Sharad Rao

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Top Videos of the Week: August 29 – September 4

In this weekly feature, we take a look at the most trending videos from the poker world. From the craziest to the funniest – from the interesting to the bizarre – you’ll find it all here every week!

The PokerGuru Show S02E03 Ft. Gaurav Sood, First Indian Player to Cross 10 Crores in Online Winnings

Making a return after an almost three-month gap, The PokerGuru Show made an electrifying comeback on Saturday. And our guest on the show was none other than the #1 ranked player in the country, Gaurav Sood, who is also the first player on our tracked database to cross ₹10 Crores in recorded online winnings.

In a candid tête-à-tête with host Saumya Paithankar, the 25-year-old poker phenom reveals little known details about his poker journey, the “Gaurav Sood” process, his WSOP plans, and much more.

 

Chhota Machhi Streams PokerBaazi’s Grinders Main Event & Holdem Boost

On popular demand, Chota Machhi, aka Arpit Jain, streamed thrice this week.

Our boy had been warming up to play the ₹5 Lakhs GTD Grinders Main Event on PokerBaazi, and he got his chance on Sunday.

 

With Teachers Day weekend approaching, Chota Mahhi dedicated his next two streams to his “PokerGuru’s.”

 

 

Monday Motivation Ft. Anujkumar Kodam

The guest on this week`s Monday Motivation feature was Anujkumar Kodam, the only player to have won both Spartan Poker’s The Millionaire & PokerBaazi’s Money Maker. Last Sunday, the former Young Gun topped the 411-entry field in Spartan Poker’s ₹40 Lakhs GTD Sunday Superstack to win ₹7.09 Lakhs and had some very interesting facts and insights to share.

 

PokerGuru Daily Majors Recap with Saumya Paithankar

PokerGuru host Saumya Paithankar has been on her desk reporting all the highlights from the virtual felts in the daily-running show (Monday to Saturday) PokerGuru Daily Majors Recap.

Our top pics are the Sunday (August 29) and Friday (September 3) recaps.

 

 

 

Shobhit Bhargava Streams For PokerBaazi

Popular streamer Shobhit Bhargava streamed twice this week.

On Tuesday, he played the ₹12 Lakhs GTD The Endeavour on PokerBaazi.

 

He was back on Thursday, where he could be seen grinding at the ₹10/25 cash tables.

 

DeadMoneyMine Streams

The DeadMoneyMine poker coaching put up two Twitch streams this week for its subscribers.

Our former Young Gun and the brand`s new coach Sharad Rao streamed on the channel on Monday while playing on the cash tables on PokerStars India.

 

Aryan Chauhan returned with his weekly Friday stream playing the ₹50K buy-in cash game tables on PokerStars India.

 

Monster Poker Club’s Aryan Chauhan, Nitin Rawat, Sumit Navlani, & Animesh Thakur Stream

The Monster Poker Club streamers had another busy week.

Cash game specialist Aryan Chauhan streamed his Sunday run on PokerStars India. He played a bunch of cash tables alongside the Sunday tournaments on the site. He placed fourth in the Sunday Highroller for ₹1.52 Lakhs.

 

Nitin Rawat streamed his Wednesday run on the Monster Poker Club YouTube channel.

 

The next day Sumit Navlani & Nitin Rawat shared screens while playing the 9stacks’ PowerPlay Series’ marquee event of the day.

 

On Friday, Nitin Rawat was joined by Animesh Thakur as they played 9stacks’ PowerPlay Series’ events.

 

Nikhil Segel Streams For Natural8

Nikhil Segel put up three streams for Natural8 this week.

On Monday and Tuesday, he streamed the ¥1 Million GTD Zodiac Million$.

 

 

 

He played the $25K GTD Bounty Hunter Special on Wednesday.

 

Poker Boot Camp India Streams For 9stacks

The Poker Boot Camp India streamers put up three streams this week for 9stacks’ Power Play Series.

Bootcamper Pratik Manjrekar made his streaming debut on Thursday playing 9stacks’ PPS#1 Kick-Off Bounty and PPS#2 Yorker Ultra-Fast.

 

Another debutant, Kripansh Khosla, joined Pratik Manjrekar as they shared screens during a dual-stream session for 9stacks’ PPS#3 Test Match Deepstack and PPS#4 Chhakka 6-Max.

 

Poker mom Radhika Shankar and Kripansh Khosla shared screens as they played PPS#6 Gabba Monster Stack and PPS#7 Yorker Ultra-Fast.

 

The Mindful Series Ep. 6 – Poker Life India

For Episode 6 of Poker Life India’s “The Mindfulness Series,” Raj Shrestha Juneja invited entrepreneur-cum-poker proAnujkumar Kodam to the show. The discussion centered around the role of variance in poker and life.

 

Super MILLION$ Show – S2E10

Artur Martirosian has been on a breakout run recently with top finishes both live and online. Within a week of taking down Event $6: $100K NLHE at the Super High Roller Series Europe for $1.40 Million, the Russian shipped GGPoker’s Tuesday attraction, the Super MILLION$.

Martirosian won the event for an impressive second time, adding $325,957 to his bankroll. Watch the final table replay below, with Randy Lew and Kevin van der Kooi calling the action.

 

WSOP Online $10K Heads-up Championship

On August 22, Event #15: $10K Heads-up NLH Championship from the international leg of the 2021 WSOP Online Series reached its semi-finals, i.e., the final four, from a starting field of 161 hopefuls.

The Daniel Negreanu vs. Sami Kelopuro clash in the Round of 64 lasted two hours before Kalipuro sent the GGPoker Ambassador to the rail. Watch the thoroughly entertaining cards-up coverage of this match, with Norman Chad and Lon McEachern calling the action.

 

Chad and McEachern were back in the commentary booth in the Adrian Mateos vs. Vlad-Stefan Lache match, part of the Round of 16 on Day 1. Mateos won the match to storm into the semi-finals.

 

The semi-finalists Arthur Conan, Adrian Mateos, Daniel Soltys, and Aleksejs Ponakovs resumed play on September 4. Walking away as the champion was Arthur Conan, who beat Aleksejs Ponakovs in the finals to win the title for $466,167.

 

Cards-up Coverage of PokerStars’s WCOOP

PokerStars’s ongoing World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is the hot rage on the site`s .com client.

One of the series’ second-week highlights, the $25K Super High Roller, saw ‘kZhh’ dominating the nine-handed final table and defeating Christopher ‘ImDaNuts’ Oliver heads-up to collect $657,557. Watch the final table action below.

 

Event 34-M – $2K 8-Max was taken down by Jerry ‘Perrymejsen’ Odeen for $185,550 following a three-way deal with ‘3DTemujiN’ and Fabiano ‘Kovalski1’ Kovalski.

 

In Event $2-H-$5 8-Max, Elliott ‘elliottpet’ Peterman came out on top to win his first WCOOP title and $146,931 in prize money.

