DPT Colossus: India’s Poker Superstar Aditya Agarwal Defeats 42-Strong Entry Field to Win the ₹200K Main Event For ₹31 Lakhs

Aditya Agarwal Cover
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  • Attreyee Khasnabis May 5, 2019
  • 6 Minutes Read

The three-day long ₹200K Main Event was the only event left to crown a winner at the 2019 Deltin Poker Tournament (DPT) Colossus Super High Roller (SHR) series. The series which ran from May 2 to 5, was an excellent pre-runner to the upcoming 50th World Series of Poker (WSOP) that is expected to see the largest-ever Indian contingent in attendance. The showstopper ₹200K Main Event concluded with much aplomb on Sunday and taking top honors at the event was none other than India`s original ‘Poker Guru’Aditya Agarwal (cover image) who banked a gigantic payday of ₹31 Lakhs for his win!

Agarwal’s poker resume is littered with numerous wins and deep runs. A beast on the felts, both live and online, Agarwal is presently ranked third on the India All Time Money List. He entered the Main Event late on Day 2 and enjoyed an exceptional run at the felts to make it all the way to the final table with the second-largest stack. The PokerStars Team pro dominated the final table from the get-go, bringing about the eliminations of Pradeep Sharma and Kunal Patni, to finally come up against another seasoned pro and good friend, Jasven Saigal, in the heads-up confrontation.

Saigal too had a remarkable journey on the final table. He was the shortest stack at the start of the day, but played in a disciplined and resilient manner, all the while steadily building his stack. He eliminated Alok Birewar and Madan Kumar, before his heads-up duel with Agarwal. Though, Saigal faced a chip deficit of 3:2 at the start of the heads-up, the veteran pro eventually took the chip lead away from Agarwal. Saigal was gunning for a fourth DPT title, but it was not meant to be. Following a short break for a possible deal discussion, Agarwal made quick work of his opponent, whisking the title away from Saigal and collecting ₹31 Lakhs in the process. Saigal walked away with ₹20 Lakhs for finishing second.

Talking about his final hands against Agarwal, Saigal said in the post-event interview, “I am feeling good. It was a pretty standard call with Adi’s [Aditya Agarwal] shoving range at the point. So, I took a chance, and it didn’t work out. That’s alright.”

He also added, “I’ve had a great series. I’ve enjoyed myself playing after a while. I didn’t feel any pressure at any point, so that was good. I had some sort of a plan in my head, and I am glad I executed it well. So, it’s great.”

Agarwal too talked about the heads-up, saying “We are very good friends, so we ended the heads-up very fast.”

Commenting on the Main Event, he said, “I have only played the Main Event. I would have liked to come for the other events. It’s good to have good guarantees. Whenever there’s good guarantees, you’ll have good numbers. So, I thought the 2 Lakhs event was great. The guarantee was very very good. A 1 Crore guarantee event has not been done in India more than two or three times. So, definitely when you put up a big guarantee, you’re gonna see people come and I thought the event was great.”

“The field was an all-star field but me winning it doesn’t make me any better and me losing it wouldn’t have made me any worse. I think all the players were really good and obviously I ran just good to win this tournament,” Agarwal added.

The Main Event kicked off on May 3 and registered a turnout of 42 entries after late registrations closed at the end of level 13 on Day 2. Following eight levels of play on the second day, the field further whittled down to the eight-handed final table.

 

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Madan Kumar – 4,17,000

2. Aditya Agarwal – 3,96,000

3. Kunal Patni – 3,59,000

4. Sahil Chuttani – 3,28,000

5. Alok Birewar – 3,24,000

6. Pradeep Sharma – 3,20,000

7. Gokul Krishna – 1,92,000

8. Jasven Saigal – 1,84,000

DPT Colossus ₹200K Main Event Final Table
DPT Colossus ₹200K Main Event Final Table

 

Final Table Recap

With the tournament bubble looming overhead, the first player to depart from the final table was the Day 1 chip leader Sahil Chuttani.* Following Chuttani’s exit, all the remaining players were in the money.

The next player to depart was Alok Birewar. Birewar had a good run last year including wins in the ₹65K Adda52 High Roller in the DPT February edition for ₹17.74 Lakhs and ₹25K Big Bounty at WPT India for ₹7.80 Lakhs. Down to his last big blind, Birewar moved all-in with in response to Jasven Saigal’s raise to 25,000 with . The board showed , and Saigal picked up a set of treys on the turn to oust Birewar in seventh place.

Finishing in sixth place was Pradeep Sharma. He jammed from the cutoff with and was called by Aditya Agarwal on the button, who also moved all-in with . The board revealed and Sharma was sent packing to the rail.

Soon after that, Gokul Krishna, who was featuring in his second final table at the series after finishing fifth in the ₹50K Warm-Up event, pitted his against Madan Kumar’s . The runout brought Kumar a rivered full house, resulting in Krishna’s second, fifth-place exit in the series.

With only 18 big blinds left, Kunal Patni who had the shortest stack on the table, decided to move all-in against Agarwal’s 25,000 raise. Agarwal snap-called and both players tabled their cards.

Kunal Patni

Aditya Agarwal

The flop missed both players but Agarwal was still in the lead with his ace kicker. The and completed the board and offered no help to Patni, who hit the rail in fourth place.

Three-handed play continued for quite sometime before the start-of-the-final table chip leader Madan Kumar jammed his entire stack with . Saigal, who had Kumar comfortably covered, made an easy call with . The rundown [ brought Saigal three-of-a-kinds kings, eliminating Kumar in third place.

The heads-up battle between Aditya Agarwal (1.5 Million) and Jasven Saigal (971,000) started with the former in the lead with a 3:2 chip advantage. The to and fro continued for a while with the chip lead changing hands a few times.

Jasven Saigal
Jasven Saigal

After some time, the two finalists decided to take a break to work out the possibilities of a heads-up deal. The players returned to the felts after the break, and not long after that, Agarwal managed to win back the majority of the chips in play in a crucial hand. He moved all-in with for 1.1 Million and Saigal called holding . The board revealed , and Agarwal raked in the massive pot with two pairs. His stack swelled to 2.2 Million, while Saigal saw his stack cripple down to 331,000.

The very next hand predictably was the final hand of the event and the series. Saigal went all-in with and Agarwal called off with . The community missed both players and Agarwal’s king kicker held on, bringing the poker stalwart his first-ever DPT title for a colossal payday of ₹31 Lakhs, while Saigal netted ₹20 Lakhs for his runner-up finish.

Aditya Agarwal
Aditya Agarwal

Final Table Results (INR)

1. Aditya Agarwal – ₹31,00,000

2. Jasven Saigal – ₹20,00,000

3. Madan Kumar – ₹13,00,000

4. Kunal Patni – ₹10,00,000

5. Gokul Krishna – ₹8,00,000

6. Pradeep Sharma – ₹7,00,000

7. Alok Birewar – ₹6,00,000

If you missed the nail-biting final table action of the ₹200K Main Event, you can watch it right here – there is some very entertaining commentary from Dhaval Mudgal, Aditya Wadhwani and a guest appearance from Kunal Patni.

*Live Stream commentary mentions that the money bubble was insured by the players before the start of Day 3, however, the official results declared by the tournament organizer contradicts this.

Content & Images Courtesy: Online Poker News

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