Day 1 of the Baazi Poker Tour (BPT) ₹25K MegaStack ₹50 Lakhs GTD is now in the books. The tournament began proceedings alongside Day 2 of the Main Event on Monday. Though play got off to a slow start, the field size expanded fast, with many players who were eliminated from the Main Event opting to enter the MegaStack.

A total of 223 entries were registered in the tournament, generating a guarantee-smashing prize pool of ₹52.40 Lakhs. After 20 levels of 30-minute each, only 15 players remain in the hunt for the title and the ₹12.65 Lakhs up top.

Bagging the overnight chip lead was Devang Yadav. An MTT-regular, Yadav has only two prior live scores to his name including an 11^th place finish at the 2019 BPT 50K Main Event. He will be starting Day 2 with a stack of 907,000.

Sanchit Pande (762,000) is a distant second behind Yadav with Arjun Pasricha (595,000) rounding out the top three stacks of the day.

The bubble burst in Level 18, with Manish Lakhotia becoming the last player to fall out empty-handed. His elimination in 25th place left the remaining 24 players in the money for at least ₹50,300.

We will be bringing you a more detailed report shortly, so stay tuned!

Raghav Bansal opened to 25K from middle position. Alok Birewar moved all-in from the button with eight bigs. Bansal called it off.

Raghav Bansal

Alok Birewar

The board ran and Bansal’s cowboys held, eliminating Birewar in 16th place.

Shortly before Birewar’s departure, PokerGuru Ambassador Naresh Veeravalli hit the rail in 17th place.

Jyoti Ranjan Nayak moved all-in and Vivek Rughani G.O.A.T called.

Jyoti Ranjan Nayak

Vivek Rughani

Rughani was ahead and he further hit a flush on the board to eliminate Nayak in 20th place.

Among the other recent eliminations were Vaibhav Khurana (18th) and Eliad Oren (19th).

Sriharsha Doddapaneni’s were up against Devang Yadav’s .

Board – and Yadav’s hand held, knocking Doddapaneni out in 21st place.

Eka Vedantham open-jammed 61K and Haider Madraswala came along with a call.

Eka Vedantham

Haider Madraswala

Madraswala flopped a pair of jacks and turned a flush to eliminate Vedantham in 22nd place.

In another preflop showdown, it was Devang Yadav`s up against Abhishek Rathod`s . The board ran eliminating Rathod in 18th place for ₹64,500.

There has been a couple of quick eliminations after the money bubble and the last player to hit the rail was Santosh Suvarna. His was up against Arjun Pasricha`s . With two King`s on the board, Pasricha took down the pot.

At the same time as Naren Prakash`s elimination, Manish Lakhotia also fell out, earning the infamous money bubble tag.

Lakhotia`s were up against Harsh Bubna`s

Comunity cards

With Lakhotia out, all 24 remaining players are in-the-money for at least ₹50,300!

Naren Prakash has fallen out two places shy of the money. His cowboys were pitted against Arjun Pasricha`s .

The board ran getting Pasricha the nut flush.

PokerGuru Ambassador has been eliminated from the tournament and fell out with pocket sevens to ace-ten in 27th place.

Devang Yadav opened on the button to 1,300 and Raghav Bansal defended his big blind.

Flop

Yadav bet 16K and Bansal check-called.

Turn

Both check.

River

Bansal check-raises Yadav to 160K and Yadav calls.

Devang Yadav

Raghav Bansal

Yadav takes down the pot!

After the flop, Apoorva Goel bet 20K from the big blind and was called by PokerGuru Ambassador Vishal Bajaj from the small blind. The turn went check-check and after the river, Bajaj fired a bet of 30K. Goel raised for over 100K. Bajaj tank-called and the cards were tabled.

Apoorva Goel

Vishal Bajaj

Bajaj had hit top pair on the flop and scooped the massive pot.

Arjun Pasricha opened and PokerGuru Ambassador Vishal Bajaj made the call.

Flop

Pasricha put in a c-bet and Bajaj check-raised. Pasricha shoved and Bajaj called.

Arjun Pasricha

Vishal Bajaj

The turn and the river completed the board, and Bajaj collected the pot!

Nitin Jain had gone short-stacked and he now open shoved with . Yuvraj Chaudhary called with from the big blind. The board ran and Chaudhary’s hand held, eliminating Jain.

Short stacked Manas Nayak jammed with and action folded to big blind Kavish Kukreja who called with .

Board –

Kukreja hit trips on the turn, eliminating Nayak.