 

Cards-up Coverage of the WPT500 Final Table

On Wednesday, Brazil’s Pedro Cavalieri stormed past his final table opponents to win the 2021 WPT500 title. The $530 entry buy-in tournament featured a $1 Million guarantee and logged in a guarantee-crushing 2,295-entry field. Cavalieri banked $153,503 after striking a heads-up deal with Thomas Hueber (2nd for $131,624). Watch the final table action below.

 

Cards-up Final Table Coverage of SHRB Europe Main Event

Watch this seven-hour-long cards-up live stream of the 2021 Super High Roller Bowl Europe Main Event. The series was hosted at the Merit Royal Hotel & Casino in Kyrenia, Cyprus.

With commentary by Jeff Platt and Brent Hanks, check out poker pros like Timothy Adams, Ivan Leow, Wiktor Malinowski, David Peters, Zhuang Ruan, and Viacheslav Buldygin battle it out for the top honors. In the end, Wiktor Malinowski championed the Main Event to collect $3.69 Million.

 

WSOP Online Streams – Daniel Negreanu

One of the most recognized poker superstars on the planet, GGPoker Ambassador Daniel Negreanu, streamed four events from the 2021 WSOP Online Series this week.

Negreanu streamed his run in Event #21: $25,000 Super High Roller Championship, and after a six-hour grind, placed 51st.

 

On Tuesday, he streamed Event #23: $600 Deepstack Championship NLH, where after over four hours, he busted out in 1070th place.

 

Negreanu played Day 1P of the Main Event on Wednesday but failed to make Day 2 after grinding for almost five hours while streaming.

 

In the week’s final stream, which also was the shortest, Negreanu could be seen playing Event #24: $1,050 Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha. He busted in 360th place.

 

Jeff Gross Podcast #135 Ft. Phil Hellmuth

Jeff Gross got poker brat Phil Hellmuth to join him on his podcast episode this week. Hellmuth, who was unbeaten through a seven-match run in the High Stakes Duel until last week, when he lost the Round 2 of the High Stakes Duel III to Tom Dwan, talked at length about his recent success in heads-up matches.

 

Doug Polk on WSOP Vaccination Policy, TwoPlusTwo Being Sold, and Dan Bilzerian

Popular YouTuber and “retired poker pro” Doug Polk uploaded a brand-new video where he spoke about the hot topics of the circuit. The range of issues included WSOP’s vaccination policy, TwoPlusTwo getting sold, and Dan Bilzerian‘s recent comment about Polk.

 

Twitch Stream Highlights – Bencb

Raise Your Edge founder and coach ‘Bencb’ put up his stream highlights, including his deep run in the WSOP High Rollers: $5,250 Blade Bounty. The poker legend reached heads-up, netting almost $73,500!

 

Twitch Stream Highlights – Lex Veldhuis

Popular streamer and poker pro Lex Veldhuis posted another Twitch highlights video from his streams playing MTTs on PokerStars. The stream highlights are a must-watch if you want to see Veldhuis celebrating, being angry, getting confused, and frustrated!

 

PokerStaples’ Stream Highlights

Watch this 17-minute stream highlights from Jaime Staples, where he managed to run deep in partypoker MTTs.

 

The Lock-In With Zach Elwood

After a two-week hiatus, The Chip Race’s The Lock-In podcast returned with hosts David Lappin and Dara ‘O’ Kearney bringing in Zachary Elwood. The trio discussed Phil Hellmuth’s tells, WSOP vaccination policy, Kristen Bicknell`s departure from partypoker, and Bencb’s association with PokerStars.

 

Andrew Neeme Poker Vlog Ep. 227

Poker vlogger Andrew Neeme heads to the $2/$5 cash game tables at the Resorts World Las Vegas and breaks down each hand with expert analysis post-game.

 

Jonnie Vibes Poker Vlog Ep. 100

Cash game vlogger Jonnie Vibes analysis the biggest cash game pots on his 100th episode.

 

Cash Game Action – Live at the Bike

Watch high-stakes cash game action ($50/$100 + $100 BB Ante) live from the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles!

 

Keep following PokerGuru for a compilation of the top poker videos each week!

Top Videos of the Week: June 6 – 12

In this weekly feature, we take a look at the most trending videos from the poker world. From the craziest to the funniest – from the interesting to the bizarre – you’ll find it all here every week!

Chhota Machhi Live-Streams Khelo365’s ₹2 Lakhs GTD ReRaise

PokerGuru’s Arpit Jain, a.k.a. Chhota Machhi, high on josh, took a second shot live-streaming Khelo365`s ₹2 Lakhs GTD ReRaise on Saturday. The extra energy saw him posting a 10th place finish – missing the money by three places.

 

Women In Poker Ft. Avanie Joshi

Making a splash in our weekly Women In Poker series was the vivacious and free-spirited Avanie Joshi. The multi-talented Joshi is a singer-songwriter, composer, DJ & aspiring poker pro who burst onto the poker scene when she participated in PokerHigh’s ‘The Player Hunt.’ Check out her poker story in the video below.

 

Throwback Thursday – All India Gaming Federation Ft. Roland Landers

We canvassed India’s foremost regulatory body for the gaming industry, the All India Gaming Federation, aka the AIGF, in our Throwback Thursday feature earlier in the week! To shed pertinent insights into the AIGF charter, we sat down with the CEO of AIGF, Roland Landers, to understand more about the federation’s work over the years, the recent initiatives undertaken, and where he sees gaming headed in India.

 

PokerGuru Daily Majors Recap With Saumya Paithankar

PokerGuru’s Daily Majors Recap with Saumya Paithankar gave us another week of MTT highlights, winner bytes, other top stories, and promotions.

The Tuesday (June 8) highlights included a video byte by Anmol Narang, who shared his poker story in a quick chat with Saumya after winning Spartan Poker’s Megastack – Millionaire Bubble.

 

 

Wednesday’s (June 9) Destiny champion Kunal Patni is perhaps one of the best-known players in the country today. The primarily live MTT player has transformed into an online phenom. In this candid interview with Saumya on Thursday – he bared it all, starting from his early misconceptions as a full-time poker pro to the role the IPP stable and his mentor Danish Shaikh has had on his game and immediate plans.

 

Nikhil Segel Streams For Natural8

Not missing his weekly stream, Nikhil Segel live-streamed twice this week.

On Monday, he played Natural8’s $400 GTD Omaholic Bounty Turbo.

 

He streamed Natural8`s $125 GTD NLHE PKO on Wednesday.

 

Aryan Chauhan, Shobhit Bhargava, Sumit Navlani, Deepanjan Das, Nitin Rawat Stream For PokerStars India

Twitch streamer Aryan Chauhan, a.k.a. PainProvider returned, with a Friday night stream of his cash game session on PokerStars India. He ended the session in the green for ₹32,747.

