A software engineer by profession, 32-year-old Karunanithi S from Chennai will remember Tuesday morning as one of the most career-defining days of his poker career. One of the 175 entrants that registered for the last event of the 2022 Baazi Poker Tour, ₹15K PLO Turbo, Karunanithi, cut his way past the competition to the shiny BPT trophy and ₹4.30 Lakhs.

The last three players cut a deal, keeping only the trophy in play. Vikaash Shah pocketed a better ₹4.75 Lakhs in second place, while Nikhil Arora collected ₹4.10 Lakhs in third place, courtesy of the deal.

After winning the event, Karunanithi said, “I started the game with a different mindset. I had lost a big chunk of my bankroll. So I told myself that I have to prove something here to boost my confidence. While the payouts of the 15K PLO Turbo weren’t so great, I thought I would give it a shot…I just stuck to my basics, and things worked my way.”

Karunanithi first discovered poker after watching a documentary on the game on YouTube featuring top pros like Daniel Negreanu. He was impressed to see how professional players followed the game with commitment and focus while enjoying a healthy lifestyle. He soon studied more about the game and started playing online on PokerBaazi. By chance, he learned about the PokerBaazi LIVE-hosted BPT and decided to attend the series.

The event had a delayed start. It was scheduled for 5 PM on Sunday but started at 5.45 PM and ran alongside Day 2 of the Main Event. The entry field generated a ₹24.53 Lakhs prize pool, and 23 places got paid with a min-cash worth ₹23,100.

The banker turned poker pro Kunal Patni money bubbled the event in 24th place, leaving the remaining 23 players in the money.

Deepak Agarwal`s ninth-place elimination set up the eight-handed final table.

One of the finalists was the NPS #83 – Main Event champion Chirag Sodha. He bubbled the ₹35K Main Event and jumped straight into the ₹15K PLO Turbo. And he did well to finish fifth for ₹1.18 Lakhs.

Final Table Results (INR)

1. Karunanithi S – ₹4,29,500*
2. Vikaash Shah – ₹4,75,000*
3. Nikhil Arora – ₹4,09,500*
4. Akash Panka – ₹1,53,000
5. Chirag Sodha – ₹1,18,000
6. Prateek Sharma – ₹97,939
7. Bishan Gurung – ₹83,400
8. Deepak Singh – ₹73,661

*denotes a three-way deal

Deepak Agarwal`s ninth-place elimination has set up the FT. We will update the FT chip counts soon.

Table 29

Ranjeet Negi – 690,000
Chirag Sodha – 193,000
Apaar Gautam – 147,000
Siddharth Mundada – 590,000
Bissan Gurung – 509,500
Prateek Sharma – 160,000
Karunanidhi – 215,000

Table 9

Deepak Singh – 350,000
Abhineet Singla – 155,000
Akash Banka – 730,000
Vikash Shah – 240,000
Gaurav Mittal – 650,000
Deepak Agarwal – 200,000
Nikhil Arora – 507,000

The ₹15K PLO Turbo winner will take home the BPT trophy and the ₹6.36 Lakhs up top, with the runner-up receiving ₹4.25 Lakhs.

The top 23 places are to get paid, with a min-cash worth ₹23,100

Jayjit Ray – 60,000
Naman Jain – 253,000
Ranjeet Negi – 230,000
Rajesh Rajput – 122,000
Siddharth Mundada – 298,000
Prateek Sharma – 208,000
Manash Kalita – 82,000
Karunanidhi – 121,000

Pravir Singh – 94,000
Kshitij Kucheria – 68,200
Nishant Sharma – 48,000
Amar Reddy – 41,500
Chirag Sodha – 40,000
Rohit Begwani – 32,000
Vaibhav Sharma – 28,000
Vikram Mishra – 27,000
Jayjit Ray – 25,000
Deepak Bothra – 18,600

The last event of the series, 15K PLO Turbo has 72 entrants with late registration open for another six levels.

Some notables in the field:

Chiraj Sodha

Sanish Chabbra

Deepak Bothra

Rohit Begwani

Kshitij Kucheria

Siddharth Mundada

Nishant Sharma

Vaibhav Sharma

Siddarth Singhvi

Amar Reddy

Gokul Krishna

Vikram Mishra