WSOP 2019 Daily Spotlight – July 1

In this daily feature, we will bring you the key highlights of the 50^th World Series of Poker (WSOP) to keep you abreast with the ongoings of the ‘World’s Biggest Poker Festival.

If June 30 was a breakout day for Team India courtesy a Mr. Ankit Ahuja, who literally hit the ball outside the park by becoming the first Indian all summer to bank north of ₹1 crore, the first day of July was relatively lackluster in comparison.

The Indian rail had gathered in large numbers to follow the proceedings in Event #64: $888 Crazy Eights that had a sizeable 15 Indians returning for Day 2. Unfortunately, all of them fell out during the day with PokerGuru Staking`s Madhav Gupta posting the deepest run from the team. Gupta finished 188^th in the event for $5.938 (- ₹4.09 Lakhs), his second score in the event and his fifth overall at the ongoing series. Gupta had busted 202^nd place on Day 1A collecting $1,380 (~₹95,151) in prize money and cashed a total $7,318 (~₹5.04 Lakhs) in the tournament. In total, 21 Indians picked up scores in this event, a vast improvement over the eight Indian cashes in this event last year.

Team India Cashes in $888 Crazy Eights

The WSOP has for the very first time, added a new $1K Mini Main Event this year to serve as an appetizer before the Main Event gets rolling in the next few days. As expected a strong Indian contingent entered the event as three among them made the cut for Day 2. Leading the trio is seasoned pro Paawan Bansal who carries with him a 30-big blind stack (890,000). Two-time bracelet winner Nipun Java is not far behind with 27 big blinds (820,000), while Sirjan Singh just about scraped through with a short eight big blind-stack (250,000). The top 828 places were paid, and the only Indian who posted a score was Gokul Parvathaneni at 775^th place for $1,499 (– ₹1.03 Lakhs).

Coming to the bracelet winners, PokerGO commentator and well-known pro Nick Schulman picked up bracelet number three in Event #65: $10,000 PLO Hi-Lo 8 Or Better where he defeated his heads-up opponent Brian Hastings to the finish line.

Event #64: $888 Crazy Eights NLHE – Day 2

This was the featured event of the day for Team India with an impressive 15 Indians making it back for Day 2. Sadly, all of them busted before the end of play with PokerGuru Staking`s Madhav Gupta registering the deepest run with a 188^th place finish worth $5,938 (~₹4.09 Lakhs) in prize money. Gupta in fact, cashed twice at the event, having scored on Day 1A as well (202^nd for $1,380 – ₹95,151), and his cumulative earnings in the event equal $7,318 (~₹5.04 Lakhs).

The 14 others who scored were Lawrence Sanjay (271^st for $4,424 – ₹3.05 Lakhs), PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Ahuja (432^nd for $3,013 – ₹2.07 Lakhs), Siddharth Mundada (461^st for $3,013 – ₹2.07 Lakhs), Naresh Veeravalli (731^st for $2,202 – ₹1.51 Lakhs), Raghav Bansal (780^th for $2,015 – ₹1.38 Lakhs), PokerGuru Ambassador Kartik Ved (853^rd for $1,859 – ₹1.28 Lakhs), Rohan Rishi (890^th for $1,859 – ₹1.28 Lakhs), Rahul Byrraju (937^th for $1,729 – ₹1.19 Lakhs), Kunal Patni (958^th for $1,729 – ₹1.19 Lakhs) and Navkiran Singh (985^th for $1,729 – ₹1.19 Lakhs), Meherzad Munsaf (1,038^th for $1,622 – ₹1.11 Lakhs), Akshay Nasa (1,064^th for $1,622 – ₹1.11 Lakhs), and Sanjay Taneja (1,073^rd for $1,622 – ₹1.11 Lakhs).

These 15 scores combined with the six scores in the starting flights made for a total of 21 cashes by Team India at the event.

Day 2 began with 1,223 participants and played down to 92 players. Russia’s Natalia Panchenko secured the largest stack of 11,870,000 among the 92 Day 2 survivors who are all assured to take home at least $6,957 (~₹4.79 Lakhs).

Read the complete report here

Event #69: $1,000 Mini Main Event – Day 1

A new addition at the WSOP, Event #69: $1,000 Mini Main Event lived up to expectations by registering a massive 5,521 entries on its opening day. As expected, a large number of Indians came out to participate, and three among them managed to advance to Day 2. Leading this trio is seasoned pro Paawan Bansal (30 big blinds – 890,000), followed by Nipun Java (27 big blinds – 820,000), and Sirjan Singh (8 big blinds – 250,000). All the surviving players are now assured of winning at least $1,843 with $628,654 and the gold bracelet set aside for the winner.

The top 829 places were assured a min-cash of $1,499, and from the Indian contingent, Gokul Parvathaneni (775^th for $1,499 – ₹1.03 Lakhs) was the only one who busted in the money.

PokerStars India Team Pro Aditya Agarwal was among the many other Indians in the field, but he fell out before the end of the day. Agarwal tweeted news of his elimination, sharing that he busted holding pocket sevens to pocket aces.

Lula Taylor leads 546 survivors to Day 2 with a stack of 2,695,000.

Read the complete report here

Event $65:$10,000 PLO Hi-Lo 8 Or Better

Day 4 saw the final seven players return in the quest for the bracelet and the $463,670 cash prize up top. In the end, it was PokerGO commentator Nick Schulman who defeated four-time bracelet winner Brian Hastings heads-up to win his third bracelet.

Read the complete report here

Event #66: $1,500 Limit Hold’em – Day 3

Day 3 began with 21 players and played down to the six-handed final table.

Greg Mueller (9^th for $10,418), Danny Woolard (8^th for $13,609) and Kenneth Donoghue (7^th for $18,118) were the last few eliminations of the day.

Chip leading the six-handed final table on Day 4 will be David ‘ODB’ Baker, who retains his lead for the second consecutive day and will be coming back with a massive 2,493,000 stack.

Event #67: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 Or Better – Day 2

The day started with 68 runners, and by the end of the play, only 16 among them managed to cross over to Day 3. Leading the field is Eli Elezra, who is chasing his fifth bracelet and is well positioned to make a run for it. He will be coming back with a stack of 1,362,000 on Day 3.

Event #70: $5,000 No-Limit Hold ‘em 6-Handed – Day 1

A total of 751 hopefuls ponied up the $5,000 buy-in, and after 10 levels of play, only 212 could make the cut. The front-runner at the end of the day was Barry Hutter, who bagged the overnight chip lead with a stack of 400,000.

Content & Images Courtesy: World Series of Poker

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