This Week in Poker: May 16 – 22

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

Though, the sweltering heat may abate with the coming monsoons in June, the action in poker world is set to sizzle with the mammoth of all tournaments, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) that is days away from unfolding at the Mecca of poker – Las Vegas. PokerGuru will bring constant updates of Team India on their performance at the big stage so stay tuned.

One normally assumes that everyone will be probably busy to prepare a packed live schedule with back-to-back tournaments but that surely wasn’t enough to suffice the poker appetite for most players.

The biggest online sweat of the week came from Sasi ‘sasikiranx’ Kiran who shipped both Sunday Special and the Sunday Stars on PokerStars India and is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week”.

Live tournament action got a resurrection of sorts with the inaugural MadOverPoker Hysteria Live in Bengaluru. The high value event attracted 148 entries and by the time the last hand was dealt, Alireza P emerged victorious after a heads-up deal with Gautam Raju, with each player winning ₹1.22 Lakhs.

In other major news, the Poker Sports League (PSL) season 2 recently closed out with Team Goan Nuts taking top honors and they collected the top prize cheque from Chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand.

Several other announcements and developments include Poker Central releasing the WSOP 2018 live stream schedule on PokerGO, the brand alliance between 888poker Spain and Martí Roca and US Supreme Court striking down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA).

In our other news roundup, we bring you reports of live tournaments and winners from the Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro and Unibet Open Malta Main Event.

Online Railbird Report

The biggest MTT star this week was Sasi ‘sasikiranx’ Kiran who shipped not just the headline Sunday Special event on PokerStars India, but went on to win the Sunday Stars on the site as well. Kiran banked ₹2.34 Lakhs for his Sunday Special win and added another ₹57,842 to his bankroll for his Sunday Stars victory and for this he is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week”.

Other notable scores include –

Bharat ‘Lokpok’ Bhati won ₹3.24 Lakhs for 1^st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Baazi Super Sunday ₹15 Lakhs GTD (SuperStack)’

Anik ‘nosetnobet’ Ajmera won ₹1.38 Lakhs for 1^st place in the MadOverPoker ‘Hysteria’

Gaurav ‘gaug17’ Sood won ₹1.32 Lakhs for 1^st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Baazi Super Sunday(₹5 Lakhs GTD) (MonsterStack Hyper-Turbo)’

Rahul ‘pokeraddictive’ Kumar won ₹50,920 for 1^st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Baazi Super Sunday (₹1 Lakh GTD PLO) (Re-Entry)’

Anish ‘THENUTS’ Suri won ₹35,000 for 1^st place in the ‘Baazi Super Sunday (₹1 Lakh GTD) (Turbo Freezeout)’

‘mantu’ won ₹31,445 for 1^st place in the MadOverPoker ‘Dynamite’

Ajay ‘Ajayrajput’ Singh Butola won ₹31,000 for 1^st place in the 9stacks ‘Sunday Stacks’

PokerStars Removes Split Hold ‘Em And Exploring New Formats

The innovative two-board variation Split Hold ‘em was removed this past week from PokerStars. The online giant is now exploring new poker variants which may include soccer themed Spin and Goal, Showtime Hold ‘em where players may need to reveal hole cards, and PokerStars Fusion which is likely to be a blend of both Holdem and Omaha variants.

Read the complete story here.

Match IPL Team Announces First-Ever Online Team Poker League

In another exciting announcement, Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty Kundra’s Viaan Industries Ltd announced the launch of the first-ever Online Team Poker League (OTPL). The national event will be held in multiple countries and the Season 1 will run through July 28 – November 17.

Read the complete story here.

9stacks Launches Special Cash Race – TexaSmash

Another brand-new promotion from 9stacks, this time it’s the unique cash race named ‘TexaSmash’ where StackUp points are to be accumulated on Smash tables. The special part is that the ₹5 Lakhs GTD will increase by ₹1 every time any player accumulates a StackUp point.

Read the complete story here.

