Five Players to Watch Out For at the Soon-to-Start Baazi Poker Tour in Goa

It’s finally happening! Live MTTs are returning to Goa with the fourth edition of the Baazi Poker Tour starting on Wednesday, March 23. PokerBaazi’s flagship live series is returning after an over two-year gap to the PokerBaazi LIVE poker room onboard Casino Majestic in Goa.

The BPT will host five events at the venue between March 23-28, while three NPS flagship FTs will also play down to a winner in the first three days of the series.

Given the extended break since a live MTT series was last held in Goa, the anticipation for the upcoming BPT is enormous. While we hope to meet many of you in Goa this week, some might not be there. Just a reminder for those people, the PokerGuru live coverage team will be on the ground, bringing you near real-time updates. So do stay tuned on PokerGuru for all the live updates.

The prospect of playing a live poker tournament like the BPT after such a long break is just too enticing for any serious MTT reg to pass on quickly, and we are counting on most of them converging in the coastal state this week. But who are the players to look out for?

Given their recent performance in online MTTs, here is a quick rundown of our top five choices that may grab the spotlight at BPT.

We start the list with the bracelet-winning PokerGuru Ambassador Kartik Ved, who holds the start of the FT chip lead in the first event at the series (although not technically part of the BPT), NPS Super Highroller. Young Guns Anuj Yadav, Arsh Grover, Sahil Chutani, and Mohammad Azhar are the others names on the list.

Kartik Ved

The WSOP bracelet winner, Kartik Ved, has been in fine form over the past few weeks. The head honcho at PokerGuru Staking has already won three flagships this year and is in prime position to collect a fourth. He holds the FT chip lead in NPS#69 Super Highroller due to start on Wednesday.

A mentee of poker pioneer Aditya Agarwal, Ved is one of the few Indian players with outstanding live and online poker results. Ved’s live poker prowess includes a top-100 finish in the 2019 WSOP Main Event (51st for $173,015).

He’s won ₹7.59 Crores in online MTTs (domestic site) with ₹3.41 Crores in net profits. At the same time, his impressive WSOP exploits have expanded his live poker scorecard to ₹3.04 Crores.

While his results do all the talking, this Goa resident is nicely warmed up before the series. Ved won Spartan Poker’s The Prestige for a second time precisely three days before he’s due to take the feeder boat ride to NPS Super High Roller FT and his chance at grabbing his career-first NPS gold medal.

With a full attendance of PokerGuru Ambassadors expected at the series, Ved will be looking to lead by example, making him an easy pick for a bullish run at the BPT.

Anuj Yadav

Young Gun Anuj Yadav, AKA “brockLesnar95,” is one player even the top pros want to see in action, especially given his recent form. The only player to have won Spartan Poker’s The Millionaire thrice, the elusive MTT pro has been an indomitable force in online MTTs for some time now – so much so that he`s completed over three weeks as the #1 ranked player of the year.

He was the first player to cross the ₹1 Crore mark in annual winnings (~₹1.36 Crores currently). He has a glittering online scorecard with ₹7.80 Crores in tracked winnings and ₹4.56 Crores in net profits.

Last November, Yadav, in his blog ‘Experiencing Flow State,’ talked about focussing on only playing poker and nothing else, and it looks like he`s not been having many troubles harnessing his Flow State.

However, his live poker resume isn’t as fleshed out yet. Though he is no stranger to live poker, his burgeoning live poker career hit a roadblock due to the global pandemic. With the live MTTs seemingly back on track, Anuj Yadav is undoubtedly one player capable of outplaying anyone on his day.

Arsh Grover

Young Gun Arsh Grover is another accomplished pro in phenomenal form and raring to go at the BPT. The freshly-minted FTS 4.0 Main Event champion won a career-best ₹40.24 Lakhs in the event last Sunday. The victory pushed him within touching distance of Anuj Yadav at the top of the annual leaderboard rankings – there is just about ₹33K separating the two. Grover is also the #1 ranked player in the March leaderboard standings.

For someone who has been playing poker since before he was legally allowed inside a casino, Grover has a wealth of experience that belies his young age.

The WSOP regular has had a few lukewarm trips – his only saving grace at the 2021 WSOP were a few ITM finishes, including winning the $200 NLHE Survivor at the Venetian DeepStack New Year’s Extravaganza Poker Series for $1,600. The past IPC champion will be keen to correct that record at the upcoming series.

Sahil Chutani

The third Young Gun on this list, Sahil Chutani, is a well-known high-stakes cash game reg with a flair for doing well in weekend MTTs. His MTT might was most visible at the IOPC in January, where he clinched two flagship titles three days apart, filling in ₹76.71 Lakhs to his bankroll.

The 31-year-old Electronics Engineer who has been playing poker since his college days has been a traveling full-time MTT pro who’s left behind a litany of ITM finishes at marquee international events like Macau Poker Cup 26, APPT Macau Poker Cup, Macau Millions, APPT Manila, APPT Jeju, EPT Barcelona, and APT Ho Chi Minh.

Chutani is currently ranked #3 on the annual leaderboard with ₹1.14 Crores in yearly winnings. More prominently, he happens to be the most profitable MTT player of the year (so far), with ₹80.97 Lakhs in profits to his name.

The BTR Coaching founder is not just an incredible poker player but also a renowned poker coach and is in just the form to make a dominating presence at the series.

Mohammad Azhar

The first-ever NPS Main Event champion, Mohammad Azhar, grabbed the spotlight last June when he single-handedly decimated the competition at the inaugural NPS edition. He won three NPS gold medals at the series and went to top the NPS Series Leaderboard and the NPS Podium Leaderboard. His out-of-the-world performance helped him secure a whopping ₹72.35 Lakhs at the series.

Since his phenomenal NPS Main Event win, Azhar has won 12 MTT titles, and he`s not doing too bad this year. He is ranked #4 in the annual standings and boasts of ₹4.12 Crores in tracked online winnings (₹1.98 Crores in net profits).

While Azhar’s online resume glitters with massive scores, his live resume is significantly shorter, with just one FT finish in the ₹15K Kick-Off at the 2019 BPT. With live MTTs coming back to Goa, Azhar’s live tournament scorecard is almost guaranteed to fill up with more deep runs, and we would love to see the 24-year-old making a few deep runs at the 2022 BPT.

The 2022 BPT promises to be a blast, and Team PokerGuru will be on ground zero to relay the hand-by-hand happenings at the series!

NOTE: If you have a friend or family member playing the BPT, drop us a message on our social media handles, and we will try and get you an update on their progress!