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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 circuit.
Here are this week’s top stories!
As the months crossed over from April to May this week, online poker has continued to be the driving force, with live poker now well and truly on the back seat given the current circumstances. In fact, the Goa government that had announced a weekend lockdown from April 29 to May 3 has also extended the lockdown till May 10.
With the third wave of the COVID-19 looking inevitable at this point, India reported a record 3,780 deaths in the last 24 hours, the highest daily toll since the pandemic began. Over 900 deaths were from Maharashtra, while Delhi and Uttar Pradesh reported 338 and 351 casualties. At least 13 states are reporting over 100 deaths a day.
Coming back to the virtual action, things have been steadily heating up, with the daily marquees now consistently crushing their advertised guarantees. Spartan Poker’s fifth and final The Millionaire of April was the featured tourney of the week. The event logged in 2,206 entries, and just like the weeks before, posted a guarantee-smashing ₹1.10 Crores prize pool. The former Full House champion Devrat Singh won his career-first Millionaire title on Sunday for a whooping ₹16.10 Lakhs (includes his 48th place finish for ₹29,339). He chopped the top prize heads-up with Kartikeya Yadav (runner-up for ₹12.62 Lakhs). For his splendid performance, Singh is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”
Siddhanth Kripalani, Rajat Mahajan, PokerGuru Ambassador Laksh Pal Singh, and Arjun Pasricha were the other notables who raked in seven figures in MTT winnings.
May is already off to a flying start, with all the major sites launching exciting promotions. Spartan Poker’s much-awaited The Millionaire Series 2.0 commenced on May 3. Promising ₹5 Crores in guaranteed prizes, the series will run till May 9.
India’s most trusted online poker site, PokerBaazi, recently rolled out a brand-new and much-improved poker app. Simultaneously, the site also launched its biggest cash game festival to date, the Daily Cash Smash Extreme. Over 10 days, PokerBaazi will be giving out ₹10 Lakhs every day across different Leaderboard sprints, guaranteeing a whopping ₹1 Crore in prizes.
NostraPoker, a subsidiary of NostraGamus, has also announced its “High Rollers Milestone” from May 3 to June 21. The site’s latest leaderboard race is open to both NLH and PLO players, offering them a chance to win up to ₹5 Lakhs by playing at the high stakes cash tables.
Fast-growing poker site, Khelo365 also has lucrative offers running in May, namely the Sixers Daily Cash Back Omaha6 and the Lucky Draw deposit offer.
Asia’s largest online poker room, Natural8, recently announced that it will be teaming up with GGPoker to host the WSOP Circuit online festival from May 1 to 30. Moreover, the site will be giving away over $7.50 Million in other promotions in May.
BLITZPOKER became one of the first poker operators to host a special tournament to aid India’s COVID-19 relief efforts. The brand-new ‘BLITZ COVID RELIEF’ tournament will run from May 8 to 14 at 10:30 PM daily. The ₹249 entry buy-in event offers a ₹75,000 prize pool guarantee. The site will donate twice the rake generated from this tournament, with all the proceeds going to the Hemkunt Foundation to provide oxygen cylinders and ventilators to those in need.
In other news, India’s first pure-play gaming firm to be publicly listed, Nazara Technologies Ltd, has granted in-principle approval to its subsidiary, Halaplay Technologies Pvt Ltd, to raise ₹18.02 Crores from identified investors.
Moving on to live poker, the WPT Seminole Hard Rock (SHR) Poker Showdown created quite the furor among the US-based poker players. The stop is almost over with just the Main Event left to crown a champion. The Main Event registered a whopping 2,482 entries, resulting in a record-smashing $7.95 Million prize pool. The event was halted after the six-player final table, comprising chip leader Sonny Franco, Brekstyn Schutten, Steven Snyder, Ken Aldridge, Albert Calderon, and Viet Vo was formed. The six finalists will return on May 18 at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas to play down to a champion.
