With just a day left for the 11th edition of the India Online Poker Championship (IOPC) to kick-off, Friday seemed like the calm before the storm

Locking in the day’s biggest score was Mohit Mehta, who championed Adda52’s The Ballers for ₹5.76 Lakhs. Shalabh Bansal finished runner-up for ₹3.43 Lakhs.

Sagar Choudhury picked up his third The Elite title on Spartan Poker for ₹4.75 Lakhs after striking a three-way deal with Akshat Sharma (runner-up for ₹4.48 Lakhs) and Meet Jariwala (3rd for ₹4.39 Lakhs).

Vivekk Dube was the breakout performer on Friday as he took down Spartan Poker’s Futuristic while also booking FT finishes in PokerBaazi’s The Weekly HighRoller and The Elite netting ₹3.78 Lakhs overall.

Karan Sitlani picked up a career-best ₹3.40 Lakhs in PokerBaazi’s The Weekly HighRoller, and Umesh Sharma took down PokerStars India’s Uppercut MAGIC Edition for ₹1.91 Lakhs.

Arun Sriram, Sankalp Marwah, Arish Taraporewala, Saahib Bawa, Yash Chitre, Praveen KR, and Nitin Rawat won the other Friday flagships!

Here are the Friday highlights!

 

Spartan Poker

With the IOPC all set to kick off on July 11, Spartan Poker skipped this week’s The Millionaire, leaving The Elite to headline its Friday roster. Sporting a ₹11,000 entry buy-in, The Elite garnered a 269-player pool, but it wasn’t enough to meet its ₹30 Lakhs guarantee, leaving a ₹3.10 Lakhs overlay deficit.

We keep referring to Sagar ‘maniacmachi’ Choudhury as an online beast, and he keeps proving exactly why that nomenclature is apt for him. Since the start of July, Choudhury has already final-tabled seven events, and last night, he took down The Elite, booking his first title win for the month. Sagar Choudhury cut a three-way deal with Akshat ‘doubledown’ Sharma (runner-up for ₹4.48 Lakhs) and Meet ‘gogobhai’ Jariwala (3rd for ₹4.39 Lakhs) before taking down the title and a ₹4.75 Lakhs top prize.

 

Ranked #12 on the annual leaderboard, this was Sagar Choudhury’s third time winning The Elite. His stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹6.66 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹1.12 Crores

Another player who has been on a rampage lately is Vivekk ‘MI7’ Dube. The man from Mumbai started off the week in style by taking down PokerBaazi’s BSS#4 SuperStack on Sunday. Sticking to his winning form, he came out on top in the ₹9.50 Lakhs GTD Futuristic last night for ₹1.86 Lakhs. A three-way deal saw Siddharth ‘champ-ak’ Pandey (runner-up for ₹1.31 Lakhs) and ‘Mokhembo69’ (3rd for ₹1.17 Lakhs) also secure podium finishes.

 

Vivekk Dube scored in two more flagships, pocketing ₹3.78 Lakhs in cumulative earnings. His ITM finishes include:

> 1st in Spartan Poker’s Futuristic for ₹1,86,946

> 4th in PokerBaazi’s The Weekly Highroller for ₹1,13,538

> 8th in Spartan Poker’s The Elite for ₹78,300

 

PokerBaazi

PokerBaazi’s ₹12 Lakhs GTD The Weekly HighRoller was taken down by Thursday`s ₹1.50 Lakhs GTD Turbo winner Karan ‘collingwood’ Sitlani for a cool ₹3.40 Lakhs. Sitlani had won two tickets to the ₹11,000 entry buy-in event through ₹550 online satellites and used them both (and a third) to win the title. The user ‘Jack77777’ finished runner-up for ₹2.38 Lakhs. The event gathered 127 entries and collected a profitable ₹12.70 Lakhs prize pool.

 

Arish ‘YKNjonsnow’ Taraporewala struck a heads-up deal with ‘cerealkiller’ (runner-up for ₹53,306) before taking down PokerBaazi’s ₹1.50 Lakhs GTD Holdem Boost DST for ₹61,344.

PokerBaazi regular Sankalp ‘Wobbegong’ Marwah has been crushing the late-night marquees on the site, and he posted four ITM finishes last night for ₹90,442 in cumulative earnings. His scores included:

 

> 1st in PLO Boost Monster for ₹33,232

> 2nd in Turbo for ₹30,452

> 3rd in Night DST for ₹22,732

> 15th in Holdem Boost DST for ₹4,026

Yash ‘Riraizer’ Chitre (Won ₹1 Lakh GTD Night DST for ₹50,365), ‘underdawgg’ (Won ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD Turbo for ₹43,492) and ‘divid92’ (Won ₹1 Lakh GTD Afternoon DST for ₹37,094) captured the other titles on PokerBaazi yesterday.

