Daily Majors: Akshay Kapoor, Shashank Shekhar, Punya Behera & Karan Radia Rake in Massive Scores on Thursday

Thursday packed quite the punch with Spartan Poker’s ₹1.30 Crore GTD IOPC #93 – Super High Roller and PokerBaazi’s ₹50 Lakhs GTD APT#25 Championship Event taking center stage.

Akshay Kapoor banked the day’s single-largest score, a jaw-dropping ₹33.52 Lakhs, for taking down the IOPC #93 – Super High Roller. Shashank Shekhar placed runner-up for a career-best ₹30.56 Lakhs, courtesy of a heads-up deal.

Punya Behera came out on top in PokerBaazi’s APT#25 Championship Event to collect a career-best ₹10.45 Lakhs and the APT Championship Ring and Trophy. Young Gun Karan Radia pocketed an even better ₹10.98 Lakhs for his runner-up finish, courtesy of a heads-up deal. Behara made quite the splash last night as he won a second APT title, APT#24 PLO-5, for ₹1.15 Lakhs (via a three-way deal).

Another towering presence on the Thursday charts was Harsh Dembla, who collectively banked ₹12.31 Lakhs last night. He won IOPC #92 – Thursday Prime for ₹7 Lakhs and placed runner-up in both the Adda52 marquees, i.e., Godfather (₹4.51 Lakhs) and Monster Turbo (₹80,280).

PokerGuru Ambassador Laksh Pal Singh made away with ₹6.83 Lakhs last night. He won PokerStars India’s Highroller for ₹1.90 Lakhs and placed fifth in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #92 – Thursday Prime for ₹1.92 Lakhs.

The former SSS – The Millionaire runner-up finisher, Vaibhav Sharma, got his 2022 title tally started by taking down Adda52`s Godfather for ₹5.24 Lakhs (his third time winning the event).

The recent IOPC Blaze champion, Young Gun Kanchan Sharma, won APT #26 DST for ₹3.49 Lakhs. Rubin Labroo finished runner-up for ₹2.44 Lakhs.

Arun Sriram clinched his second title at the ongoing IOPC as he shipped IOPC #95 Thursday Spotlight for ₹3.45 Lakhs. A heads-up chop ensured Sunil Arora ₹3.31 Lakhs.

PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Ahuja, Anirudh Reddy, PokerGuru Ambassador Arjanveer Singh Chadha, Aditya Patil, Navaneesha P, Rajneesh Thakur, Mohak Kapoor, Naved Ahmed Naushad Shaikh, Kunal Yadav, Adwait Pol, Arav Singh, Sarvesh Sharma were the other star performers on the day!

Here are the Thursday highlights!

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Spartan Poker

The 12th edition of IOPC is gearing up for a scintillating finale, and the series awarded seven titles on Thursday!

The day`s featured event happened to be the expensive buy-in event of the series, the ₹1.30 Crore GTD IOPC #93 – Super High Roller. The ₹1.05 Lakhs buy-in flagship brought together the creme de la creme of the MTT crowd, altogether logging in a 152-player field, collecting a ₹1.52 Crores prize pool. Akshay ‘AustralianAccountant’ Kapoor powered his way through the reg-heavy field to lift the IOPC title for a career-best ₹33.52 Lakhs. He will also be eligible to receive an exclusive IOPC NFT. Before grabbing the top honors, the former The Millionaire runner-up finisher struck a heads-up deal with Shashank ‘Goldfish097’ Shekhar (2nd for a career-best ₹30.56 Lakhs).

PokerGuru Ambassador Vishal ‘CrownUpJr’ Bajaj (3^rd for ₹16.80 Lakhs), Young Gun Siddhanth ‘PluRibu$’ Kripalani (4^th for ₹13.91 Lakhs), ‘bluechipp’ (5^th for ₹11.22 Lakhs), and Nitin ‘Demogorgon’ Arora (6^th for ₹8.85 Lakhs) also FT-ed the event.

