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The weekend got off to an exciting start, with most of the Friday marquees registering guarantee-crushing numbers.
While several players scored massive paydays last night, the elusive poker phenom, Young Gun Anuj Yadav, headlined the list. The only player to win The Millionaire thrice, Yadav posted three deep runs yesterday, cumulatively banking ₹7.05 Lakhs. Even though he did not win any titles, he final-tabled two flagships, PokerBaazi’s The Weekly HighRoller (₹4.50 Lakhs) and PokerStars India’s Winter Series#26 Super Highroller for ₹2.17 Lakhs.
The day’s single-biggest score belonged to the winner of Adda52’s Friday extravaganza, The Ballers – Nikhil Agarwal. The relatively lesser-known player trumped Punya Behera (2nd for ₹4.35 Lakhs) heads-up to pocket the ₹7.20 Lakhs top prize.
PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Ahuja has been in tremendous form over the past few years, consistently staying among the top 10 online rankings. And he`s off to a decent start in 2022, having won Spartan Poker’s The Elite for a third time last night for ₹6.09 Lakhs, following a three-way deal with ‘SoormaBhopali’ (2nd for ₹5.71 Lakhs) and ‘joker2909’ (3rd for ₹5.14 Lakhs).
Tanmay Benara is one player off to a smashing start this year. Clinching his third title of 2022, Benara shipped PokerBaazi’s The Weekly HighRoller for ₹4.86 Lakhs, following a heads-up deal with Anuj Yadav.
Kapil Arora took down PokerStars India’s Winter Series-26 Super Highroller for ₹5.24 Lakhs, just as Anurag Srivastava finished runner-up for ₹3.91 Lakhs.
Sandy Lamba, Pawan Tez, Kovid Saraswat, Sayyed Aasim, Rajneesh Thakur, Gopal Bajaj, Anuj Laddhad, Prithvi Bhatia, and Armaan Kochhar won the other marquee titles.
Here are the Friday highlights!
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Spartan Poker
Spartan Poker’s Friday mainstay, ₹30 Lakhs GTD The Elite, collected a guarantee-crushing ₹37.30 Lakhs prize pool on the back of 373 entries. The play culminated at 5.36 AM after the last three players standing agreed on a deal. PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish ‘Spewushhhiiiii’ Ahuja claiming the bragging rights and ₹6.09 Lakhs in prize money, with ‘SoormaBhopali’ (2nd for ₹5.71 Lakhs) and ‘joker2909’ (3rd for ₹5.14 Lakhs) also bagging hefty paydays courtesy of the deal.
One of the top-ranked players in the country for two years running, Ahuja won The Elite for the third time yesterday. While he has posted a number of deep runs, this is his first MTT title of 2022. His online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹9.73 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹3.65 Crores | Finished #6 in the 2021 Leaderboard Rankings (3rd in 2020)
Spartan Poker`s Friday value offering, ₹9 Lakhs GTD Futuristic, also went down the wire with a three-way deal. The event brought in a vast 1,304-entry field, collecting a ₹10.44 Lakhs prize pool. The top 119 places got paid, with ‘Mangubansal’ emerging winner to bank ₹1.49 Lakhs. Aurkodyuti ‘ad87’ Das (2nd for ₹1.34 Lakhs), and ‘natokos’ (3rd for ₹1.17 Lakhs) completed the trio of podium finishers.
‘RUNLIKEBOLT’ (Won Night Rider Monster Stack ₹1.75 Lakhs GTD for ₹51,694), Prithvi ‘PrithviB18’ Bhatia (Won Epic ₹80K GTD for ₹20,254), ‘humhaidon1’ (Won The Centurion ₹50K GTD for ₹10,739), ‘trained_fish’ (Won Epic ₹30K GTD for ₹7,665), ‘damyou8881’ (Won Striker ₹18K GTD for ₹4,856) and ‘ZASS’ (Won 6 Cards PLO Epic ₹12K GTD for ₹3,498) won the other Spartan Poker marquees.
