Daily Majors: Young Gun Siddharth Karia Wins the FTS Main Event For Career-Best ₹32.26 Lakhs

Mondays are usually the slowest day of the week for online MTT players but yesterday was a completely different story. Not that the tournaments on offer added significant value but what set the virtual rail alive was Spartan Poker’s FTS 2.0 Main Event live-stream. The eight finalists from a starting field of 622 entries sat down on the FT at 6 PM last evening, with Young Gun Siddharth Karia (cover image) eventually walking away with the Main Event title!

The MBA graduate from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, banked a career-defining ₹32.26 Lakhs top prize, along with the 18K diamond-studded Gold Medallion! Karia struck a heads-up deal with runner-up Avinit Bagri, who took home an equally impressive ₹30.19 Lakhs payday.

Saahib Bawa (Won Adda52’s Iron Man for ₹2 Lakhs), Rajiv Srivastava (Won Spartan Poker’s ReCharge for ₹1.80 Lakhs), and Young Gun Sanat Mehrotra (Won PokerBaazi’s The Big Show for ₹1.76 Lakhs) took down the other Monday flagships.

Here is the complete recap of the Monday tournaments.

Spartan Poker

The second edition of the popular Final Table Series (FTS) is now in the books. The series’ magnum opus, ₹2 Crores GTD FTS#25 Main Event, garnered 622 entries through two starting flights on Sunday, and the event played down to its eight-handed final table the same day. It took almost two hours for the FT action to wrap up on Monday, with Young Gun Siddharth ‘Ari Tribbiani’ Karia navigating his way to the top to become the new FTS Main Event champion. He pocketed a mammoth ₹32.26 Lakhs for the win.

The 29-year-old Karia had entered the final table with the third-biggest stack. The heads-up between Karia and Avinit ‘pushnpray17’ Bagri went on a while before the duo agreed to a heads-up chop, with Karia claiming the title and Bagri taking home a runner-up payout worth ₹30.19 Lakhs.

For Karia, this is his second FTS title. He had previously won an FTS title in the inaugural FTS edition when he had shipped the ₹35 Lakhs GTD FTS#14 – Head Hunter for ₹6.17 Lakhs. With this win, the Bengaluru-based pro crossed the ₹3 Crores-mark (₹3.11 Crores) in virtual winnings. Besides getting the bragging rights of becoming the latest FTS Main Event champion, Karia also received an 18K diamond-studded Gold Medallion, a customized Game Face, and an exciting hamper!

The FTS serial finalist Kushagra ‘Nkush’ Mehta (3rd for ₹17.24 Lakhs), the FT chip leader Young Gun Anujkumar ‘aatmaan108’ Kodam (4th for ₹13.44 Lakhs), Alok ‘Mazacar’ Birewar (5th for ₹10.54 Lakhs), PokerGuru Ambassador Devvrat ‘deranzzdd’ Arya (6th for ₹8.28 Lakhs), Rahul ‘Rockydgreat’ Jindgar (7th for ₹6.18 Lakhs) and Pranav ‘pranavpoker’ Khandalkar (8th for ₹4.28 Lakhs) also banked FT payouts.

The final table was live-streamed cards-up by Spartan Poker, with Kevin MacPhee, Sam Razavi, Muskan Sethi, and Peter Abraham taking on the commentating duties. Poker coach and RYE founder ‘Bencb’ made a guest appearance on the stream. You can watch the live-stream replay below.

With the FTS 2.0 now done and dusted, the series leaderboard remained essentially unchanged, with Pulkit ‘Championplayer’ Goyal topping the charts (3,566 points) and netting ₹10 Lakhs in leaderboard prizes. PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish ‘Spewushhhiiiii’ Ahuja (3,538 points) placed second for ₹6 Lakhs and Ankit Omprakash ‘ON_MY_Mac’ Bajaj (3,501 points) banked ₹4 Lakhs for his third-place finish on the leaderboard standings.

Back to the weekly scheduled events, the Monday signature tourney on Spartan Poker, the ₹9 Lakhs GTD ReCharge, filled in ₹20,000 in overlays after registering 440 entries. Rajiv ‘BHAI HO THO AISA’ Srivastava took down the event for ₹1.80 Lakhs, and Aditya ‘ELASTICITY’ Kulkarni finished runner-up for ₹1.19 Lakhs.

Spartan Poker’s ₹4.50 Lakhs GTD The Flash drew 429 contenders, overlaying ₹21,000. Saurabh ‘bombardier’ Ramola was the last player standing after nearly seven hours of play, and he walked away with ₹79,147 in first-place prize money. A heads-up deal saw Gursahib Singh ‘PimpDaddyJiglo’ Sethi pocketing the second-place payout worth ₹70,381.