Sriharsha Ddodapaneni just sent a player out of the field. The player jammed from the button with and small blind Doddapaneni rejamed with . The runout was the and Doddapaneni’s rivered pair of kings won him the hand, busting the player.

PokerStars India Team Pro Muskan Sethi has been eliminated from the MegaStack. Sethi shoved with and next to act Devang Yadav snap-called with .

Board –

Yadav already had the stronger hand and found a queen on the flop to scoop the pot, eliminating Sethi.

Kunal Patni open-raised from middle position and Eka Vedantham moved all-in from the button. The rest of the table folded and Patni called, putting his tournament life at risk.

Kunal Patni

Eka Vedantham

Patni failed to connect on the board and hit the rail.

Raghav Bansal opened to 9K from the hijack and PokerGuru Ambassador Jayjit Ray jammed for 82.5K from the cutoff. Bansal called.

Jayjit Ray

Raghav Bansal

The board ran and Bansal turned a Broadway straight to eliminate Ray.

Alok Birewar opened 8K from the button and Jyoti Ranjan Nayak who was in the small blind shoved for 35K. Birewar called.

Alok Birewar

Jyoti Ranjan Nayak

Board –

Nayak’s flopped nines got him a double-up.

Gokul Krishna shoved for 21,000 and picked up two callers in Santosh Suvarna and Nikhil Agarwal.

Flop

Both Suvarna and Agarwal checked.

Turn

Both check again.

River

Agarwal shoved to get Suvarna to fold.

Nikhil Agarwal

Gokul Krishna

Agarwal took down the pot eliminating Krishna.

Arjun Pasricha limped and Siddarth Singhvi raised. Pasricha called.

Flop

Singhvi bet and Pasricha called.

Turn

Pasricha check-raised Singhvi and the latter moved all-in. Pasricha called.

Siddarth Singhvi

Arjun Pasricha

Singhvi had a flush draw but he could never complete it as the on the river blanked out. Pasricha took down the pot with his flopped set.

Singhvi hit the rail a few hands later.

Vikram ‘Lungi’ Kumar and Amar Reddy were both all-in with Kumar the player at risk.

Vikram Kumar

Amar Reddy

The community cards brought the and Kumar doubled-up!

Payouts for the ₹25K MegaStack have been declared. The event will pay the top 24 finishers at least ₹50,300 and there’s a hefty ₹12.65 Lakhs kept aside from the ₹52.40 Lakhs prize pool for the winner.

Payouts

1st – ₹12,65,500

2nd – ₹8,87,200

3rd – ₹5,70,200

4th – ₹4,22,400

5th – ₹3,17,100

6th – ₹2,53,600

7th – ₹2,10,700

8th – ₹1,68,700

9th – ₹1,26,300

10th – 12th – ₹92,200

13th – 15th – ₹76,000

16th – 18th – ₹64,500

19th – 21st – ₹56,600

22nd – 24th – ₹50,300

The short-stacked Majid A was all-in and Anish Patra moved all-in behind him. The rest of the table folded making it a two-way showdown.

Majid A

Anish Patra

The board ran eliminating Majid.

There have been eliminations all across and some of the most recent players to hit the rail include Pranay Chawla, Chirag Sodha, Anup Palod, Abhinav Iyer, PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Munot, and Gaurav Sood.

Anup Palod opened UTG and Kavish Kukreja in the cutoff flatted. Ankit Jajodia in the big blind shoved for 25 bigs holding and Palod moved all-in over the top with . Kukreja folded.

Palod spiked a ten on the rundown to eliminate Jajodia.

Registration for the ₹25K MegaStack was closed at the start of Level 13. With the event attracting 223 entries, the ₹50 Lakhs guarantee has been crushed! The final prize pool has come to ₹52,40,500 and payouts will be announced shortly.

The field has whittled down to 72 players and there are seven more 30-minute levels left to play out before the bags are brought out.

Anant Purohit was given the first warning in the previous hand when he made a forward motion with hands and kept one chip in the middle while intending to go all-in. In the next hand. Purohit did the same thing and Vikram ‘Lungi’ Kumar called the floor. The tournament director ruled that Purohit`s intended shove would be treated as a call. After Purohit`s call, Majid A called, Kumar also made the call and Pranay Chawla shoved with . Purohit called and tabled , as Majid and Kumar both folded.

Board –

Chawla turned a flush eliminating Purohit. As he got up to leave, Kumar exclaimed a loud “Byeeee!”

Vivek Rughani open-shoved with for 25K and Anant Purohit called with . The runout was the and Rughani doubled-up.

