This Week in Poker: April 11 – 17

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  • PG News April 19, 2018
  • 8 mins 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

Several huge developments and announcements along with numerous other happenings at both, international and domestic fronts resulted in more than just an eventful week for poker.

Our headlines begin with the world’s largest poker site PokerStars stepping into the Indian market with the launch of PokerStars.IN. Just hours before the site launched, the company introduced well-know poker pro Muskan Sethi as its next Team Pro who will be joining Aditya Agarwal to actively promote PokerStars India within the Indian poker community. The Indian launch despite the odd technical issues saw an overall positive response with the first major tournament at the site i.e. Super Tuesday registering 146 entries and topping them all was ‘sordykrd’ who defeated ‘daashing’ heads-up to take home the ₹1.56 Lakhs top prize. With an average 70-odd cash game players already playing at the site, PokerStars India is off to a promising start and is poised to become a serious player in the market.

Another major tournament that played out last week was the #LFG Vegas tournament on 9stacks where five lucky winners won packages to WSOP 2018. Rubin ‘kornkid’ Labroo, Kranthi ‘HuHaBhajan’, Ravi ‘pokerguru’ Shankar, Aakash ‘Drunken Monkey’ Kedia, Vishal ‘spartacus’ Tulsyan and Himanshu ‘NightSins’ Dewan, all won the grand prize.

Another newsmaker this week was MadOverPoker, which came up with a very unique Mission-based Bonus (MBB) promotion for its signature Sunday Blast Series running all month long.

Live action is set to accelerate next week with a new domestic Super High Roller tournament series – DPT Colossus April 2018 at Deltin Royale that runs from April 26 – 29. The international circuit, specially the eastern hemisphere is cracking up with action too with the ongoing 2018 Macau Millions at PokerStars Live Macau (April 17 – 23) and Coin Poker sponsored APT Macau Championships 2018 that takes place at the Macau Billionaire Poker from April 25 to May 6.

Our international section has several important stories as well. First, WSOP announced a new formula to calculate points for its Player of the Year (POY). Another big news that will give the struggling poker market in the US a shot in the arm is the new liquidity sharing deal that may see the online player pools in New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware getting merged as soon as May 1.

Online poker site partypoker made several big announcements as well. The biggest one was the announcement of a new Super High Roller tournament named “MILLIONS World” to be held in November this year in Bahamas. partypoker also revealed the second edition of its online Monster Series. Meanwhile, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier has been roped in by the company as partypoker.eu ambassador.

In another brand alliance, poker legend Scotty Nguyen joined Cryptonia Poker as its ambassador.

Tournament reports kept us in a tizzy all week long with results coming in from APPT Korea, partypoker LIVE Barcelona, Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, Borgata Spring Poker Open, SHRP Showdown, WPTDeepStacks Immokalee, WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Council Bluffs, and the 2018 Western New York Poker Challenge

Online Railbird Report

A near perfect week for online poker has just gone by and our players did not deter a bit from putting in the hours; once again, we have some big scores to report. The biggest scorer of the week was India’s first WSOP bracelet winner Aditya ‘A_Sushant’ Sushant who put his name on another feat by winning back-to-back ‘Adda52 Millions’ titles. Sushant pocketed the ₹6.96 Lakhs top prize and for this he is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week”.

Aditya Sushant

Aditya Sushant

Other notable scores include –

Aditya ‘Adi Agarwal’ Agarwal won $9,773.40 for 3rd place in the PokerStars ‘Bounty Builder $215, $150K GTD’

Anisha ‘Pocket_Aces’ Pradhan won ₹3.15 lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Baazi Super Sunday (15 Lakhs GTD) (Super Stack)’

Dhawal ‘Dhawal24’ Lachhwani won ₹2.60 Lakhs for 1st place in the Adda52 ‘Sunday Suits’

‘indianpro’ won ₹1.31 Lakhs for 1st place in the MaAdOverPoker ‘Hysteria’

Ram Lakhan ‘Hitler’ Meena won ₹1.21 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Baazi Super Sunday (₹5 Lakhs GTD) (MonsterStack-HyperTurbo)’

Armaan ‘armaan007’ Kochhar won $1,030.50 for 1st place in the PokerStars ‘$16.50 NLHE [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo, Progressive KO], $10K GTD’

Monika ‘DrugLord’ Singh won ₹54,720 for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Baazi Super Sunday (1 Lac GTD PLO) (Re-Entries)

Vishal ‘spartacu’ Tulsyan won ₹35,000 for 1st place in the 9stacks ‘Sunday Stacks’

Nikhil ‘rn4516’ Prajapati won ₹31,000 for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Baazi Super Sunday ‘(1 Lac GTD) (Turbo FreezOut)’

‘POKER365’ won ₹29,209 for 1st place in the MadOverPoker ‘Dynamite’

PokerStars India Launches With a Bang And Signs Muskan Sethi As Team Pro

Headlining the news was the launch of PokerStars India on April 17. This was a launch that was both historic and much talked about and the entry of the world’s largest online poker company in India was bound to have that effect. The site officially started offering real money games on April 17 and for the first time ever; Indians were able to play on the PokerStars client in Indian Rupees.