PokerStars India

The ₹5 Lakhs GTD Battle Royale on PokerStars India dragged in 133 entries, falling ₹1.67 Lakhs short of its listed guarantee. After five hours of play, ‘MrBigSlick139’ (anonymity requested) captured the title, and the ₹1.22 Lakhs up-top. ‘rkcravi’ came in second for ₹67,056.

The ₹1 Lakh GTD Bigstack Turbo was shipped by ‘sssss951’ for ₹30,488, with ‘SayyMyyName’ placing runner-up for ₹20,032. The event gathered 62 entries, overlaying ₹38,000.

Both the Battle Royale and the Bigstack Turbo awarded TLB points towards the “Star of the Month” – March leaderboard race. For more details of the “Star of the Month” promotion and the latest leaderboard standings, visit the promotions page.

PokerBaazi

Leading the charge on PokerBaazi was the ₹7.5 Lakhs GTD The Big Show that pulled in 248 entrants, experiencing an overlay shortfall worth ₹1.30 Lakhs. Our latest Young Gun, Sanat ‘mehro2511’ Mehrotra championed the event for ₹1.76 Lakhs, with Karan ‘collingwood’ Sitlani securing the runner-up spot for ₹1.23 Lakhs. Mehrotra, who had entered the “₹5 Crores-Club” on March 9, currently sits on ₹5.10 Crores in lifetime earnings, with ₹1.78 Crores in net profits.

The Baazi Grinders Series commenced yesterday. Catering to low-to-mid stakes players, the series offers ₹50 Lakhs in prize pool guarantees and is slated to run until March 21. The day’s featured event was the ₹2 Lakhs GTD Grinders#4 Holdem Boost. The ₹1,100 entry buy-in event logged in 176 entries, suffering a ₹24,000 shortfall. The anonymous user ‘Royalsagar’ won the event for ₹49,740, with Dhaval ‘dhavhe’ Heda placing second for ₹34,860.

Playing under the moniker ‘Kidpoker09,’ Naman Puri FT-ed two events on PokerBaazi last night, cashing ₹86,685.

> 3rd in The Big Show for ₹79,650

> 7th in the Turbo for ₹7,035

Adda52

The ₹1 Crore GTD Full House made a comeback to the Adda52 felts yesterday. The first starting flight, Day 1A, registered 114 participants, and only 14 made it through to Day 2. Advait ‘ronaldinho018’ Rajguru (249,416), ‘XXX2837’ (196,851), and Amit ‘penguin07’ Gaikwad (146,003) bagged the top three stacks of the day.

The Monday featured tourney, the ₹8 Lakhs GTD Iron Man, clocked in 325 entries, filling in a significant ₹2.09 Lakhs in overlays. The 2020 WPT Super Stack winner, Saahib ‘saahib’ Bawa, came out on top to win the ₹2 Lakhs top prize. Kapil ‘kapsa92’ Kumar Vasita settled for a runner-up payout worth ₹1.21 Lakhs. Bawa now has ₹1.27 Crores in recorded online winnings.

The 9:30 PM tourney, the ₹2.75 Lakhs GTD Voyager, was taken down by ‘boguspro’ for ₹71,500, with Adda52 regular Arun ‘runyrules’ Sriram placing runner-up for ₹42,625.

The other Monday winners were:

FTS#25 Main Event ₹2 Crores GTD – Final Table – Spartan Poker

Buy-in – ₹35,000

Entries – 622

Prize Pool – ₹2,00,00,000

Places Paid – 79

The second edition of India Poker Championship`s FTS culminated on Spartan Poker last night, with the ₹2 Crore GTD FTS#25 Main Event playing down to a winner.

The event registered 622 entries across two starting flights, falling ₹96,000 short of its listed guarantee. The talented Young Gun Siddharth ‘Ari Tribbiani’ Karia, also an avid streamer, collected a personal-best ₹32.26 Lakhs for the win after striking a heads-up deal with Avinit ‘pushnpray17’ Bagri.

Bagri eliminated ‘Kushagra ‘Nkush’ Mehta (3^rd for ₹17.24 Lakhs) to enter the heads-up showdown holding an overwhelming chip lead of 1,76,63,380 versus Karia’s 35,98,620. But Karia scored a few crucial double-ups to close the distance. Bagri was still ahead when the players decided to halt play and struck a deal that handed Karia the bragging rights.

