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In the PokerGuru feature, ‘This Week in Poker,’ we bring you the weekly roundup of the most significant online scores by Indian MTT players and the top stories from both the live and online poker circuits. Here are this week’s top stories!
April is coming to a close, and the online poker scene has recently been relatively quiet. However, excitement still abounds with Spartan Poker’s bringing back it’s much-beloved The Millionaire over the weekend and PokerBaazi’s hosting its PLO Championship, which produced several notable winners.
Arman Khan, a former APT Online India trophy winner, topped the weekly charts for dominating the 1,970-entry field in Spartan Poker’s The Millionaire on Sunday. He won the multi-flight headliner for an impressive ₹17.77 Lakhs (from three stacks) – nearly triple his previous best score.
Other significant online scorers this week include WSOP bracelet winner Kartik Ved, Himanshu Arora, Saurabh Rohila, and Neeraj Kumar.
The upcoming week promises to be a thrilling one for poker enthusiasts. APT Taipei 2023 is set to kick off on April 28 at the Asia Poker Arena, with a significant Indian contingent expected to participate. PokerGuru’s very own host, Saumya Paithanker, will also be on-site to bring you all the updates from the series.
For online players, PokerBaazi has announced “The Fantastic Five Edition” of its premier single-flight ₹1 Crore GTD tournament, The MoneyMaker, in May, setting aside a total guaranteed prize pool of ₹5 Crores across five The MoneyMaker editions.
The micro and small stakes players will rejoice in the return of the Indian Micro Poker Series (IMPS) Gold Edition on PokerBaazi. The budget series makes a 15-day run from April 30 to May 14, offering a guaranteed prize pool of ₹3 Crores across 116 tournaments of buy-ins ranging from ₹55 to ₹1,375.
PokerStars India turned five on April 17 and celebrated the occasion with an aptly-named promotion, “5-Year Fiesta.” The site hosted a grand ₹10 Lakhs added Anniversary Freeroll on April 26, marking the start of the Anniversary Special Boosted GTD Tournaments – which will see all the daily marquees on the site running with boosted guaranteed until April 30.
PokerMatch India, the Indian arm of Eastern Europe`s leading online platform, has added more excitement to weekends with its new High Roller PKO. Sporting a guaranteed prize pool of ₹8.80 Lakhs and an entry buy-in of ₹12,100, the tournament will run every Sunday from April 23 to May 14, with the site running multiple satellites starting as little as ₹22.
While this rounds out the online lineup of MTTs for May, June will be off to a roaring start as Spartan Poker just announced the dates for the 15th edition of the India Online Poker Championship (IOPC)! The eye-popping ₹47 Crores guaranteed series will run from June 1 to 18. More details will be shared in the coming days.
In other news, the Tamil Nadu government has enforced the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling & Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022, which bans all online games played with stakes, including rummy and poker. The Bill was approved by the state assembly on March 23 and by the governor on April 10. Chief Minister MK Stalin had initially stated that the Bill would be gazetted the same day, but it was finally notified on April 21. This is the second attempt by the state government to curb real money games played in cyberspace.
The All India Gaming Federation and several gaming operators filed writ petitions challenging the ban in the Madras High Court on April 26, seeking an interim stay on the ban and questioning the legislative competence of the Bill, claiming it violates the Constitution.
The plea was heard by a divisional bench of Acting Chief Justice T. Raja and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy on Thursday, April 27. However, the bench rejected the petitions, listing the matter for hearing on June 2.
Online Railbird Report
The former APT Online India trophy winner, Arman Khan, captured the winner’s limelight after championing Spartan Poker’s The Millionaire for the week’s single largest payout worth ₹17.20 Lakhs, nearly three times his previous-best score.
Arman’s dazzling run in the weekend flagship earned him a lofty ₹17.93 Lakhs this past week. For his exceptional performance, he is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week.”
His top finishes include:
> 1st in Spartan Poker’s The Millionaire for ₹17,76,800
WSOP bracelet winner, Kartik Ved, placed second in the weekly standings with a haul of ₹13.75 Lakhs. His most notable performance was in Spartan Poker’s The Millionaire. Vying for his third Millionaire title, Ved fell just short of the finish line, settling for a runner-up payday of ₹9.61 Lakhs.
