Ankit Ahuja Wins Venetian DeepStack Championship $1.1K MonsterStack For $266,824 (~₹1.84 Crores)

While the 50^th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the main attraction currently captivating the attention of the poker audience and the railbirds back home, there are many other tournaments that have also been playing out alongside the ‘World’s Biggest Poker Festival’ and Team India has been faring quite well in them too.

Event #75: $1,100 NLH MonsterStack, part of the Venetian DeepStack Championship series was one of them. The tournament ran from June 29-30, and attracted 2,233 entries over the weekend, resulting in a $2,166,010 prize pool which eclipsed its $1 Million posted guarantee. India’s Ankit Ahuja (cover image) outlasted the massive field to capture the title, along with a career-best score of $266,824 (~₹1.84 Crores) following a heads-up chop!

An established poker player, Ahuja has participated in several international competitions and registered his first live score by taking down the $120 NLHE at the 2011 Mega Stack Series, Las Vegas for $7,438. He also won the €330 NLHE Dublin Poker Cup #10 at the 2017 PokerStars Festival Dublin for €9,640 and the €600 NLHE Thor Hansen Memorial at the 2019 The Norwegian Championships for €39,545. With this latest win, his live career earnings have now reached $505,918 (~₹3.48 Crores).

The two-day event assured a min-cash of $3,466 (₹2.39 Lakhs) to the top 225 players. A total of 340 runners had made it through to Day 2, and following 14 hours of play, the 10-player final table was set up.

Ahuja blistered through the final table, orchestrating the eliminations of Josh Boulton, Hugo Pingray, Ubaid Habib, Mehdi Hsissen and James Romero. The Indian pro was in the chip lead at the start of the final showdown against Jesse Cohen, but eventually, the two finalists decided to opt for an even heads-up chop that awarded them both $266,824 each. Since Ahuja was in the lead at the time the deal was agreed upon, he was declared as the winner and walked away with the trophy.

Final Table Recap

Ankit Ahuja was on fire once the play got down to the ten-handed final table. He first eliminated Josh Boulton in tenth place.

After France’s Robin Peraldi exited in ninth place, Ahuja was once again seen in action as he knocked out Hugo Pingray in eighth place.

Ahuja then went on to double up through Phachara Wongwichit, taking control of the chip lead from then onwards.

Following the elimination of Mark Ketteringham (7^th) and Phachara Wongwichit (6^th), Ahuja proceeded to eliminate the next three players in quick succession. First to go was Ubaid Habib (5^th) with Mehdi Hsissen (4^th) not far behind. James Romero (3^rd) was the last player to be eliminated before the heads-up convened.

Ahuja held a 3:1 chip advantage against Jesse Cohen at the start of the heads-up finale.

Cohen fought hard to bring down the chip deficit and eventually, both players decided to opt for an even heads-up chop. While both players locked in $266,824 each, Ahuja clinched the trophy and the victory!

Final Table Results (USD)

1. Ankit Ahuja – $266,824*

2. Jesse Cohen – $266,824*

3. James Romero – $153,718

4. Mehdi Hsissen – $116,912

5. Ubaid Habib – $88,767

6. Phachara Wongwichit – $69,281

7. Mark Ketteringham – $54,126

8. Hugo Pingray – $43,301

9. Robin Peraldi – $33,558

10. Josh Boulton – $27,063

Content & Images Courtesy: The Venetian Resort Poker Room Blog

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