 

Shobhit Bhargava, a.k.a. 569poker, had a Sunday stream going, playing PokerStars India’s ₹5 Lakhs Summer Series – Sunday Warm-Up and ₹1 Lakh Summer Series – Deepstack.

 

Monster Poker Club’s Sumit Navlani streamed the Fight of Monster Home Game on PokerStars India.

 

Deepanjan Das streamed the ₹20 Lakhs Summer Series – Sunday Special.

 

Nitin Rawat was live-streaming PokerStars India’s ₹40K Summer Series – Bounty Builder on Friday on Monster Poker Club’s YouTube channel.

 

Shobhit Bhargava, Ritwik Khanna & Gautam Rohilla Stream For PokerBaazi

Poker streamer Shobhit Bhargava has been putting in a lot of time and effort on his streams, and he got to realize the ultimate reward this week – winning a tournament on the live stream. Bhargava took down PokerBaazi`s Turbo ₹1.50 Lakhs GTD on Thursday for ₹48,240.

 

Rising Star Ritwik Khanna fired up a Monday stream, playing one of the “Road to NPS” satty series events.

 

Fitness freak & poker streamer Gautam Rohilla streamed his run in the “Road to NPS” satty events on Tuesday.

 

Nitin Rawat Streams For PokerDangal

Nitin Rawat streamed PokerDangal`s ₹10 Lakhs GTD DGS Main Event on Tuesday.

 

Shobit Bhargava`s (569Poker) SpadesCall With Sharad Rao

Shobhit Bhargava put up a new episode of his podcast series, ‘SpadesCall,’ after a long break. And his guest was none other than PokerStars India`s former streaming ambassador Sharad Rao.

 

Funny Poker Usernames – Donna Amo

Gutshot Magazine’s content writer Donna Amo left audiences in splits by enacting some funny poker usernames of Indian poker pros.

 

IOPC July 2021 Teaser – Spartan Poker

Whenever you hear IOPC – massive guarantees and record-breaking player fields are the first things that comes to mind. Well, guess what?! Another edition of the IOPC is coming next month. Check out the teaser for hints of a refreshing new “Treasure Hunt” theme.

 

National Poker Series – Niharika Bindra, Siddhanth Kripalani, & Romit Advani

The much-awaited National Poker Series (NPS) is finally underway on PokerBaazi.

This week, PokerBaazi posted up-close and personal player interviews of Niharika Bindra, Siddhanth Kripalani, and Romit Advani.

 

 

 

 

National Poker Series – Know Your Players

In the lead-up to the mega-series, PokerBaazi launched a new ‘Know Your Players’ series, where they asked several poker players a question and then compiled their answers in a short video. The questions this week were:

“If poker was a part of the olympics, which player, in your opinion, should represent India?”

 

“If the name poker has to be replaced with a Bollywood movie, which one would it be?”

 

Heads Up Battle – Landon Tice vs. Bill Perkins – Day 4, 5 & 6

The Heads Up Battle between rising poker star Landon Tice and entrepreneur-cum-poker enthusiast Bill Perkins completed three more sessions this week. After six sessions, Tice sits with an overall lead of $16,003 or about 40 big blinds after 2,407 hands. The duo will play 20,000 hands at $200/$400 stakes. Check out the Round 4 & 5 below:

Day 4

On Day 4, the duo played 334 hands with Perkins winning $44,262.71.

Day 5

Tice made a comeback on Day 5, winning $29,922 over 366 hands. He extended his overall lead to $83,702 over 2,045 hands.

 

Day 6

Perkins made a strong dash, bagging a $67,699 profit over 362 hands. He still trails Tice by $16,003, or about 40 big blinds, but is effectively leading after factoring in the 9 BBs/100 hands handicap.

 

Poker After Dark Season 12 Episode 3 & 4

The Poker After Dark is an hour-long poker television program featuring some of the biggest names in the business playing high-stakes poker. Season 12 was filmed inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort and Casino.

The show is now available on GGPoker`s YouTube channel and published episodes 3 & 4 from Season 12 this week.

 

 

 

Cards-up Replay of GGPoker’s Sunday High Roller Main Event Final Table

GGPoker is currently playing host to the High Rollers Week. The site put up the cards-up FT replay from the $1 Million GTD Event #3: Sunday High Rollers Main Event with expert commentary from Kevin ‘Rotterdam’ van der Kooi and Randy ‘nanonoko’ Lew.

‘OPPikachu’ outlasted the 957-entry field to win $170,705.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIN20qP4Sr4&ab_channel=GGPoker

 

Cards-up Coverage of US Poker Open 2021 Final Tables

With live poker back in full swing in the US, most of the high-stakes MTT crowd is presently in Las Vegas for the 2021 US Poker Open. All the featured final tables are being streamed on PokerGO – available only to paid subscribers. However, the OTT platform has been uploading the first-60 minutes of the cards-up final table live coverage on its YouTube channel. Check them out below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old School vs. New School Poker Analysis Ep 7 – Daniel Negreanu

The GGPoker Ambassador & six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu released a new episode in his Old School vs. New School Poker Analysis series on Monday. Negreanu dissects a hand where Doug Polk makes a big lay down against Phil Hellmuth on High Stakes Poker.

 

Poker Life Podcast Ft. Phil Ivey

Joe Ingram fired up his Poker Life Podcast this week. The guest on the show was the one and only Phil Ivey. The duo discussed what Ivey has been up to, how his life has changed over the years, his poker plans in the coming months, and much more.

 

Raise Your Edge Podcast With Froste

Poker coach and RYE founder ‘Bencb’ invited Twitch streamer Froste as the guest on this week`s Raise Your Edge (RYE) podcast. The duo discussed what it is about poker that resonates with Froste’s confident streaming personality & much more!

 

Tips To Crush Live Poker Tournaments – Live Webinar – Faraz Zaka

PokerCoaching.com coach and professional poker player, Faraz Zaka, shares three tips to help you crush live poker tournaments in this webinar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzyrMHOcjU4

 

The Poker Brat’s Greatest Poker Moments PokerStars

PokerStars uploaded some of the best poker moments ever recorded of 15-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth a.k.a. ‘The Poker Brat.’

 

Top 5 Set vs. Flush Draw Flops – partypoker

In this partypoker Top 5 list, we see some tense times when the beautiful-looking flopped sets transform into knife-edge decisions as a flush draw rears its ugly head.

 

Cash Game Action – Live at The Bike

As always, Live at the Bike released another featured video with high-octane cash game action underway.

 

Keep following PokerGuru for a compilation of the top poker videos each week!

Poker Streaming – A Trend Fast Catching On in India

Poker streaming is a trend that had very few takers in India until very recently. In fact, up until a few years back, the list of Indian poker streamers was limited to just a very few poker pros.