PokerBaazi
The MTT rush on PokerBaazi shows no signs of abating, and the site`s Friday staple ₹12 Lakhs GTD The Weekly HighRoller clocked in a smashing 234-entry field last night – each of them signing up for ₹11,000. The mammoth ₹23.40 Lakhs prize pool was distributed among the top 17 finishers. The two-time The Elite winner Tanmay ‘truman’ Benara clinched his third title of the year for ₹4.86 Lakhs following a heads-up deal with the three-time The Millionaire champion Young Gun Anuj ‘brockLesnar95’ Yadav (2nd for ₹4.51 Lakhs).
Tanmay Benara ITM-ed more events, posting over ₹4.92 Lakhs in Friday winnings. His online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹1.56 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹55.62 Lakhs
Anuj Yadav crossed the money line in three events, including two FT scores, collectively earning ₹7.05 Lakhs. His Friday night run has catapulted him to the top of the 2022 leaderboards standings.
His ITM finishes include:
> 2nd in PokerBaazi’s The Weekly HighRoller for ₹4,50,767
> 4th in PokerStars India’s Winter Series#26 Super Highroller for ₹2,17,751
> 11th in Adda52’s The Ballers for ₹36,305
Anuj Yadav’s online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹6.71 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹3.92 Crores
The ₹5 Lakhs GTD Sprint 7-Max attracted 617 entries, collecting a guarantee-crushing ₹9.25 Lakhs prize pool. The former The Millionaire third-place finisher Sandy ‘Ziigmund’ Lamba was the last player standing and won ₹1.50 Lakhs, picking up his first title of the year. The user ‘xyz123654’ placed runner-up for ₹1.48 Lakhs, courtesy of a heads-up deal.
Sandy Lamba’s online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹2.65 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹78.24 Lakhs
The two-time Sunday Special PKO winner Atishay ‘nutscracker’ Samuel posted two final table finishes, adding ₹2.30 Lakhs altogether.
His ITM finishes include:
> 5th in Adda52’s The Ballers for ₹1,51,029
> 3rd in PokerBaazi’s SPRINT 7-Max for ₹78,853
Atishay Samuel’s online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹1.45 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹45.12 Lakhs
Kovid ‘fzzzyyy’ Saraswat (Won Holdem BOOST ₹1.50 Lakhs GTD for ₹58,590), ‘suru1117’ (Won Daily Night SPRINT ₹1.50 Lakhs GTD for ₹54,532), ‘loserkid’ (Won SPRINT 1 PM ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹38,223), Rajneesh ‘msdhoni’ Thakur (Won PLO Boost Monster ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹33,800), ‘ManAce’ (Won Daily Afternoon SPRINT ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹31,913), ‘LUXURYFTR’ (Won SPRINT ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹31,697), and ‘Stonergang420’ (Won 5-max Daily ₹50K GTD for ₹11,297) won the other Friday marquees on PokerBaazi.
PokerStars India
Headlining the Day 4 roster of PokerStars India’s Winter Series was the ₹22 Lakhs GTD Winter Series-26 Super Highroller that gathered 173 entries, posting a ₹25.95 Lakhs prize pool. After over seven hours of play, Kapil ‘racemonk’ Arora bested Thursday’s Winter Series-20 Big Bubble Rush champion Anurag ‘GutshotHaiBro’ Srivastava (2nd for ₹3.91 Lakhs) heads-up to lock in a ₹5.24 Lakhs payday.
Kapil Arora’s online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹2.37 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹15.61 Lakhs
The star-studded final table featured Jaideep ‘Nnomadas’ Sajwan (3rd for ₹2.91 Lakhs), Young Gun Anuj ‘brockLesnar95’ Yadav (4th for ₹2.17 Lakhs), Ashwin ‘Ashwinvijay’ Vijay (5th for ₹1.62 Lakhs), Ayush ‘Kyanaamrakhu’ Garg (6th for ₹1.21 Lakhs) and Young Gun Sanat ‘durrsanta’ Mehrotra (7th for ₹90,451).
