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Prasit Chowdhury (cover image) has emerged as the latest WPT Prime India Main Event champion after a grueling five-day battle against a record-shattering field of 857 entries. The tournament, which took place on board the floating Casino Deltin Royale in Goa, broke the previous record of 697 entries set in the 2018 WPT India Main Event with a ₹55,000 buy-in. The 900-player field registered in the 2022 Baazi Poker Tour ₹35K Main Event is still the most recorded in recent history in a domestic Main Event.
Chowdhury’s impressive performance throughout the tournament earned him the largest-ever top prize in a WPT India Main Event – a whopping ₹86.60 Lakhs. This year’s event also set a new benchmark for the most massive prize pool, with a staggering ₹5.07+ Crores (₹5,07,48,700) in prize money awarded to 107 players.
Chowdhury established himself as a top contender from the start, topping the field on Day 1C and entering Day 2 as the overall chip leader. He maintained his lead to make it to the nine-player final table, where he faced off against tough competitors such as Abhinav Iyer, Deepak Singh, and Jaydeep Dawer. Despite the challenges, the Kolkata-born Chowdhury persevered and emerged as the ultimate champion.
In the heads-up, he faced off against the more experienced Amit Tejura. After battling for over an hour, things came to header on what turned out to be the final hand.
In what will assuredly go down in history as an iconic Main Event final hand, Chowdhury’s King-Queen (offsuit) was up against Tejura’s Ace-Six (suited). With the board open till the turn and bricking for Chowdhury, the man had his head in his hands, unable to look at what could well be the beginning of the end for him. The King on the river resulted in a rambunctious uproar as Chowdhury took down the sought-after title and monstrous ₹86.60 Lakhs payday. Amit Tejura took away ₹57.75 Lakhs in second place.
Incidentally, this is Chowdhury’s first live title and his first recorded live score! What a way to open one’s scorecard! Chowdhury also won a seat worth $10,400 in the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.
All 107 starting flight qualifiers returning for Day 2 were assured a min-cash of ₹1.10 Lakhs. J. Raju was the first player to finish in the money as he walked out in 107th place for ₹1.10 Lakhs.
Vivek Singh (11th for ₹6.85 Lakhs), Vinod Megalmani (12th for ₹6.85 Lakhs), Vivek Rughani (22nd for ₹3.10 Lakhs), Harsh Bubna (24th for ₹3.10 Lakhs), ₹12.5K Ladies NLH champion, Young Gun Kanchan Sharma (27th for ₹2.64 Lakhs), poker streamer Aniruddha Joshi (29th for ₹2.64 Lakhs), Ayush Garg (33rd for ₹2.26 Lakhs), Pradip Ghosh (34th for ₹2.26 Lakhs), Advait Rajguru (35th for ₹2.26 Lakhs), WSOP bracelet winner Aditya Sushant (36th for ₹2.26 Lakhs) and Romit Advani (38th for ₹2.26 Lakhs) were other notables making the payouts.
Anil Adiani (10th for ₹8.60 Lakhs) was eliminated by Deepak Singh on the final table bubble on Sunday, bringing the day`s play to an end with the formation of the nine-handed final table.
Final Table Chip Counts
Final Table Recap
The shortest stack on the final table, Siddharth Jolly, found an early double-up through Soham Pal, crippling the latter. On the next hand, Pal pitted his against Kiran Bondu’s . The runout was a rollercoaster for both players, but in the end, Bondu won the pot, knocking Pal out in ninth place.
Twenty-seven hands later, Sudheer Chowdary eliminated Jaydeep Dawer in eighth place.
Nearly two hours later, Deepak Singh jammed from the hijack with his last 775,000. The chip leader Prasit Chowdhury (cutoff) and Jolly (button) called.
Deepak Singh
Siddharth Jolly
Prasit Chowdhury
The board ran , and Jolly doubled up into the chip lead, dismissing Singh in seventh place.
Six-handed play continued for seven more hands before Sudheer Chowdary was sent packing by Abhinav Iyer in sixth place.
The five finalists went at it for almost three hours before Bondu shoved all-in from the small blind, and the short-stacked Abhinav Iyer called, putting himself all-in for 1.65 Million from the big blind.
Abhinav Iyer
Kiran Bondu
The community cards opened , and Bondu rivered a wheel, eliminating India’s first solo WSOP bracelet winner in fifth place.
Eighteen hands later, Amit Tejura raised it to 600,000 from UTG, and Siddharth Jolly moved all-in for 1.85 Million from the small blind. Tejura asked for a count but promptly called.
Siddharth Jolly
Amit Tejura
The rundown gave Tejura a flopped two-pair, ousting Jolly in fourth place.
From the live coverage, it looks like Kiran Bondu was chipping up for a while but then received a bad beat on the 157th hand, courtesy of the start-of-final table chip leader Prasit Chowdhury. On the next hand, down to 4 BBs, Bondu called all-in from the big blind with after Tejura jammed from the small blind. The board opened and both players turned two-pairs. Tejura’s better hand won, eliminating Bondu in third place.
The heads-up between Prasit Chowdhury (16,225,000 – 54 BBs) and Amit Tejura (9,425,000 – 31 BBs) again had Chowdhury in front with an almost 2:1 lead, but Tejura fought back, even grabbing the chip lead early on. Chowdhury won it back soon after that. Tejura came close to evening out the stacks but could never quite catch up, and Chowdhury was the one posing for the winner pictures in the end.
On the final hand of the final table (190th), Chowdhury limped, and Tejura raised to 1.50 Million. Chowdhury shoved, and Tejura called all-in for around 6.80 Million.
Amit Tejura
Prasit Chowdhury
With the board open , Tejura was an 86% favorite, but the on the river changed the tide in Chowdhury’s favor, naming him the 2023 WPT Prime India Main Event champion!
Final Table Results (INR)
*Includes a seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas worth $10,400
Images & Live Coverage Information Courtesy: World Poker Tour
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