 

PokerStars India

The ₹10 Lakhs GTD Uppercut MAGIC Edition had PokerStars India reg Umesh ‘dhondu.chilll’ Sharma and PokerStars India’s “Star of the Month” – February Armaan ‘armaan007111’ Kochhar fighting it out for the top honors. In the end, Umesh Sharma emerged victorious as he walked away with a winner’s paycheque worth ₹1.91 Lakhs (includes ₹90,711 in bounties), while Armaan Kochhar had to contend with a second-place payout worth ₹1.15 Lakhs (includes ₹15,000 in bounties).

 

Armaan Kochhar moved up to #10 on the annual leaderboard standings after his deep run last night. His stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹5.05 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹99.60 Lakhs | Annual Winnings: ₹1.71 Crores

 

The ₹2 Lakhs GTD The Classic PKO was won by site regular ‘YKARKI2147’ for ₹54,871 (includes ₹34,406 in bounties). ‘deadpan16’ came second for ₹25,480 (includes ₹5,016 in bounties).

Nitin ‘NRIPOKER’ Rawat championed two back-to-back events on PokerStars India yesterday, namely the ₹50K GTD Ultra KO 75% for ₹19,567 and the ₹60K GTD Primetime Grind for ₹10,723.

 

Praveen ‘pinawxd’ KR (Won ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD Ultrasonic for ₹34,691), ‘mritunjay’ (Won ₹60K GTD Afternoon on Stars for ₹14,100) and ‘AN11328’ (Won ₹50K GTD Deepstack for ₹12,949) were the other marquee winners on PokerStars India.

 

Adda52

Adda52’s Friday night extravaganza, the ₹22.5 Lakhs GTD The Ballers, was taken down by Mohit ‘thejokerrrr’ Mehta, who added a hefty ₹5.76 Lakhs to their bankroll. The former Mega Suit champion locked horns with Shalabh ‘shalabhpoker’ Bansal (runner-up for ₹3.43 Lakhs) in the heads-up finale and overcame the latter to claim his first-ever The Ballers title.

 

With this win, Mohit Mehta has entered the ‘₹2 Crores Club’ in lifetime online earnings (₹58.39 Lakhs in net profits).

The ₹7,500 entry buy-in tourney experienced a ₹2.49 Lakhs overlay on the back of 292 entries.

Adda52’s ₹5 Lakhs GTD Running Hot fared much better than The Ballers, with 312 participants collecting a ₹6.24 Lakhs prize pool. The in-form Arun ‘runyrules’ Sriram posting his third deep run of the week, championed the tourney for ₹1.56 Lakhs. He posted two more deep runs last night to rake in ₹1.86 Lakhs in cumulative winnings. ‘Jaddubhai’ (runner-up for ₹94,536) and PokerGuru Ambassador Nadeem ‘nadeem0021’ Basha (3rd for ₹68,640) rounded out the top three payouts.

 

The former Iron Man champion Saahib ‘saahib’ Bawa took down both the ₹1.75 Lakhs GTD Nighttide DST Adda (for ₹44,199) and the ₹50K GTD Sundown Adda (for ₹15,444), posting ₹59,643 in Friday earnings.

The other Friday winners were:

Player	Prize Amount	Event	Poker Site
Arish 'YKNjonsnow' Taraporewala	₹61,344	Holdem Boost DST ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD	PokerBaazi
YKARKI2147	₹54,871	The Classic PKO ₹2 Lakhs GTD	PokerStars India
Yash 'Riraizer' Chitre	₹50,365	Night DST ₹1 Lakh GTD	PokerBaazi
Karan ‘karan880’ Lochab	₹49,039	Afternoon Adda ₹1.75 Lakhs GTD	Adda52
Saahib ‘saahib’ Bawa	₹44,199	Nighttide DST Adda ₹1.75 Lakhs GTD	Adda52
underdawgg	₹43,492	Turbo ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD	PokerBaazi
divid92	₹37,094	Afternoon DST ₹1 Lakh GTD	PokerBaazi
Praveen 'pinawxd' KR	₹34,691	Ultrasonic ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD	PokerStars India
Sankalp 'Wobbegong' Marwah	₹33,232	PLO Boost Monster ₹1 Lakh GTD	PokerBaazi
Gabbar1510	₹29,190	Punch ₹80K GTD	Adda52
BIT00Poker	₹24,000	Dangal Friday ₹1 Lakh GTD	PokerDangal
Nitin 'NRIPOKER' Rawat	₹19,567	Ultra KO 75% ₹50K GTD	PokerStars India
Saahib ‘saahib’ Bawa	₹15,444	Sundown Adda ₹50K GTD	Adda52
mritunjay	₹14,100	Afternoon on Stars ₹60K GTD	PokerStars India
AN11328	₹12,949	Deepstack ₹50K GTD	PokerStars India
Sourabh ‘babu7275’ Singh	₹11,113	Evening Adda ₹50K GTD	Adda52
Nitin 'NRIPOKER' Rawat	₹10,723	Primetime Grind ₹60K GTD	PokerStars India

