Karan Khushlani Outshines 164-Player Strong Field at IPC June Edition 30K Big Game, Rajesh Rajpopat Wins 10K Super Knockout

Karan Khushlani
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  • PG News June 8, 2015
  • 5 Minutes Read

The IPC June Edition Grand Finale i.e. the ₹30k Big Game Main Event, was a fitting end to what has been another sensational effort by Team IPC, in the midst of torrential rains and the squalls of the Konkan Coastline.

Two days of action at breakneck speed built up to the most awaited final table of the series. It was anybody’s guess which way this tournament could go and guess they did as fortunes twisted this way and that – Lady Luck chose to smile on a chosen few and spurn the advances of many others but it was finally Karan Khushlani (cover image) that struck the winning blow, outlasting a 164-player strong field in the Main Event.

Needless to say, Karan was floating away on cloud nine when Team PokerGuru caught up with the native of Bilaspur, Chhatisgarh, who played up to $200 buy-in events in the US before. He quipped, ecstatically at that, “It feels incredible! I love poker!”, and rightly so! He’d raked in the goodies like none other and postponing his trip home on account of making the final table had paid rich dividends. The lad had his hands full now, what with a brand new Modiano set of poker chips and deck of cards, a Spartan Poker Card Protector, a brand new Electric Scooter courtesy Poker Stuff India, not to mention a massive payday of ₹11,20,000 for winning the headline event of the series.

It wasn’t like Karan had a cakewalk – by no means indeed! Day 1 of the Main Event saw the entire contingent of biggies from the Indian Poker scene and then some. Ramandeep Gujral, Bobbe Suri, Team Spartan Pro Rohit Bhalla, Rajesh Goyal, Rajeev Kanjani, Sameer Rattonsey, Amit Jain, Sumit Asrani and Rakesh Sharma were just a few of the many notables in contention for the title.

Players were to receive robust starting stacks of 15,000 chips each, with blind levels increasing every 35 minutes. This was going to play hard, and play deep, and we at PokerGuru were right there to report all the action as it unfolded.

Anudeep Srinivas, Santosh Govindraj and defending champion Kanishka Samant were among the early few to exit.

While Amit Jain assumed the early lead, tourney regulars like Shravan Chhabria, Sameer Rattonsey and Prasanna Jayappa were quietly amassing chips, a few at a time, driving up to a good showing.

Suck-outs and set-ups seemed to be the theme of Day 1, as Kings went up against Aces, Queens went up against Kings only for both to hit sets, flopped two pairs routinely went up against flopped sets, making for an exciting opening day for the Main Event.

It was practically common place to hear groans from multiple tables simultaneously as players fell – pun intended – like a pack of cards.

Sumit Sapra, Wasim Rozani, Haresh Kukreja and Sahaj Singh Bali among others definitely looked in the middle stages like they were in for the long haul.

When the payouts were announced, there were collective sighs of satisfaction, and this is what the numbers looked like this time around:

1st place – ₹11,20,000

2nd place – ₹7,10,000

3rd place – ₹5,34,000

4th place – ₹4,20,000

5th place – ₹3,15,000

6th place – ₹2,30,000

7th place – ₹1,66,000

8th place – ₹1,26,000

9th place – ₹90,000

10th – 12th place – ₹61,000

13th – 15th place – ₹52,000

16th – 18th place – ₹44,000

Day 1 concluded with a total of 31 players distributed at 4 tables still in play.

But it was Rohit Bhalla who had to bite the bullet and be crowned the money bubble in 19th place, when his steal shove with got a call from Sameer Rattonsey’s . Having a bunch of catching up to do, he couldn’t make it as lady luck played spoilsport, and he bid adieu to his hopes of raking in the moolah this time around. Atul Nandi was the chip leader, followed by Siddhant Jain and Abhishek Panda. Day 2 made for come crazy action at the beginning itself, with some of the biggies going out in quick succession including Amit Jain, Sahaj Singh Bali and Romit Advani.

Rohit Bhalla in action against Sameer Rattonsey
Rohit Bhalla in action against Sameer Rattonsey

All the players remaining were now guaranteed a minimum payout of ₹44,000.

Sonu Singh was the first to exit in the money, an 18th place finish for ₹44,000. Karan Khushlani had the chip lead at this stage, and some of the notable stacks looked like this:

Karan Khushlani – 302,000
Rajat Sharma – 275,000
Amit Jain – 213,000
Haresh Kukreja – 169,000
Abhishek Panda – 166,000
Sameer Rattonsey – 160,000
Uday Patil – 100,000

Sumit Asrani and Rajesh Sitlani were the next couple of players to exit with ₹44,000 in prize money.

Sahil Chuttani finished next in 15th place with a payout of ₹52,000, before Amit ‘bblacklegend’ Jain and Uday Patil followed suit.

Sandeep Jadhwani had snatched the chip lead from Karan by this stage. Sameer Rattonsey and Abhishek Panda were the next two to go, just shy of the final table.

Vishrut Jain was the unlucky final table bubble boy this time, as his pocket 5`s went up against Prabhakar Che’s . Prabhakar loved the flop, which gave him two pair, and he dodged a 5 on the turn and river to make it curtains for Vishrut Jain, who busted in 10th place with a payout of ₹61,000.

The final table, as promised, looked star-studded as ever, and we knew we had some real fireworks coming, with Haresh Kukreja in the lead with a clear margin.