Akshay Kapoor’s online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹1.18 Crores | Titles Won in 2022: #2

The IOPC Super High Roller runner-up, Shashank Shekhar, placed eighth in PokerBaazi’s APT#25 Championship Event for ₹1.68 Lakhs, adding ₹32.24 Lakhs. His online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹2.19 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹63.64 Lakhs |Annual Winnings: ₹34.32 Lakhs

Young Gun Shardul ‘Caribbean Flex’ Parthasarathi (8^th for ₹5.09 Lakhs), PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish ‘Donkey 07’ Munot (9^th for ₹3.80 Lakhs), bracelet winner Abhinav ‘hightr0ller’ Iyer (10^th for ₹3.12 Lakhs), Ayush ‘Tabono’ Garg (11^th for ₹3.12 Lakhs), Young Gun Sanat ‘orhem3001’ Mehrotra (12^th for ₹2.74 Lakhs), PokerGuru Ambassador Laksh ‘LuckyBhai$’ Pal Singh (13^th for ₹2.74 Lakhs), Young Gun Kanchan ‘Midge Maisel’ Sharma (14^th for ₹2.51 Lakhs), Kritagya ‘Kritagya_1703’ Sharma (15^th for ₹2.51 Lakhs), Ankit ‘ON_MY_MAC’ Bajaj (16^th for ₹2.39 Lakhs), and Young Gun Ujjwal ‘Lord Hendrix’ Narwal (17^th for ₹2.39 Lakhs) also made the payouts list in the IOPC Super High Roller.

The ₹35 Lakhs GTD IOPC #92 – Thursday Prime had 911 hopefuls shelling out ₹4,400, and the top 79 places got a share from the ₹36.44 Lakhs prize pool. Harsh ‘aaja maal phuka’ Dembla (opted out of our tracking) kept his heater going by taking down the event for ₹7 Lakhs. Sanket ‘GentleMonster’ Arora collected ₹4.39 Lakhs in second place.

Harsh Dembla`s breakout Thursday run included runner-up finishes in both the Adda52 marquees, altogether worth over ₹12 Lakhs!

His top ITM finishes include:

> 1st in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #92 – Thursday Prime for ₹7 Lakhs

> 2nd in Adda52’s Godfather for ₹4.51 Lakhs

> 2nd in Adda52’s Monster Turbo for ₹80,280

Arun ‘vazharmorghulis’ Sriram championed the ₹18 Lakhs GTD IOPC #95 – Thursday Spotlight for ₹3.45 Lakhs, picking up his second title at the ongoing IOPC. A heads-up deal saw Sunil ‘bababk’ Arora banking ₹3.31 Lakhs in second place.

Arun Sriram also cashed PokerBaazi’s APT#25 Championship Event (26th for ₹44,460), filling in ₹3.89 Lakhs in total winnings. His online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹2.31 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹67.84 Lakhs | Titles Won in 2022: #2

The ₹12 Lakhs GTD IOPC #95 All Rounder saw Anirudh ‘flash’ Reddy outlasting the 606-player field to win ₹2.35 Lakhs. Wednesday`s breakout winner, Rising Star Aman ‘Karmapoker’ Parakh, secured a runner-up finish worth ₹1.49 Lakhs.

Anirudh Reddy’s online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹2.18 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹74.49 Lakhs | IOPC Titles Won: #5

Aman Parakh raked in ₹1.68 Lakhs collectively across three ITM finishes, which include:

> 2nd in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #95 – All Rounder for ₹1.49 Lakhs

> 51st in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #94 – Thursday Spotlight for ₹9,639

> 21st in PokerBaazi’s APT#27 Turbo 6-Max for ₹9,605

The ₹5 Lakhs GTD IOPC #90 generated a ₹5.58 Lakhs prize pool after registering a 558-entry field. PokerGuru Ambassador Arjanveer ‘bazzingaa’ Singh Chadha overcame them all to win ₹99,380 (his sixth career IOPC title) following a heads-up deal with ‘Zadian’ (2nd for ₹86,880).

The #5 ranked player of 2021, Chadha, made another three deep runs, rounding up ₹1.59 Lakhs in Thursday earnings. His online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹9.48 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹3.38 Crores | Annual Winnings: ₹44.17 Lakhs | Titles Won in 2022: #3

Mohak ‘Tiltin’ Kapoor crossed the money line in five events (including a title), cumulatively worth ₹1.14 Lakhs in prize money.