PokerStars.IN entered the market with a bang offering ₹83 Lakhs in cash prizes in the first week alone! These include a packed MTT schedule guaranteeing over ₹70 Lakhs along with a mega ₹10 Lakhs guaranteed Welcome Freeroll and Early Bird Freerolls rewarding ₹3 Lakhs in prize money from April 17-22.

PokerStars India Tournament Schedule (Daily Signature Events) –

The first major event at the site was the Super Tuesday, which had a hefty ₹7.5 Lakhs GTD. The event drew an impressive 146 entries (95 unique entries + 51 re-entries) and a champion emerged in ‘sordykrd’ who defeated ‘daashing’ heads-up to win ₹1.56 Lakhs.

Read the complete story here.

In another exciting announcement, the company introduced well-known Indian poker pro and First Ladies award winner Muskan Sethi as its next Team Pro who will join Aditya Agarwal to actively promote PokerStars India within the Indian poker community.

Muskan Sethi

Muskan Sethi

Read the complete story here.

9stacks #LFG Tournament Sends 5 More Players to WSOP 2018

9stacks hosted a special ₹11,000 buy-in tournament this past Sunday where the top 5 finishers won the mega prize of an all-expenses paid trip to WSOP 2018. The lucky winners who will be part of Team India at this year’s WSOP are Rubin ‘kornkid’ Labroo, Kranthi ‘HuHaBhajan’, Ravi ‘pokerguru’ Shankar, Aakash ‘Drunken Monkey’ Kedia, Vishal ‘spartacus’ Tulsyan and Himanshu ‘NightSins’ Dewan.

Rubin Labroo

Rubin Labroo

Read the complete story here.

Mad Over Poker`s New Mission-Based Bonus Offer

The signature tournament series at MadOverPoker, the Sunday Blast Series got sweeter this week with the announcement of a very unique Mission-based Bonus (MBB) promotion running all month long. Simply complete pre-set missions and unlock bonuses to cushion your bankroll.

Read the complete story here.

partypoker Announces 2nd Edition of Monster Series With Over $2.7 Million in Prizes

Among the several announcements made by partypoker was the second edition of its online Monster Series which is making a grand return with over $2.7 Million in guaranteed prizes. The series will run from April 29 to May 6 with a total of 123 tournaments in three categories featuring a range of different events and formats.

Read the complete story here.

New ‘Player of the Year’ Formula For WSOP 2018

In response to the flak received by WSOP for their Player of the Year (POY) formula last year; the organizers unveiled a new formula to calculate points for the WSOP 2018. The most significant difference between the formula last year and this year will be the ratio of points awarded for a win vs. points awarded for a min-cash.

Read the complete story here.

partypoker LIVE Announces $10M GTD “MILLIONS World” Event in Bahamas

In another big announcement, online poker site partypoker revealed a Super High Roller tournament named “MILLIONS World” with a whopping $10,000,000 in guaranteed prize pool with a buy-in of $25,000+$500. The event will be held at the newly designed Baha Mar Resort in Bahamas in November.

Read the complete story here.

CoinPoker to Sponsor Asian Poker Tour Events in 2018

Cryptocurrency online poker site CoinPoker entered into an agreement with Asian Poker Tour (APT) to sponsor APT events this year. Players will be able to buy-in and cash out at APT Live Tournaments using CoinPoker`s CHP currency and CoinPoker will also host online satellites for APT Main and Super High Roller events.

Read the complete story here.

New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware to Share Online Player Pool

In a historic move for online poker in the US, reports came in indicating the online player pools in the states of Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware may be merged from May 1 if the software gets regulatory approval in all three states.

Read the complete story here.

Poker Central Announces Special PokerGo Studio at Aria, Las Vegas

Poker Central announced the construction of a special 10,000 square-foot studio at its poker base at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas which is expected to become the venue for all of PokerGo`s live streamed events. The studio will feature nine tables, occupancy of up to 300 people and 120 fans. The studio will be at trial run at an upcoming Poker After Dark episode from May 16-18.

Read the complete story here.

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier Joins partypoker as .eu Ambassador

Major news of a brand alliance came to light ahead of the launch of the new-shared liquidity pool on partypoker.eu. French poker pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier joined partypoker as its latest team pro. ElkY was seen sporting the partypoker patch for the very first time at the Millions Grand Final in Barcelona this past week.

Bertran Grospellier

Bertran Grospellier

Read the complete story here.