His top finishes include:
> 2nd in Spartan Poker’s The Millionaire for ₹10,04,000
> 5th in Spartan Poker’s The Elite for ₹1,54,721
Himanshu Arora made a masterful run this week, netting ₹12.96 Lakhs. Although Arora had no win on his weekly report card, he made several distinctive appearances across some of the biggest flagship tourneys, ranking third on the online charts.
His top finishes include:
> 3rd in Adda52’s Nano Main Event for ₹2,15,788
> 2nd in PokerBaazi’s PC#19 (PLO-5) for ₹2,04,902
> 6th in PokerBaazi’s (7-Max) BSS Championship for ₹1,75,938
The IOPC 13.0 The Crown and Super HighRoller champion Saurabh Rohila added a hefty ₹12.48 Lakhs this past week from two flagship title victories and another three FT scores!
His top finishes include:
> 1st in Spartan Poker’s Deepstack Turbo (6 Max) for ₹3,89,160
> 1st in PokerBaazi’s PC#15 (PLO-6) for ₹3,49,115
> 4th in Spartan Poker’s The Elite for ₹1,92,696
The #3 ranked player on the annual TLB (points) leaderboard, Neeraj Kumar had the most arduous route to a seven-figure paycheque, for he accumulated ₹11.80 Lakhs across a well-fought 56 ITM finishes, including three title victories, two runner-up finishes, and another seven FT scores.
His top finishes include:
> 1st in PokerBaazi’s PC#11 (PLO-6) for ₹2,40,940
> 2nd in PokerBaazi’s (7-Max) SPRINT for ₹1,73,546
> 1st in PokerBaazi’s PC#17 (PLO-5) (PKO) for ₹1,21,726
Harsh Bubna, Vinayak Bajaj, Neel Joshi, Vikhyat Ahlawat, Abhishek Kumar, and Arjanveer Singh were the week`s other top online scorers.
Notable Winners of the Week
Player Prize Amount Event Poker Site
Arman Khan ₹17.20 Lakhs The Millionaire ₹1 Crore GTD Spartan Poker
Neel Joshi ₹9.17 Lakhs Big Whale ₹30 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Kabir Tandon ₹7.44 Lakhs Sunday SuperStack ₹25 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Sreekanth Narayan ₹6.20 Lakhs Godfather ₹25 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Abhishek Kumar ₹5.79 Lakhs PC#7 (PLO-6) HighRoller – ₹20 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Arjanveer Singh Chadha ₹5.26 Lakhs The Ballers – ₹20 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Omprakash Jureshiya ₹5.21 Lakhs The Elite – ₹20 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Shyam Sundar ₹5.14 Lakhs (7-Max) BSS Championship ₹35 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Avish Sharma ₹4.70 Lakhs The Weekly HighRoller – ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Mitesh Gupta ₹4.47 Lakhs Thursday High Roller (6-Max) ₹20 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“phoenix7777” ₹4.34 Lakhs BSS SuperStack ₹25 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Mohit Mehta ₹4.23 Lakhs The Summit ₹20 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“IBluffULol” ₹3.90 Lakhs Maverick ₹15 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Saurabh Rohila ₹3.89 Lakhs DeepStack Turbo (6-Max) ₹15 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“AffableSatan” ₹3.87 Lakhs The Endeavour ₹20 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Gautam Bansal ₹3.84 Lakhs BSS HighRoller ₹20 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Aayush Arya ₹3.80 Lakhs Tuesday High Roller ₹15 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Nitesh Katiyar ₹3.58 Lakhs Nano ME ₹25 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Saurabh Rohila ₹3.49 Lakhs PC#15 (PLO-6) ₹20 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Vikhyat Ahlawat ₹3.26 Lakhs PC#3 (PLO-6) ₹20 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Maddhav Kohli ₹3.16 Lakhs Ultron ₹16 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Chirag Sodha ₹2.88 Lakhs The Mint ₹14 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Dhinesh Kumar ₹2.80 Lakhs The Colosseum [6-Max] ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Amit Kaushik ₹2.85 Lakhs Nano Highroller ₹15 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Michael Keishing ₹2.68 Lakhs Destiny 26.0 ₹15 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Amit Kaushik ₹2.66 Lakhs Mega Stack ₹12 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“JCchon413” ₹2.58 Lakhs PC#23 (PLO-6) ₹15 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Harsh Bubna ₹2.56 Lakhs Sunday Special [8-Max] PKO ₹15 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Subhayan Das ₹2.24 Lakhs The Pride ₹15 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Gaurav Mittal ₹2.22 Lakhs PC#13 (PLO-5) ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Harsh Bubna ₹2.22 Lakhs Bounty Builder HR ₹9 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