This is the second FTS victory for the 29-year-old Bengalurian, who had championed the ₹35 Lakhs GTD FTS#14 – Head Hunter for ₹6.17 Lakhs in the series’ inaugural run last November. While Karia has now crossed the “₹3 Crore” marker in recorded online winnings, he has also won the 18K FTS Champion’s Medallion, a customized game face mask, and a special gift hamper!

Young Gun Anujkumar ‘aatmaan108’ Kodam (4^th for ₹13.44 Lakhs), Alok ‘Mazacar’ Birewar (5^th for ₹10.54 Lakhs), PokerGuru Devvrat ‘deranzzdd’ Arya (6^th for ₹8.28 Lakhs), Rahul ‘Rockydgreat’ Jindgar (7^th for ₹6.18 Lakhs), and Pranav ‘pranavpoker’ Khandalkar (8^th for ₹4.28 Lakhs) cashed the FT payouts.

Final Table Results

1. Siddharth ‘Ari Tribbiani’ Karia – ₹32,26,143
2. Avinit ‘pushnpray17’ Bagri – ₹30,19,856
3. Kushagra ‘Nkush’ Mehta – ₹17,24,000
4. Anujkumar ‘aatmaan108’ Kodam – ₹13,44,000
5. Alok ‘Mazacar’ Birewar – ₹10,54,000
6. Devvrat ‘deranzzdd’ Arya – ₹8,28,000
7. Rahul ‘Rockydgreat’ Jindgar – ₹6,18,000
8. Pranav ‘pranavpoker’ Khandalkar – ₹4,28,000

Full House ₹1 Crore GTD Day 1A – Adda52

Buy-in – ₹5,500

Entries – 86

Re-entries – 28

Survivors – 14

Monday marked the start of the featured weekend event, the ₹1 Crore GTD Full House. Day 1A of the ₹5,500 entry buy-in tourney registered 114 entries, and only 14 among them advanced through to Day 2.

Advait ‘ronaldinho018’ Rajguru (249,416) bagged the top stack of the day and was the only player to carry forward over 200K in chips. ‘XXX2837’ (196,851) and Amit ‘penguin07’ Gaikwad (146,003) rounded out the top three stacks of Day 1A.

The other familiar names moving forward included Mohit ‘Gandiaa’ Dhingra (134,683), Umang ‘ukbond’ Khandelwal (130,533), Akansha ‘akanshasehgal’ Sehgal (121,842), and Hitesh ‘buntai’ Batra (110,987).

Top 10 Chip Counts at the End of Day 1A

1. Advait ‘ronaldinho018’ Rajguru – 249,416
2. XXX2837 – 196,851
3. Amit ‘penguin07’ Gaikwad – 146,003
4. Mohit ‘Gandiaa’ Dhingra – 134,683
5. Umang ‘ukbond’ Khandelwal – 130,533
6. Akansha ‘akanshasehgal’ Sehgal – 121,842
7. Hitesh ‘buntai’ Batra – 110,987
8. baagdi – 109,900
9. ckps86 – 106,828
10. Pokermet – 105,842

ReCharge ₹9 Lakhs GTD – Spartan Poker

Buy-in – ₹2,200

Entries – 233

Re-entries – 74

Re-buys – 133

Prize Pool – ₹9,00,000

Places Paid – 39

The FTS Main Event final table may have drawn all the attention, still, 440 runners signed up to play Spartan Poker’s 8 PM attraction, The ReCharge, yesterday. The ₹2,200 entry buy-in tourney had to fill in a marginal ₹20,000 in overlays on its ₹9 Lakhs prize pool guarantee.

Rajiv ‘BHAI HO THO AISA’ Srivastava proved to be the last player standing and pocketed the ₹1.80 Lakhs up-top after crushing Aditya ‘ELASTICITY’ Kulkarni (runner-up for ₹1.19 Lakhs) in heads-up play.

Online regs Sanket ‘BANK$Y’ Arora (3^rd for ₹87,750) and Uttam Kumar ‘chinunew’ Sinha (4^th for ₹70,830) FT-ed the tourney.

Final Table Results

1. Rajiv ‘BHAI HO THO AISA’ Srivastava – ₹1,80,450
2. Aditya ‘ELASTICITY’ Kulkarni – ₹1,19,970
3. Sanket ‘BANK$Y’ Arora – ₹87,750
4. Uttam Kumar ‘chinunew’ Sinha – ₹70,830
5. LVUSACPW – ₹55,530
6. Jaggidaka – ₹42,030
7. Guddu ‘blackdgold’ Chaudhary – ₹30,870
8. Mohit ‘thejoker’ Mehta – ₹22,680

Iron Man ₹8 Lakhs GTD – Adda52

Buy-in – ₹2,000

Entries – 163

Re-entries – 162

Prize Pool – ₹8,00,000

Places Paid – 34

Adda52`s ₹8 Lakhs GTD Iron Man logged in 325 entries (163 unique and 162 re-entries), falling a whopping ₹2.09 Lakhs short on its listed guarantee.

