their way back home. There is a definite possibility that the ₹35K Main Event, which is slated to commence from September 13, may just surpass the largest Main Event field of 697 entries that was set at the WPT India Main Event in November last year.

10K Freezeout – Day 1 Recap

Goa’s Casino Big Daddy opened its doors to a full house of participants at the series-opener ₹10K Freezeout. By level 10, the registration for the event had closed with the final number of entries standing tall at 437 unique players!

A plethora of poker heavyweights were seen in the mix. With only the top 52 players assured payouts, several well-known names hit the rail short of the money line including Raghav Bansal, Dhaval Mudgal, Aditya Sushant, Tathagata Sengupta, celebrity poker player Rannvijay Singha, and Zarvan Tumboli.

An interesting three-way pot went down during level 13 when Vineet Kumar jammed with pocket jacks, pre-flop and was called by three players. The tabled cards revealed v. v. v. . The board showed , and Nikhil R who had the pocket cowboys raked in the pot, while the other three including Kumar were eliminated.

Nikhil R

While the live coverage did not mention who the tournament bubble was, but Dinesh Singh was the first player to finish in the money, bagging ₹9,550 for his 52nd place finish.

Other notables who also finished in the money included former IPC Main Event champion Mukesh Surana (11th for ₹74,300), Utsav Taneja (12th for ₹74,300), Parikshit Dhall (16th for ₹50,800), Abhishek Goindi (23rd for ₹35,800), Amit Sur (30th for ₹24,100), Harsh Dembla (32nd for ₹24,100), Paawan Bansal (34th for ₹24,100), Celebrity poker pro Minissha Lamba (47th for ₹19,100) and Dhawal Lachhwani (48th for ₹19,100).

Following Surana’s elimination, the 10-player final table was convened.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Kanishka Samant – 1,19,000

2. Siddharth Mundada – 965,000

3. Ashwin Prasad – 865,000

4. Manas K – 705,000

5. Shane Oswald – 521,000

6. Kavish Kukreja – 375,000

7. Pradeep Sharma – 372,000

8. Milesh Jain – 285,000

9. Nikhil R – 165,000

10. Rahul Tulsija – 165,000

IPC ₹10K Freezeout Final Table

Final Table Recap

Milesh Jain was the first player to be dismissed on the final table, finishing in 10th place for ₹74,300.

Milesh Jain

With Jain’s elimination, the tournament staff decided to pause the game with nine players left in the running. Kavish Kukreja emerged as the overnight chip leader with a massive stack of 1.06 Million. While Kukreja is better known for his online exploits, he also has a glittering poker resume featuring several deep runs on the live felts. His last live score came in the ₹35K DPT Main Event in 2017 which he took down for a personal-best live score of ₹18.71 Lakhs.

Kavish Kukreja
Kavish Kukreja

Trailing Kukreja on the chip counts leaderboard is Siddharth Mundada who had made his WSOP debut earlier this year, picking up a total of six scores amounting to $24,285 (₹17.30 Lakhs) in earnings. Mundada amassed 970,000 and will be looking to claim his career-first live title in this event.

Siddharth Mundada

2015 IPC Main Event champion Kanishka Samant had a great start to 2019 when he shipped the APPT High Roller in Manilla for ₱6,956,000 (₹95.05 Lakhs). He is in the race to add another IPC title to his tally after securing an impressive stack of 950,000 heading into the final day.

Kanishka Samant

Final Day Chip Counts

1. Kavish Kukreja – 1,06,000

2. Siddharth Mundada – 970,000

3. Kanishka Samant – 950,000

4. Aashvin Prasad – 940,000

5. Nikhil R – 885,000

6. Manas Kalita – 475,000

7. Pradeep Sharma – 405,000

8. Shane Oswald – 275,000

9. Rahul Tulsija – 105,000

Content & Images Courtesy: Gutshot Magazine & India Poker Championship

Keep following PokerGuru for more updates from the 2019 IPC!

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