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In the PokerGuru feature ‘This Week in Poker,’ we bring you the weekly roundup of the most significant 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!
With December bringing with it a dull phase for live tournaments in the country, action on the virtual felts has been tasked with filling in the gap. Leading the charge here was Spartan Poker that seems to have gained a considerable lead over the competition, especially when it comes to doling out massive tournaments. The site’s flagship The Millionaire was initially conceptualized as a monthly series, but since November, it has become an almost-weekly feature. Each week its the Spartan Poker Millionaire who inadvertently turned out becoming out PokerGuru Star of the Week, and so is the case this week again. The SSS Millionaire winner, Pulkit Goyal, a former national level boxer from Bhatinda, topped a field of 1,346 entries last Sunday to win ₹26.95 Lakhs, making him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!!”
Goyal was not the only one to return with a seven-figure score. His heads-up opponent Vaibhav ‘Nikka Zaildar’ Sharma (2nd for ₹16.05 Lakhs) and PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish ‘Spewushhhiiiii’ Ahuja (3rd for ₹11.29 Lakhs) also went home millionaires. Incidentally, in addition to his runner-up finish, Sharma also won the Adda52 Goa Fest ₹12 Lakhs GTD for ₹2.31 Lakhs while Ahuja took down the PokerStars India Uppercut PKO 6-Max MAGIC Edition ₹10 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.95 Lakhs.
Amarjeet ‘superchor89’ Singh (SSS #17 Destiny ₹35 Lakhs GTD for ₹7.54 Lakhs) and Sanat ‘mehro2511’ Mehrotra (SSS #30 The Elite 30 Lakhs GTD for ₹6.64 Lakhs) were the other prominent winners this week!
The week also proved momentous for online poker platforms, Khelo365 and Poker Dangal. While Khelo365 moved over to a new and advanced platform, the Poker Dangal team had other reasons to celebrate after being listed as one of the 10 Best eSports Startups of 2019 by Silicon India startupcity.
With the new year approaching, there is a lot of anticipation building up around the January 2020 edition of the India Poker Championship (IPC). The tournament organizers have sweetened the deal for players by announcing that the Main Event winner at the upcoming series will be named the new ‘India Poker Champion.’ Along with the bragging rights, the winner will also be awarded a ₹20 Lakhs sponsorship deal to play in all future IPC events, along with an IPC engraved Panerai luxury watch worth ₹5 Lakhs.
Action in Asia was dominated by the Asia Poker League (APL), which is currently playing out its second stop in Vietnam. The inaugural APL Da Nang is shaping up to be a resounding success. On its last legs, the Main Event is down to the final table with newly minted APL Ambassador Sumit Sapra among the nine players in the running to win the coveted title and the VND 2,026,500,000 (~₹62.02 Lakhs) up top. Sapra is one of three Indian players who cashed the Main Event. The other two Indians were Vikas Sahni (36th for ₹1.49 Lakhs) & Manish Lakhotia (53rd for ₹1.27 Lakhs).
The other big international stop that played out this week was the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague. The 49-event stop ran from December 6 to 17. Stealing the limelight on the final day was Belarusian pro Mikalai Pobal, who trounced a tough field of 1,154 players to win the Main Event title for €1,005,600. Pobal’s rise to the top was remarkable, as he came back from a second-shortest stack at the start of the final table to win the tournament. He even entered the history books by becoming the second player ever to win two EPT Main Event titles.
In gaming developments, the Supreme Court has dismissed all the appeals that were filed against fantasy gaming giant Dream11, underlining once and for all that fantasy sports are a game of skill.
Meanwhile, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has finally come out with the dates for its summer run in 2020. The series will once again take place at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino and run for 51 consecutive days starting May 27, 2020.
A week of intense online action saw the return of the Spartan Super Series (SSS) that brought with it another Millionaire edition. Site regular Pulkit ‘Championplayer’ Goyal etched his name in poker fame by becoming the latest Millionaire champion. Goyal outlasted the 1,346-strong field and defeated Vaibhav ‘Nikka Zaildar’ Sharma heads-up to add a whopping ₹26.95 Lakhs to his bankroll. His brilliant run is the most standout performance of the week, making him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!!”
