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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!
The holiday season is upon us, and as we are about to enter the last week of 2019, we have to put it out there, it was a groundbreaking year for Indian poker. Whether it’s live or online, the year was a grand one for Indian poker players who established themselves as an emerging poker power. While this year had several memorable highlights that we would love to recap, let us for now take a look back at the week that just passed us by.
The live tournament action was primarily focused on the western hemisphere. Putting up a standout performance, Kolkata-born two-time WSOP bracelet winner Nipun Java reached the heads-up play in the WSOPC Harrah’s Las Vegas Main Event but missed out on his chance at a second WSOPC ring to Anthony Spinella. Nonetheless, Java’s exceptional performance fetched him $118,764 (~₹84.51 Lakhs), making him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week.”
Action in Asia was dominated by the Asia Poker League (APL) Da Nang, where APL Brand Ambassador Sumit Sapra closed out his outing with two scores – the more prominent of the two being his fifth-place finish in the Main Event for VND 477,900,000 (~₹14.68 Lakhs).
The week saw more than its fair share of big winners on the virtual felts, and once again, it was Spartan Poker that played host to the biggest events. The most anticipated event of the week – Spartan Value Series (SVS) The Millionaire Lite was taken down by ‘Fishlover’ (name withheld on player request) who took home ₹11.12 Lakhs in prize money.
In the other significant developments, fast-growing site Poker Dangal locked in its second poker league tie-up by becoming the new co-owners of the Poker Sports League (PSL) team Kolkata Kings.
The poker industry will have to wait for a legal reprieve in Gujarat with the Gujarat High Court failing to take up the hearing of poker appeals on December 19. The matter has been listed for January 8, 2020.
In other reports, the GST Council voted for a uniform tax rate of 28% on lotteries across the country. At the same time, the Commissioners’ Task Force (CTF) arrested four individuals in Vijayawada for planning a hi-tech poker scam with the help of specially designed mobile applications.
In live stop confirmations, industry giant PokerStars has come out with details of 21 live stops in 2020 that include seven events in Manila. The World Series of Poker (WSOP) confirmed another 12 events for its annual summer run next year.
Also grabbing headlines was Michigan that has become the sixth U.S state to legalize online poker.
DraftKings is acquiring sports betting supplier SBTech through a special acquisition company that will allow the DFS major to go public without following the typical IPO process.
Meanwhile, Cambodia will be pushing the kill switch on all forms of online gambling by January 1, 2020.
We also have tournament reports from APL Da Nang, WSOPC Harrah’s Las Vegas, WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic, and Wynn Winter Classic Championship.
Spartan Poker has firmly planted itself as the industry leader when it comes to tournaments, and last week was all about the Spartan Value Series (SVS). The SVS The Millionaire Lite ₹50 Lakhs GTD was the headline event of the week and saw ‘Fishlover’ (name withheld on player request) come out on top of a massive field of 2,966 entries to win ₹11.12 Lakhs.
Jyoti’ joey114114’ Ranjan Nayak (Spartan Poker’s Sunday SuperStack for ₹7.13 Lakhs) and Vishwanath’ vish4u2’ Borhade (Adda52’s Godfather for ₹5.74 Lakhs) round out the list of top three online winners this week.