It took close to six hours of play for Saahib ‘saahib’ Bawa to decimate the competition to win ₹2 Lakhs. Kapil ‘kapsa92’ Kumar Vasita finished runner-up for ₹1.2 Lakhs.

The Monday night score has improved Bawa`s lifetime tally to ₹1.27 Crores (₹11.74 Lakhs in overall profits).

Jitendra ‘jskaurav’ Kaurav (4^th for ₹66,800) and Jitendra ‘jeet0’ Gadhwal (5^th for ₹46,000) also were among the finalists.

Amrit ‘amrit1111’ Mishra bubbled the FT in seventh place for ₹24,000.

Final Table Results

1. Saahib ‘saahib’ Bawa- ₹2,00,000
2. Kapil ‘kapsa92’ Kumar Vasita – ₹1,21,200
3. Mandyd723 – ₹88,000
4. Jitendra ‘jskaurav’ Kaurav – ₹66,800
5. Jitendra ‘jeet0’ Gadhwal – ₹46,000
6. AkkiDan007 – ₹30,000

The Big Show ₹7.5 Lakhs GTD – PokerBaazi

Buy-in – ₹2,750

Entries – 152

Re-entries – 96

Prize Pool – ₹7,50,000

Places Paid – 27

PokerBaazi’s Monday night extravaganza, The Big Show, managed to bring in only 248 entries, falling a hefty ₹1.30 Lakhs short of its listed ₹7.5 Lakhs prize pool guarantee.

Our latest Young Gun Sanat ‘mehro2511’ Mehrotra bulldozed his way through the player pool after almost seven-long hours of play to take home ₹1.76 Lakhs in prize money. Karan ‘collingwood’ Sitlani finished runner-up for ₹1.24 Lakhs.

PokerBaazi regular Naman ‘KidPoker09’ Puri (3^rd for ₹79,650), Akshat ‘takingcuntrol’ Sharma (5^th for ₹44,250), FTS#2 Kick-off champion, Young Gun Gaurav ‘gaug17’ Sood (6^th for ₹84,000), and Shyam ‘ayyappa1963’ Sundar (7^th for ₹29,400) were other final table finishers.

Final Table Results

1. Sanat ‘mehro2511’ Mehrotra – ₹1,76,475
2. Karan ‘collingwood’ Sitlani – ₹1,23,825
3. Naman ‘KidPoker09’ Puri – ₹79,650
4. bencb789 – ₹58,950
5. Akshat ‘takingcuntrol’ Sharma – ₹44,250
6. TheEndgame – ₹35,400
7. Shyam ‘ayyappa1963’ Sundar – ₹29,400
8. 1plus – ₹23,550

Battle Royale ₹5 Lakhs GTD – PokerStars India

Buy-in – ₹2,750

Entries – 83

Re-entries –50

Total Prize Pool – ₹5,00,000

Regular Prize Pool – ₹3,33,750

Bounty Prize Pool – ₹1,66,250

Places Paid – 20

Like all the other Monday flagships, even PokerStars India`s ₹5 Lakhs GTD Battle Royale filled up a significant ₹1.67 Lakhs in overlays on the back of 133 contenders who signed-up for ₹2,750. The top 20 places benefitted from the value on offer.

The 7:30 PM tourney ended at 1:28 AM, with ‘MrBigSlick139’ (anonymity requested) walking away with the ₹1.22 Lakhs first-place cash prize. ‘rkcravi’ placed runner-up for ₹67,056.

Karan ‘999AykA999’ Jain (3^rd for ₹47,145), Hitesh ‘hiteshbhai999’ Batra (4^th for ₹39,548), Bharath ‘hzgod’ Kumar (6^th for ₹19,628), Amar ‘PsykoEko’ B Iyer (7^th for ₹18,070), and PokerGuru Ambassador Arjanveer ‘ballistik310’ Singh Chadha (8^th for ₹15,489) posted FT scores.

Final Table Results

1. MrBigSlick139 – ₹1,22,880
2. rkcravi – ₹67,056
3. Karan ‘999AykA999’ Jain – ₹47,145
4. Hitesh ‘hiteshbhai999’ Batra – ₹39,548
5. GudThimma – ₹32,483
6. Bharath ‘hzgod’ Kumar – ₹19,628
7. Amar ‘PsykoEko’ B Iyer – ₹18,070
8. Arjanveer ‘ballistik310’ Singh Chadha – ₹15,489
9. pranav1811 – ₹9,891

The Flash ₹4.50 Lakhs GTD – Spartan Poker

Buy-in – ₹1,100

Entries – 232

Re-entries – 62

Re-buys – 135

Prize Pool – ₹4,50,000

Places Paid – 39

Spartan Poker’s ₹4.50 Lakhs GTD The Flash began proceedings at 9.30 PM and registered 429 entries, overlaying ₹21,000.