All that is changing rapidly now. There’s been a sudden onslaught of players that have taken up live-streaming recently. Hardly does a week go by when we don’t see fresh, energetic live-streams from Young Gun Siddharth Karia, Raj Juneja, Anujkumar Kodam, Kshitij Kucheria, and Shobhit Bhargava, Aditya Wadhwani, Chirag Sodha, Jaideep Sajwan, and others.

Is this lockdown-induced poker streaming craze a value-adding pastime? Possibly for some, but the rage has undoubtedly caught on, and it’s also changing the poker industry’s dynamics. Sensing an opportunity, online poker brands are roping some of these players to live-stream their tourneys.

For this feature, we caught up with a few of our own ‘desi’ streamers. Let’s find out what drives them to stream and their views on this thoroughly fun activity, which presents a gold mine of learning for upcoming players.

 

Streaming Picking Up Pace in India

From industry old-timers to seasoned regs and upcoming pros, the list of Indian poker streamers is growing every week. But does this signify a tectonic shift in the domestic poker sector, or is it just a temporary, lockdown-pushed trend?

Star commentator Aditya Wadhwani feels streaming is here to stay. “It was always going to pick up, the lockdown was a catalyst to the current state surely,” he said.

Aditya Wadhwani
Aditya Wadhwani

 

Season 1 of his talk showIt’s Your Turn (IYT) With Aditya Wadhwani’ was just the starting point, and he plans to live-stream very regularly, along with “big schemes in the works” for IYT Season 2, once his at-home studio is set up.

Chirag Sodha, who has hosted four live streams on PokerBaazi`s YouTube channel, echoed the same thought. “I feel that the lockdown definitely pushed more people in this direction, but now that we can see its merits, it should continue to grow in popularity.”

He tried out streaming from his own Twitch channel first. “I wanted to know what it would be like! We eventually figured that a few of us could get on board and stream on the PokerBaazi channel so that we can reach more people, and it’s been great so far.”

 

A New Breed of Poker Streamers Emerging

Be it regs, newbies, or upcoming players, a whole new bunch of players have taken up live-streaming their poker sessions, and are going full-throttle about it!

For Kshitij Kucheria, streaming started as a means of warding off boredom and personally motivating himself to play. He has been streaming for three months and getting consistently better at it.

Kshitij Kucheria
Kshitij Kucheria

 

I saw a lot of people playing online poker because of the lockdown, but very badly… so I thought that I should just create some content so that people tune-up and learn,” said Kucheria.

Jaideep Sajwan had travel vlogging on his mind when he started his YouTube channel New World Nomads. After realizing that the COVID-19 pandemic was going to dampen his year’s travel and WSOP plans, he decided to dedicate two months to creating poker content “Initially I planned to make a few fun episodes on poker, and streaming just got added on.”

Jaideep Sajwan

 

Sajwan’s streams are lively, and he often invites other guests like Chirag Sodha and Sumit Sapra on air. Even though Sajwan insists that this was just a two-month content creation adventure that has come to an end, his streams are very popular, and chances are bright that he will persist with streaming.

Apart from the usual poker regs, there are upcoming players like Shobhit Bhargava from New Delhi who has been playing poker for only a year and a half but has a natural flair for streaming. His streams are energetic and entertaining, and it’s very evident that he puts in the extra effort in editing to churn out content.

Shobhit Bhargava

 

Bhargava is also one of the more active streamers as he streams on YouTube, Twitch, and Instagram from his channel ‘569poker’ thrice a week. “After falling in love with poker about 1.5 years back, I have been following a lot of poker streamers; however, finding a regular ‘Indian’ poker streamer was impossible. So that got me wondering what it takes to put up a decent quality stream,” Bhargava told us, emphasizing that he also wants to clear the myth that streaming is only for the pros.

 

Poker Streaming is Fun!

When Siddharth Karia began live-streaming his tournament grind on PokerBaazi, it was like an experiment starting out and an add-on to his daily poker regime.

Siddharth Karia
Siddharth Karia

 

It turns out, Karia is quite a natural to the genre, and he admits he’s enjoying it so far. “I thought that I can entertain and play my game, and I have started to look forward to my weekly Tuesday streams.”

Fun, you say?! Yeah, that, and a lot of hard work, according to MoneyMaker champion, Anuj Kodam.

“It’s a unique experience, quite daunting the first time, cause for hours, you just talk to yourselves. Who does that in real life? And keep people entertained with no person to react to. And delayed streams get tricky,” said Kodam, adding that it all comes down to one`s comfort groove, and streaming, in general, is a booming space that will add to the exposure of the game.

Anujkumar Kodam
Anujkumar Kodam

 

Kodam, who runs his own YouTube channel for “Poetry, Poker and everything in between,” is nowadays live-streaming his Saturday tourney runs on PokerBaazi. “I like playing poker and talking to people, streaming is the best of both worlds. I’ve been wanting to make content for a while, streaming was the low hanging fruit, so when (Poker) Baazi asked me, I was all in.”

 

The Challenges

No, poker streaming is not easy; take it from the former streaming ambassador for PokerStars India, Sharad Rao.

Sharad Rao
Sharad Rao

 

The talented poker pro from Pune has been away from the poker scene for a while, but when we spoke to him on the subject, he was quick to point out, “Streaming is not for everyone. Streaming and being in public space needs a special set of skills. But people who’ve got it- there’s a lot of potential to grow IMO. Everyone should give it a shot, see if it’s something they enjoy and if they think it’s their calling- invest hours. Being regular and following a schedule is the key!”

Inadequate response is another problem for streamers chipped in Kucheria. “The viewership is not good, and it is challenging to organically grow, though now I have got some permanent audience for myself…” says Kucheria, who has been streaming for three months. He is planning to shift his focus towards audiences who have not heard of the game.

Sajwan seemed to have a similar opinion and conceded that although the response to his streams has been amazing, he was expecting it to be better. Streaming has also affected his poker regime more than he expected.

“It’s too much hard work. Adding to the part that you gotta play poker and utilize those aspects, then you gotta stream and be entertaining enough. It definitely degrades your game. I thought this content adventure for two months would reduce my volume by 30% but ended up reducing it by 70-75%. So that was a huge loss for me for sure, and I don’t see that happening too much in the future,” Sajwan said, adding that he is planning to stop streaming to focus on the WSOP Online series and WPT Online.

 

Who is Everyone’s Favorite Streamer?

And the award for the best poker streamer goes to……Well, there are quite a few deserving candidates, to be honest. We asked our Indian streamer who they took inspirations from when creating content. While many international names popped up, a few Indian names were thrown in as well.

Muskan Sethi’s favorite international streamer is Lex Veldhuis, whereas Aditya Wadhwani’s top pick is Spraggy (Ben Spragg). As far as Indian streamers are concerned, Wadhwani feels, “In India, I think it’s important we check out everyone at this point, as it’s still a young crew. “

But if you take a vote, Sajwan is hands-down the most popular, at least among the Indian streamers we spoke to.

