In the PokerGuru feature, ‘This Week in Poker,’ we bring you the weekly round-up 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!
The online poker action has been heating up in April with a plethora of exciting tournaments and big wins. From Spartan Poker’s India Turbo Masters to PokerBaazi’s National Poker Series India 2023, there’s been no shortage of action.
The standout winner this week was the anonymous player ‘wildernesscove‘ who won Spartan Poker’s ₹2 Crores GTD ITM #113 Main Event for a massive ₹34.71 Lakhs (from two stacks) and bagged away a jaw-dropping ₹38.22 Lakhs on Sunday, making them the worthy recipient of our “PokerGuru Star of the Week” title. Since the user has chosen to remain anonymous, the honor is bestowed to Shashank Shekhar, who finished a close #2 on the weekly charts with ₹36.96 Lakhs in total earnings and two flagship title victories.
Other top scorers for the week included Vivek Singh, Ankit Wadhawan, Areyann Gurbaxani, and Abhimanyu Mittal.
With four days of action left in the National Poker Series India 2023, Sunday will be a blockbuster! However, with WPT Prime India bringing live tournament action back to Goa on April 12, online turnouts have significantly declined. With the series slated to run in Goa until April 18, next week may notice further reduced online traffic.
But the possibility of declining numbers does not mean there are exciting things for online poker lovers to look forward to.
Just after the NPS, PokerBaazi’s PLO Championship will commence its second edition. With over ₹5 Crores in guaranteed prizes, players can enjoy non-stop PLO-4, PLO-5, and PLO-6 action from April 20 to 30. The series features 13 listed tournaments as trophy events and ₹10 Lakhs in real cash bonus set aside for the top-30 ranked players on the series leaderboard.
MPL Poker is back with its Cash Bash promotion offering up to 66% rakeback on cash tables and ₹8 Crores in guaranteed winnings in April. Players also stand a chance to win up to ₹20 Lakhs each this month. New sign-ups in April can claim a massive ₹30,000 Welcome Bonus.
PokerSaint`s brand-new April Cash Game Festival has a daily prize pool of ₹20 Lakhs awaiting cash game players. To participate, simply play on any cash table and accumulate VIP points to climb the Gold, Platinum, and Diamond leaderboards. With exciting rewards paid out every 6-hour RACE, you can showcase your skills and reap the rewards.
IndiaPlays is giving away free tickets to the ₹26+ Lakhs GTD IndiaPlays Bounty Championship to depositing players. The budget bounty series started on April 7, with 96 tournaments, guaranteed prize pools of ₹26 Lakhs, and additional bounty prizes for every player you eliminate. With buy-ins starting at just ₹55, IBC is the perfect battleground for micro and small-stakes tournament players.
In a critical industry development, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi granted his assent to the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling & Regulation of Online Games Bill 2022, which aims to ban all real-money online gaming in the state. Offenders could face imprisonment, fines, or both. Many top gaming platforms have stopped accepting players from Tamil Nadu, with others expected to follow suit once the same is published in the state gazette.
The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) recently notified the much-awaited final rules to regulate the online gaming industry, which includes appointing multiple Self-Regulatory Organisations (SRO) to decide which games are permissible. Gaming companies must ensure that their games are approved by an SRO before publishing them. The rules mandate banning online games or sites involving wagering, including advertising, and mandatory KYC verification for all online gamers.
In a significant setback to casino operators, the Bombay High Court in Goa dismissed petitions from casino companies challenging a government directive requiring them to pay the unpaid license fees from the COVID-19 lockdown period. The court emphasized that businesses, including casinos, must fulfill their financial obligations during the pandemic, which has impacted the government’s resources.
WPT Global named Ethan “Rampage” Yau its first-ever online poker content and brand ambassador! The popular poker vlogger will showcase the platform, engage the community with different activities, and play in the upcoming April tournaments on the site.