 

The Elite ₹30 Lakhs GTD – Spartan Poker

Buy-in – ₹11,000

Entries – 127

Re-entries – 83

Re-buys – 59

Prize Pool – ₹30,00,000

Places Paid – 31

The #12 ranked player on the annual leaderboard, Sagar ‘maniacmachi’ Choudhury, powered his way through the 269-entry field in Spartan Poker`s ₹30 Lakhs GTD The Elite to win the Friday flagship title for the third time, adding ₹4.75 Lakhs to his bankroll. The event played down to a three-way chop, with Akshat ‘doubledown’ Sharma (runner-up for ₹4.48 Lakhs) and Meet ‘gogobhai’ Jariwala (3^rd for ₹4.39 Lakhs) banking the other top payouts.

The 8 PM event with a price point of ₹11,000, went on until the wee hours on Saturday morning and had to fill in over 10% in overlays. The top 31 places boarded the money bus.

Young Gun Anuj ‘tittoo Tauji’ Yadav (4^th for ₹2.44 Lakhs), PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish ‘Donkey 07’ Munot (5^th for ₹1.93 Lakhs), and Rising Star Aman ‘Karmapoker’ Parakh (6^th for ₹1.46 Lakhs) were the other notables who FT-ed the tourney!

 

Final Table Results

1. Sagar ‘maniacmachi’ Choudhury – ₹4,75,053*
2. Akshat ‘doubledown’ Sharma – ₹4,48,539*
3. Meet ‘gogobhai’ Jariwala – ₹4,39,308*
4. Anuj ‘tittoo Tauji’ Yadav – ₹2,44,200
5. Ashish ‘Donkey 07’ Munot – ₹1,93,200
6. Aman ‘Karmapoker’ Parakh – ₹1,46,700

*denotes a three-way deal

 

The Ballers ₹22.5 Lakhs GTD – Adda52

Buy-in – ₹7,500

Entries – 150

Re-entries – 142

Prize Pool – ₹22,50,000

Places Paid – 30

The Tornado champion from July 4, Mohit ‘thejokerrrr’ Mehta, was the last player standing in Adda52’s Friday night bonanza, the ₹22.5 Lakhs GTD The Ballers. Mehta won ₹5.76 Lakhs for the win, with Shalabh ‘shalabhpoker’ Bansal taking second place for ₹3.43 Lakhs.

The Ballers registered a hefty ₹2.49 Lakhs overlay deficit after only 292 entries signed up for the ₹7,500 entry buy-in event. The top 30 places got paid.

Surbhit ‘grovahova’ Grover (3^rd for ₹2.59 Lakhs) and Adda52 regular Priya ‘priyaranjan2k12’ Ranjan Das (6^th for ₹90,000) also FT-ed the tourney.

Final Table Results

1. Mohit ‘thejokerrrr’ Mehta – ₹5,76,000
2. Shalabh ‘shalabhpoker’ Bansal – ₹3,43,125
3. Surbhit ‘grovahova’ Grover – ₹2,58,750
4. Mitsen – ₹1,91,250
5. himansh007 – ₹1,29,375
6. Priya ‘priyaranjan2k12’ Ranjan Das – ₹90,000

 

The Weekly HighRoller ₹12 Lakhs GTD – PokerBaazi

Buy-in – ₹11,000

Entries –75

Re-entries – 52

Prize Pool – ₹12,70,000

Places Paid – 15

Karan ‘collingwood’ Sitlani navigated his way to the top of the 127-entry field in PokerBaazi’s The Weekly HighRoller to win a personal-best (on PokerBaazi) ₹3.40 Lakhs. The user ‘Jack77777’ came second for ₹2.38 Lakhs.

