This Week in Poker: April 23 – 29

Welcome to the latest edition of ‘This Week in Poker,’ where we bring you 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 highlights!

The last week of April certainly dialled up the headlines! High-octane runs by Indian players at major international stops like the Australian Poker Open and APT Taipei kept the global poker spotlight burning bright.

Back home, PokerBaazi saw guarantee-crushing turnouts as players made a final push for the tempting TDS-free cashout offer (which expired on April 30). Now, all eyes are on The MoneyMaker madness starting May 1 – India’s longest-running ₹1 Crore GTD single-flight tournament returns for a daily run for an entire month!

Elsewhere, Natural8 India continued to deliver monster scores, partly fueled by its ongoing Omaholic Series 2025 (running until May 5). Adda52 kept the pressure on with its beefed-up tournament schedule and the ₹1.50 Crores GTD Masterminds Arena Bounty Series, often serving up juicy overlays. Junglee Poker’s Poker Premiere League (PPL) also kept dealing out action. Add some headline-grabbing industry news, and it’s clear the past week packed a serious punch!

Aussie Glory: Paawan Bansal Stars Down Under as APO Wraps Up!

Sydney just closed the books on a sensational two weeks of poker as the 2025 Australian Poker Open (APO) wrapped up at Club Marconi Poker Palace. With 29 events drawing players worldwide, the A$3,300 Main Event provided a suitably dramatic finish. Sydney’s own Nelson Dong stole the show, navigating the record field to capture the title and a career-best A$390,000. He dispatched French player Romain Morvan in a swift two-hand heads-up battle; Morvan also collected a personal-best A$240,000 for his runner-up performance.

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The Indian contingent had plenty to cheer about as live circuit regular Paawan Bansal continued his love affair with Australia, finishing a superb fifth in the Main Event. This deep run added A$105,000 (~₹57.13 Lakhs) to his bankroll – his first major score of 2025 and second-biggest live cash ever. This stellar performance makes Bansal our well-deserved “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

Bansal, known for his 2018 WSOP Closer runner-up finish, has a long and successful history Down Under, including winning the APO Poker Palace Warm-Up last year (breaking a long title drought) and deep runs dating back to the 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event.

India Makes Noise at Record-Breaking APT Taipei: Avadh Shah Doubles Up, Neel Joshi Scores Big!

Team India is putting on a clinic at APT Taipei 2025! And spearheading this charge is Avadh Shah, who exploded out of the gates, bagging two APT trophies in the first three days alone, pulling in a combined ₹21.15 Lakhs! Shah first conquered the ₹5K Natural8 India APT Taipei – India Exclusive Tournament (₹3.10 Lakhs + Main Event seat) and then added a career-best ₹18.05 Lakhs by winning the TWD 20K NLHE Big Bounty.

Another Indian standout, Young Gun Neel Joshi, who finished third in the stacked 2024 POY race, stepped up in the high-roller arena. He finished 15th in the record-setting TWD 330K Super High Roller, collecting ₹15.84 Lakhs – the fourth-biggest live score of his young career!

The APT Taipei 2025 has already etched its name in the history books. The ongoing Main Event officially became the biggest ever held by the tour, smashing records with 2,547 entries and creating a prize pool worth TWD 121 Million (~$ 3.78 Million). A massive TWD 19 Million (~$ 593K) awaits the champion!

Indians are well-represented heading into Day 2, with 15 players advancing, including Amanpreet Singh (204,200), Bharath Jayaram (154,200), Nishant Kumar (148,300), Asish Kumar Ghosh (124,300), Kapil Garg (117,200), the red-hot Avadh Shah (105,900), Natural8 India Executive Director Kunal Patni (102,000), Sumit Sapra (91,400), Young Gun Siddharth Karia (71,800), Arun Sriram (58,500), Vikas Anand (52,800), Sagar Maheshwari (47,100), and fellow Young Guns Sahil Chuttani (56,900), Neel Joshi (40,000), and Ujjwal Narwal (31,900)

With 120 trophy events, over $5.40 Million guaranteed, and 22 Indian cashes already recorded, the action at the new Red Space venue is only just heating up!