Vishal Bajaj opened and Santosh Suvarna 3-bet. Bajaj shoved with and Suvarna called it off with .

Board –

Bajaj hit two-pair on the flop to double up.

Anup Palod moved all-in for and was up against Hriman Gokani`s .

Board –

Gokani turned a flush on the board and just like that, Palod was eliminated.

Action folded to PokerGuru Ambassador Madhav Gupta who moved all-in for 21K from the cutoff. The player on the big blind called.

Madhav Gupta tabled against his opponent’s . A jack-high flop confirmed Gupta`s dismissal.

Anmol Mehta moved all-in with and Apoorva Goel called with .

Board –

Mehta doubled up.

Zarvan Tumboli opened to 2.6K and Gokul Krishna who had three bigs left shoved with . Santosh Suvarna isolated by moving all-in over the top with and that was enough to get Tumboli to fold and he even showed an ace before mucking his hand. The board saw Suvarna river a flush to win the pot.

Anup Palod and former WSOP champion Nikita Luther went heads-up against each other in a hand where Palod`s was up against Luther’s . Palod hit three-of-a-kind jacks on the flop to double-up.

Amar Reddy has just eliminated Pradeep Sharma. The cards were on their backs when we reached the table, Amar Reddy turning over against Pradeep Sharma’s . The board panned out and Reddy’s hand held, knocking Sharma out.

After losing a big chunk of his stack to Amar Reddy, Ayush Khandelwal shoved for his remaining 1.2K stack and found a caller in Alok Birewar.

Ayush Khandelwal

Alok Birewar

Board

Birewar was already ahead and further improved after flopping a set to eliminate Khandelwal.

Amar Reddy has just scored a massive double-up through Ayush Khandelwal. Reddy opened and Khandelwal re-raised. Reddy called.

Flop

Reddy checked his option and Khandelwal bet. Reddy called. The went check-check and the on the river completed the board. Reddy jammed and Khandelwal called.

Amar Reddy

Ayush Khandelwal

Reddy took down the massive pot with his rivered full house of kings full of sixes, leaving Khandelwal short-stacked.

The players have been sent off on a 30-minute dinner break at the end of Level 8. Here’s an assorted list of some of the notable stacks in play.

We reached the table when Neel Joshi was up against Bhanu Prakash with his pitted against Prakash’s . Joshi hit a flush on the runout to win the pot.

Manish Lakhotia opened UTG for 1.8K and the action folded to the small blind Arsh Grover who called. The big blind called as well. The flop was checked around and after the turn, Grover led out 5K. The big blind folded and Lakhotia called. The landed on the river and Lakhotia led out and Grover called. Lakhotia tabled and Grover mucked his cards.

Alnoor Pujani opened from the button for 2K. The action folded to PokerGuru Ambassador Jayjit Ray who raised it to 6.5K from the big blind. Pujani called and the landed on the flop. Ray led out and Pujani called. The turn saw Ray check and Pujani bet 5K. Ray called and the completed the board. Ray checked and Pujani jammed. Ray called, showing versus Pujani’s and just like that, Pujani hit the rail.

PokerStars India Team Pro Muskan Sethi was seen clashing with PokerGuru Ambassador Ankit Wadhawan over a hand. We missed the preflop action but the flop of was checked by both players. After the turn, Wadhawan led out and Sethi called. The river saw Wadhawan check and Sethi fired a bet of 7.1K. Wadhawan called and Sethi showed . Wadhawan mucked his cards, sending the pot to Sethi.

The action began with the player in the middle position raising it to 1.2K. J. Raju in the button re-raised to 5.2K and Vineet Kumar moved all-in from the big blind. The initial raiser folded and Raju called.

Vineet Kumar

J. Raju

The board ran and Kumar took down the pot with aces and fours.

Gaurav Sood clashed with Jyoti Ranjan Nayak and was booted out. The action saw Sood bet preflop from the cut-off with . Nayak called from the button with . On the flop, Nayak led out for 4.6K and Sood called it off. Nayak bet after the turn and Sood moved all-in. Nayak called, The river improved Nayak to trips and just like that, Sood was eliminated. Sood immediately headed to the registration desk to re-enter.

With the player field fast thinning down in the Main Event, the field size in the MegaStack is increasing. The tournament clock shows 80 entries as players head out for the first break of the day.

With players falling like flies in the Main Event, most have jumped into the 25K MegaStack that has seen the field size expand to 63 entries.

We will keep bringing you periodic updates from the MegaStack.

The cards are in the air in the 25K MegaStack event. There are 24 players currently in the field!