There is nobody who is creating content (in India) at JDSaz’s (Jaideep Sajwan) level,” Kshitij Kucheria said. His international favorites are Matt and Jaime Staples, and for the strategy aspect, he likes to watch streams by Jonathan Little.

For Kodam – Sajwan, and Poker Bootcamp India are the ones to watch, “JD is doing a great job in building the scene…” Kodam said, adding that he also follows Charlie Carrel and Ginge Poker.

So, who are Sajwan’s favorite Indian streamers? “I usually stick to streams of my friends, like Chirag Sodha, Anuj Kodam, and Siddharth Karia, whom I know personally and can relate to.”

 

Streaming – Helping Grow the Game

This sudden spike in interest for poker streaming in India is definitely good for the mind sport`s growth. There is no denying the fact that the world lives and breathes on social media. It is quite easy to lose oneself down the YouTube rabbit hole. An upsurge of poker-related content on such platforms will make it easier for the game to reach the masses, while also helping upcoming players hone their skills.

Sodha recalled, “Streamers like Adi (Aditya Wadhwani) and JD (Jaideep Sajwan) were probably the first ones to bring streaming to light. Recently we have seen so many streamers like Kshitij (Kucheria), 569poker (Shobhit Bhargava), Siddharth (Karia), Anuj (Kodam), Poker Bootcamp coaches Abhishek Goindi and Tanmay, Nikita (Luther) and many others.”

Chirag Sodha
Chirag Sodha

 

He emphasized that in the end, this will help grow poker. “It’s great to see! Personally, I feel good about being able to help people who are still new to the game – that’s where I believe my streams are doing some justice.”

Karia opined that streaming gives a feel of what poker players are experiencing, and will help make poker more popular amongst the masses. “People will be able to get a feel of what so many players are experiencing and going through while playing poker…Will surely depend on what kind of audiences are attracted to it. It will be fun to see how it unfurls!”

Wadhwani underlined how perspective helps get better at the game. “Watching different poker players go through their process in real-time, no matter the level of skill is a great way to see how differently this game can be played and enjoyed. Genuine engagement is a great source of inspiration in my opinion.”

 

Conclusion – Poker Streaming a Growing Space

We asked PokerStars India Team Pro Muskan Sethi her take on the new crop of Indian streamers, and she said, “I love it! I have immense respect for all the upcoming streamers of the Indian poker community. They say that whenever we step out of our comfort zone, great things happen!”

Muskan Sethi
Muskan Sethi

 

Sethi has had a lot of practice with content creation, running her “Off the Felt” video podcast, and streaming as the next big stop isn’t ruled out.

Bhargava is confident that a whole new industry is waiting to boom, though it may take a while.

Wadhwani made a pertinent observation. “I’ve noticed a definite upswing in support of poker content online from poker brands. Lockdown was a catalyst not just for the creators, the companies now require a source of the sport being showcased somewhere since live events are on hold. Since streaming is a digital medium like online poker is, the relationship should be symbiotic in theory.”

Verdict: Indian streamers have a lot to catch up on, to come to par with international streamers, but like poker itself, even poker streaming holds all the promises to become much bigger and better in the country. Let’s show some love to this passionate bunch of streamers, by watching their poker streams, and keep them motivated to create quality content for the fast-growing Indian poker community!

This Week in Poker: April 15 – 21

In the PokerGuru feature ‘This Week in Poker,’ we bring you the weekly roundup of the most significant online scores by Indian MTT players along with the top stories from both the live and online poker circuit.

Here are this week’s top stories!

We have now entered the fourth week of the nationwide lockdown. On April 14, when the 21-day quarantine period was to get over, Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the lockdown till May 3. India has already reported over 20,000 positive Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, with the death toll closing in on the 700-mark. In such circumstances, it seems likely that the quarantine will be further extended.

While the social distancing protocols have brought the live poker scene to a standstill, it has never been a better time to play online. There were some massive tournaments and played out this week, and most-awaited of these was indubitably PokerBaazi’s EndBoss ₹5 Crores GTD. Being India’s biggest online tournament to-date, it understandably attracted a lot of attention. Registering 5,847 entries, this record-smashing tournament logged in a never-before-seen ₹5.85 Crores prize pool.

Pune-based recreational player Abhishek ‘Human_AI’ Maheshwari‘s name will go down in the annals of Indian poker history as the first-ever EndBoss champion and the first player to win a monstrous ₹1 Crore payday! The 27-year-old Maheshwari pulled a ‘Chris Moneymaker’ as he converted a ₹5,000 deposit, into an eight-figure windfall!

It was not an easy stunt to pull-off as the final table consisted of several experienced players like Romit ’tilt83′ Advani (3rd for ₹40.05 Lakhs), Aditya ‘KesarDa’ Kesharwani (4th for ₹26.54 Lakhs), Rishab ‘ryuk’ Malik (5th for ₹19.35 Lakhs), Shubham ‘Aurangzeb_9’ Mahapatra (6th for ₹15.49 Lakhs), Priyank ‘Piko1432’ Kothari (7th for ₹12.62 Lakhs), Sankalp ‘Wobbegong’ Marwah (8th for ₹10.11 Lakhs) and Anirban ‘pottysingh’ D Das (9th for ₹8.06 Lakhs). The stakes were high, and Maheshwari gave it all that he had had to run his short stack all the way to the top, where he bested the more experienced Neel ‘Worm33’ Joshi (runner-up for ₹65.01 Lakhs) heads-up to win this historic tournament. For this incredible victory, Maheshwari is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

Though the EndBoss, and subsequently Maheshwari, were the center of attention, there were others too who made the headlines. Particularly, PokerGuru Ambassador Parikshit ‘Zapdos1311’ Dhall, who decimated a 1,497-strong entry field in Spartan Poker’s SSS Millionaire ₹1.5 Crores GTD to win a career-vest ₹26.56 Lakhs. Sagar ‘$tuTheKidUngar’ Patnaik finished runner-up for ₹15.30 Lakhs.

Spartan Poker also became the first online platform in the country to launch the 6-Card PLO game variant this week.

With the live scene now all but dead due to the ‘social distancing’ protocols that have been put in place, poker players have increased their affinity for digital platforms. One such pro is poker superwoman Nikita Luther who hosted a LIVE webinar with Raise Your Edge founder Ben ‘bencb789’ Rolle, titled ‘Raising the Stakes with Nikita Luther’ on April 18.

Luther’s peer and presently the only Indian still part of the PokerStars Team of Ambassadors, Muskan Sethi, has been featured in the poker documentary called “Poker Queens” alongside the likes of Kristen Bicknell, Kathy Liebert, Jennifer Tilly, Angelica Hael, and Jennifer Harman. The documentary is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

Sethi’s fellow Ambassador, Sharad Rao, has announced that his year-long association with PokerStars India as a streamer will be soon coming to an end.

