PokerStars India “Star of the Month:” Neel Joshi Tops the Final 25 Qualifiers For the November Finale Slated For December 2

Over the last two months, the PokerStars India-hosted “Star of the Month” leaderboard race has set pulses racing for MTT players. Now that the four weekly sprints of November are over, the month’s 100 qualifiers will be converging for the month-ending Finale on December 2!

Talking about the Week #4 rankings first, our most recent Young Gun Neel ‘Worm236’ Joshi landed himself in the top spot among the final group of 25 qualifiers. Joshi came whiskers close to the title in the showstopper of the site’s just-concluded Diwali Rush series – the ₹50 lakhs GTD DIWALI Rush Main Event – on Sunday. He finished runner-up for ₹4.44 Lakhs, collecting a leaderboard-topping 520 TLB points.

Trailing Joshi is Sumit ‘mrgr33n33’ Sapra (492 points), with Manoj ‘cutymannu89’ Sharma (491 points), PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish ‘chipcharity999’ Munot (490 points), and Toumez ‘tuomes89’ Thomas (470 points) rounding out the top five places on the Week #4 leaderboard standings.

While Joshi, Sapra, and Munot are formidable competitors in their own right, the Week #4 lineup looks explosive, to say the least. Some notable names on the list include the “Star of the Month” – October, Shailesh Patel, bracelet winner Abhinav Iyer, Sanat Mehrotra, Chirag Sodha, top regs like Rajat Sharma-Kavish Kukreja alongside PokerGuru Ambassadors Ratul Steves, Vivek Singh and Ashish Ahuja.

Notwithstanding their weekly rankings, all 100 qualifiers start afresh in the Finale with the same starting stacks. The Finale promises to be a cracker of a contest as these qualifiers will be converging with plenty of poker talent from the previous three weeks. Well, if you don’t believe us, just take a look at the lineup that has players like PokerStars India Team Pro Muskan Sethi, Young Gun’s Anujkumar Kodam, Arsh Grover, Anmol Mehta, Gaurav Sood, Anurag Srivastava and Sreekanth Narayan, PokerGuru Ambassador`s Nadeem Basha, Jayjit Ray, Kartik Ved, Ankit Wadhawan, Ashutosh Balodhi and Arjanveer Singh Chadha, along with Shashank Desai, Rubin Labroo, and Vinod Megalmani vying to become the next “Star of the Month.”

Add to this seasoned campaigners like Armaan Kochhar, Sahil Mahboobani, Kunal Patni, Shravan Chhabria, and Goonjan Mall, the field looks explosive.

The Finale champion will receive ₹1.15 Lakhs in MTT tickets, with the runner-up to bag ₹35,000 in tournament tickets!

Well, in case you have not made it to the November Finale, worry not, as the December leaderboard race gets underway tonight. Now that the Diwali Rush is over, the qualifying tournaments’ timings have reverted back to 7.30 PM and 10.30 PM on weekdays and the 5 PM – 10.30 PM tourneys on Sundays. For more details and the latest leaderboard standings, visit the “Star of the Month” promotions page.

PokerStars India Star of the Month Leaderboard Standings (November 23 – 29)

Top 5 Finishers – Week 4

1. Neel Joshi

Leaderboard Points – 520

Neel Joshi, who plays under the moniker ‘Worm236,’ topped the Week #4 qualifiers. He topped the Week #4 leaderboard singularly on the back of his runner-up finish in the ₹50 lakhs GTD DIWALI Rush -51 Main Event on Sunday. While Joshi was able to storm past the 602-strong field, he fell one place short of PokerGuru Ambassador Ashutosh ‘Msnugget’ Balodhi (Week #3 qualifier) to bank ₹4.44 Lakhs.

Qualifying Scores

– 2nd for ₹4.44 Lakhs in DIWALI Rush -51 Main Event ₹50 lakhs GTD on November 29

2. Sumit Sapra

Leaderboard Points – 492

Sumit ‘mrgr33n33’ Sapra trails Joshi in the Week #4 leaderboard rankings with 492 TLB points. Sapra made two ITM finishes to collect points mid-week, but his biggest score came in the ₹10 Lakhs GTD Eliminator on Saturday, where he finished runner-up for ₹1.05 Lakhs.

Qualifying Scores

– 14th for ₹20,629 in Diwali Rush-31 Uppercut SE ₹12 Lakhs GTD on November 26

– 34th for ₹26,831 in Diwali Rush-38 Super Highroller ₹30 Lakhs GTD on November 27

– Runner-up for ₹1.05 Lakhs in Eliminator PKO ₹10 Lakhs GTD on November 28

3. Manoj Sharma

Leaderboard Points – 491

Manoj Sharma, aka ‘cutymannu89,’ made quite a head start in his quest for collecting TLB points. Sharma picked up a 12th place score worth ₹10,997 in the ₹10 Lakhs GTD Diwali Rush-24 Night on Stars SE on November 25, and managed to FT the ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD Diwali Rush-27 Deep Hyper, placing fifth for ₹8,040.

Over a tally of five qualifying scores, he accumulated 491 points to earn himself a spot in the top 5 standings.

Qualifying Scores

– 16th for ₹2,792 in Diwali Rush13- Deep Hyper ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD on November 23

-12th for ₹10,997 for Diwali Rush-24 Night on Stars SE ₹10 Lakhs GTD on November 25

– 5th for ₹8,040 for Diwali Rush-27 Deep Hyper ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD on November 25

– 12th for ₹3,707 for Diwali Rush-41 Bigstack Turbo ₹2 Lakhs GTD on November 27

– 10th for ₹5,668 for Diwali Rush – 48 Ultrasonic ₹2 Lakhs GTD on November 28

4. Ashish Munot

Leaderboard Points – 490

PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish ‘chipcharity999’ Munot was one of the prominent winners from last week. Munot topped 316 entries in the ₹12 Lakhs GTD Diwali Rush-31 Uppercut SE on Thursday for 490 TLB points, enough to get him a well-deserved berth in the November Finale!

Qualifying Scores

– Won the Diwali Rush-31 Uppercut SE ₹12 Lakhs GTD on November 26

5. Toumez Thomas

Leaderboard Points – 470

Toumez Thomas or ‘tuomes89’ picked up 470 points on the back of his FT runs in Saturday’s Eliminator and the Diwali Rush Main Event. In the latter, he placed an impressive sixth for ₹1.42 Lakhs.

Qualifying Scores

– 9th for ₹27,251 in Eliminator PKO ₹10 Lakhs GTD on November 28

– 6th for ₹142,775 in DIWALI Rush -51 Main Event ₹50 lakhs GTD on November 29

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!