Just like Anurag Srivastava, Thursday’s Winter Series-18 Highroller winner Aditya ‘ukid767’ Singh was looking to win his second title at the series in the ₹5 Lakhs GTD Winter Series-28 Uppercut Mini. Singh ultimately lost the title to ‘nagpal72,’ who took home a winner’s paycheque worth ₹1.27 Lakhs (includes ₹68,535 in bounties). Singh received ₹1 Lakh (includes ₹41,973 in bounties).
Aditya Singh cumulatively raked in ₹1.54 Lakhs on the back of three deep runs.
His ITM finishes include:
> 2nd in PokerStars India’s Winter Series-28 Uppercut Mini for ₹1,00,524
> 9th in Adda52’s The Ballers for ₹46,470
> 20th in PokerBaazi’s (7-Max) SPRINT for ₹7,867
Sayyed ‘MohdAsim786’ Aasim (Won Winter Series-30 Ultrasonic ₹1.75 Lakhs GTD for ₹42,561), Gopal ‘MrBigSlick139’ Bajaj (Won Winter Series-23 Afternoon on Stars ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD for ₹32,878), ‘gazillionaire’ (Won Winter Series-24 Deepstack ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹22,145), ‘betontheriverr’ (Won Winter Series-27 Primetime Grind ₹75K GTD for ₹19,008), Armaan ‘armaan007111’ Kochhar (Won Winter Series-29 Omania 6-Max Turbo ₹40K GTD for ₹12,509), and ‘snakeeyes2040’ (Won Winter Series-25 Bounty Builder Progressive KO ₹35K GTD for ₹11,634) shipped the other Friday marquees on PokerStars India.
Adda52
Adda52’s ₹22.50 Lakhs GTD The Ballers locked in a 424-player field, leading to a prize pool collection of ₹29.04 Lakhs. Nikhil ‘nikhil234880’ Agarwal came out on top to win ₹7.20 Lakhs, while Punya ‘ShamalDas’ Behera finished runner-up for ₹4.35 Lakhs.
Punya Behera, who sattied his way to a runner-up finish in The Ballers, also finished fifth in PokerStars India’s Winter Series-28 Uppercut Mini for ₹33,626, rounding up ₹4.69 Lakhs in Friday winnings. His online stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹1.58 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹69.85 Lakhs
The ₹4 Lakhs GTD Friday Bounty drew 221 entrants, posting a ₹5.42 Lakhs prize pool. The user ‘Samimeel’ walked away with the title and ₹1.50 Lakhs (includes ₹29,691 in bounties), while ‘bk9033’ placed runner-up for ₹59,372 (includes ₹6,332 in bounties).
‘Samimeel’`s Adda52 stats: Site Winnings: ₹28.29 Lakhs | Site Profits: ₹13.77 Lakhs
Day 5 of the Nano Poker Series (NPS) had eight tourneys on the tap, spearheaded by Day 1C of the ₹25 Lakhs GTD Nano Main Event. The third starting of the ₹1,650 buy-in event brought in 189 entries, with only 23 runners surviving the day’s onslaught. Young Gun Karan ‘Reg_Slayer’ Radia (437,302) emerged as the end-of-day chip leader, with Mohit ‘Gandiaa’ Dhingra (415,661) and Anurag ‘NormanBates’ Srivastava (232,735) grabbing the following two big stacks.
Pawan ‘_luffy_1x1’ Tez (Won Nano DST ₹2 Lakhs GTD for ₹68,400), ‘MuckThesystem’ (Won Nano Ballers ₹2.75 Lakhs GTD for ₹54,646), Anuj ‘anuj1610’ Laddhad (Won Nano Siesta ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹29,430), and ‘Machine541’ (Won Nano Crack Jack ₹70K GTD for ₹20,905) shipped Adda52’s other Friday marquees.
Khelo365
Khelo365`s ₹5 Lakhs GTD extravaganza, Refuel, pulled in 116 players last night, falling ₹1.52 Lakhs short of the listed guarantee. ‘ASHWINIKUMAR’ was the last player standing and won ₹1.40 Lakhs, while ‘pukie1995’ finished runner-up for ₹85,000.
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