The biggest news coming from the international sphere was the postponement of the WSOP summer series to the fall of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only that, but even the WPT revealed that it would be postponing the WPT Cambodia stop. In fact, even the International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP) has moved the Nations Cup Final online, and the competition is to go ahead as scheduled on May 30 and 31.

Online Railbird Report

PokerBaazi crowned India’s biggest online tournament to-date in the EndBoss ₹5 Crores GTD that played out last week. The tournament gathered 5,847 entries (Day 1A – 1,205, Day 1B – 1,376, Day 1C – 1,374, and Day 1D – 1,892) across four starting flights, collecting a massive ₹5.85 Crores in the prize pool.

The back story of the EndBoss winner was equally inspiring as it was a 27-year-old old recreational player from Pune, Abhishek ‘Human_AI’ Maheshwari, a satellite winner, who went on to win this massive tournament. One of the shortest stacks at the start of the final table, Maheshwari did all that he could and even hit the right cards when he most needed them to win this career-defining title. Maheshwari locked horns with the more experienced Neel ‘Worm33’ Joshi heads-up, and eventually defeated the latter to emerge the EndBoss champion, taking home a life-changing paycheque of ₹1 Crore! Maheshwari’s stupendous performance makes him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!!”

Abhishek Maheshwari
Abhishek Maheshwari

 

Joshi may have missed out on that eight-figure score, but he had a super-profitable run for he pocketed a sizeable ₹65.01 Lakhs for finishing runner-up.

Neel Joshi
Neel Joshi

 

The EndBoss also awarded million-plus paycheques to Romit ’tilt83′ Advani (3rd for ₹40.05 Lakhs), Aditya ‘KesarDa’ Kesharwani (4th for ₹26.54 Lakhs), Rishab ‘ryuk’ Malik (5th for ₹19.35 Lakhs), Shubham ‘Aurangzeb_9’ Mahapatra (6th for ₹15.49 Lakhs), Priyank ‘Piko1432’ Kothari (7th for ₹12.62 Lakhs) and Sankalp ‘Wobbegong’ Marwah (8th for ₹10.11 Lakhs).

Another standout performer of the week was PokerGuru Ambassador Parikshit ‘Zapdos1311’ Dhall who stormed past a field of 1,497 entries, including his heads-up opponent Sagar ‘$tuTheKidUngar’ Patnaik (runner-up for ₹15.30 Lakhs) to win Spartan Poker’s SSS Millionaire ₹1.5 Crores GTD for ₹26.56 Lakhs.

Parikshit Dhall
Parikshit Dhall

 