Scotty Nguyen Signs With Cryptonia Poker

In another brand alliance crypto currency poker site – Cryptonia Poker founded by Indians Lakshay Anand and Vivek Jain signed poker legend Scotty Nguyen as its brand ambassador.

Scotty Nyguen

Scotty Nguyen

Read the complete story here.

Phil Galfond Announces Phase 1 Launch For Run It Once Poker This Summer

After a long silence, Phil Galfond posted a blog this week clarifying the reasons for the delay of his real money online poker site on his training site RunItOnce.com. Galfond revealed that the launch will be accomplished in 2 phases and that the target launch for Phase 1 is this summer where only cash games will be available at launch.

Read the complete story here.

APPT Korea

The luxurious Paradise City poker room in Incheon, South Korea played host to the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Korea 2018 and the series concluded this past week with the crowning of the Main Event champion. Once all was said and done, the top honors went to Malaysia’s Michael Soyza who topped the 449-entry field to win his first APPT title along with the ₩158,700,000 (~US$150K) top prize and the coveted Platinum Pass.

Michael Soyza

Michael Soyza

Read the complete story here.

Notably, the only Indian in attendance at the series – Sumit Sapra struck gold at the series as he became the first Indian to win the PSPC Platinum Pass worth $30,000 after winning a 3 round flipout.

Sumit Sapra

Sumit Sapra

Read the complete story here.

partypoker LIVE Barcelona

The nine-day nine event series i.e. partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona wrapped up this week after finding its €10,300 Main Event champion in French-Canadian high stakes pro, Pascal Lefrancois who netted a career-best €1,700,000 top prize, which incidentally is also the biggest prize awarded at Casino Barcelona ever.

Pascal Lefrancois

Pascal Lefrancois

Read the complete story here.

In other events, a strong field of 48 players joined the action at the most expensive event at the series i.e. €101,000 Super High Roller that awarded a huge €1,750,000 top prize to the champion with American pro Jake Schindler taking top honors.

Jake Schindler

Jake Schindler

Read the complete story here.

Brandon Adams Wins Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $25,500 High Roller

The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown’s $25,000 High Roller event saw a total of 40 entries, just about making the $1 Million advertised guarantee with the top six places getting paid. After two days of action, it was American poker pro, Brandon Adams who claimed the title along with the $370,000 first-place prize.

Brandon Adams

Brandon Adams

Read the complete story here.

Rafael Reis Kent Wins Opening Event of Borgata Spring Poker Open

Rafael Reis outlasted a massive field of 2,370 runners to take down the opening event at the Borgata Spring Poker Open for $216,010. The huge field made up for a $1.2 Million prize pool easily crushing the $1 Million guarantee.

Rafael Reis

Rafael Reis

Read the complete story here.

Steven Bennett Wins SHRP Showdown Re-Entry Tournament

Steven Bennett topped a pretty huge field of 3,030 entries at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown’s $570 buy-in reentry event to bank the top prize of $186,308 and his second SHRP title.

Steven Bennett

Steven Bennett

Read the complete story here.

Sweden`s Michael Tureniec Wins WPTDeepStacks Immokalee For $143,324

The WPTDeepStacks Immokalee at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida fetched a huge field of 816 entries and taking home the title was Sweden`s Michael Tureniec who banked $143,324 (including a $3,000 championship package) for his victory.

Michael Tureniec

Michael Tureniec

Read the complete story here.

David Davenport Wins WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Council Bluffs Main Event

The WSOP Circuit No-Limit Hold’em $1,675 Main Event found a first time WSOPC ring winner in David Davenport who maneuvered his way to the top among the 266 entries to bank the top prize worth $97,754.

David Davenport

David Davenport

Read the complete story here.

Henry Zou Wins 2018 Western New York Poker Challenge Main Event

The 2018 Western New York Poker Challenge (WNYPC) Main Event drew in a record 315 players and doubling his career earnings after shipping the event was Michigan’s Henry Zou. Zou collected the top prize of $66,736 taking his career total cashes to $106,472.

Henry Zou

Henry Zou

Read the complete story here.

And that is all for this edition of our weekly report. We will be here again next week, same time, so stay logged on to catch all the latest news from the world of poker.

Related Articles:

1. Sunday Online Railbird Report: Labroo, Kranthi, Shankar, Kedia & Tulsyan Win WSOP Packages on 9stacks; Aditya Sushant Claims Back-to-Back Adda52 Millions Titles & More

2. PokerStars.IN is Now Live! Register Now to Win From ₹13 Lakhs in Freerolls & ₹70 Lakhs+ in Guarantees Throughout the Week

3. First Ladies Award Winner Muskan Sethi Signed As PokerStars India Team Pro

4. Mark Your Calendars! April 15 Could Be The Day You Win An All-Expenses Paid Trip to WSOP 2018 on 9stacks

5. Mad Over Poker`s Sunday Blast Series Now Even More Exciting With New Mission-Based Bonus Offer

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