The event also rewarded seven-figure scores to two more players – Vaibhav ‘Nikka Zaildar’ Sharma, who pocketed ₹16.05 Lakhs for finishing runner-up while PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish ‘Spewushhhiiiii’ Ahuja collected ₹11.29 Lakhs for his third-place finish. Sharma and Ahuja may have missed out on the glory of winning ‘The Millionaire,’ but they had other victories to celebrate. Sharma won Adda52’s Goa Fest ₹12 Lakhs GTD for ₹2.31 Lakhs, while Ahuja championed PokerStars India`s Uppercut PKO 6-Max MAGIC Edition ₹10 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.95 Lakhs.
Amarjeet ‘superchor89’ Singh (SSS #17 Destiny ₹35 Lakhs GTD for ₹7.54 Lakhs) and Sanat ‘mehro2511’ Mehrotra (SSS #30 The Elite 30 Lakhs GTD for ₹6.64 Lakhs) featured among the other prominent winners this week.
The notable scores of the week include –
Player | Prize | Event | Poker Site |
---|---|---|---|
Pulkit ‘Championplayer’ Goyal | ₹26.95 Lakhs | SSS The Millionaire ₹1.5 Crores GTD ₹11,000 RE | Spartan Poker |
Hit ‘Em Up | ₹7.67 Lakhs | SSS #40 Sunday SuperStack ₹40 Lakhs GTD ₹5,500 RE | Spartan Poker |
Amarjeet ‘superchor89’ Singh | ₹7.54 Lakhs | SSS #17 Destiny ₹35 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Rubin ‘kornkif’ Labroo | ₹6.58 Lakhs | Mega Suits ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Sanat ‘mehro2511’ Mehrotra | ₹6.64 Lakhs | SSS #30 The Elite ₹30 Lakhs GTD ₹11,000 RE | Spartan Poker |
Rajat ‘happyfish’ Mahajan | ₹5.24 Lakhs | BSS SuperStack ₹25 Lakhs GTD 5,500 (RE) | PokerBaazi |
Kavish ‘narcoss’ Kukreja | ₹5.00 Lakhs | Godfather ₹20 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Harsh ‘100crdream’ Kumar | ₹4.55 Lakhs | The Summit ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Sahil ‘imhighishove’ Mahboobani | ₹4.17 Lakhs | The Ballers ₹15 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Arsh ‘BigggTymeR’ Grover | ₹3,97 Lakhs | SSS #23 Ultron ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Devang ‘giraffeganger_1’ Yadav | ₹3.88 Lakhs | Mega Stack ₹20 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Rahul ‘YOUAGAIN’ Pruthi | ₹3.70 Lakhs | G.O.A ₹20 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
GTO_LIFE_GG | ₹3.49 Lakhs | Sunday Special Progressive KO ₹15 Lakhs GTD ₹5,500 | PokerStars India |
Anuj ‘brockLesnar95’ Yadav | ₹3.06 Lakhs | The Endeavour ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
cheragb | ₹2.74 Lakhs | Big Slick ₹15 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Hitesh ‘hiteshbhai999’ Batra | ₹2.70 Lakhs | Highroller ₹12 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Aniket ‘Anteman’ Waghmare | ₹2.55 Lakhs | ReCharge ₹12 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
rajatnara | ₹2.48 Lakhs | Maverick ₹10 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Rahul ‘Clearsky’ Gupta | ₹2.35 Lakhs | The Bout ₹10 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
F-Bomb | ₹2.31 Lakhs | SSS $29 TGIF ₹12 Lakhs GTD ₹1,650 RE | Spartan Poker |
Vaibhav ‘alienrobot’ Sharma | ₹2.22 Lakhs | Goa Fest ₹8 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Ashish ‘Spewushhhiiiii’ Ahuja | ₹1.95 Lakhs | Uppercut Progressive KO 6-Max MAGIC Edition ₹10 Lakhs GTD ₹4,400 | PokerStars India |
Rohit ‘ShippingYard’ Mishra | ₹1.68 Lakhs | SSS #25 Hi-Fi ₹8 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
nutskibhookh | ₹1.60 Lakhs | SSS #18 Hi-Fi ₹8 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Abhishek 'thegrinder' Garg | ₹1.53 Lakhs | Hitman ₹7.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Arjanveer “holdbaby” Singh Chadha | ₹1.41 Lakhs | The Monster 6-Max ₹5 Lakhs GTD ₹2,750 RE | PokerBaazi |
Infic11 | ₹1.36 Lakhs | Sunday Special (L) ₹7.5 Lakhs GTD ₹2,750 | PokerStars India |
Pranjal ‘lilmessipranjal’ Gandhi | ₹1.30 Lakhs | SSS #31 Hi-Fi ₹6 Lakhs GTD ₹2,200 RE | Spartan Poker |