Sitlani had won two ₹550 buy-in online satellites that gave him two tickets to the event. He used them both and fired a third bullet before clinching the title. He now has ₹38.65 in recorded winnings on PokerBaazi.

Sitlani had won the Turbo 1.50 Lakhs GTD on Thursday, and the Weekly HighRoller title gave him his second PokerBaazi title on consecutive days.

PokerGuru Ambassador Vishal ‘Vishzz’ Bajaj (3rd for ₹1.53 Lakhs), Futuristic champion Vivekk ‘Vivek25’ Dube (4^th for ₹1.14 Lakhs), and Shubham ‘ShUbh1995’ Nirbam (5^th for ₹85,090) also FT-ed the event.

Final Table Results

1. Karan ‘collingwood’ Sitlani – ₹3,40,360
2. Jack77777 – ₹2,38,379
3. Vishal ‘Vishzz’ Bajaj – ₹1,53,289
4. Vivekk ‘Vivek25’ Dube – ₹1,13,538
5. Shubham ‘ShUbh1995’ Nirbam – ₹85,090
6. ADEV22 – ₹68,072

 

Uppercut MAGIC Edition ₹10 Lakhs GTD – PokerStars India

Buy-in – ₹4,400

Entries – 108

Re-entries – 102

Total Prize Pool – ₹10,00,000

Regular Prize Pool – ₹5,80,000

Bounty Prize Pool – ₹4,20,000

Places Paid – 23

The signature Friday MTT on PokerStars India, the ₹10 Lakhs GTD Uppercut MAGIC Edition, dragged in 210 contenders, resulting in an overlay worth ₹1.60 Lakhs.

PokerStars India regular Umesh ‘dhondu.chilll’ Sharma fired two bullets in the event before taking down the title for ₹1.91 Lakhs (includes ₹90,711 in bounties). On June 24, Sharma had won Battle Royale for ₹65,152.

PokerStars India’s “Star of the Month” – February Armaan ‘armaan007111’ Kochhar secured a runner-up payday worth ₹1.15 Lakhs (includes ₹15,000 in bounties). He finished ITM in three more events, adding ₹1.74 Lakhs overall. His run last night pushed him back into the top 10 of the annual leaderboard standings.

Armaan Kochhar’s stats: Lifetime Winnings: ₹5.08 Crores | Lifetime Profits: ₹1.01 Crores | Annual Winnings: ₹1.71 Crores | Annual Profits: ₹36.83 Lakhs | Ranked #10 in the Annual Leaderboard Standings

The 7:30 PM tourney got in the books at 2:46 AM and paid out 23 places.

“Star of the Month” – December Siddharth ‘gangnam gangi’ Gangwar (3rd for ₹95,237), Sreeharsha ‘DonkeyCommitted’ Boneni (4^th for ₹82,756), and “Star of the Month” – March Harsh ‘kakori kabab’ Dembla (6^th for ₹38,615) also FT-ed the tourney.

Final Table Results (including bounties)

1. Umesh ‘dhondu.chilll’ Sharma – ₹1,91,068
2. Armaan ‘armaan007111’ Kochhar – ₹1,15,357
3. Siddharth ‘gangnam gangi’ Gangwar – ₹95,237
4. Sreeharsha ‘DonkeyCommitted’ Boneni – ₹82,756
5. dev149 – ₹70,049
6. Harsh ‘kakori kabab’ Dembla – ₹38,615
7. thisisme16 – ₹33,606

 

Futuristic ₹9.50 Lakhs GTD – Spartan Poker

Buy-in – ₹880

Entries – 422

Re-entries – 493

Re-buys – 531

Prize Pool – ₹11,56,800

Places Paid – 135

This week`s BSS SuperStack champion Vivekk ‘MI7’ Dube went on a tear last night with three deep runs and ₹3.78 Lakhs in total winnings. His standout performance of the day was taking down Spartan Poker`s ₹9.50 Lakhs GTD Futuristic for 1.86 Lakhs. Before taking down the title, Dube struck a three-way deal with Siddharth ‘champ-ak’ Pandey (2nd for ₹1.31 Lakhs) and ‘Mokhembo69’ (3^rd for ₹1.17 Lakhs).

The ₹880 entry buy-in event recorded a starting field of 1,446 participants, which helped crush the posted guarantee by over ₹2 Lakhs. The 8 PM event got in the books after over nine hours of action, and 135 places finished ITM.

Atishay ‘momstacos’ Samuel (4^th for ₹68,714) and Kunal ‘Charsilaladka’ Chaudhary (5^th for ₹53,444) also FT-ed the tourney.

