PokerStars India “Star of the Month:” Manish Lakhotia Leads the 3rd Group of 25 Qualifiers Moving to the December Finale

We’re a little over a week away from closing out an eventful year! While the festive spirit of Christmas is already in the air, it’ll soon be time to celebrate the onset of a new year.

One of the more exciting promotions to come out of PokerStars India`s stable in 2020 was the “Star of the Month” mega leaderboard race. After Shailesh Patel in October & PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Munot in November, the race is on to find the Star of December! If PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Ahuja and Devvrat Arya led the first two groups of 25 qualifiers from Week #1 and Week #2 this month, its MTT specialist Manish Lakhotia who helms the 25 qualifiers making it to the December Finale from Week #3. Lakhotia raked up 566 TLB points this past week to cement his spot in the December Finale that starts at 9 PM on December 30.

Tanmaya Gupta (487 points), Shivam Baldota (360 points), Rahul Thakur (347 points), and Ajit Singh Arora (344 points) round out the top 5 places on the Week #3 standings.

Vinayak Bajaj (291 points), Chirag Sodha (290 points), Goonjan Mall (242 points), Rubin Labroo (228 points), Rishab Malik (211 points), Dhaval Mudgal (171 points), PokerGuru Ambassador Arjanveer Singh Chadha (161 points) and Shagun Jain (153 points), are the other notables on the Week #3 qualifiers list.

For the uninitiated, the “Star of the Month” promotion is a leaderboard race where players earn TLB points by making ITM finishes in the two qualifying tournaments daily at 7.30 PM and 10.30 PM on weekdays and the 5 PM and 10.30 PM tourneys on Sunday. Every week, the top 25 ranked players on the weekly leaderboard qualify for the month-ending Finale. The winner of the 100-player Finale receives ₹1.15 Lakhs in MTT tickets and a PokerStars India goodie bag. The runner-up gets ₹35,000 worth of tournament tickets. For details and the latest leaderboard standings, visit the promotions page.

PokerStars India Star of the Month Leaderboard Standings (December 14 – 20)

Top 5 Qualifiers

1.Manish Lakhotia

Leaderboard Points – 566

The accomplished MTT reg Manish Lakhotia tops the Week #3 group of qualifiers. Lakhotia, who plays as ‘theoldestkid’ on the site, accrued 566 TLB points on the leaderboard last week. He cashed in three qualifying tourneys and caught his big break when he topped the 145-player field in the ₹11 Lakhs GTD Highroller on Thursday for ₹2.29 Lakhs.

Qualifying Scores

– 11th in Night on Stars ₹5 Lakhs GTD for ₹6,067 on December 16

– 1st in the Highroller ₹11 Lakhs GTD for ₹2,29,162 on December 17

– 32nd in Sunday Special PKO ₹15 Lakhs GTD for ₹6,345 on December 20

2. Tanmaya Gupta

Leaderboard Points – 487

Tanmaya ‘RTDi27’ Gupta cashed two qualifying tourneys last week, and he made them both count. On Saturday, Gupta raced past 337 contenders in the ₹5 Lakhs GTD Eliminator to win ₹82,376 after a three-way deal. He also placed 16th in the Sunday Supersonic for ₹2,215.

Qualifying Scores

– 1st in the Eliminator ₹5 Lakhs GTD for ₹82,376 on December 19

– 16th in the Sunday Supersonic ₹1 Lakhs GTD for ₹2,215 on December 20

3. Shivam Baldota

Leaderboard Points – 360

Shivam Baldota, aka ‘ruskypanda,’ had a busy week and accumulated a litany of ITM finishes. His biggest score was the ₹21,639 he earned from his runner-up finish in the ₹1 Lakhs GTD Bigstack Turbo on December 14. Baldota was part of a three-way deal and finished runner-up to Rahul Thakur for ₹17,875.

Qualifying Scores

– Runner-up for ₹21,639 in Bigstack Turbo ₹1 Lakh GTD on December 14

– 14th in Bigstack Turbo ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹2,066 on December 15

– 45th in Night on Stars ₹5 Lakhs GTD for ₹3,526 on December 16

– 10th in Bigstack Turbo ₹1 Lakhs GTD for ₹2,086 on December 16

– 10th in Bigstack Turbo ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹2,396 on December 17

– 17th in Eliminator ₹5 Lakh GTD for ₹2,597 on December 19

4. Rahul Thakur

Leaderboard Points – 347

Rahul ‘andarkiaag’ Thakur sits behind Baldota on the Week #3 leaderboard. His claim to fame was winning the Bigstack Turbo on December 14 for ₹17,875, following a three-way deal with Shivam Baldota and ‘zakki_khan.’

Qualifying Scores

– 1st in the Bigstack Turbo ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹17,875 on December 14

– 13th in Bigstack Turbo ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹2,390 on December 15

– 16th in Night on Stars ₹5 Lakhs GTD for ₹5,297 on December 16

5. Ajit Singh Arora

Leaderboard Points – 344

PokerStars India regular Ajit Singh ‘ace_bob_here’ Arora rounds out the top five places on the Week #3 leaderboard standings. Notably, most of his qualifying scores came in the ₹1,100 entry buy-in Big Stack Turbo. He cashed the tourney thrice last week, with his runner-up finish in the tourney on December 17, bringing him his week`s best ₹15,606.

Qualifying Scores

– 5th in Bigstack Turbo ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹7,434 on December 15

– 13th in Bigstack Turbo ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹2,086 on December 16

– 2nd in Bigstack Turbo ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹15,606 on December 17

– 18th in Sunday Supersonic ₹1 Lakh GTD for ₹1,958 on December 20

Do Note –

> You need to have a registered account on PokerGuru to enter this leaderboard challenge

> Your profile must be updated with your PokerStars India screenname

> Your PokerStars India screenname must be opted-in on SharkScope (https://www.sharkscope.com/#Screenshot-Opt-In.html/PokerStars.in)

> All TLB points in decimals will be rounded off to the nearest integer

> Prizes will be credited within 72 hours of the completion of the Finale.

> Merchandise will be delivered within 14 working days of the completion of the Finale.

> The tickets will be non-exchangeable and non-transferable.

Keep following PokerGuru for more updates from the PokerStars India ‘Star of the Month’ Leaderboard race!