Farhaad ‘kilpauk’ Khazvini | ₹1.23 Lakhs | Thursday MonsterStack ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Chirag ‘miyagi’ Sodha | ₹1.20 Lakhs | BSS MegaStack ₹5 Lakhs GTD ₹2,750 RE | PokerBaazi |
SANDYINC | ₹1.20 Lakhs | SSS #38 Afternoon Showdown ₹5 Lakhs GTD ₹2,200 RE | Spartan Poker |
Sixth Sense ₹7.5 Lakhs GTD – PokerStars India | ₹1.14 Lakhs | Sixth Sense ₹7.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
desithug007 | ₹1.10 Lakhs | SSS #41 Electric Big Daddy ₹6 Lakhs GTD ₹1,650 RE | Spartan Poker |
Faiz ‘LFGgggg’ Alam | ₹1.09 Lakhs | Monday Hustle ₹6 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Kartik ‘TheInternetKid’ Ved | ₹1.05 Lakhs | Night on Stars NLHM ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Anal-yzer | ₹98,147 | SSS #27 Afternoon Showdown ₹5 Lakhs GTD ₹2,200 | Spartan Poker |
Romit “tilt83” Advani | ₹96,600 | Fri-YAY ₹4 Lakhs GTD 4,400 (RE) | PokerBaazi |
TheRussian06 | ₹92,736 | 6-Max Wednesday SuperStack ₹3 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
trickett | ₹86,000 | Twister ₹2 Lakhs GTD ₹3,300 NLHM (RE) | Khelo365 |
Paras ‘AAKKQQJJ’ Jain | ₹77,377 | Afternoon Hi-Fi ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Guruprasad “fish_calling” Gupta | ₹77,250 | Friday SuperStack ₹3 Lakhs GTD 2,200 (RE) | PokerBaazi |
royalty | ₹72,500 | Hexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Kohlii | ₹72,500 | Hexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
abhi1288 | ₹72,500 | Hexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
anki20 | ₹71,250 | Hexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Sam ‘lokimon’ Anand | ₹70,625 | Hexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Anuj ‘brockLesnar95’ Yadav | ₹65,000 | StackUp @8 PM ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | 9stacks |
Shashank ‘biharibhaia’ Shekhar | ₹65,000 | StackUp @8 PM ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | 9stacks |
Anuj ‘Desijuari’ Manocha | ₹65,000 | StackUp @8 PM ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | 9stacks |
Karan ‘chickentikka’ Sawhney | ₹65,000 | StackUp @8 PM ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD ₹1,650 | 9stacks |
bigslik33 | ₹57,817 | Hexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Deepak ‘3streakbluff’ Singh | ₹56,300 | BSS PLO ₹2 Lakhs GTD ₹2,200 Half RE | PokerBaazi |
Akash ‘bruce.lee0247’ Gupta | ₹55,128 | Progressive KO 4-Max ₹2 Lakh GTD | PokerStars India |
Sri@5774 | ₹52,282 | The Classic ₹2 Lakh GTD | PokerStars India |
Terrier | ₹52,139 | Ultimate PLO ₹2 Lakhs GTD ₹2,200 RE | Spartan Poker |
thepokerbrat | ₹51,153 | SSS #28 Hi-Fi ₹3 Lakhs GTD ₹1,100 | Spartan Poker |
Nishant ‘DoJingBULLETSS’ Sharma | ₹47,497 | The Sunday Stars ₹2 Lakhs GTD ₹2,200 | PokerStars India |
tomdwan2 | ₹46,000 | Big Bang ₹1 Lakh GTD NLHE ₹2,200 | Khelo365 |
apalece | ₹46,000 | Mega Splash ₹1 Lakh GTD ₹2,200 NLHM (RE) | Khelo365 |
vn2016 | ₹44,952 | Afternoon Showdown ₹2 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Dhinesh ‘you3betl4bet’ Kumar | ₹44,540 | NLHM 6-Max ₹2 Lakh GTD ₹1,650 | PokerStars India |
Keechad | ₹42,407 | Deepstacks ₹2 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
VTN3COB | ₹36,000 | Warrior Arena ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | Poker Dangal |
bigbluffaces | ₹31,500 | Battlefield Tuesday ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | Poker Dangal |
nivask77ksr | ₹25,344 | Dangal Friday ₹1 Lakhs GTD | Poker Dangal |
Pankaj ‘Cyclonekabro’ Joshi | ₹24,000 | Monday Texas ₹1 Lakhs GTD | Poker Dangal |
Ravi ‘DJBravo’ Yadav | ₹24,000 | Sunday Bonanza ₹1 Lakhs GTD ₹770 | Poker Dangal |
charecter1 | ₹20,000 | Dominator ₹50K GTD NLHE ₹660 | Khelo365 |
Suman ‘Butler’ Basak | ₹18,000 | Wow Wednesday ₹75K GTD | Poker Dangal |
Khelo365 has been around the block for a long time and was also the first poker site to get the Nagaland Gaming License in December 2016. The site recently come out with its biggest-ever software upheaval by moving over to the industry-leading Connective Games platform.