The notable scores of the week include –
Player | Prize Money | Event | Poker Site |
---|---|---|---|
fishlover | ₹11.12 Lakhs | SVS The Millionaire Lite ₹50 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Jyoti Ranjan ‘joey114114’ Nayak | ₹7.13 Lakhs | Sunday SuperStack ₹40 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
propernit | ₹6.82 Lakhs | Destiny 12.0 ₹30 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Vishwanath ‘vish4u2’ Borhade | ₹5.74 Lakhs | Godfather ₹20 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Anmol ‘anzzzzz’ Mehta | ₹5.41 Lakhs | BSS SuperStack ₹25 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Sagar ‘alwaysnutz’ Choudhury | ₹5.27 Lakhs | Mega Suits ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Gal Gadot | ₹4.99 Lakhs | The Elite 6-Max ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
BobbyAxelrod1 | ₹4.87 Lakhs | Ultron ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Akshay ‘sherlock52’ Nasa | ₹4.55 Lakhs | The Summit ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
autobot93 | ₹4.19 Lakhs | The Ballers ₹15 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Ankit ‘Shippament’ Wadhawan | ₹3.89 Lakhs | Mega Stack ₹20 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Arsh ‘Button_Hai_Bro’ Grover | ₹3.80 Lakhs | G.O.A ₹20 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Abhishek’ messi010010’ Gubba | ₹3.15 Lakhs | Big Slick ₹15 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Arpan ‘Vasusenaa’ Majhi | ₹2.96 Lakhs | Sunday Special Progressive KO ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Akash ‘K9_A’ Shekhar | ₹2.90 Lakhs | The Dragon ₹10 Lakhs GTD | 9stacks |
Abhishek ‘messi010010’ Gubba | ₹2.74 Lakhs | Big Slick ₹15 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
prithvi221 | ₹2.48 Lakhs | Maverick ₹10 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Arjanveer ‘ballistik310’ Singh Chadha | ₹2.40 Lakhs | Highroller ₹12 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
NOTAPRO | ₹2.35 Lakhs | The Bout ₹10 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Gaurav ‘mozzie17’ Sood | ₹2.33 Lakhs | ReCharge ₹12 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
The AnnihiIator | ₹2.28 Lakhs | Uppercut Progressive KO 6-Max MAGIC Edition ₹10 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Kamal ‘ksn123’ Naruka | ₹2.21 Lakhs | Goa Fest ₹8 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Sreekanth’ n0thing’ Narayan | ₹2.08 Lakhs | Hitman ₹7.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Arsh ‘Button_Hai_Bro’ Grover | ₹1.47 Lakhs | Grinders#19 Thursday MonsterStack ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Sreeharsha ‘yUDdam’ Boneni | ₹1.47 Lakhs | TGIF ₹10 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
STEALTH | ₹1.42 Lakhs | Thunder @7:30 PM ₹5 Lakhs GTD | 9stacks |
Priyank ‘Piko1432’ Kothari | ₹1.39 Lakhs | The Monster 6-Max ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Ujjwal ‘CougarHunter69’ Narwal | ₹1.36 Lakhs | Sunday Special (L) ₹7.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Apollo26 | ₹1.32 Lakhs | SVS #5 Hi-Fi ₹6 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Aditya ‘adit11’ Kulkarni | ₹1.05 Lakhs | Grinder #33 Main Event ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
WhySoSick | ₹1.04 Lakhs | SVS #10 Hi-Fi PLO Special ₹4.5 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
shaandaarsingh | ₹1.04 Lakhs | Monday Hustle ₹6 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
FunkeyFox | ₹1.04 Lakhs | SVS #15 Hi-Fi ₹5 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Rony ‘bisadip176’ Chowdhury | ₹1.03 Lakhs | FriYay ₹4 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Gaurav ‘F1SH@SH4RK’ Mittal | ₹95,806 | Night on Stars ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Kuldeep ‘Bacchapro’ Jorwal | ₹88,537 | Grinders #24 Friday SuperStack ₹3 Lakhs GTD ₹2,200 RE | PokerBaazi |
KushnannaEmpire | ₹86,081 | Electric Afternoon Hi-Fi ₹4 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Ishan ‘Ishan2203’ Sharma | ₹72,065 | SVS #24 Electric Big Daddy ₹5 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
nishu271 | ₹71,250 | Hexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Sam ‘lokimon’ Anand | ₹71,250 | Hexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
bluechipp | ₹70,625 | Hexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
FunkeyFox | ₹66,738 | Afternoon Hi-Fi ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Akshat ‘doubledown’ Sharma | ₹63,289 | Afternoon Hi-Fi ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
vn2016 | ₹61,478 | Afternoon Hi-Fi ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