Online Railbird Report
Just like most weeks, Spartan Poker’s The Millionaire champion walks away with the tag of becoming the week’s top scorer and our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!” This week that honor is bestowed upon Devrat Singh. The 35-year-old online reg not only shipped The Millionaire on Sunday for ₹16.10 Lakhs but also took down Spartan Poker’s Destiny on April 28, raking in almost ₹24.14 Lakhs in weekly earnings.
Kartikeya Yadav fell one spot short of claiming The Millionaire title, settling for a runner-up finish worth ₹12.62 Lakhs.
The Game Changer 3.0 winner Siddhanth Kripalani took down two flagships this week, Spartan Poker’s Sunday Superstack for ₹7.44 Lakhs and PokerBaazi’s The Endeavour for ₹2.65 Lakhs, netting ₹12.92 Lakhs through the week.
Running alongside The Millionaire on Sunday was Adda52’s Mega Suits. Rajat Mahajan took down the tourney for ₹7.84 Lakhs. Mahajan posted numerous other deep runs throughout the week to collect ₹12.5 Lakhs in weekly earnings. His other notable finishes include:
– 4th in Adda52’s Godfather for ₹1.96 Lakhs
– 1st in Spartan’s Millionaire Series #3 6L GTD for ₹1.62 Lakhs
– 5th in Baazi’s BSS#4 SuperStack for ₹1.07 Lakhs
PokerGuru Ambassador Laksh Pal Singh regained his place at the top of the annual leaderboard following a flurry of third-place finishes throughout the week. He accumulated ₹12.43 Lakhs in weekly earnings. His notable weekly scores included:
– 3rd in Spartan’s Sunday SuperStack for ₹4.14 Lakhs
– 3rd in Adda52’s Mega Suits for ₹4.13 Lakhs
– 3rd in Spartan’s Millionaire Series #2 – Double Stack for ₹3.41 Lakhs
The first-ever FTS Main Event champion Arjun Pasricha was the star performer on Tuesday. The Delhi-based MTT reg shipped Spartan Poker’s Millionaire Series #2 Double Stack for ₹10.14 Lakhs, pushing his recorded winnings on the site north of ₹2.50 Crores.
Ankur Sehgal (Won Spartan Poker’s The Elite), Aditya Sushant (Won Adda52’s The Ballers), and Pratibh Saluja (Won PokerBaazi’s BSS#4 SuperStack) were the other big winners of the week.
Notable Winners of the Week
Player | Prize Amount | Event | Poker Site |
---|---|---|---|
Devrat 'Leonidas1' Singh | ₹15.80 Lakhs | The Millionaire ₹1 Crore GTD | Spartan Poker |
Arjun 'lol this guy' Pasricha | ₹10.14 Lakhs | Millionaire Series #2 - Double Stack ₹30 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Rajat ‘happyfish’ Mahajan | ₹7.84 Lakhs | Mega Suits Finale ₹40 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Ashish ‘rocky3705’ Ahuja | ₹7.80 Lakhs | Adda52 Millions ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Ankur 'Crimemastergogo' Sehgal | ₹7.67 Lakhs | The Elite ₹33 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Devrat 'Leonidas1' Singh | ₹7.55 Lakhs | Destiny ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Siddhanth 'PluRibu$' Kripalani | ₹7.43 Lakhs | Sunday Superstack ₹40 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Aditya 'a_sushant' Sushant | ₹7.27 Lakhs | The Ballers ₹22.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Wolowizard | ₹5.78 Lakhs | Godfather ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Pratibh 'pratibhsaluja' Saluja | ₹4.28 Lakhs | BSS#4 SuperStack ₹20 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Rohan ‘The Sightseer’ Bhasin | ₹4.16 Lakhs | Trending Thursday ₹18 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Goonjan 'gmtesting' Mall | ₹4.15 Lakhs | The Weekly HighRoller ₹12 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Sanat 'mehro2511' Mehrotra | ₹4 Lakhs | The Summit ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