Navigating his way to the top was Saurabh ‘bombardier’ Ramola, who padded his bankroll by ₹79,147 following a heads-up deal with Gursahib Singh ‘PimpDaddyJiglo’ Sethi (runner-up for ₹70,381).

This is the fifth title win for Ramola in 2021 and his second this month. On March 6, Ramola championed the ₹10 Lakhs GTD Mukkamaar for ₹1.14 Lakhs.

Deepanshu ‘TheManager’ (3^rd for ₹43,875), Naveen ‘Naveenbarkhageetu’ Sharma (4^th for ₹35,415), and Sarthak ‘$enior@dvocate’ Sharma (6^th for ₹21,015) also FT-ed the tourney.

Voyager ₹2.75 Lakhs GTD – Adda52

Buy-in – ₹1,100

Entries – 153

Re-Entries – 98

Prize Pool – ₹2,75,006

Places Paid – 27

Adda52’s ₹2.75 Lakhs GTD Voyager wrangled in 251 entries, overlaying ₹24,000.

The tourney started at 9.30 PM and went on till 3:34 AM.

After firing two bullets, ‘boguspro’ came out on top, collecting his best-recorded finish on the site worth ₹71,500. He beat Arun ‘runyrules’ Sriram (runner-up for ₹42,625) in the heads-up play.

Pawan ‘_luffy_1x1’ Tez (3rd for – ₹32,038), Peyush ‘r9cky’ Jain (4^th for ₹23,375), Tanmay ‘tsb2127’ Sanjay Bhalerao (5^th for ₹15,813), and Yash ‘gambler11’ Jaiswal (6^th for ₹11,688) posted FT scores.

Grinders#4 Holdem Boost ₹2 Lakhs GTD – PokerBaazi

Buy-in – ₹1,100

Entries – 110

Re-entries – 66

Prize Pool – ₹2,00,000

Places Paid – 21

While The Big Show took center stage at PokerBaazi, running alongside was the ₹2 Lakhs GTD Grinders#4 Holdem Boost. The event logged in 176 entrants, filling in a marginal ₹24,000 in overlays.

After five hours of play, the mystery user ‘Royalsagar’ shipped the tourney, adding ₹49,740 to their poker bankroll. Online regular Dhaval ‘dhavhe’ Heda settled for a runner-up score of ₹34,860. Animesh ‘animeshth20’ Thakur placed third for ₹22,420.

Bigstack Turbo ₹1 Lakh GTD – PokerStars India

Buy-in – ₹1,100

Entries – 45

Re-entries – 17

Prize Pool – ₹1,00,000

Places Paid – 11

PokerStars India`s 10:30 PM tourney, the ₹1 Lakh GTD Bigstack Turbo, clocked in 62 entrants, and the top 11 places benefitted from the ₹38,000 overlay value added by the site.

After almost three hours of action, ‘sssss951’ walked away with the ₹30,488 first-place cash prize after beating ‘SayyMyyName’ (runner-up for ₹20,032) in the heads-up play.

Ajit ‘ace_bob_here’ Singh Arora (3^rd for ₹13,162), and Mohith ‘MakeitbigPS’ Vamshi (7^th for ₹4,312) FT-ed the tourney.

Monday Blues ₹75K GTD – PokerDangal

Buy-in – ₹440

Entries – 93

Re-buys – 59

Prize Pool – ₹75,000

Places Paid – 23

PokerDangal’s ₹75K GTD Monday Blues overlaid ₹14,200 after recording 152 entries, and the top 23 places boarded the money bus. Topping them all was ‘fakeer,’ who earned a payday of ₹15,750. ‘Hero29’ placed runner-up for ₹11,625.

The only known player on the FT was Lalit ‘MsDhoni07’ Devpal (6^th for ₹3,750).

Grinder 2.0 ₹20K GTD – Khelo365

Buy-in – ₹275

Entries – 42

Re-entries – 19

Prize Pool – ₹20,000

Places Paid – 7

The anonymous user ‘Kkaranchhab’ fired two bullets before taking down Khelo365’s ₹20K GTD Grinder 2.0 for ₹8,000.

This report was updated at 4 PM on 16.03.2021.

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