His ITM finishes include:

> 1st in PokerBaazi’s Daily Night SPRINT for ₹60,490

> 6^th in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #90 for ₹26,059

> 60^th in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #92 – Thursday Prime for ₹13,483

> 19^th in PokerBaazi’s APT#23 Monsterstack for ₹6,930

> 62ns in PokerBaazi’s APT#26 DST for ₹6,642

Navaneesha ‘np406’ P overcame the 696-strong field in the ₹4.50 Lakhs GTD IOPC #91 to collect the lion`s share of the ₹5.56 Lakhs prize pool worth ₹92,260. She struck a heads-up deal with ‘elbedonk’ (2nd for ₹83,410).

Navaneesha P locked in ₹1.30 Lakhs (collectively) on the back of three deep runs. Her ITM finishes include:

> 1st in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #91 for ₹92,260

> 7th in PokerBaazi’s APT#27 (6-MAX) Turbo for ₹35,708

> 38th in PokerBaazi’s APT#22 Superstack for ₹2,777

Navaneesha P’s online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹44.92 Lakhs | Lifetime Profit: ₹14.16 Lakhs

The ₹4 Lakhs GTD IOPC #89 saw Naved ‘zenaved11’ Ahmed Naushad Shaikh (opted out of our tracking) racing past the 763-entry strong field to win ₹88,584. He beat Madhab ‘madhabpal2017’ Pal (2nd for ₹55,852) heads-up.

With the weekend approaching, there`s a sudden rush to get a qualifying stack through to Day 2 in the ₹3.50 Crores GTD IOPC – The Crown. Day 1D of The Crown clocked in 410 entrants, and 75 among them made it across to Day 2. ‘TheRealG’ (199,596), Amar ‘Laughing Buddha’ Mehta (194,899), Sriharsha ‘Sygrayem’ Doddapaneni (193,203), ‘sariyaa’ (186,584), and Sanket ‘GentleMonster’ Arora (163,959) headlined the day-end chip counts.

After four starting flights, IOPC – The Crown has filled in a total of 1,669 entries and has another four flights left to run.

The ₹40 Lakhs GTD IOPC – Value Mine was the other multi-flight event that played out its fourth starting flight yesterday. The 499-entry starting field was whittled down to 49 survivors after 25 levels of play. ‘RoshuRen’ (243,881), Pratik ‘GorillaGlue’ Manjrekar (211,820), and ‘THE.STORM’ (172,389) bagged the top three stacks of the day.

The IOPC Value Mine has registered a total of 2,283 entries. Approximately another 3,778 entries are needed in the subsequent five flights for the event to hit its listed guarantee.

With less than three days left for the series to conclude, the fiercely contested IOPC Leaderboard race has witnessed a change in the top order. The two-time IOPC leaderboard topper Bhanu ‘ikiru’ Prakash KC has taken over the charge with 12,219 points. Vinay ‘BeepBeepImaJeep’ Rajpal is currently ranked second with 12,079 points. Mohit ‘thejoker’ Mehta (10,551 points) rounds out the top three positions.

IOPC Leaderboard Standings After Day 15

PokerBaazi

Thursday marked Day 5 of the APT India Online Series, with six events on the day`s schedule.

The second most prestigious event of the series, the ₹50 Lakhs GTD APT#25 Championship Event, grabbed all the attention on the site. The ₹22,000 buy-in event logged in a smashing 285 participants, and the ₹57 Lakhs prize pool was distributed among the top 36 places. Punya ‘madhumangal’ Behera converted a ₹2,200 satellite buy-in into a career-best ₹10.45 Lakhs payday as he came out on top to collect the prestigious APT Championship Ring and the APT Trophy. Before winning the event, Behara cut a heads-up deal with Young Gun Karan ‘Apocalypto’ Radia – the latter pocketing an even better ₹10.98 Lakhs in second place.

Gautam ‘M8a7’ Rohilla (3^rd for ₹5.68 Lakhs), Godfather seventh-place finisher Haider ‘Haider’ Madraswala (4^th for ₹4.21 Lakhs), Nishant ‘rektace’ Kumar (5^th for ₹3.16 Lakhs), and PokerGuru Ambassador Kartik ‘TheInternetKid’ Ved (6^th for ₹2.53 Lakhs) also FT-ed the event.