rtuteja | ₹3.99 Lakhs | The Mint ₹15 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Jasdeep 'jpoker' Nagpal | ₹3.70 Lakhs | Maverick ₹15 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Myron 'priyankAAchoprAA' Pereira | ₹3.01 Lakhs | The Endeavour ₹12 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
acessorted | ₹2.53 Lakhs | The Pride ₹10 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Ronak 'rj128' Jain | ₹2.29 Lakhs | Sunday Showdown ₹10 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
littletomy86 | ₹2.20 Lakhs | Sunday Special Progressive KO ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Arjanveer 'bazzingaa' Singh Chadha | ₹2.14 Lakhs | Monster Stack ₹8 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Pawan '_luffy_1x1' Tez | ₹2.11 Lakhs | Iron Man ₹8 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Rohan 'sailor85' Bhasin | ₹2.05 Lakhs | Monster Turbo ₹5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Kunal 'iAlwaysHaveit' Patni | ₹2.01 Lakhs | Highroller ₹10 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Kunal ‘VasooliChacha’ Patni | ₹2 Lakhs | The Big Show ₹7.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Md '007shakuni' Zeeshan | ₹1.94 Lakhs | Running Hot ₹5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Vivek 'acchemicals' Karwa | ₹1.86 Lakhs | Money Heist ₹7 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Vinayak 'haayegarmi' Bajaj | ₹1.79 Lakhs | Futuristic ₹10 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Rajat 'BloatedBelly' Mahajan | ₹1.62 Lakhs | Miilionaire Series #3 ₹6 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Dhaval ‘dirtyzoso’ Mudgal | ₹1.39 Lakhs | Hurricane ₹4.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Atif 'LuckyWoolF' Khan | ₹1.31 Lakhs | Wednesday Vibes ₹6 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Parth 'VINAY7690' Aggarwal | ₹1.30 Lakhs | BSS#3 MonsterStack 6-Max ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Mohit 'thejoker' Mehta | ₹1.25 Lakhs | BSS#5 MegaStack ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
peaceyo | ₹1.19 Lakhs | Voyager ₹2.75 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Kunal 'FloatToMyBoat' Patni | ₹96,774 | La Luna ₹4 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Akshay 'powershell42' Asawa | ₹96,614 | Sixth Sense ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
gaur83 | ₹91,692 | Uppercut ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
galba14 | ₹89,709 | Battle Royale 7-Max ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Kushagra ‘Nkush20’ Mehta | ₹86,187 | Voyager ₹2.75 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Anuj ‘anuj1610’ Laddhad | ₹83,232 | Holdem Bash ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Akshay 'akshay9144' Singh | ₹68,998 | PBBS#34 Main Event ₹2 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
ukhatry | ₹67,816 | 6-Max Holdem Boost DST ₹1. 5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Abhiroop 'Ron007' Gupta | ₹66,326 | Night Rider – Monster Stack ₹2.75 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Ekagra 'Igot2flush' Vason | ₹66,441 | Monster Stack ₹3.5 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Ritwik ‘Ritwikkhanna’ Khanna | ₹60,750 | BSS#2 Afternoon ₹2 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Ritwik 'Ritwikkhanna' Khanna | ₹60,710 | 6-Max Holdem BOOST DST ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
kabir12657 | ₹60,616 | Uppercut Mini ₹2 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
f00l4u | ₹60,500 | Ultimate PLO ₹2 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Clinton Tavares | ₹60,176 | Big Bubble Rush ₹3 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