Read the complete report here
Online poker site Poker Dangal is slowly establishing strong credibility in the poker industry and was recently named among the 10 Best eSports Startups of 2019 by business and technology magazine, Silicon India startupcity. Spartan Poker was another name that got featured in this list alongside 99Games, Nazara Technologies, Nodwin Gaming, etc.
Read the complete report here
IPC sponsors Spartan Poker has announced that the Main Event winner at the upcoming January edition will be named the ‘India Poker Champion!’ and will get a one-year sponsorship deal worth ₹20 Lakhs along with a gorgeous engraved watch worth ₹5 Lakhs!
Read the complete report here
The Supreme Court, while hearing the appeal petitions against Bombay High Court’s April 30 ruling in the Gurdeep Singh Sachar vs. Dream11, dismissed all the petitions. The Central Revenue Department and the State of Maharashtra had filed Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) challenging the Bombay High Court`s order.
Read the complete report here
The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has submitted a confidential report to the BCCI charging that close to ₹225 Crores was wagered on a Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) T20 cricket match between the Tuti Patriots and Madurai Panthers on Betfair. ACU has asked the BCCI to consider shutting down all such leagues.
Read the complete report here
Casino operator Deltin and Adda52 Rummy will have their brands represented on the Team Jersey of the Indian Super League (ISL) football team FC Goa. Adda52 Rummy will be the title sponsors with their logo to be the team’s main front-of-shirt sponsor, while Deltin, who is an associate sponsor, will have their logo on the club’s kits.
Read the complete report here
On December 11, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) came out publicly with the dates of the much-awaited 2020 edition, which will mark its golden anniversary. The 51-day series will run through May 26 – July 15, 2020, and playing host once again will be the famous Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
Read the complete report here
The inaugural edition of the Asia Poker League (APL) Da Nang began at the Risemount Premier Resort in Da Nang, Vietnam, on December 12. The 16-event series has already crowned more than half-a-dozen champions at the stop. The showstopper i.e., the Main Event VND 8 Billion GTD, is now on the home stretch with a starting field of 525 entries trimmed down to the final nine players.
The latest pro to join APL’s ‘Da Dors’ team of brand ambassadors, India’s Sumit Sapra, has stormed his way into the final table and is in the hunt for the coveted title and the winner’s cheque of VND 2,026,500,000 (~₹62.02 Lakhs).
Besides Sapra, two other Indians, Vikas Sahni (36th for ₹1.49 Lakhs) & Manish Lakhotia (53rd for ₹1.27 Lakhs), were in the contention in the Main Event and bowed out on Day 2 after adding to their bankrolls.
Read the complete report here
APL Vietnam Da Nang Winners
Player Event Prize Money
Nguyen Hoang Linh VND 10M Kickoff VND 739,100,000
Im Sung Gok VND 10M Deep Stack VND 285,500,000
Kim Jae Hwan VND 8.8M NLHE VND 160,700,000
Li Shin Hung VND 6.6M KO Bounty Turbo VND 142,400,000
Nguyen Huu Duc VND 6M NLHE Turbo 1 VND 83,500,000
Lee Jung Wook VND 5.5M Hyper Turbo VND 79,400,000
Kwon Hyuk Jin VND 5.5M Hyper Turbo 2 VND 69,500,000
The 2019 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague turned out to be a thundering success as the festival featured a whopping 49 events that ran from December 6-17. Dominating the headlines early was Stephen Chidwick, who won PokerStars EPT Prague Super High Roller defeating Bertrand Grospellier heads-up for a €725,710 payday.
