The Baazi Poker Tour (BPT) January 2020 edition was the perfect start to the poker calendar year presenting players with a full schedule of action-packed events. The headline event at the stop, the ₹35K Main Event, took a marathon three days to wrap up, and it took less than four hours on Day 3 to find a champion. Coming out on top of a packed field of 609 entries was Gautam Sachdeva (cover image), who took home a whopping ₹43.21 Lakhs along with the BPT trophy!

Sachdeva is no stranger to tournament success, but this tournament win comes a good three years after this last live title. His only tournament title before this win was the ₹30K Main Event title that he won at the 2016 DPT February edition. His other notable finish being his ninth-place finish in the ₹50K Warm Up at the 2019 DPT Colossus that fetched him ₹1.07 Lakhs.

PokerGuru caught up with the man of the hour who sharing his elation on the victory said, “Only emotion is that it is overwhelming! I was destined to ship this tourney. I was about to miss the BPT Main Event. I didn’t play 1A and 1B but played 1C. I fired only one bullet, and now we are here!”

Sachdeva had entered the final table with the sixth largest stack and eliminated Himanshu Dewan, Vishrut Jain, and Vikash Mantri, en route to his heads-up contest with Nishant Sharma. He held the advantage at the start of the heads-up and maintained his lead till the very end, ultimately defeating Sharma to claim the title and top prize!

The Main Event had kicked off on January 11 and logged in a field of 609 entries across four starting flights to ride past the advertised guarantee of ₹2 Crores. Day 2 opened with 104 runners, and after 40 eliminations, the money bubble burst. It was Uday Moola who became the unfortunate tournament bubble falling out in 64th place.

It took 53 more eliminations for the nine-handed final table to be formed. PokerGuru Ambassador Rony Chowdhury was the last player to be eliminated on Day 2, finishing 10th for ₹2.80 Lakhs.

The reg-infested field saw the creme de la creme of poker talent in attendance. Among the notables who finished in the money were Phanindra Akkina (13th for ₹2.32 Lakhs), Jasven Saigal (15th for ₹2.32 Lakhs), Manoj Pentakota (17th for ₹2 Lakhs), Pranay Chawla (21st for ₹1.68 Lakhs), Aditya Sushant (29th for ₹1.16 Lakhs), Harsh Dembla (45th for ₹1.02 Lakhs), Sajal Gupta (47th for ₹84,200), Vidwath Shetty (50th for ₹84,200), defending champion Bharat Suda (55th for ₹70,100) and Anish Patra (60th for ₹70,100), along with PokerGuru Ambassadors Kartik Ved (24th for ₹1.50 Lakhs), Madhav Gupta (27th for ₹1.34 Lakhs), Ankit Wadhawan (28th for ₹1.16 Lakhs), Jayjit Ray (42nd for ₹1.02 Lakhs) and Gokul Raj (51st for ₹84,200).

You can watch the complete live stream of the final table action below.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Nishant Sharma – 3,650,000
2. Navkiran Singh – 2,730,000
3. Ayush Garg – 2,570,000
4. Vishrut Jain – 1,810,000
5. Jai Saha – 1,750,000
6. Gautam Sachdeva – 1,600,000
7. Vikash Mantri – 1,515,000
8. Siddharth Karia – 1,320,000
9. Himanshu Dewan – 1,295,000

Final Table Recap

The first elimination on the final table happened when Nishant Sharma opened from the hijack for 130K, and Vikash Mantri flat called from the cutoff. Jai Saha 3-bet to 580K from the big blind and Sharma moved all-in for 4.6 Million, forcing Mantri to fold. Saha called with his last 1.7 Million.

Jai Saha

Nishant Sharma

The board missed both players. Sharma’s Big Slick held, eliminating Saha in ninth place.

Short-stacked Himanshu Dewan was the next player to be eliminated. He moved all-in for 1.1 Million from the hijack, and Gautam Sachdeva called from the small blind. Dewan held against Sachdeva’s . The board ran , and Sachdeva paired his aces on the turn, eliminating Dewan in eighth place.

Young Gun Siddharth Karia was the next one out after jamming 930K from UTG with , and Ayush Garg popped it to 2.3 Million from UTG+1 holding . The runout missed both players, but Garg’s Big Slick held, eliminating Karia in seventh place.

Next to go was another circuit regular Vishrut Jain. The action saw Mantri raising it to 250K from the cutoff, and Jain moved all-in for 1.2 Million from the button. Sachdeva joined the action and called from the big blind for 1.1 Million.

Vishrut Jain

Gautam Sachdeva

The runout was of no help to either player, and Sachdeva’s ace-high knocked Jain out in sixth place.

Soon after Jain’s elimination, Ayush Garg shoved all-in for 1.3 Million from the small blind with and Sharma called from the big blind with . The board ran and Sharma took down the pot with his king kicker, eliminating Garg in fifth place.

PokerBaazi CEO Navkiran Singh was chasing back-to-back titles after shipping the ₹100K High Roller just two days ago but unfortunately fell short by three places. When Mantri raised to 250K from the button, Singh moved all-in from the small blind for 1.2 Million. Mantri called and tabled . Singh turned over . Mantri found a pair of jacks on the board , dismissing Singh in fourth place.

Down to three-handed play, Sachdeva raised to 320K from the button and Sharma folded. Vikash Mantri jammed from big blind for 3 Million. Sachdeva called.

Vikash Mantri

Gautam Sachdeva

The showdown bricked for both players and Sachdeva’s pocket fours sent Mantri to the rail in third place.

Mantri’s exit set up the heads-up confrontation between Gautam Sachdeva (11,240,000) and Nishant Sharma (7,025,000). The heads-up lasted for about 30 minutes, and all through Sharma couldn’t get much going.

On the final hand, Sachdeva raised to 350K from the button, and Sharma called from the big blind. The flop came and both players checked down to the turn . Sharma checked again, while Sachdeva fired a bet of 450K. Sharma raised to 1.2 Million. Sachdeva called, and the river brought . Sharma tanked before announcing a bet of 1.4 Million, and Sachdeva quickly moved all-in for 11 Million. Sharma was put to a decision, and he took his time before decided to call, putting his tournament life at risk.

Nishant Sharma

Gautam Sachdeva

Even though Sharma had rivered a flush, it was no match for Sachdeva’s flopped full house. Sachdeva not only clinched his career-first BPT title but also collected a personal-best ₹43.21 Lakhs in prize money!

Final Table Results (INR)

1. Gautam Sachdeva – ₹43,21,600

2. Nishant Sharma – ₹27,28,900

3. Vikash Mantri – ₹17,03,100

4. Navkiran Singh – ₹12,42,200

5. Ayush Garg – ₹9,73,800

6. Vishrut Jain – ₹7,31,300

7. Siddharth Karia – ₹6,21,100

8. Himanshu Dewan – ₹5,00,900

9. Jai Saha – ₹3,60,900

Read our complete coverage of the event here.

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