Team India Scorecard at APT Taipei

APT Taipei List of Winners

Maple Leaf Magic: Prateek J Ships Toronto Series Event For ₹24.54 Lakhs!

Adding another international highlight, India’s Prateek J made waves north of the border at the Great Canadian Toronto Poker Series. He took down Event #11: $400 NLHE, pocketing a career-boosting ₹24.54 Lakhs! A fantastic win on foreign soil and another impressive score for Team India’s globetrotting players.

#11 $400 NLH

Congratulations Prateek J!

Our #WINNER taking home a whopping $39,965!

Total Entries: 679
Final Prize Pool: $217,280 – top 102 payout
.
. #2025WSOPCToronto #LastEvent

Félicitations à Prateek J !… https://t.co/0nER6k5J8x pic.twitter.com/bciFBGosaF

— Great Canadian Toronto Poker (@GCTorontoPoker) April 23, 2025

Online Railbird Report: ‘BollywoodBlinds’ Explodes on Natural8 India, Anant Purohit Chases POY

As often happens, the week’s biggest online score came from the Natural8 India tables. In just six short weeks on the platform, ‘BollywoodBlinds’ has gone from an intriguing newcomer to a certified online beast – and last Sunday was their arrival party! They tore through two enormous fields to bank a stunning ₹27.60 Lakhs, easily topping the weekly online charts. The main highlight was a runner-up finish in the 1,858-entry Grand Prix Europe 125, good for a platform-best ₹25.91 Lakhs – the single largest online score recorded anywhere this week! They also added ₹1.70 Lakhs for 19th in the 6,531-entry Sunday Showdown 108, effectively doubling their lifetime platform earnings to over ₹52 Lakhs in a single session!

Their top finishes include:

> 2nd in Natural8 India’s Grand Prix Europe 125 for ₹25,90,674

> 19th in Natural8 India’s Sunday Showdown 108 for ₹1,69,599

Meanwhile, the ever-reliable Anant Purohit kept his foot on the gas in the Player of the Year race. Following his staggering ₹1.92 Crores win last month, the 2024 POY runner-up added another ₹19.85 Lakhs to his tally this week. His biggest score came from a second-place finish in the Omaholic Bounty HR 525, worth ₹12.97 Lakhs. With his 2025 earnings now hitting ₹3.95 Crores, Purohit is fast closing the distance on current POY leader and reigning champion Tarun Goyal (₹4.71 Crores)!

His top finishes include:

> 2nd in Natural8 India’s Omaholic Bounty Hunters HR 525 for ₹12,97,527

> 8th in Natural8 India’s Bounty Hunters Daily Main 54 for ₹3,33,998

> 16th in Natural8 India’s Bounty Hunters HR 525 for ₹2,68,848

NPS Finale Fallout: Dhawal Lachhwani Wins Big in Gujarat Freeroll!

Putting a final, celebratory cap on the historic NPS India 2025, Gujarat’s Dhawal Lachhwani scooped a huge ₹10 Lakhs prize! He topped a 240-player field in the special ₹1 Crore GTD NPC State Freeroll on PokerBaazi. This massive freeroll opportunity was unlocked for all Gujarat players thanks to Mohit Bohra‘s victory in the National Poker Champion Finale in Goa. Parth Shah finished runner-up in the freeroll for a career-best ₹6.14 Lakhs, while veteran Jaydeep Dawer claimed third for ₹4.45 Lakhs.

More Online Action Heroes

It was a very profitable week for many familiar names online. Rising Star Aman Parakh, Praveen KR, Vinay Rajpal, Young Gun Ashwin Vijayvergiya, POY #4 Advait Rajguru, Shreyansh Sharma, Young Gun Sanat Mehrotra, and Deepankur Gupta all posted big scores across the board.

Notable Online Winners of the Week

PokerDangal Keeps the Tax-Free Party Going in May!