“nirwair” ₹2.09 Lakhs The Big Bash ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Hardik Nair ₹2 Lakhs Futuristic - Triple Chance ₹10 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Anirban D Das ₹1.77 Lakhs (7-Max) SPRINT ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“Frediefish” ₹1.70 Lakhs PC#1 (PLO-5) KickOff ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Anuj Yadav ₹1.53 Lakhs Monster Stack PKO ₹6 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Vivek Parmar ₹1.43 Lakhs Daily Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Hemant Meena ₹1.43 Lakhs Daily Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Jayanta Das ₹1.36 Lakhs PC#8 (PLO-6) KO - ₹8 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Vikram Surana ₹1.35 Lakhs PC#6 (PLO-5) - ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“Abhi3292” ₹1.33 Lakhs Daily Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Parag Shah ₹1.32 Lakhs Daily Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Vikhyat Ahlawat ₹1.23 Lakhs Money Heist - Triple Chance ₹7.50 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“Onix” ₹1.16 Lakhs PC#22 (PLO-5) ₹8 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“shades92” ₹1.10 Lakhs PC#4 (PLO-5) ₹8 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“night890_jf26OP73oN" ₹1.08 Lakhs Pocket Bullets ₹6 Lakhs GTD Pocket52
Nitin Rawat ₹1.02 Lakhs PC#16 (PLO-5) ₹6 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Samarth Bhandari ₹1.02 Lakhs PC#24 (PLO-4) ₹7 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Dhaval Doshi ₹97K (7-Max) Afternoon Boost ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Ankit Nahar ₹86K PC#5 (PLO-4) ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Harshit Sanghi ₹86K PC#14 (PLO-4) ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
“Pakanpa” ₹82K (7-Max) Daily SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Harsh Bubna ₹82K PC#2 (PLO-4) ₹6 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Rohit Yadav ₹75K (7-Max) Afternoon Boost ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Narendra Singh ₹68K (7-Max) Afternoon Boost ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
PokerBaazi’s ₹1 Crore GTD The MoneyMaker to Run Five Times in May as Part of “The Fantastic Five Edition!”
India’s leading online poker site, PokerBaazi, returned with another BIG announcement after the successful conclusion of its record-crushing National Poker Series India 2023. The poker operator has come out with the “The Fantastic Five Edition” of its flagship single-flight ₹1 Crore GTD tournament, The Money Maker, with a staggering ₹5 Crores guaranteed across five The MoneyMaker editions in May.
This edition will mark the first time that PokerBaazi will host five back-to-back The MoneyMaker tournaments in a month, each with a guaranteed prize pool of ₹1 Crore.
Read the complete report here.
PokerBaazi`s Indian Micro Poker Series Gold Edition is Back With ₹3-Plus Crores GTD (April 30 – May 14)
PokerBaazi has announced the return of the Indian Micro Poker Series Gold Edition from April 30 to May 14, 2023, with a guaranteed prize pool of ₹3 Crores. The 15-day flagship budget-offering series boasts 116 tournaments with buy-ins ranging from a super-affordable ₹55 to ₹1,375.
Read the complete report here.
PokerStars India 5-Year Fiesta Anniversary Special Boosted GTD Tournaments Get Underway
PokerStars India completed five years of operations on April 17, and marking the occasion, it is hosting the anniversary-special “5-Year Fiesta,” offering boosted guaranteed leaderboards and MTTs, massive anniversary freerolls, and rakeback promotions – guaranteeing a whopping ₹1.50 Crores. The site hosted a special ₹10 Lakhs GTD Anniversary Freeroll on April 26, marking the start of the Anniversary Special Boosted GTD Tournaments!
Read the complete report here.
PokerMatch India’s ₹8.80 Lakhs GTD High Roller PKO Will Make the Sunday Grind More Bountiful
PokerMatch India is spicing up Sundays with their new High Roller PKO tournaments, guaranteeing ₹8.80 Lakhs across four weekly editions from April 23 to May 14! Don’t miss out on the chance to win big and qualify through affordable satellites for just ₹22.
Read the complete report here.
With this, we conclude this week’s roundup of the latest news updates and developments from the poker world. We will return again next week with another weekly report. Stay tuned.