Online Railbird Report
This past week brought on abundant action for online tournament players with the India Turbo Masters 3.0 on Spartan Poker and the National Poker Series 2023 on PokerBaazi, setting the virtual felts ablaze.
The mystery player ‘wildernesscove’ stole the show, winning a staggering ₹38.75 Lakhs from a career-defining Sunday. The player seized Spartan Poker’s ITM showstopper, ₹2 Crores GTD ITM #113 Main Event, for a personal-best ₹34.71 Lakhs (from two stacks) and made another podium finish in ITM #111 Sunday Supersonic (3rd for ₹4.05 Lakhs).
As ‘wildernesscove’ chose to remain anonymous, the “PokerGuru Star of the Week!” title goes to Shashank Shekhar, the week`s second biggest winner. Shekhar won two titles and wrapped up the week with ₹36.96 Lakhs in total earnings. On Thursday, he won Spartan Poker’s ITM #90 Thursday Big Turbo, earning ₹6.91 Lakhs before taking down Adda52-hosted MHW Colossus on Sunday. Sidestepping 74 other top regs (96 total entries) in the ₹1 Crore GTD tournament, Shekhar eventually struck a heads-up deal to win ₹26.07 Lakhs (his third-best online score).
His top finishes include:
> 1st in Adda52’s MHW Colossus for ₹26.07 Lakhs (heads-up deal)
> 1st in Spartan Poker’s ITM #90 Thursday Big Turbo 6-Max for ₹6.91 Lakhs (heads-up deal)
> 11th in Adda52’s MHW Topliners for 1.87 Lakhs
Vivek Singh was the other trailblazer and made away with ₹36.36 Lakhs this week on the back of three final table scores. His two seven-figure paydays came in Spartan Poker’s ITM #113 Main Event (3rd for ₹14.43 Lakhs) and Adda52’s MHW Colossus (4th for ₹11 Lakhs) on Sunday.
His top finishes include:
> 3rd in Spartan Poker’s ITM #113 Main Event for ₹14.43 Lakhs (from 3 stacks)
> 4th in Adda52’s MHW Colossus for ₹11 Lakhs
> 2nd in Spartan Poker’s ITM #81 Wednesday Big Turbo 6-Max for ₹6.06 Lakhs (heads-up deal)
> 8th in Spartan Poker’s ITM #90 Thursday Big Turbo 6-Max for ₹1.06 Lakhs
Ankit Wadhawan was another top pro headlining the weekly charts, netting a massive ₹30.92 Lakhs and crossing ₹4 Crores in tracked online profits. Wadhawan posted an impressive seven final table finishes this past week, most notably chopping Adda52’s MHW Colossus (2nd for ₹22.43 Lakhs) with Shashank Shekhar.
His top finishes include:
> 2nd in Adda52’s MHW Colossus for ₹22.43 Lakhs (heads-up deal)
> 5th in Spartan Poker’s ITM #90 Thursday Big Turbo 6-Max for ₹2.26 Lakhs
> 3rd in PokerBaazi’s NPS#43 Deepdive for ₹1.62 Lakhs
Upcoming poker talent Areyann Gurbaxani has been on a fantastic run at the record-breaking NPS India 2023. He is the only player to have won three gold medals in the ongoing series that has catapulted him to the #1 position on the NPS Podium leaderboard. He was one of the most power-packed performers of the week, winning three tournaments and posting a runner-up finish, netting ₹21.73 Lakhs altogether.
His top finishes include:
> 2nd in Adda52’s MHW Big Game for ₹9.91 Lakhs (heads-up deal)
> 1st in PokerBaazi’s NPS#59 Sunday Kick-Off for ₹4.38 Lakhs
> 1st in PokerBaazi’s NPS#49 (7-Max) SPRINT for ₹3.12 Lakhs
> 1st in Adda52’s Friday Bounty for ₹1.10 Lakhs
Abhimanyu Mittal added ₹19.09 Lakhs across his weekly run from five final table finishes and bagged the NPS gold medal in PokerBaazi’s NPS#55 Friday Force (₹7.74 Lakhs).
