WPT Prime India: Mithun Mahesh Rings in His Birthday by Winning His Maiden Live Title in Series-Opener ₹15K Superstack NLH (₹10.89 Lakhs)

The World Poker Tour returned to Goa’s coastal waters after a nearly four-year absence on April 12. WPT Prime India, the fourth WPT stop in the country, is once again being hosted onboard the floating Casino Deltin Royale in Goa.

The week-long series had two tournaments, the ₹15K SuperStack NLH and ₹50K Freezeout, sounding off the action on Wednesday.

The two-day-long series opener, ₹15K SuperStack NLH, got the festival off to a flying start by registering 380 entries – a significant 212 more than 2019’s opener (₹35K SuperStack), generating a ₹52.55 Lakhs prize pool. Full-time poker pro Mithun Mahesh (cover image) pierced through the reg-littered field to lift his career-first live title on the eve of his birthday, bagging away a personal best (live score) ₹10.89 Lakhs!

A well-known online crusher, Mahesh’s online poker resume boasts many high-profile wins. His live poker scorecard was, until yesterday, lacking a title victory. The poker coach accomplished the feat in style by grabbing the coveted WPT trophy.

While much of Mahesh’s progress through Day 1 of the tournament remains a mystery due to the lackluster coverage, we know he entered the nine-handed final table with the fourth-biggest stack. He squared off against Kunal Patni in the heads-up showdown.

Patni has been in tremendous form over the past few months. The banker-turned-poker pro has been on a winning spree of sorts. Since August, Patni has won four live titles in WPT Prime Cambodia (Event #5: Deepstack NLH), Poker Dream Vietnam (Mystery Bounty), and two trophies in APT Hanoi Vietnam VSOP (Event #36: Hyper Turbo – 8 Max & Event #41: Hyper Turbo).

His past results made Patni a formidable opponent. Nevertheless, Mahesh emerged victorious, becoming the first player to win a WPT Prime India title in four years!

The top 49 players were assured a min-cash of ₹25,000. Paawan Bansal (12th for ₹91,500), Gurpal Singh (13th for ₹77,000), Anil Adiani (22nd for ₹43,600), Areyann Gurbaxani (23rd for ₹43,600), Pradip Ghosh (24th for ₹43,600), Raghav Bansal (28th for ₹30,000) and Chirag Sodha (29th for ₹30,000) were some of the notables who crossed the money line.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Vivek Karwa – 26,50,000
2. Vaibhav Roy – 23,50,000
3. Kunal Patni – 22,00,000
4. Mithun Mahesh – 21,00,000
5. Gautam Sachdeva – 14,00,000
6. Kanchan Sharma – 11,50,000
7. Amit Manchanda – 11,00,000
8. Shuchi Chamaria – 6,30,000
9. Anish Dediya – 3,50,000

Final Table Recap

Having entered the final table with the shortest stack, Anish Dediya was expectedly the first to fall in ninth place. Dediya`s had an uphill climb against Kunal Patni’s , and the former banker hit two-pair of aces and tens on the board .

Soon after that, Gautam Sachdeva‘s was busted by Amit Manchanda’s pocket fours that flopped a set on the runout.

Despite winning over the last of Gautam Sachdeva’s chips, Amit Manchanda‘s tournament run lasted only a short time. In a three-way hand, Patni raised it to 200,000 from the cutoff, and Vaibhav Roy called from the button. Manchanda jammed from the big blind for 1.9 Million. Patni got out of the way, and Roy called, covering Manchanda.

Amit Manchanda

Vaibhav Roy (suited)

The board opened , and Roy rivered a pair of Jacks, eliminating Manchanda in seventh place.

One of the two women players on the final table, Shuchi Chamaria, was the next to fall. Patni shoved from the cutoff with (suited) and Chamaria called all-in with (offsuit). The dealer fanned out the on the board, and Patni’s better two-pair sent Chamaria packing in sixth place.

The lone woman left at the final table, Young Gun Kanchan Sharma, joined Chamaria on the rail not long after that. Sharma was all-in with against Vaibhav Roy’s . The board ran , and Roy turned a boat, ending Sharma’s deep run in fifth place.

During Level 29, Roy picked up his third elimination on the final table when he eliminated the start-of-final table chip leader Vivek Karwa in fourth place. The hand in question saw Roy open-jam from the button with . The action folded to Karwa, who called all-in for 2 Million with . Karwa was a 70% favorite to take down the pot preflop, with the runout turning the tide in Roy’s favor and crushing Karwa`s title hopes.

A level later, Vaibhav Roy left to collect the third-place payout. His elimination hand saw Patni announcing all-in from the small blind with (offsuit). Roy jammed from the big blind, holding (suited). The showdown brought . Roy missed his gutshot straight draw, and Patni’s King-high got him heads-up for the title with Mithun Mahesh.

The two tournament pros, Mithun Mahesh and Kunal Patni, traded blows for three levels, during which time the chip lead changed hands a few times.

It all ended when Kunal Patni moved all-in preflop, and Mahesh called, covering him.

Kunal Patni

Mithun Mahesh

The community cards opened , and Mahesh won the tournament with his flopped set, denying Patni his career-second WPT title.

Final Table Results (INR)

1. Mithun Mahesh – ₹10,89,000
2. Kunal Patni – ₹7,63,000
3. Vaibhav Roy – ₹4,90,000
4. Vivek Karwa – ₹3,24,000
5. Kanchan Sharma – ₹2,50,000
6. Shuchi Chamaria – ₹2,07,000
7. Amit Manchanda – ₹1,73,000
8. Gautam Sachdeva – ₹1,41,000
9. Anish Dediya – ₹1,08,750

Main Event Day 1A Update

Running alongside the Day 2s of the Superstack and Freezeout was Day 1A of the ₹65K WPT Prime India Main Event. The first starting flight garnered 181 entries, and after 17 levels of play, 23 runners carried stacks to Day 2.

In a battle of the Sethi’s, PokerBaazi Team Pro Muskan Sethi was busted on the Day 1A bubble by Madhav Sethi (338,000), propelling the latter into the top three day-end chip counts.

Loveleen Bachhal (740,000) emerged as the commanding chip leader and was the only player to bag over 700K in chips. Long-time pro Romit Advani (485,000), Amol Nimsarkar (315,000), and poker streamer Aniruddha Joshi (296,000) rounded out the top five stacks.

Images & Live Coverage Information Courtesy: Gaming News 247 & World Poker Tour (Main Event)

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