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In the PokerGuru feature ‘This Week in Poker’ we bring you the weekly roundup 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
With the Independence Day mere days away, this past week has been quite a liberating one. Perhaps embodying the spirit of the occasion, the Indian poker community came to together to boycott two signature Sunday tournaments on online poker site Adda52 – in protest of the site’s archaic TDS policy. The last-minute boycott may not have caused a considerable decline in numbers for the two major Sunday tournaments – Big Slick and Mega Suits – but it still managed to register an overlay.
While Adda52 indeed lost some of its regular players last Sunday, other poker operators reaped the benefits. PokerBaazi’s biggest Sunday event – the Baazi Super Sunday (BSS) SuperStack ₹25 Lakhs GTD – has always been a crowd-pleaser. Last Sunday the event saw a 10% spike in attendance with 547 entries (322 unique and 225 re-entries) as compared to the previous week’s 500 entries (315 unique and 185 re-entries). Seasoned pro Shravan ‘FishStars’ Chhabria topped the field to claim the title and top prize of ₹5.21 Lakhs, making him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week.”
PokerStars India’s weekly flagship event, the Sunday Special Progressive KO, finally surpassed the 300-entry mark, registering a total number of 301 entries (167 unique and 134 re-entries). This is the first time that the Sunday Special collected ₹15.05 Lakhs in prize pool since the event’s guarantee had been slashed from ₹20 Lakhs to ₹15 Lakhs. Tournament regular Pranay ‘aankhdikhatahai’ Chawla decimated the field, banking ₹3.57 Lakhs in first-place prize money.
Where Adda52 received a lot of criticism for its outdated TDS policy, PokerDangal announced its new player-friendly TDS policy that allows players to withdraw less than ₹10,000 three times in a day without any TDS being deducted.
Meanwhile, UMA Poker was one of the first online poker sites to announce an Independence Day-themed ‘Independence Day Survivor’ tournament. The ₹1,947 buy-in tournament will commence on August 15 at 6 PM, and the top 10 players are assured a min-cash of ₹73,000.
However, dark clouds seem to be looming over Goa`s Casino industry. After Chief Minister Pramod Sawant`s announcement that locals would be prohibited from entering onshore and offshore casinos, the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) has now decided to not renew the trade license of any offshore casino operating on River Mandovi next year onwards.
Moving on to the domestic gaming industry, the first-ever India Gaming Awards have been announced, and the awards ceremony will feature 16 categories in which nominees from the fields of Rummy, Poker, Casino and Fantasy Sports will be honored.
Gaming platform Paytm First Games recently raised approximately $25 Million (₹177 Crores) in funding which the company will be utilizing towards product development.
The first edition of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series London wrapped up proceedings on August 8. One of the last events to crown a champion at the series was the £100K Short Deck Main Event which was taken down by American superstar Justin Bonomo who netted £2.67 Million for his win. Indian-origin pro Vivek Rajkumar had made it to Day 2 of the event but fell short of the money line.
With the partypoker MILLIONS Europe and Asian Poker League (APL) Hanoi Vietnam still ongoing and European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona (August 20-September 1) about to being soon, there is a lot of poker action to look forward to in the coming days.
Shravan’ FishStars’ Chhabria topped 547 entries (322 unique and 225 re-entries) in PokerBaazi’s flagship Sunday tournament, BSS SuperStack ₹25 Lakhs GTD to win ₹5.21 Lakhs. Chhabria’s stellar run headlines the other online scores this week making him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!!”
Other notable scores of the week include –
Pranay’ aankhdikhatahai’ Chawla won ₹3.57 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Special Progressive KO ₹15 Lakhs GTD’
Guneet ‘guntz’ Kwatra won ₹2.3 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘The Bout ₹10 Lakhs GTD’
‘Incognito’ won ₹1.05 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Grinders #33 Main Event ₹5 Lakhs GTD’
Mayank’ alwaystiltAA’ Jaggi won ₹55,362 for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘BSS PLO ₹2 Lakhs GTD’
Shagun’ Sogani22’ Jain won ₹46,228 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Stars ₹2 Lakhs GTD’
‘Scorpion14’ won ₹43,000 for 1st place in the Khelo365 ‘Big Bang ₹1 Lakh GTD’
Akash’ fisheater0510’ Gupta won ₹37,735 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Bigstack Turbo ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD’
Jaydeep’ Armageddon444’ Dawer won ₹22,391 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Supersonic ₹1 Lakh GTD’
‘nixxyralte’ won ₹18,100 for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Sunday ₹1 Lakh GTD’
‘Rughani’ won ₹17,280 for 1st place in the Khelo365 ‘Deep Stack ₹40K GTD’
‘HonkaTonk8’ won ₹16,049 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Storm ₹1 Lakh GTD’
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This past week, an unprecedented boycott was witnessed in the Indian poker community against the most prominent online poker site in the country – Adda52. A large group of poker players decided to boycott the Sunday majors on the site which resulted in a slight dip in the number of entries in the Mega Suits and the Big Slick tournaments.