StupidCommonMan | ₹59,463 | Hexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Neeraj ‘SelfClaimedPros’ Kumar | ₹58,300 | Ultimate PLO ₹2 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Rohit ‘sstoned’ Kumar | ₹58,300 | Ultimate PLO ₹2 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Sikhni3 | ₹58,300 | Ultimate PLO ₹2 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Pritam ‘pritamrockon’ Dhokane | ₹57,423 | BSS PLO ₹2 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Prabhat ‘shortstackguy’ Saini | ₹54,323 | Ultimate PLO ₹2 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Ragesh ‘ragesh91’ Mishra | ₹49,091 | The Classic ₹2 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Sailor431 | ₹46,852 | Progressive KO 4 Max ₹2 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
sakerr | ₹46,621 | SVS #23 ₹2.25 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Sandeep ‘effuno007’ Varma RS | ₹44,540 | The Classic ₹2 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
llordankcor | ₹43,059 | SVS #4 ₹2 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
daiwik | ₹43,000 | Big Bang ₹1 Lakh GTD NLHE | Khelo365 |
TheTeacher | ₹36,000 | Warrior Arena ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | Poker Dangal |
killfish | ₹24,000 | Dangal Friday ₹1 Lakh GTD | Poker Dangal |
Thebaap | ₹24,000 | Monday Texas ₹1 Lakh GTD | Poker Dangal |
pianca | ₹22,000 | Sunday Bonanza ₹1 Lakh GTD | Poker Dangal |
cowboys | ₹18,000 | Dominator ₹50K GTD NLHE | Khelo365 |
Buntyji | ₹16,500 | Wow Wednesday ₹75K GTD | Poker Dangal |
In its second major poker league tie-up, Poker Dangal has become the co-owners of the Poker Sports League (PSL) team Kolkata Kings. PSL has come back for Season 3 after a long 16-month hiatus, and with this association, Poker Dangal is looking to reach out to newer audiences and gain market share.
Read the complete report here.
partypoker finally rolled out the ‘Run It Twice’ (RIT) feature on its client on December 19. Currently, RIT is available only for Windows and Mac desktop users playing FastForward cash games, and partypoker plans to roll it out on all devices and cash tables in the coming year.
Read the complete report here.
Gujarat HC Hearing of Poker Appeals Moved to January 2020
The scheduled hearing of poker appeals pending at the Gujarat High Court could not take place on December 19. These appeal petitions, filed by Indian Poker Association (IPA) secretary KN Suresh and others, including Aman Chhabra, Hotel Ramada, and Dominance Games Pvt. Ltd challenges the court’s 2017 ruling that defined poker as amounting to gambling and to be banned in Gujarat. The court has rescheduled the matter to be heard on January 8, 2020.
Read the complete report here.
In an unprecedented move, the GST Council headed by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman voted for a uniform tax rate of 28% on lotteries across the country last week. The proposal of a uniform tax was put to the vote, where the motion was passed by 21 votes in favor and seven against it. The new rate will take effect from March 1, 2020, all over the country.
Read the complete report here.
The Commissioners’ Task Force (CTF) arrested four individuals last week in Vijayawada for planning a hi-tech poker scam to loot people. The four accused – Sk Munna (42), Sk Hazarat (33), Nemaala Sanjeev (32), and Nemaala Narayana (28), had ordered specially designed mobile application, ‘CVK 500 Poker Analyzer’, secret camera mobile phone, mobile scanning watch, micro ear-in pieces, and scanned poker cards from a Delhi-based trader.
Read the complete report here.
One of the fastest-growing tournament brands in Asia, the Asia Poker League (APL) closed out a smashing inaugural series at the Risemount Premier Resort in Da Nang. The newly appointed APL Brand Ambassador Sumit Sapra was a prominent presence at the stop and picked up two scores that included an impressive final table finish in the Main Event. Sapra had entered the nine-handed final table placed seventh in chips, and did well to eventually finish fifth for VND 477,900,000 (~₹14.68 Lakhs)!
Outlasting the 525 entries in the VND 8 Billion GTD Main Event was Vietnam’s Nguyen Minh Tuan, who walked away with a career-best VND 2,026,500,000 (~₹62.02 Lakhs) in prize money.
Read the complete report here.
The VND 40 Million buy-in High Roller was another marquee event at the stop that attracted 119 hopefuls across its two starting flights. Taiwan’s Wu En Ching was the last player left standing in the event and took home the top prize of VND 1,362,100,000.
Read the complete report here.