Read the complete report here
Even as Semen Kravets, Alexandre Reard, Chin Wei Lim, and Sam Greenwood went on to win titles, the star of the series was Belarusian pro Mikalai Pobal, who defeated an enormous field of 1,154 players to win the €5,300 Main Event title for a whopping €1,005,600. Pobal, who had won the 2012 EPT Barcelona Main Event, has etched his name in the record books as the second two-time EPT champion after Victoria Coren Mitchell.
Read the complete report here
EPT Prague Winners
Event | Winner | Prize |
---|---|---|
Event #1 – NLHE Single Re-Entry | Adrian Mateos | € 177,500 |
Event #2 – NLHE Freezeout | Mateusz Wozniak | € 52,930 |
Event #4 — EPT National Championship | Semen Kravets | € 262,309 |
Event #7 – NLHE Hyper Turbo Freezeout | Orhan Ates | € 32,950 |
Event #8 — NLHE | Jean-Noel Thorel | € 248,740 |
Event #50 — PLO unlimited re-entry | Bogdan Capitan | € 333,200 |
Event #11 — EPT Cup | Josef Snejberg | € 83,300 |
Event #12 — Super High Roller | Stephen Chidwick | € 725,710 |
Event #14 — NLHE Hyper Turbo | Viet Vo | € 33,550 |
Event #16 – EPT National High Roller | Alexandre Reard | € 342,810 |
Event #18 — 6+ (Short-Deck) | Yake Wu | € 44,135 |
Event #21 — NLHE Single re-entry | Tsugunari Toma | € 135,220 |
Event #25 – Single-Day High Roller | Chin Wei Lim | € 378,160 |
Event #27 – NLHE Single Re-entry | Pim Kuipers | € 57,970 |
Event #26 – PLO Single Re-entry | Shahar Levi | € 38,835 |
Event #28 – NLHE Hyper Turbo | Remi Wyrzykiewicz | € 25,790 |
Event #29 – NLHE Single Re-entry | Paul Michaelis | € 167,930 |
Event #30 – PLO Single Re-entry | Duarte Baptista | € 130,050 |
Event #33 – NLHE Unlimited Re-entry | Sam Greenwood | € 384,968 |
Event #34 – NLHE Single Re-entry | Rasmus Agerskov | € 74,860 |
Event #36 – 6+ (Short Deck) | Felix Schulze | € 12,070 |
Event #38 – HORSE Single Re-entry | Grzegorz Wyraz | € 7,020 |
Event #40 NLHE | Andreas Boelling | € 41,250 |
Event #42 – NLHE Hyper Turbo Knockout | Anton Suarez | € 25,140 |
Event #44 NLHE Turbo Win The Button Freezeout | Pavlos Xanthopoulos | € 8,840 |
Event #45 NLHE Hyper Turbo Freezeout | Liu Yucheng | € 31,880 |
Event #39 – Single-Day High Roller | Tsugunari Toma | € 523,120 |
Event #20 – EPT Main Event | Mikalai Pobal | € 1,005,600 |
Event #46 NLH Turbo Unlimited Re-entry | Seref Dursun Anar | € 5,200 |
Event #47 NLH Turbo 6-Handed Unlimited Re-entry | Giorgiy Skhulukhiya | € 53,205 |
Event #48 NLH Turbo 6-Handed Unlimited Re-entry | Timothy Adams | € 57,720 |
Event #49 NLHE Super Hyper Turbo Freezeout | Ci Yuan Huang | € 11,750 |
Event #43 NLH Deep Stack Single Re-entry | Gab Yong Kim | € 92,560 |
The 2019 Winter Poker Open (WPO) wrapped up at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Bay on Monday. David Moses came out on top of the 479-strong field after defeating poker pro Justin Zaki heads-up to win the Main Event title for $149,595 and the gorgeous Guitar Trophy.
Read the complete report here
Boris Kasabov Wins WSOPC IP Biloxi Main Event
Toppling a field of 281 entries, Boris Kasabov took down the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) IP Biloxi $1,700 Main Event to win his first-ever WSOP Circuit Ring in addition to $98,044 and a seat into the 2020 Global Casino Championship.
Read the complete report here
Said El Harrak Wins WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino Main Event
Thirty-seven-year-old former pro boxes Said ‘Sid’ El Harrak won the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Bicycle Casino Main Event. Harrak outlasted a field of 487 entries and defeated Ronnie Tate heads-up to pocket the top prize of $147,435, along with his first WSOP Circuit ring, and a seat into the 2020 Global Casino Championship.
Read the complete report here
And with this, we conclude this week’s roundup of the latest news updates and developments from the world of poker. We will return again next week with our weekly report, stay tuned.