PokerBaazi’s National Poker Series India 2023 Makes a Firecracker Opening, Registers Guarantee-Crushing Turnouts in All Six Tournaments

The biggest-ever National Poker Series India 2023 made a firecracker start on Wednesday, March 29, registering guarantee-crushing turnouts across all six tournaments. The mega-fest, touted as the “Olympics of Indian Poker,” promises its biggest-ever ₹25+ Crores in cash prizes across 107 tournaments and 324 NPS medals.

NPS is a series where India plays for glory. Winning an NPS tournament is much more than just about the prize money. It`s a shortcut to poker stardom for all NPS podium finishers, along with the chance of winning coveted NPS gold, silver, or bronze medals for finishing in the top three in any of the 107 listed NPS tournaments.

PokerBaazi flagged off the annual festival with six NPS tournaments on Wednesday. The first 18 of the 324 NPS medals found their deserving winners while the NPS Series and Podium leaderboards got underway.

The top three ranked players on the NPS Podium leaderboard stand to win an all-expenses paid trip to Las Vegas. In another first for the NPS, all podium finishers in the series will be honored at a spectacular Awards Night, where their achievements will be celebrated in style. You can win big and be recognized for your skills and accomplishments. The NPS Series leaderboard has a jaw-dropping 50 Lakhs (in Real Cash Bonus) for the 25 most consistent winners of the series.

We will be bringing you a detailed recap of the opening day proceedings, but before that, here is a synopsis of all the exciting action that unfolded on Day 1 of the NPS:

> Day 1 registered 8,366 total entries across six NPS tournaments.

> Over ₹1.81 Crores was awarded in prize money, crushing the advertised ₹1.33 Crores in guarantees

> A total of 18 medals, including six gold, silver, and bronze, were awarded across the six tournaments

> 30 players won at least ₹1 Lakh in cash prizes

> Tanmay Benara was the day’s top scorer for winning the NPS#4 Wednesday Volley for ₹6.11 Lakhs

> Prashant Pandagre pulled ahead into an early lead on the NPS leaderboard after shipping the series-opener NPS#1 Kick-off (7-Max) for ₹3.45 Lakhs

> Ravinder Singh (NPS#3 Marathon), ‘saurav29’ (NPS#6 Slamdunk), Sony Puthussery (Won NPS#5 SPRINT (6-Max), and Shivam Kumar Dubey (NPS#2 Deepdive) were the other NPS gold medal winners

> Young Gun Gaurav Sood, Rahul Purohit, Shailesh Kumar Patel, ‘phaadunga,’ Prabhat Paliya, and ‘Whoarewe’ won silver medals

> Faiz Alam, Arjanveer Singh Chadha, ‘Yoanatanwar,’ Akshay Kapoor, ‘vedprakash923’, and ‘popeye1303’ won the NPS bronze medals.

Day 1 Recap

The NPS 3.0, with over ₹25 Crores in guaranteed prize money, is the grandest edition of the prestigious series, with 107 tournaments on the schedule. Day 1 of the mega-fest had six champions, and 18 medals were given away.

NPS India 2023 – Day 1 Flagship Winners

Tanmay Benera was the chartbuster on Day 1 of the series. The online reg won his career-first NPS gold medal in the day`s biggest draw, NPS#4 Wednesday Volley, for ₹6.11 Lakhs. Benara topped the 1,239-strong player field, eventually defeating Young Gun Gaurav Sood heads-up. With the victory, Benara took the #6 rank on the NPS leaderboard.

Sood also locked his first NPS medal, walking away with ₹3.72 Lakhs in second place. Faiz Alam (3rd for ₹2.97 Lakhs) posted the third-place finish in the NPS#4 Wednesday Volley, earning the bronze medal.

Prashant Pandagre was the other big NPS winner. The upcoming player stormed past a guarantee-crushing 2,055-player field in NPS#1 Kick-off (7-Max), collecting ₹3.45 Lakhs (his second-best career score), following a heads-up deal with Rahul Purohit (2nd for ₹3.71 Lakhs). Pandagre added a nifty ₹3.62 Lakhs from deep runs in three NPS tournaments, vaulting to the top of the NPS leaderboard. The #3 ranked player of 2022, Arjanveer Singh Chadha (3rd for ₹2.31 Lakhs), bagged away the bronze medal in the tourney.

Ravinder Singh reeled in his first NPS gold medal in NPS#3 Marathon, outplaying a vast 1,108-player field to win ₹3.41 Lakhs. Shailesh Kumar Patel grabbed the silver medal and ₹2.08 Lakhs as the runner-up. ‘Yoanatanwar’ (3rd for ₹1.66 Lakhs) grabbed the bronze medal.

Shivam Kumar Dubey picked up his best score on PokerBaazi yet with a victory march in NPS#2 Deepdive for 1.57 Lakhs. He struck a three-way deal with ‘phaadunga’ (2nd for ₹2 Lakhs) and Akshay Kapoor (3rd for ₹2.03 Lakhs), the other two players bagging silver and bronze medals, respectively.

‘saurav29’ won the gold medal in NPS#6 Slamdunk and ₹3.35 Lakhs in prize, beating a 1,088-strong field. Prabhat Paliya (2nd for ₹2.04 Lakhs) and ‘vedprakash923’ (3rd for ₹1.63 Lakhs) won silver and bronze medals, respectively.

PokerBaazi old-timer Sony Puthussery shipped NPS#5 SPRINT (6-Max) for ₹1.62 Lakhs and the gold medal after striking a heads-up deal with ‘Whoarewe.’ The latter posted a better ₹1.66 Lakhs in second place and the silver medal, even as ‘popeye1303’ (3rd for ₹1 Lakhs) rounded out the podium to collect the bronze medal.

NPS India 2023 Series Leaderboard Standings After Day 1

The National Poker Series India 2023 is the third outing of PokerBaazi’s annual nationwide series. The just-started series hosted six tournaments on March 29, and a total of 18 NPS medals were awarded, getting the ₹50 Lakhs GTD NPS Series and Podium leaderboards ticking.

Prashant Pandagre (2,267 points) topped the Day 1 ranking on the back of his victory in the series-opener NPS#1 Kick-off (7-Max). Yuvraj Bhardwaj (1,790 points) was another breakout scorer, and he sailed past the bubble in all six NPS tournaments to take up the #2 rank.

The NPS #1 Kick-off (7-Max) third-place finisher Rahul Purohit (1,786 points) is currently ranked third.

Featured attractions at NPS India 2023 include:

> ₹5,500 buy-in ₹3 Crores GTD NPS#106 Main Event (April 10 – 16) – will run 8 Qualifiers

> ₹550 buy-in ₹1 Crore GTD Golden Rush (April 9 to 16) – will run 14 Qualifiers

> ₹1,100 buy-in ₹50 Lakhs GTD Value Mine (March 31 – April 7) – will run 7 Qualifiers

> ₹44,000 buy-in ₹1.25 Crores GTD NPS#92 Super Highroller (April 14)

>₹16,500 buy-in, ₹1 Crore GTD NPS#56 Highroller (April 5 – 7)

The tournament action has just begun to heat up, and more big-ticket excitement is coming your way. Don`t miss out on your chance at glory!

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