Alireza P Wins MadOverPoker’s Inaugural Hysteria Live

MadOverPoker hosted its inaugural Hysteria Live at Tilt Room in Bengaluru and the high value ₹4,400 buy-in event drew 148 entries (115 unique entries and 33 re-entries) and with that, the advertised ₹5 Lakhs guarantee was easily crushed with the final prize pool touching ₹5.92 Lakhs.

By the end, Alireza P chopped the event with Gautam Raju with each player collecting ₹1.22 Lakhs in prize money.

PokerGuru has also officially confirmed that MadOverPoker Hysteria Live will be coming back soon for a second edition.

Read the complete story here.

Goan Nuts Wins Poker Sports League Season 2

The much-anticipated Poker Sports League (PSL) season 2 wrapped up after Goan Nuts walked away with the champions trophy and collected the ₹2 Crores top prize cheque from the league’s ambassador and Chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand. Gujarat Falcons finished runner up for ₹1.2 Crores and Rajasthan Tilters finished third for ₹90 Lakhs.

Read the complete story here.

Congress Says BJP is Master of Cheap Theatrics After Parrikar’s U-Turn Over Casino & Other Issues

This past week, Goa Congress lashed back at BJP and Goa CM Manohar Parrikar that, “master of cheap theatrics and, cheap theatrics is a super specialty of Parrikar.” Congress spokesperson Yatish Naik stated that Parrikar opposed casinos before last elections and changed his stance later.

Read the complete story here.

WPT to Host Tournament of Champions at ARIA & Esports Arena

Season XVI of the World Poker Tour (WPT) will come to a close soon with the Tournament of Champions which is to kick off at ARIA & Esports Arena in Las Vegas from May 24-26. The $15,000 buy-in event will be hosted for the first time at ARIA and will move to the Esports Arena in Luxor Resorts & Casino for the final table on May 26.

Read the complete story here.

Poker Central Releases WSOP 2018 Live Stream Schedule

This week, Poker Central released the live stream schedule on their OTT platform – PokerGo which will run through June 2 – July 17. The live streaming will be anchored by Ali Nejad, Lon McEachern and Norman Chad among others. PokerGo will live stream all the action of Main Event and two days of the Big One for One Drop among many others.

Read the complete story here.

PokerStars Partners With IEC For Live Events & Poker Rooms

This past week, PokerStars found a new partner for its pan-Asian operations in Chinese hotel, casino and entertainment group IEC to host live events across Asia and to operate it`s poker rooms in select Asian countries.

Read the complete story here.

888poker Spain Signs Martí Roca as Poker Ambassador

A brand-new alliance was witnessed this past week as WSOP Europe 2017 champion Martí Roca was signed by 888poker Spain as their poker ambassador. Roca will help 888poker promote and grow its poker offerings in the Spanish and Italian online gaming market.

Read the complete story here.

US Supreme Court Strikes Down PASPA

In a landmark judgment, this week, the United States Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) declaring it unconstitutionalduring the hearing of New Jersey’s challenge to PASPA.

Read the complete story here.

Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro

The 2018 Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro got done this week after crowning its Main Event in Mikita Badziakouski who banked a whopping HK$19,618,400 ($2,499,090) top prize after topping the 63-player field.

Read the complete story here.

Bringing the curtains of the series was another special story, namely Jason Koon, who shipped the unique HK$1,000,000 Short Deck Ante-Only Event and collected his biggest career cash of HK$28,102,000.

Read the complete story here.

Interestingly, while the Main Event was going on, a €1 Million buy-in televised cash game went on to be the largest one aired in history. Jason Koon lost the first big hand, a €1.8 Million pot to Kane Kalas and in the very next hand, won a massive €2 Million pot!

Read the complete story here.

Daniel Jacobsen Wins Unibet Open Malta Main Event

19-year-old Daniel Jacobsen came out on top of the 273 entry field of the 2018 Unibet Open Malta Main Event hosted at the Casino Malta. Jacobsen defeated Finland’s Henri Piironen heads-up and collected the €60,090 top prize for his stellar run.

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.