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Online poker site Uma Poker has announced an Independence Day special tournament called ‘Independence Day Survivor’ featuring a ₹1,947 buy-in, the event will start at 6 PM on August 15 and award the top 10 players at least ₹73,000.
The site is also among the first operators to revise its rake structure and has announced a 50% reduction in rake (commission) across all stakes from September 1.
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W.e.f August 8, online poker site Poker Dangal implemented its new player friendly TDS policy. Players are now allowed to instantly withdraw less than ₹10,000 three times in a day without any TDS. A flat 30% TDS is applicable on all withdrawal requests over ₹9,999.
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The Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) has decided not to renew the trade license of any offshore casino operating on River Mandovi from next year onwards. Panaji Mayor Uday Madkaikar announced that the decision was taken after discussion with local MLA Atanasio Monserrate.
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Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant this past week, in a statement on the floor of the state legislative assembly, reiterated that locals would be barred from entering any offshore or onshore casino in the state soon.
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The India Gaming Awards initiative recently launched its website and announced the first-ever awards along with the nominees under its 16 categories covering Rummy, Poker, Casino and Fantasy Sports segments. Some of the most distinguished representatives of the industry have been inducted in the panel of judges.
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Gaming platform, Paytm First Games is reportedly close to raising $25 Million (₹177 Crores) in funding. The company is reportedly in talks with venture capital firm SAIF partners and an undisclosed Hong-Kong based company for the funding and plans to utilize the funds for product development.
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The eight-tournament Triton Poker Super High Roller Series debuted in London from July 31 to August 8. Although it was the Triton Million – A Helping Hand For Charity that captured the world’s attention, the action remained intense right till the end. The player to speak of as the series culminated was the £100,000 Main Event winner Wai King Yong who made a serious attempt at back-to-back titles with another deep run in the £100K Short Deck Main Event. He ultimately finished runner-up to Justin Bonomo who pocketed £2.67 Million for his efforts.
Indian-origin pro Vivek Rajkumar who was spotted playing a live tournament after a long gap did exceedingly well at the series. After finishing fifth in the Triton Million for a personal best £3,000,000 (~₹25.41 Crores), Rajkumar entered the Short Deck Main Event but fell out empty-handed on Day 2.
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Sailing past a field of 1,057 entries, Billy Cashwell won the 2019 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) $1,700 Harrah’s Cherokee Main Event for his first-ever WSOPC gold ring. Cashwell also banked his career’s biggest to-date live cash amounting to $271,234.
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Outlasting a field of 146 entries, Yousef Saleh took down the $1,100 buy-in Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Ameristar Vicksburg Main Event for $36,895 and a $3,500 HPT Season XV Championship package.
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The 2019 Asian Poker Tour (APT) Korea Incheon recently played out at Paradise City Casino and headlining the series was the KRW 1.32 Million Main Event that attracted 236 entries. Hong Kong’s Tsang Dicky Siu Hang struck a heads-up deal with Haruta Koichi to snag the title and his career-best live score of KRW 59,485,000. Tsang also won the Dafabet APT Survivor promo for being the last man standing to wear the Dafabet patch and won a seat into the APT Philippines Main Event that’s coming up in September.
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The $50,000 Super High Roller of the 2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) drew 41 entries and topping them all was five-time WSOP bracelet winner Jason Mercier. Mercier defeated Franklin Fok heads-up and walked away with his third SHRPO title and the $715,860 top prize.
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Earlier this week, the invitation-only WSOP Global Casino Championship returned to Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. A star-studded field of 129 entries entered the fray and topping them all was Ryan Eriquezzo who ultimately defeated Eric Salazar heads-up to win the bracelet and $279,431 in prize money. The 13-timeWSOPC ring winner Maurice Hawkins finished third for $119,555.
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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.