 

Final Table Results

1. Vivekk ‘MI7’ Dube – ₹1,86,946*
2. Siddharth ‘champ-ak’ Pandey – ₹1,31,866*
3. Mokhembo69 – ₹1,17,186*
4. Atishay ‘momstacos’ Samuel – ₹68,714
5. Kunal ‘Charsilaladka’ Chaudhary – ₹53,444
6. s@kuni_m@m@ – ₹39,563
7. sristi – ₹28,330
8. RektKing – ₹20,186

*denotes a three-way deal

 

Running Hot ₹5 Lakhs GTD – Adda52

Buy-in – ₹2,200

Entries – 179

Re-entries – 133

Prize Pool – ₹6,24,000

Places Paid – 34

One of the unstoppable names’ on the felts presently, Thursday’s Highroller champion Arun ‘runyrules’ Sriram conquered Adda52`s ₹5 Lakhs GTD Running Hot, adding another ₹1.56 Lakhs to his poker bankroll. ‘Jaddubhai’ came second for ₹94,536.

PokerGuru Ambassador Nadeem ‘nadeem0021′ Basha (3rd for ₹68,640), Tanmay ‘PlusEv’ Benara (5th for ₹35,880), Buhr ‘riokid’ Advirkar (6th for ₹23,400), and the Futuristic runner-up finisher Siddharth ‘gabandheer’ Pandey (8th for ₹15,600), also FT-ed the event.

Final table Results

1. Arun ‘runyrules’ Sriram – ₹1,56,000
2. Jaddubhai – ₹94,536
3. Nadeem ‘nadeem0021’ Basha – ₹68,640
4. strpkr95 – ₹52,104
5. Tanmay ‘PlusEv’ Benara – ₹35,880
6. Buhr ‘riokid’ Advirkar – ₹23,400
7. caden – ₹18,720
8. Siddharth ‘gabandheer’ Pandey – ₹15,600

 

The Classic PKO ₹2 Lakhs GTD – PokerStars India

Buy-in – ₹1,650

Entries – 94

Re-entries – 57

Total Prize Pool – ₹2,26,500

Regular Prize Pool – ₹1,13,250

Bounty Prize Pool – ₹1,13,250

Places Paid – 17

The ₹2 Lakhs GTD The Classic on PokerStars India pulled in 151 contestants who signed up for ₹1,650. The top 17 places shared the ₹2.26 Lakhs prize pool.

After close five hours of action, the last man standing at the event was ‘YKARKI2147’, who took away ₹54,871 (includes ₹34,406 in bounties) in cash prize after beating ‘deadpan16’ (runner-up for ₹25,480) (includes ₹5,016 in bounties) in the heads-up quarrel.

Himanshu ‘himkat@stars’ Kataria (3rd for ₹19,314), Varun ‘wardev’ Devayya (5^th for ₹11,774), and Ultrasonic champion Praveen ‘pinawxd’ KR (8^th for ₹5,688) FT-ed the tourney.

 

Holdem Boost DST ₹1.50 Lakhs GTD – PokerBaazi

Buy-in – ₹1,100

Entries – 156

Re-entries – 149

Prize Pool – ₹3,05,000

Places Paid – 36

PokerBaazi’s 9 PM marquee, the 6-Max Holdem Boost DST, logged in 305 runners to collect ₹3.05 Lakhs in prize money, over 2X the listed guarantee.

Arish ‘YKNjonsnow’ Taraporewala bested the competition to win the Holdem Boost DST title for the second time last night for ₹61,344. He had previously won the event in October last year for ₹28,150. The user ‘cerealkiller’ placed runner-up for ₹53,306, courtesy of a heads-up deal.

Taraporewala now boasts ₹12.07 Lakhs in recorded earnings on PokerBaazi (₹2.03 Lakhs in net profits).

Devashish ‘Deadmansong’ Jain finished fifth for ₹16,897.

 

Dangal Friday ₹1 Lakh GTD – PokerDangal

Buy-in – ₹990

Entries – 66

Rebuys – 36

Prize Pool – ₹1,00,000

Places Paid – 17

PokerDangal’s ₹1 Lakh GTD Dangal Friday logged in 102entrants, falling a marginal ₹8,200 short of its advertised guarantee. Site regular ‘BIT00Poker’ took down the event for ₹24,000, with ‘Nutties’ placing runner-up for ₹17,000.

 

This report was updated at 5:30 PM on 10.7.2021.

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