Team India Cashes at APL Da Nang
Player | Event | Prize Money |
---|---|---|
Nguyen Minh Tuan | VND 20 Million Main Event VND 8 Billion GTD | VND 2,026,500,000 |
Wu En Ching | VND 40 Million High Roller | VND 1,362,100,000 |
Nguyen Hoang Linh | VND 10 Million Kickoff | VND 739,100,000 |
Trung Nguyen | VND 15 Million Super Deep Stack | VND 389,500,000 |
Im Sangguk | VND 3 Million High Roller – 1 Day | VND 349,200,000 |
Nam Phong | VND 11 Million KO Bounty 2 | VND 293,400,000 |
Im Sung Gok | VND 10 Million Deep Stack | VND 285,500,000 |
Nguyen Huu Duc | VND 16.5 Million Freezeout | VND 196,900,000 |
Kim Jae Hwan | VND 8.8 Million NLHE | VND 160,700,000 |
Qian Xubo | VND 7.7 Million NLH Turbo 2 | VND 146,600,000 |
Li Shin Hung | VND 6.6 Million KO Bounty Turbo | VND 142,400,000 |
Ceesvin Abdulla | VND 8 Million Deep Stack Turbo | VND 124,100,000 |
Dinh Manh Hung | VND 7.7 Million PLO | VND 108,600,000 |
Aigars | VND 8 Million 6-Max Turbo | VND 94,300,000 |
Nguyen Huu Duc | VND 6 Million NLHE Turbo 1 | VND 83,500,000 |
Lee Jung Wook | VND 5.5 Million Hyper Turbo | VND 79,400,000 |
Kwon Hyuk Jin | VND 5.5 Million Hyper Turbo 2 | VND 69,500,000 |
Lee Jong Wook | Charity Event | VND 39,600,000 |
Last week, PokerStars announced details of 21 live events for 2020 headlined by EPT stops in Sochi, Monte Carlo, and Barcelona. They are major stops planned in Asia and South America as well. PokerStars intends to give away 24 Platinum Passes in all to the 2020 PokerStars Players Championship through these events. There are seven events lined up in Manila, and two Platinum Passes will be awarded through these stops.
Read the complete report here.
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has come out with details of 12 more events for its 2020 schedule, including some of the marquee events at the series. Among the confirmed events are crowd-favorites like the Millionaire Maker (June 5 – 6), Colossus (June 24 – 25), Monster Stack (June 12 – 13), Tag Team (June 22), Mini Main Event (June 29), Super Seniors (June 22), Ladies Event (June 17), Little One for One Drop (July 4 – 6), Crazy Eights (June 26 – 27) and The Closer (July 10 – 11).
Read the complete report here.
Daily fantasy sports major, DraftKings, has announced that it will be acquiring sports betting supplier SBTech through a special acquisition company, Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp. The move will allow DraftKings to go public without having to follow the typical IPO process.
Read the complete report here.
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen has confirmed that all kinds of online gambling will be banned in the country by January 1, 2020. The move comes in the wake of increasing pressure from China to do so.
Read the complete report here.
Michigan has become the sixth state in the U.S to legalize online poker after Governor Gretchen Whitmer`s signatory approval to House Bill 4311 last week.
Read the complete report here.
The 2019 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) headed to Harrah’s in Las Vegas on December 11. The showstopper $1,700 Main Event at the halt brought with it a big sweat for Kolkata born two-time WSOP bracelet winner Nipun Java, who missed out on his second WSOPC ring to Anthony Spinella. Java finished runner-up for $118,764 (~₹84.51 Lakhs), while Spinella collected the winner’s paycheck worth $192,199 and his first WSOPC gold ring.
Read the complete report here.
Meanwhile, WSOP bracelet winner Brett Apter topped a field of 86 entries to win the $2,200 NLHM High Roller title for $52,084.
Read the complete report here.
The final stop of WPT Season XVIII concluded last week, and the headline event at the series, the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic (WPC) $10,400 Main Event logged in a record-shattering 1,035 entries.
Taking top honors at the event was Alex Foxen, who went one place better than his runner-up finish in this very event in 2017. Foxen won the title outright for $1,694,995, the WPT Trophy, a seat into the WPT Tournament of Champions. He sits at the cusp of creating history by becoming the first two-time GPI Player of the Year (PoY) and that too in successive years.
Read the complete report here.
30-year-old Michael Rocco came out on top in the inaugural Wynn Winter Classic $5,300 Championship Event after beating out Michael Dyer heads-up to win a career-best $540,800.
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.