Punya Behara was an unstoppable force on Thursday as he won a second title, in the ₹6 Lakhs GTD APT#24 PLO-5 for ₹1.15 Lakhs (via a three-way deal). He ITM-ed three more APT India events, padding his bankroll for ₹11.78 Lakhs.

His ITM finishes include:

> 1st in PokerBaazi’s APT#25 Championship Event for ₹10.45 Lakhs

> 1st in PokerBaazi’s APT#24 PLO5 for ₹1.15 Lakhs

> 17^th in PokerBaazi’s APT#23 Monsterstack for ₹7,910

> 67^th in PokerBaazi’s APT#26 DST for ₹5,720

> 51^st in PokerBaazi’s APT#27 Turbo 6-Max for ₹4,859

Punya Behera’s online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹1.90 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹84.78 Lakhs| Annual Winnings: ₹41.75 Lakhs | Titles Won in 2022: #2

Young Gun Ujjwal ‘Mr_robot’ Narwal (7^th for ₹2.10 Lakhs), Shashank ‘Iverson003’ Shekhar (8^th for ₹1.68 Lakhs), Karan ‘bozo’ Kapur (11^th for ₹91,770), PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish ‘rocky3705’ Ahuja (12^th for ₹91770), Siddharth ‘GangnamGangi’ Gangwar (14^th for ₹75240), Armaan ‘Armaan007’ Kochhar (15^th for ₹75240), and Young Gun Shardul ‘duuurrrr’ Parthasarathi (16^th for ₹64410) were others who posted ITM finishes in the APT#25 Championship Event.

The ₹15 Lakhs GTD APT#26 DST crushed its listed guarantee by ₹3.45 Lakhs as 615 hopefuls signed up for ₹3,300, and 72 among them booked a profit. The recent IOPC Blaze champion Kanchan ‘kanchansharma’ Sharma walked away with the title and ₹3.49 Lakhs in prize money after eliminating Rubin ‘kornkid’ Labroo (2nd for ₹2.44 Lakhs) in second place.

The ₹8 Lakhs GTD APT#27 registered a 565-strong field. The ₹2,200 buy-in event paid out 72 places a share from the ₹11.30 Lakhs prize pool. PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish ‘rocky3705’ Ahuja was the last player standing and won ₹2.14 Lakhs, with ‘1levelup’ finishing runner-up for ₹1.50 Lakhs.

The #6 ranked player of 2021, Ashish Ahuja, collectively won ₹3.33 Lakhs across five deep runs. His top ITM finishes include:

> 1st in PokerBaazi’s APT#27 for ₹2.14 Lakhs

> 12^th in PokerBaazi’s APT#25 Championship Event for ₹91,770

> 24^th in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #94 – Thursday Spotlight for ₹15,637

> 38^th in PokerBaazi’s APT#26 DST for ₹9,225

Ashish Ahuja’s online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹10.18 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹3.93 Crores | Titles Won in 2022: #5

The ₹7 Lakhs GTD APT#23 Monsterstack brought in 325 entrants, overlaying ₹50,000. The top 36 places were assured a min-cash of ₹4,760. It took under seven hours for Aditya ‘orlsrdb’ Patil to take down the event for a career-best ₹1.55 Lakhs. The user ‘vaibhi18’ secured the runner-up payday worth ₹1.08 Lakhs.

Aditya Patil’s online sites (Adda52 & PokerBaazi): Lifetime Winnings: ₹6.25 Lakhs | Lifetime Profits: ₹2.05 Lakhs

The third PLO event of the series, ₹6 Lakhs GTD APT#24 PLO-5, signed up 252 hopefuls, resulting in an overlay shortfall worth ₹96,000. The top 27 finishers benefitted from the value on offer. Last night`s APT Championship Event winner Punya ‘madhumangal’ Behera was the last player standing and banked ₹1.15 Lakhs after striking a three-way deal with Karan ‘conversestruck’ Thakur (2nd for ₹99,693) and ‘shades92’ (3^rd for ₹89,175).