The notable scores of the week include –

PlayerPrize MoneyEventPoker Site
Abhishek ‘Human_AI’ Maheshwari₹1 CroresEndBoss ₹5 Crores GTDPokerBaazi
Parikshit ‘Zapdos1311’ Dhall₹26.56 LakhsSSS Millionaire ₹1.5 Crores GTDSpartan Poker
Ujjwal ‘Lord Hendrix’ Narwal₹19.49 LakhsSSS#55 Super High-Roller ₹65 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Mahima Walia ‘mabojojo’ Das₹14.12 LakhsSSS #69 The Beast ₹50 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Sajal ‘GoMuckYourself’ Gupta₹13.45 LakhsSSS #47 Destiny ₹45 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Gaurav ‘mozzie17’ Sood₹10.83 LakhsSSS#75 Sunday SuperStack ₹50 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Anant ‘Pro’ Purohit₹10.58 LakhsSSS#63 The Elite 6-Max ₹50 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Naresh ‘fireexit’ Rathnam₹8.45 LakhsGodfather ₹25 Lakhs GTDAdda52
jimmyadams₹8.05 LakhsMillions AF ₹20 Lakhs GTDAdda52
Shashank ‘felter’ Jain₹7.89 LakhsMega Suits ₹30 Lakhs GTDAdda52
Madhav ‘goacartel’ Gupta₹7.65 LakhsBSS SuperStack ₹25 Lakhs GTDPokerbaazi
Aman ‘amankej’ Kejriwal₹6.27 LakhsThe Ballers ₹17 Lakhs GTDAdda52
rajabhaiya₹5.63 LakhsMega Stack ₹25 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Siddartha ‘siddyk20’ Khandelwal₹4.45 LakhsSSS#54 Ultron ₹35 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Shashank ‘felterr’ Jain₹3.97 LakhsSunday Highroller ₹20 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
Mithun ‘themiths’ Mahesh₹3.75 LakhsMaverick ₹10 Lakhs GTDAdda52
Dhinesh ‘you3betl4bet’ Kumar₹3.58 LakhsSunday Special Progressive KO ₹20 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
Anmol ‘Anzzzzz’ Mehta₹3.47 LakhsReCharge ₹18 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
vihag_underdog₹3.19 LakhsHitman ₹7.5 Lakhs GTDAdda52
Honey ‘ho9ey’ Bijlani₹3.17 LakhsBig Slick ₹15 Lakhs GTDAdda52
Anant ‘Dr4gonW4rrior’ Purohit₹3.10 LakhsHighroller ₹15 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
d@enareys₹3.08 LakhsSSS #70 DareDevil ₹10 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Sandeep ‘effuno’ Varma RS₹3.03 LakhsHoldem High ₹8 Lakhs GTDAdda52
Ujjwal ‘fourteenk’ Narwal₹2.92 LakhsInception ₹10 Lakhs GTDAdda52
Karan ’99ayka99′ Jain₹2.91 LakhsThe Bout ₹10 Lakhs GTDPokerBaazi
Bharat ‘bharat29’ Kumar₹2.56 LakhsSSS#62 TGIF ₹15 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Swarang ‘Heisenberg6291’ Tanksali₹2.33 LakhsUppercut [6-Max] MAGIC Edition ₹10 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
Srihari ‘bangbang99’ Bang₹2.24 LakhsSSS#56 Big Bounty ₹8.50 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Pranay 'kabira speaking' Chawla₹2.06 LakhsThe Race ₹10 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
RK0503₹2.04 LakhsDeep Freeze ₹8 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Shashank ‘Goldfish097’ Shekhar₹1.98 LakhsMonday Hustle ₹10 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
lol this guy₹1.92 LakhsSSS#78 Big Daddy ₹12 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
XxxThanosXxx59₹1.89 LakhsNight on Stars ₹10 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
Guruprasad 'fish_calling' Gupta₹1.87 LakhsEndeavour Mini ₹7.5 Lakhs GTDPokerbaazi
Pranjal ‘lilmessi’ Gandhi₹1.81 LakhsSummit Mini ₹7.5 Lakhs GTDPokerbaazi
Anuj ‘brockLesnar95’ Yadav₹1.78 LakhsSixth Sense ₹10 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
XxxThanosXxx59₹1.69 LakhsSaturday Eliminator PKO ₹8 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
Vaibhav ‘AllinPavBhaji’ Temani₹1.69 LakhsSSS#51 Afternoon Showdown 8-Max ₹8 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
whateverhaha₹1.58 LakhsSSS #71 House Party ₹10 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Akshay ‘SickRun’ Gupta₹1.55 LakhsAfternoon Showdown ₹7 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Neeraj ‘SelfClaimedPros’ Kumar₹1.47 LakhsSSS #44 Afternoon Showdown ₹8 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Siddharth ‘champ-ak’ Pandey₹1.47 LakhsSSS #16 Afternoon Showdown 6-Max ₹8 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
prana₹1.37 LakhsSSS#59 Afternoon Showdown – Monster Stack ₹8 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
pseudox366₹1.35 LakhsOmaha AF ₹5 Lakhs GTDAdda52
corona virus₹1.34 LakhsAfternoon Showdown – Monster Stack ₹7 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
abhipoker7187₹1.27 LakhsBig Bubble Rush ₹5 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
lailaterilelegi₹1.21 LakhsSSS#72 Afternoon Showdown 8 Max – ₹8 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
illuminati.AM₹1.20 LakhsSSS #67 Saturday Hi-Fi ₹6 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Kalra27₹1.18 LakhsThe Crest Mini ₹5 Lakhs GTDPokerBaazi
Devrat ‘vickypune’ Singh₹1.18 LakhsBout Mini ₹5 Lakhs GTDPokerBaazi
Prashanth ‘Iveyleague’ Sekar₹1.17 LakhsPride Mini ₹5 Lakhs GTDPokerBaazi
Rahul ‘Thakur615’ Thakur₹1.16 LakhsSSS #57 MonsterStack ₹6 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Rahul ‘Thakur615’ Thakur₹1.16 LakhsSSS#57 MonsterStack ₹6 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Siddartha ‘siddyk20’ Khandelwal₹1.12 LakhsSSS#73 Electric Afternoon Hi-Fi ₹6 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
mannu425₹1.08 LakhsFalcon ₹4 Lakhs GTDAdda52
Srihari ‘bangbang99’ Bang₹1.07 LakhsSSS $48 Mega Freeze ₹6.5 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Mithun ‘Intuitionnn’ Mahesh₹1.05 LakhsSSS#77 Reloaded ₹6 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Armaan ‘armaan007111’ Kochhar₹1.05 LakhsBattle Royale ₹5 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
Dharamveer ‘dvcoolster’ Singh Chouhan₹1.04 LakhsHexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTDAdda52
Ashish ‘rocky3705’ Ahuja₹1.03 LakhsHexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTDAdda52
Ashish ‘rocky3705’ Ahuja₹1.02 LakhsHexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTDAdda52
pokersultan₹1.02 LakhsSSS#60 ₹6 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Arsh ‘BiggggTymeR’ Grover₹1.01 LakhsSaturday Speedway ₹5 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
Aman ‘KarmaPoker77’ Parakh₹99,391Super Tuesday ₹5 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
Kunal ‘cvc’ Sharma₹98,492Hotline ₹5 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Ritesh 'ritesh5812' Tripathi₹96,880Hexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTDAdda52
calyx666₹94,294Thursday Thrill ₹5 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
Big Fiszh₹90,580SSS #45 DeepStack Bounty ₹5 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
river_king₹89,772SSS#52 Thursday Flash ₹6 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Charles ‘Jhonnymaddog’ Donnadieu₹88,600SSS#74 ₹4 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
ranksster₹87,204Monster Stack ₹5 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
itspatsy₹84,750Hexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTDAdda52
nik92₹82,968UVS #14 Tuesday Flash ₹6 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
raghav1990₹81,783Fast Friday ₹5 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
Naresh ’emperor457′ Veeravalli₹81,360Hexagram ₹2.5 Lakhs GTDAdda52
Akash ‘Akash0510’ Gupta₹80,163Ultimate PLO ₹2.75 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Tokio999₹75,625Ultimate PLO ₹2.75 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
rebetshove₹74,990Fri-Yay Mini ₹3 Lakhs GTD PKOPokerBaazi
luckbox919₹74,768SSS#53 ₹4 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
TheShowdown₹74,296SSS #46 ₹4 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Prabhat ‘Tolltax’ Kumar ₹71,402Night Rider – DeepStack Turbo ₹3 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Dhawal ‘Pokerpro5553’ Bagaria₹70,202SSS#61 ₹4 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
89aj₹70,175Night Rider ₹3.5 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
MANJA1₹70,175Night Rider ₹3.5 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Fishbone₹65,654Electric Night Rider ₹3.5 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
arjun₹63,938UVS#12 Unstoppable ₹2.75 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Vinit 'Aamchimumbai' Adani₹58,671Ultimate PLO ₹2.75 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Anant 'Pro' Purohit₹58,671Night Rider Monster Stack ₹3.5 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
NoPainNoGain₹56,669Ultimate PLO ₹2.50 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Jimmy ‘brahmos999’ Arora₹54,084Ultimate PLO ₹2.75 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Sumit ‘m0ney’ Gupta₹53,600Grinders#4 Monday MegaStack ₹2 Lakhs GTDPokerBaazi
VishalMaharaj₹50,000SSS#64 5FOR5 ₹50K for Top 5Spartan Poker
KidChaos24₹50,000SSS#64 5FOR5 ₹50K for Top 5Spartan Poker
Harshad ‘omglukbox’ Barve₹50,000SSS#64 5FOR5 ₹50K for Top 5Spartan Poker
Suraj ‘WALAO’ Nameirakpam₹50,000SSS#64 5FOR5 ₹50K for Top 5Spartan Poker
Prajit₹50,000SSS#64 5FOR5 ₹50K for Top 5Spartan Poker
nutties₹48,000DSS Main ₹2 Lakhs GTDPoker Dangal
Arsh ‘BiggggTymeR’ Grover₹47,615Sunday Stars ₹2 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
VAQT₹46,500Electric Deep Freeze ₹2 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
slr111₹40,637UVS#4 ₹2 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
vrunitonce₹37,523UVS#5 Unstoppable ₹2.75 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Dheeraj ‘Dangerplayer’ Grover₹36,855Tuesday Battlefield ₹1.5 Lakhs GTDPoker Dangal
prasun2329₹36,641SSS#50 ₹2 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
pokz₹33,996SSS #65 ₹2 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
VR4Poker₹31,837SSS#58 ₹2 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
pot-pan₹29,025UVS#11 NLHE ₹2 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Prashant ‘kingslayer’ Jha₹26,400Warrior Arena ₹1.2 Lakhs GTDPoker Dangal
flashsurya₹24,000Dangal Friday ₹1 Lakh GTDPoker Dangal
arv7408₹24,000Monday Blues ₹1 Lakh GTDPoker Dangal
RahulYadav00000₹15,984Wow Wednesday ₹50K GTDPoker Dangal
pokermaniac₹14,075Saturday Hustle ₹50K GTDPoker Dangal

Spartan Poker Introduces 6-Card PLO Game Variant on Cash Game Tables

Spartan Poker has become the first domestic online platform to launch the 6-Card PLO game variant. The new game variant is available in ring games at the site.

