DPT February 2019: Ankit Kapoor & Nikita Luther Among the Top Stacks on the ₹15K Deep Dive NLH Final Table

The Deltin Poker Tournament (DPT) February edition of 2019 got underway on February 7 with the series-opener, i.e. ₹15K Deep Dive NLH, aboard the offshore Casino Deltin Royale in Panjim, Goa.

The DPT series has always been popular in the domestic circuit and never fails to pull in the big crowds. The series-opener in the previous DPT editions have always registered big fields, with the 2018 July Edition bringing in 326 entries and the February Edition drawing 180 entries. While Jasven Saigal had shipped the opening event in the July Edition for ₹10.77 Lakhs, PokerGuru Team Ambassador Vivek Singh had claimed his career-first live tournament title at the February Edition for ₹6.57 Lakhs.

The 2019 DPT February ₹15K Deep Dive NLH event attracted 187 entries and 178 eliminations later, the clock was stopped once the nine-handed final table was formed. Ankit Kapoor (8,65,000) bagged the overnight chip lead, while 2018 WSOP Tag-Team bracelet winner Nikita Luther (7,60,000) is sitting in second place on the leaderboard. Among the other notables still in the running include 2017 DPT April Edition ₹15K NLHE Kick-Off winner Rubin Labroo (3,70,000), along with online crusher Alok Ranjan (3,00,000).

The ₹15K Deep Dive NLH final table is scheduled to resume at 2pm today where play will continue till a champion is crowned. Also, on the tap today is Day 1 of the ₹65K Adda52 Highroller alongside the first of the three starting flights of the ₹35K Main Event.

₹15K Deep Dive NLH – Day 1 Recap

The opening event of the 2019 DPT February Edition, the ₹15K Deep Dive NLH got underway at the floating Casino Deltin Royale yesterday evening. Some of the early birds who were seen in action included the likes of Kunal Patni, Manish Lakhotia, Meherzad Munsaf, Anil Gulati, Minissha Lamba, Maria Kirloskar and Rajeev Raut.

The deep-stacked, 9-max event allowed up to two re-entries and saw all players starting off with a stack of 25,000. Late registrations were open till the end of level 9 and by the time the entries were rounded up, the final attendance count stood at 187 entries. The tournament organizers decided to payout the top 18 places with a min-cash worth ₹35,000, while the eventual champion today will walk home with the lion’s share of the prize pool at ₹6.80 Lakhs.

One of the first players to hit the rail yesterday was Ravi Priya. He was eliminated at the hands of Sachin Rai when the former’s were cracked by Rai’s , with the runout not offering any help to Priya.

Yet another notable elimination took place during level 10 when MadOverPoker Team pro Zarvan Tumboli‘s lost out to his opponent’s which bettered to a top pair of aces on the board .

2018 WPT Vietnam Main Event winner Dhaval Mudgal was also seen in action and successfully busted short-stacked Akash Kakkad. Kakkad pitted his against Mudgal’s . The board fanned out spelling the end of Kakkad’s first bullet.

Vivek Rughani was also seen in action but was eliminated by Kunal Patni during level 14.

Other notables who failed to cross the money line included Alok Birewar, Puneet Tandon and Manish Lakhotia.

The unfortunate money bubble tag fell on PokerGurur Staking’s Vikram ‘Lungi’ Kumar when his could not hold up against his opponent’s , with the community cards missing both players.

Following Kumar’s exit, the first player to finish in the money was Ashwin Prabhu. With the flop open , Prabhu checked from the big blind and Arjun Agrawal followed suit from middle position. The turn revealed and Prabhu cheked again, while Agarwal led out for 35,000. Ashwin called to see the river . Prabhu checked and Agarwal moved all-in for 200,000. Prabhu called to see the bad news as Agarwal turned over for a flopped set of kings. Prabhu mucked his cards and exited the tournament in 18^th place collecting ₹35,000 in prize money.

Among the other players who finished in the money, the most noteworthy was Kolkata-based pro Sailesh Lohia who finished 16^th for ₹35,000.

Akash Kakkad bubbled the final table bubble boy and went out in 10^th place for ₹60,000.

The nine-player final table comprises of an impressive star-cast with names like WSOP bracelet winner Nikita Luther (7,60,000), online pro and former DPT winner Rubin Labroo (3,70,000) and online regular Alok Ranjan (3,00,000), all in contention for the top prize.

While Labroo and Ranjan are both comparatively short-stacked, both players have a lot of experience given the large volume of hands they have played online and are more than capable of staging a comeback. However, the player to watch out for today will be the final table chip leader Ankit Kapoor who was the only runner to cross the 8 Million-mark as he bagged a huge stack of 8,65,000 at the end of the day. Kapoor’s first and only score in the DPT was back in July 2018 when he finished 20^th in the ₹35K NLHE Main Event for ₹1.32 Lakhs. He performed exceedingly well in the 2018 WPT India series and posted a total of three scores, two of which were final table finishes.

Kapoor is currently the frontrunner to win the 2019 DPT February ₹15K Deep Dive NLH title, however he has a lot of competition to contend with before he gets his hands on his first-ever major live title.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Ankit Kapoor – 8,65,000

2. Nikita Luther – 7,60,000

3. Arjun Agrawal – 7,40,000

4. Shreyabha Pandey – 5,25,000

5. Parikshit Dhall -5,00,000

6. Hidangmayum Somesh – 4,65,000

7. Rubin Labroo – 3,70,000

8. Alok Ranjan – 3,00,000

9. Ashraf Ali -1,50,000

Content & Images Courtesy: onlinepokernews.in

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