PabloDEscobar | ₹59,609 | Night on Stars ₹3 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Armaan ‘space ace’ Kochhar | ₹58,300 | Ultimate PLO ₹2 lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Prashanth 'Anya Chalotra' Sekar | ₹54,096 | Sunday Kick-Off ₹2 lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Harrish ‘Realfc’ Chaudary | ₹53,300 | Turbo ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Tathagata 'Tintin84' Sengupta | ₹53,178 | 6-Max Holdem Boost ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Shivam 'cyflopse' Jain | ₹49,286 | Battle Royale 7-Max ₹3 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Sumeet 'Sumitsingh199' Rajpurohit | ₹46,630 | Turbo ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
stannis | ₹45,830 | Turbo ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Dicktator1 | ₹45,660 | The Classic [Progressive Knockout] ₹1.75 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Christo91 | ₹40,000 | Big Bang ₹1 Lakh GTD | Khelo365 |
Amit 'Stu Ungar 7694' Kaushik | ₹39,522 | Big Bubble Rush ₹1.75 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Sanjay ‘smr1g10’ Mohan | ₹39,111 | Nighttide DST Adda ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Johnny_7325 | ₹39,025 | Ultrasonic ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
min2thomas | ₹38,959 | Ultrasonic ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
PiyushGup | ₹38,630 | PLO Boost Monster ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerBaazi |
Swapnil 'pokpom1' Patil | ₹35,344 | Deepstack ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Sachindubal4 | ₹34,840 | PLO Boost Monster ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerBaazi |
Animesh 'animeshth20' Thakur | ₹33,690 | PBBS#25 7-Max Highroller ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerBaazi |
harry_2601 | ₹33,297 | Nighttide DST Adda ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
swAAmi | ₹32,960 | PLO Boost Monster ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerBaazi |
Rahul ‘andarkiaag’ Thakur | ₹31,290 | Sunday Storm ₹1.50 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Swapnil 'pokpom1' Patil | ₹31,282 | Ultrasonic ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerStars India |
Riskypro | ₹28,800 | Warrior Arena ₹1.2 Lakhs GTD | PokerDangal |
him_070793 | ₹27,788 | Ultrasonic ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerStars India |
Ilikewinning69 | ₹26,649 | Ultrasonic ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerStars India |
Salazar | ₹26,400 | Dangal Friday ₹1.2 Lakhs GTD | PokerDangal |
getsetgo666 | ₹24,380 | Sunday Warm-up ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerStars India |
Sehdev 'Sahdev6' Rawat | ₹22,032 | Ultra KO 90% ₹50K GTD | PokerStars India |
Hero29 | ₹22,000 | Wednesday PLO ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerDangal |
Piyush 'noname3006' Nanda | ₹20,313 | Ultra KO 90% ₹50K GTD | PokerStars India |
Wildshark100 | ₹17,923 | Sunday Supersonic ₹75K GTD | PokerStars India |
wildshark100 | ₹17,004 | Bigstack Turbo ₹70K GTD | PokerStars India |
Reverse88 | ₹17,000 | Dominator ₹50K GTD | Khelo365 |
Poker_Basilisk | ₹16,728 | Bigstack Turbo ₹70K GTD | PokerStars India |
bali00 | ₹16,500 | Monday Blues ₹75K GTD | PokerDangal |
yogeshagg | ₹15,001 | Deepstack ₹50K GTD | PokerStars India |
myth_loki88 | ₹13,956 | Afternoon on Stars ₹60K GTD | PokerStars India |
Hardik24 | ₹13,800 | Hitman PLO ₹30K GTD | Khelo365 |
Adithya 'RloxRenfield1' N G | ₹13,094 | Afternoon on Stars ₹60K GTD | PokerStars India |
Manuvm131313 | ₹12,900 | Prime Time PLO ₹30K GTD | Khelo365 |