Read the complete report here

Poker Masters Online Currently Underway

The high-stakes live series Poker Masters was shifted online to partypoker because of the ongoing lockdown. This inaugural Poker Masters Online series has already named 18 champions with 12 events yet to play out.

Elias Talvitie, Alex Foxen, Andras Nemeth, Joni Jouhkimainen, Kahle Burns, Timothy Adams, and Jason Koon are the prominent winners so far in the series.

Read the complete report here

WSOP Announces Super Circuit Online Series

The WSOP on April 15 announced its collaboration with global-facing GGPoker. This partnership will see the WSOP holding its Super Circuit Online Series on the GGPoker network.

Read the complete report here

Sharad Rao Parts Ways With PokerStars India

PokerStars India’s first streaming ambassador Sharad Rao has announced that his year as a streamer for the online site is coming to an end.

Sharad Rao
Sharad Rao

 

Read the complete report here

Nikita Luther Hosts Live Webinar With Poker Coach Ben ‘bencb789’ Rolle

India`s WSOP star Nikita Luther held a LIVE webinar titled ‘Raising the Stakes with Nikita Luther’ last Saturday that featured renowned international poker coach and Raise Your Edge founder Ben ‘bencb789’ Rolle as the special guest.

Read the complete report here

Muskan Sethi Features in Documentary “Poker Queens” Streaming on Amazon Prime

PokerStars India Team pro Muskan Sethi is among the accomplished poker players that feature in the poker documentary “Poker Queens” streaming on Amazon Prime.

Read the complete report here

Glaws.in Merges With Cricketprediction.com

India’s first news portal specializing in legal news, Glaws.in, completed its merger with cricket-centric site Cricketprediction.com.

Read the complete report here

Bertrand Grospellier Joins Former PokerStars Teammate Daniel Negreanu as GGPoker Ambassador, Tests Positive For COVID-19

GGPoker is on the rise and fast. The global online poker network has recently onboarded French poker pro Bertrand’ ElkY’ Grospellier as its newest brand ambassador.

Bertrand’ ElkY’ Grospellier
Bertrand’ ElkY’ Grospellier

 

Read the complete report here

Just days after announcing his association with GGPoker, Grospellier confirmed that he had tested positive with COVID-19.

Read the complete report here

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Crisis – Impact On Gaming Sector

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread havoc globally. While most nations have been forced to place restrictions on live venues like Casinos, online operators have been minting money as a deluge of player traffic is flocking the online poker sites during the lockdown.

51st Annual WSOP Postponed

The news that the community was waiting for a very long time, finally hit the newswires on April 20. The WSOP officially announced that the 51st edition of the summer edition had been postponed to the fall of 2020 in light of the public health emergency involving the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WSOP has not come out with the revised dates yet but indicated that it would revisit the initially announced schedule closer to the series, confirming only that the $10,000 Main Event Championship would be part of the series.

Read the complete report here

WPT Postpones Cambodia Stop, Prepones WPT Online Series

Just hours after the WSOP came out publicly with news of the postponement of its summer series, WPT also followed suit with a similar announcement for its Cambodia stop that was to be held from July 15 to 28 at the NagaWorld Integrated Resort in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The WPT has also preponed the WPT Online Series by a week to May 3 – 19.

Read the complete report here

IFMP Nations Cup Final Moved Online

The ongoing Coronavirus crisis has forced the International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP) to move the upcoming Nations Cup Final online. The matches will go ahead as planned on May 30 and 31 but will take place on a digital platform.

Read the complete report here

UKGC Bans Use of Credit Cards For Gambling

In a bid to check problem gambling during the ongoing pandemic, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), and UK’s Department of Culture, the Media and Sport (DCMS) have imposed a ban on the use of credit cards for gambling.

Read the complete report here

Philippines Govt to Sell PAGCOR-Owned Casinos

PAGCOR’s new CEO, Andrea Domingo, confirmed that the Philippines government was considering the sale of all under-performing Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) owned casinos. The government is looking to raise an additional PHP300 billion in revenue after the privatization of PAGCOR, most of which is to fight the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

Andrea Domingo
Andrea Domingo

 

Read the complete report here

ARJEL Discourages Online Poker Operators to Attract Players With Deposit Bonuses

French gambling regulator ARJEL has directed online poker operators to refrain from offering bonuses to attract new players during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Read the complete report here

Virginia Governor Stalls Casino Legislation

The Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, has stalled two legislations that would have legalized casinos in the U.S. state. Northam has recommended amendments to ensure the bulk of the revenue from casino operations is diverted towards the public school system for their construction, renovations, or upgrades.

Ralph Northam
Ralph Northam

 

Read the complete report here

partypoker Hosts NHS Charity Event

partypoker hosted the U.K. NHS Online Charity Tournament on April 16 for the benefit of the NHS Charities Together. Half of the £50 ($62) buy-in in the rake-free tournament was donated to charity with partypoker matching an equal sum.

Read the complete report here

Grosvenor Casinos Arrange Free Lunch Initiative For NHS Workers

Grosvenor Casinos partnered with Uber Eats, Blue Light Card, and Absurd Bird to offer NHS and other emergency services staff in Chesterfield a free lunch.

Read the complete report here

Pro Golfers Play Charity Poker Tournament

Prominent golfers like John Daly, Jimmy Walker, and Michelle Wie played the ‘Chipping All-In’ charity poker tournament on April 16 to raise money for the employees of MGM Resorts.

Read the complete report here

And with this, we conclude this week’s roundup of the latest news updates and developments from the world of poker. We will return again next week with our weekly report, stay tuned.

Online Rankings

i Top Ranked Poker Players in India
Member Won
Member Won
Member Won
₹1,29,29,197
₹1,25,88,313
₹1,20,69,627
₹1,15,22,676
5.Vinay B Vinay B
₹1,14,52,995
6.M L M L
₹1,14,40,871
₹1,09,13,473
₹1,05,24,690
₹99,60,672
₹99,49,327
Member Profit
Member Profit
Member Profit
₹55,77,649
₹50,59,154
₹47,48,174
₹46,54,932
₹44,93,503
₹43,84,994
₹43,56,316
₹42,00,183
₹41,14,429
₹40,97,624
Member Points
Member Points
Member Points
42,268
35,945
28,827
4.N K N K
28,311
25,814
25,649
24,477
24,446
9.M L M L
23,604
22,922

Top Online Poker Rooms

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