Rajneesh ‘msdhoni’ Thakur took down the ₹5 Lakhs GTD APT#22 Superstack for ₹1.04 Lakhs after topping a 534-player field. ‘Rohanbodh’ placed runner-up for ₹72,731.

Rajneesh Thakur scored in another three events, altogether worth ₹1.18 Lakhs. His online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹2.99 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹37.86 Lakhs| Annual Winnings: ₹17.10 Lakhs |Titles Won in 2022: #4

PokerStars India

PokerStars India`s Thursday mainstay, ₹10 Lakhs GTD Highroller, filled in ₹41,000 in overlays after 137 hopefuls coughed up ₹7,700 to join the action. The top 17 places got paid. PokerGuru Ambassador Laksh ‘B00MTilt23’ Pal Singh won the Thursday title for an impressive sixth time last night for ₹1.90 Lakhs and chopped the top prize heads-up with his good friend Sahil ‘inaboobham’ Mahboobani (2nd for ₹1.83 Lakhs).

Laksh Singh made away with ₹6.83 Lakhs yesterday from six ITM finishes. His top ITM finishes include:

> 13th in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #93 – Super HighRoller for ₹2.73 Lakhs

> 5th in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #92 – Thursday Prime for ₹1.92 Lakhs

> 1st in PokerStars India’s Highroller for ₹1.90 Lakhs

The ₹1.75 Lakhs GTD Deepstack clocked in 139 entrants, and only the top 15 places received a cash prize in the ₹1,375 buy-in event. ‘Danielneg444’ won the title for ₹35,308, with ‘Blaze8492’ finishing second for ₹26,636.

‘AP9009’ (Won Ultrasonic ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹24,770), Adwait ‘Adwait Pol’ Pol (Won Afternoon on Stars ₹50K GTD for ₹14,354), ‘1747R’ (Won Deepstack ₹50K GTD for ₹13,394), and Arav ‘KKQQ746’ Singh (Won Primetime Grind ₹50K GTD for ₹12,242) took down the other PokerStars India marquees.

Adda52

Adda52 brought back its ₹5,500 buy-in Godfather for another run last night. A total of 467 players joined the ₹25 Lakhs guaranteed event, resulting in an overlay shortfall worth ₹1.65 Lakhs. The top 49 spots earned a share of the spoils. After almost nine hours of play, Vaibhav ‘alienrobot’ Sharma won the event for a commendable third time, pocketing ₹5.24 Lakhs and his first title of the year. Last night`s IOPC #92 – Thursday Prime champion Harsh ‘BuddhaBhikari’ Dembla collected ₹4.51 Lakhs in second place, courtesy of a heads-up deal.

Vaibhav Sharma added another two cashes, working up ₹5.49 Lakhs in Thursday winnings. His online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹6.61 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹2.61 Crores | Annual Winnings: ₹25.84 Lakhs | Titles Won in 2022: #1

Harsh Dembla was among the Thursday chartbusters as he also finished runner-up in the ₹5 Lakhs GTD Monster Turbo for ₹80,280. The 9:30 PM event brought in 223 challengers, just about meeting its posted guarantee to collect a ₹5.01 Lakhs prize pool. The mystery player ‘Bujo’ proved triumphant and lifted the title for ₹1.37 Lakhs.

‘Bujo’s Adda52 stats: Site Winnings: ₹18.75 Lakhs | Site Profits: ₹4.88 Lakhs

Kunal ‘Kunotaguero’ Yadav (Won Nighttide DST Adda ₹1.50 Lakhs GTD for ₹34,668), ‘pokersherlock’ (Won Afternoon Adda ₹1.50 Lakhs GTD for ₹32,890), ‘sherry’ (Won Bounty Adda ₹50K GTD for ₹12,569), Sarvesh ‘playhereforsure13’ Sharma (Won Sundown Adda ₹50K GTD for ₹12,039), ‘Dineshbhati121’ (Won Freeze Out Adda ₹50K GTD for ₹11,874), and ‘rjthegod’ (Won Evening Adda ₹50K GTD for ₹11,460) won the other Adda52 marquees.

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