Good news for PokerDangal players! The platform has extended its popular tax-free offer throughout May, meaning another month with zero deductions on winnings. This promotion continues to offer exceptional value, letting players keep every rupee they earn—no TDS, no GST. With over ₹25 Lakhs reportedly returned in TDS refunds and more than 250 players taking advantage in April, this initiative continues to offer exceptional value in the current online poker environment.

Delta Corp Update: Profits Up on Paper, Strategy Shifts Amid GST Cloud

Delta Corp continues to operate in a complex environment. Their recent Q4 financial results showed a headline profit jump (up 127% YoY to ₹164.56 Crores), but this was significantly influenced by a one-off ₹57.14 Crore gain from selling a 51% stake in its online gaming arm (Deltatech Gaming – Adda52) to Head Digital Works (A23’s parent). Core gaming revenue dipped 1.20% YoY, and EBITDA margins tightened. While consolidated annual profit rose due to these exceptional items, the company still faces the massive ₹23,207 Crore GST demand notice. In response, Delta Corp is reducing its online gaming exposure, focusing on expanding its core casino business (with a new premium floating casino planned for FY26), and proceeding with the demerger of its hospitality division.

📣 @DeltaCorpLtd‘s FY25: Headline profits jumped 127% YoY to ₹164.56Cr (boosted by @Adda_52 sale), but core gaming stayed under pressure. GST woes linger. Big bets ahead: @A23Poker merger, new Goa casino, hospitality demerger! Read more 👇🏻

— PokerGuru (@PkrGuru) April 28, 2025

Gaming Boom: Krafton Backs Jet Synthesys, Boosts Indian Studios

India’s gaming ecosystem got another significant boost. Jet Synthesys, part of the Navani family’s Jetline Group, landed a significant investment led by South Korean gaming behemoth Krafton. This funding injection, following Krafton’s earlier acquisition of Real Cricket creator Nautilus Mobile, positions Jet Synthesys for major global expansion in gaming, esports, and entertainment, allowing them to scale up, hire top talent, and pursue acquisitions.

Krafton, meanwhile, doubled down on its belief in India’s gaming potential, committing $150 Million and launching KIGI Cohort 2. This initiative will support six emerging Indian game studios (some founded by students!) with funding, mentorship, and access to top-tier tools from partners like AWS and AccelByte. India’s gaming growth spurt is accelerating!

WSOP Makes History: Four US States Unite Online!

Huge news from the US poker scene! WSOP Online is set to make history by launching a four-state shared liquidity pool connecting players in Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Jersey, and Michigan – a first for regulated US online poker. This comes just in time for the 2025 WSOP Online series (May 31 – July 15) to award 30 gold bracelets on this new combined network and introduce the WSOP Online Bracelet POY race. Combined with the live series in Vegas, a record 130 total WSOP bracelets are up for grabs this summer!

Ring Race Heats Up! Hawkins Ties Engel (Again!) at 19 WSOPC Rings

The neck-and-neck race for the all-time WSOP Circuit ring lead got tighter – again! Maurice Hawkins pulled level with rival Ari Engel at 19 career rings after taking down the $400 Monster Stack at WSOPC Horseshoe Tunica for $34,711! The lead has swung back and forth between these two legends recently, promising more drama as the Circuit season continues.

Global Action: More Live Winners Crowned!

Other notable live title winners this past week included Simon Wilson (Won Irish Poker Open €1,150 Main Event for €600,000), Indo-American Ravee “Sonny” Sundara (Won 2025 Texas Poker Open $3,300 Main Event for $283,143), David Gradic (Won WSOP Circuit Pasino Grand €1,000 Main Event for €160,000), Ray Qartomy (Won 2025 Texas Poker Open Event #1: $5,100 NLH High Roller for $40,500), David Chen (Won 2025 Texas Poker Open Event #2: $5,100 NLH High Roller for $54,000), Thomas Scott (Won WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Tunica Event #4: $400 NLHE Seniors Event for $12,070), and Chris Moneymaker (Won Moneymaker Tour $300 Mixed Omaha for $5,195).

With this, we conclude this week’s roundup of the latest news updates and developments from the world of poker. We will return next week with our weekly report. Stay tuned.