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Back for its third outing in India, the World Poker Tour (WPT) is now well underway at the floating Casino Deltin Royale. The series is the fifth stop at the ongoing 2019 WPT Asia swing. The last two editions of WPT India have been record-setters for the sheer numbers and prize pools generated. This time, however, the numbers have been marginally lower than the last edition – the ₹20K Kickoff pulled in 161 entries, nearly 20% lower than the 201 entries last year. While this can be primarily attributed to the return to other major stops that took place before the WPT, there could be an uptick in attendance around the weekend with players flying in to play the ₹3.25 Crore guaranteed Main Event.
The second event of the series, the ₹35K SuperStack, like the opening event, witnessed a noticeable drop in participation numbers. The tournament commenced proceedings at 3 pm yesterday and logged in 168 entries – again, almost 20% lower than the 215 entries that were registered at this event last year. A prize pool of ₹58.80 Lakhs was generated with the top 21 places assured prizes.
Twenty-nine players managed to carry a stack to Day 2, with Debashis Bal emerging as the overnight chip leader with a stack of 437,000. Bal is a familiar name in the circuit, and alongside playing, he also has business interests in the sport. His notable achievements including winning the DPT Xpress Sikkim ₹5K Burn ‘n’ Turn event for ₹1.60 Lakhs. He also won the PPL#17 ₹5 Lakhs GTD on PokerBaazi last month for ₹1.28 Lakhs.
Among the other notables advancing to Day 2 include Vaibhav Sharma (431,000), Bibek Karki (338,000), Mukunda Dasharathy (311,000), Kanishka Samant (135,000), Akshay Nasa (186,000), Sahil Mahboobani (163,000), and BPT 2019 Kickoff winner Abhijeet Shetty (76,000).
Day 2 commences at 2.30 pm today.
₹35K SuperStack – Day 1 Recap
Day 1 of the ₹35K SuperStack kicked off at 3 pm on Wednesday and played out sixteen 30-minute levels. Late registrations were open till the end of Level 9, and the final count came in at 168 entries.
It took close to eight hours for the play to conclude, and by the time the bags were brought out, Debashis Bal (437,000) was towering among the 29 remaining players. Bal was doing well for the majority of the day and was among the big stacks in the field during Level 13. He consolidated his standing by eliminating Maria Kirloskar in the penultimate level of the night. He followed that up by busting Naveen Shah in the last level to end his day with a stack of 437,000.
Close on Bal`s coattails is Vaibhav Sharma (431,000), with Bibek Karki (338,000) rounding out the top three stacks entering Day 2.
The event generated ₹58.80 Lakhs in prize money, and with the top 21 finishers assured a min-cash of ₹72,030, the event is only eight eliminations away from the dough with a very enticing ₹14.70 Lakhs reserved for the winner.
The majority of the field comprised of players we saw at the recently concluded BPT, and many among them including PokerStars India Team Pro Muskan Sethi, Adda52 Team Pro Kunal Patni, Jaydeep Dawer, Maria Kirloskar, Siddarth Singhvi, Meherzad Munsaf, Romit Advani and Nishant Sharma failed to make it to Day 2.
There’s a star-studded line-up of players who have made the cut for Day 2 and the list includes names like Mukunda Dasharathy (311,000), Kanishka Samant (135,000), Akshay Nasa (186,000), Sahil Mahboobani (163,000), Mayank Agarwal (198,000), Prashanth Sekar (117,000) and BPT 2019 Kickoff winner Abhijeet Shetty (76,000).
End of Day 1 Chip Counts
Player | Chip Count |
---|---|
Debashis Bal | 437,000 |
Vaibhav Sharma | 431,000 |
Bibek Karki | 338,000 |
Mukunda D | 311,000 |
Asif Anis | 304,000 |
Vidur Singhal | 284,000 |
Varun Vohra | 268,000 |
Akshay Jain | 266,000 |
Raghav Bansal | 252,000 |
Kshitij Kucheen | 240,000 |
Ankit Jajodia | 228,000 |
Sahil Vevatiya | 214,000 |
Abhinav Jain | 210,000 |
Mayank Agarwal | 198,000 |
Akshay Nasa | 186,000 |
Vijay Dua | 167,000 |
Amit Tejura | 163,000 |
Sahil Mahboobani | 163,000 |
Abhishek Kumar | 148,000 |
Kanishka Samant | 135,000 |
Harshit Choprra | 132,000 |
Sasi Kanth K | 127,000 |
Savvy Ranchal | 125,000 |
Prashanth Sekar | 117,000 |
Rajat Dhingra | 111,000 |
Abhishek Rathod | 88,000 |
Abhijeet Shetty | 76,000 |
Anil Gulati | 50,000 |
Content & Images Courtesy: Online Poker News
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