The 2022 Baazi Poker Tour ₹35K Main Event is a tournament that will be talked about for years to come. Not only because the series was an uber success, but also for the record-shattering 900-entry field the Main Event registered!
You can read our coverage of the Main Event here.
The Main Event collected a colossal ₹2.96 Crores prize pool, the biggest ever in a ₹35,000 buy-in Main Event in the country, surpassing the previous record of ₹2.65 Crores generated by a 777-entry field at the 2019 IPC Main Event!
Day 2 had 179 players returning to the PokerBaazi LIVE poker room at 4 PM – a two-hour delayed start to the initial 2 PM start time due to the restrictions on jetty transportation owing to the Prime Minister’s visit to Goa. It took over 13 hours for the nine-handed FT to be formed. Rugal Advani (5,880,000) bagged the chip lead heading into the final leg of the Main Event scheduled to start at noon tomorrow, March 30.
Advani is an online reg with ₹56.55 Lakhs in recorded virtual winnings. He is an NPS gold medallist (NPS#9 MEGASTACK in June 2021) and an APT titleholder (APT#27 Monster Stack in August 2021). While Advani’s experience in live MTTs is limited, he isn’t a complete noob either. His two tracked live scores are FT finishes in the 2018 DPT Main Event and APL Angeles City Road Series ₱ 8,800 No-Limit Hold’em. He will surely be a player to watch out for on the live-streamed Main Event FT tomorrow.
Nitin Arora is second in chips with a stack of 5,580,000. His claim to fame is shipping Spartan Poker’s Destiny four times! He, too, is a player who has vast experience on the online MTTs but hasn’t had enough live MTT experience. Nevertheless, he has the skills to pull off a top finish on the final table.
The biggest threat on the Main Event final table is India’s first WSOP bracelet winner Aditya Sushant. Placed third in chips with a stack of 4,190,000, Sushant is the most experienced player on the FT, with a glittering live and online poker resume.
The IOPC – Blaze champion Harshad Barve, former BPT Highroller champion Rohit Jinwal, online reg Rishab Malik, Avinash Tauro, Shion Hossain, and Abhishek Paul are others in contention to win the BPT Main Event crown and the ₹51.70 Lakhs up-top.
Final Table Chip Counts
1. Rugal Advani – 5,880,000
2. Nitin Arora – 5,580,000
3. Aditya Sushant – 4,190,000
4. Harshad Barve – 3,275,000
5. Rohit Jinwal – 2,340,000
6. Rishab Malik – 1,650,000
7. Avinash Tauro – 1,345,000
8. Shion Hossain – 1 295,000
9. Abhishek Paul – 1,035,000
The 2020 IPC Main Event winner Rubin Labroo bubbled the FT in 10th, banking ₹4.19 Lakhs.
Day 2 began with 179 players returning to the felts. With the top 113 spots assured a min-cash of ₹51,900, the fight to cross the money line was intense. Two hours into the day’s play, the money bubble burst. The NPS Main Event champion Chirag Sodha money bubbled the BPT Main Event in 114th place. He immediately jumped into the ₹15K PLO Turbo and ended up finishing fifth for ₹1.18 Lakhs.
Among the notable who finished in the money but failed to make the final table were Harsh Bubna (20th for ₹2.28 Lakhs), ₹15K BPT Kickoff champion, Young Gun Gaurav Sood (23rd for ₹1.93 Lakhs), PokerBaazi Team pro Pratibha Arya (24th for ₹1.93 Lakhs), Young Gun Shardul Parthasarathi (25th for ₹1.57 Lakhs), Ankita Ajay (30th for ₹1.34 Lakhs), Shashank Jain (31st for ₹1.34 Lakhs), Gagandeep Malik (34th for ₹1.34 Lakhs), start-of Day 2 chip leader Varun Gupta (35th for ₹1.34 Lakhs), Ayush Garg (41st for ₹1.16 Lakhs), Young Gun Arsh Grover (48th for ₹1.03 Lakhs), Siddhanth Kapoor (52nd for ₹1.03 Lakhs), Young Gun Anmol Mehta (54th for ₹1.03 Lakhs), PokerGuru Ambassadors Naresh Veeravalli (56th for ₹93,300) and Ankit Wadhawan (66th for ₹85,600).
For the complete list of payouts, click here.
The nine finalists will return to the PokerBaazi Live poker room on Wednesday, March 30 at 12 PM to play down to a winner. The Main Event final table will be live-streamed with a 15-minute delay.
Keep following PokerGuru for all the latest updates from the 2022 BPT!