IPC 30K Big Game final tablists
IPC 30K Big Game final tablists

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Haresh Kukreja – 631,000
2. Prabhakar Che – 423,000
3. Sandeep Jadhwani – 347,000
4. Siddhant Jain – 245,000
5. Karan Khushlani – 212,000
6. Rajat Sharma – 188,000
7. Nimmit Patel – 173,000
8. Naitik Jain – 139,000
9. Atul Nandi – 114,000

Naitik Jain’s open shove from UTG with pocket 6`s in the very first hand of the final table met a call from Rajat Sharma in the big blind, who showed . Sharma picked up an Ace on the flop, and kept his lead on turn and river alike, eliminating Naitik in 9th with ₹90,000 for his efforts.

Naitik Jain
Naitik Jain
Atul Nandi
Atul Nandi

Siddhant Jain then got lucky on the flop and turn against Atul Nandi who had made a good call with , putting his tournament life at stake against Siddhant’s . A Ten on the flop and turn alike changed all that, though, and Atul hit the rails in 8th place, with ₹126,000 to show for his trials.

Nimmit Patel’s then went up against Siddhant Jain’s and failed to improve, eliminating him in 7th with ₹166,000.

Nimmit Patel
Nimmit Patel

Rajat Sharma finished in 6th place, next, for ₹2,30,000 when his pocket 5`s didn’t survive the big slick of Karan Khushlani.

Haresh Kukreja’s open shove with next went up against Karan Khushlani’s , and the rampage was on. Haresh was eliminated in 5th place with ₹3,15,000 in prize money.

Haresh Kukreja
Haresh Kukreja
Sandeep Jadhwani
Sandeep Jadhwani

It was Karan Khushlani’s day indeed and looked like he could do no wrong! Sandeep Jadhwani shoved with pocket 8`s and got a call from Karan who showed pocket 7`s. But the game ain’t over till the fat lady sings and Karan showed us just that when he clipped a 7 like clockwork on the flop, making a set and eliminating Sandeep in 4th place with ₹4,20,000.

Prabhakar Che
Prabhakar Che

Prabhakar Che, master of the steal, moved all-in a few hands later, holding . It wasn’t to be his day as Karan Khushlani made the call with pocket 7`s. Che flopped a flush draw, but failed to complete, and Karan took the pot down, eliminating Prabhakar in the 2nd runner up spot with ₹5,34,000.

Siddhant Jain
Siddhant Jain

In the very first heads-up hand, Siddhant Jain moved all-in and got a quick call from Karan Khushlani. Siddhant held to Karan’s , and had some catching up to do. The flop bricked out for both players, and the turn and river changed nothing, eliminating Siddhant Jain in the 1st runner up spot with ₹7,10,000, and cementing a brilliant couple of days for tournament winner Karan Khushlani, who scored a massive payday of ₹11,20,000.

Karan Khushlani
Karan Khushlani

Final Table Results

1. Karan Khushlani – ₹11,20,000

2. Siddhant Jain – ₹7,10,000

3. Prabhakar Che – ₹5,34,000

4. Sandeep Jadhwani – ₹4,20,000

5. Kavish Kukreja – ₹3,15,000

6. Rajat Sharma – ₹2,30,000

7. Nimmit Patel – ₹1,66,000

8. Atul Nandi – ₹1,26,000

9. Naitik Jain – ₹90,000

Congratulations Karan and all others who made it in the money!

 

Rajesh Rajpopat Takes Down ₹10K Super Knockout Side Event for ₹1,58,000

The ₹10K Super Knockout side event closed out the IPC June Edition series. The fast paced turbo event was an exciting one, with a bunch of agony-struck players who’d missed out on the Big Game title.

It was finally Rajesh Rajpopat who outshone this lot, beating Laveena Belani heads-up to grab the title and first place. In addition, he grabbed a grand total of 14 bounties!

The event attracted 140 players and payouts of the Super Knockout were pretty enticing, with the top 15 making the money:

1st place – ₹1,58,000

2nd place – ₹1,15,000

3rd place – ₹79,000

4th place – ₹60,000

5th place – ₹44,000

6th place – ₹32,000

7th place – ₹23,000

8th place – ₹17,000

9th place – ₹13,000

10th place – ₹10,000

11th place – ₹10,000

12th place – ₹10,000

13th place – ₹8,000

14th place – ₹8,000

15th place – ₹8,000

The final table was an interesting one with a bunch of notables in contention for the top prize.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Rohit Bhalla – 130,000
2. Manoj Singh – 160,000
3. Rajesh Rajpopat – 295,000
4. Thameem Ansari – 255,000
5. Laveena Belani – 190,000
6. Pranay Kapoor – 150,000
7. Sahil Agarwal – 115,000
8. Antariksh Singh – 115,000

Sahil Agarwal, Pranay Kapoor and Antariksh went out in 8th, 7th and 6th places respectively.

Thameem Ansari’s was no good for Rajesh Rajpopat’s . He busted in 5th place. Rajesh had now assumed a daunting chip lead.

Rohit Bhalla then went in with against Laveen Belani’s and succumbed in 4th place. It wasn’t long before Manoj Singh moved in from the button with and secured a gutsy call from Laveena with . Manoj was eliminated in the 2nd runner-up spot.

Heads-up for the title, Rajesh and Laveena were closely matched, but not for long! In one hand, Laveena flopped top pair against Rajesh’s flush draw when the chips went in. The turn completed the flush and the stacks had moved. After a couple of hands, Rajesh moved in from the button, and Laveena, the player at risk, called. She was risking her tourney life, and her was no match for Rajesh’s . Laveena finished 2nd with ₹1,15,000 in prize money. Rajesh, the triumphant winner, bagged ₹1,58,000 and the bragging rights to the title of Super Knockout Champ at IPC June 2015.

Rajesh Rajpopat
Rajesh Rajpopat

Team PokerGuru is happy to report back to you on the back of yet another successful, grueling but super fun IPC series at the Deltin Royale Poker Room. We look forward to the next one being bigger, brighter, and setting untold records. Best of luck, Team IPC, and until next time.

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