mrbkg | ₹10,500 | Insomnia ₹30K GTD | PokerDangal |
Hardik24 | ₹10,000 | Under the Gun ₹20K GTD PLO | Khelo365 |
Mackyboy7777 | ₹9,323 | Primetime Grind ₹50K GTD | PokerStars India |
galba14 | ₹8,190 | Deepstack ₹40K GTD | PokerStars India |
Madpoker966767 | ₹7,465 | PBBS#19 MegaStack ₹25K GTD | PokerBaazi |
Amazonking | ₹7,200 | Grinder 2.0 ₹20K GTD | Khelo365 |
Padukon | ₹7,200 | Grinder 2.0 ₹20K GTD | Khelo365 |
Meraj76 | ₹6,800 | Grinder 2.0 ₹20K GTD | Khelo365 |
zravasya | ₹6,800 | Grinder 2.0 ₹20K GTD NLHE | Khelo365 |
Kapildev77 | ₹6,800 | Grinder 2.0 ₹20K GTD | Khelo365 |
BhikuMhatre | ₹6,544 | Primetime Grind ₹40K GTD | PokerStars India |
Aditya ‘KesarDa’ Kesharwani | ₹5,541 | PBBS#20 ₹20K GTD | PokerBaazi |
piyudh1111 | ₹5,348 | PBBS#24 Megastack ₹25K GTD | PokerBaazi |
Ankush2543 | ₹3,124 | PBBS#32 ₹15K GTD | PokerBaazi |
shibdevvar | ₹2,310 | PBBS#35 ₹10K DST GTD | PokerBaazi |
iloveu1 | ₹2,264 | PBBS#31 ₹10K GTD KO | PokerBaazi |
13rishabh | ₹2,264 | BSS#1 Kickoff ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerBaazi |
Nameless733 | ₹2,112 | PBBS#33 ₹10K GTD PKO | PokerBaazi |
Vinod ‘brutalgame’ Kirne | ₹1,641 | PBBS#18 PLO ₹5K GTD | PokerBaazi |
Wildstylz02 | ₹1,554 | PBBS#22 ₹6K GTD | PokerBaazi |
APPAX | ₹1,498 | PBBS#23 DST ₹7K GTD | PokerBaazi |
anu141 | ₹1,272 | PBBS#16 ₹5K GTD | PokerBaazi |
pujasingh023 | ₹1,112 | PBBS#21 7-Max ₹4K GTD | PokerBaazi |
vkrathi | ₹574 | PBBS#17 Hyper ₹2K GTD | PokerBaazi |
NostraPoker`s “High Rollers Milestone” Offer Can Fetch You ₹5 Lakhs in 50 Days
The latest offer running on NostraPoker, the “High Rollers Milestone,” runs from May 3 to June 21. The 50-day-long leaderboard race offers both NLH and PLO players a chance at winning up to ₹5 Lakhs by hitting milestones by playing at the high stakes cash tables. To opt-in, players need to deposit ₹20,000 on the site using the deposit code “GRAB15K.”
Read the complete report here
Khelo365 Announces Astonishing Offers This May
Khelo365 has launched two thrilling promotions for May – Sixers Daily Cash Back Omaha6 and the Lucky Draw deposit offer.
Read the complete report here
Action Packed May on Natural8
The World Series of Poker and the GGPoker Network have teamed up for the WSOP Super Circuit Online Series that runs from May 1 until May 30. The entire festival features 18 WSOPC Ring Events (and two rings for cash game players) with a guaranteed $100 million prize pool. Indian players can participate in the series on GGPoker Network`s Asia-facing skin Natural8.
Read the complete report here
Not just that, Natural8 is also giving away over $7.50 Million through other promotions in May.
Read the complete report here
BLITZPOKER Announces New “BLITZ Covid Relief” Charity Tournament to Fight the Pandemic
BLITZPOKER has stood up in the fight against the pandemic by announcing a brand-new ‘BLITZ Covid Relief’ tournament. The ₹249 entry buy-in charity tournament will run daily at 10:30 PM from May 8 to 14, featuring a ₹75,000 prize pool guarantee. The site will donate twice the rake generated from this tournament to the Hemkunt Foundation to provide oxygen cylinders and ventilators to those in need.
Read the complete report here
Goa Casino`s to Remain Closed Until May 10 as State Extends Lockdown
The Goa state government has extended the lockdown in Goa, meaning all non-essential services, including hotels, bars, restaurants, and casinos, will have to remain shut until at least 7 AM on May 10.
Read the complete report here
And with this, we conclude this week’s roundup of the latest news updates and developments from the world of poker. We will return again next week with our weekly report. Stay tuned.