His top finishes include:
> 1st in PokerBaazi’s NPS#55 Friday Force for ₹7.74 Lakhs
> 4th in PokerBaazi’s NPS#56 HighRoller for 5.27 Lakhs
> 3rd in Spartan Poker’s ITM #89 Thursday Supersonic for ₹2.51 Lakhs
Laksh Pal Singh, Gaurav Sood, Saurabh Rohilla, Goonjan Mall, Puneet Dua, and Shagun Jain were the week’s other top online scorers.
Notable Winners of the Week
Player Prize Amount Event Poker Site
“wildernesscove” ₹34.44 Lakhs ITM #113 Main Event ₹2 Crores GTD Spartan Poker
Shashank Shekhar ₹26.07 Lakhs MHW Colossus ₹1 Crore GTD Adda52
Puneet Dua ₹12.70 Lakhs NPS#56 HighRoller ₹1 Crore GTD PokerBaazi
Ujjwal Narwal ₹10.91 Lakhs MHW Big Game ₹50 Lakhs GTD Adda52
“1levelup” ₹8.47 Lakhs NPS#61 Mini Main Event ₹75 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Pramod Kumar ₹8.32 Lakhs ITM #111 Sunday SuperSonic ₹40 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Rohit Mishra ₹8.21 Lakhs NPS#42 Big Knockout (PKO) ₹30 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Abhimanyu Mittal ₹7.74 Lakhs NPS#55 Friday Force ₹50 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Anuj Yadav ₹7.04 Lakhs ITM #81 Wednesday Big Turbo ₹25 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Shashank Shekhar ₹6.91 Lakhs ITM #90 Thursday Big Turbo (6 Max) ₹30 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“NikitaLuther” ₹6.69 Lakhs NPS#48 (PLO-4) HighRoller ₹30 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Vikram Mishra ₹6.28 Lakhs NPS#74 (PLO-5) HighRoller ₹30 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Saransh Garg ₹6.20 Lakhs ITM #98 Friday SuperSonic (6-Max) ₹40 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Shagun Jain ₹6.12 Lakhs Godfather ₹25 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Ishaan Pandya ₹5.44 Lakhs NPS#68 Big Knockout ₹25 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“$0gani22” ₹5.16 Lakhs ITM #89 Thursday Supersonic ₹25 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Saurabh Rohila ₹4.77 Lakhs NPS#60 KnockOut (PKO) ₹20 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Tanmay Benara ₹4.38 Lakhs ITM #80 Wednesday Supersonic ₹25 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Areyann Gurbaxani ₹4.38 Lakhs NPS#59 Sunday Kickoff ₹25 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“AllwaysTilting” ₹4.27 Lakhs Tuesday High Roller (6 Max) ₹15 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Satyapal ₹4.18 Lakhs ITM #112 DeepStack Turbo ₹18 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Abhishek Batra ₹3.85 Lakhs NPS#57 SPRINT ₹20 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Sanat Mehrotra ₹3.47 Lakhs The Mint ₹14 Lakhs GTD Adda52
“aajtohogaa” ₹3.44 Lakhs NPS#62 Sunday ₹30 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Prashanth Sekar ₹3.33 Lakhs NPS#43 DeepDive ₹15 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Areyann Gurbaxani ₹3.12 Lakhs NPS#49 (7-Max) SPRINT ₹15 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Sanat Mehrotra ₹3.07 Lakhs Mega Stack ₹17 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Pradip Ghosh ₹3.01 Lakhs Maverick ₹15 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Samyak Sethi ₹2.95 Lakhs NPS#75 SPRINT ₹15 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Adwait Pol ₹2.75 Lakhs Sunday Special [8-Max] PKO ₹15 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Vishal Bajaj ₹2.63 Lakhs The Colosseum [6-Max] ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Avneesh Munjal ₹2.63 Lakhs NPS#69 Deepdive ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Vaibhav Bhatia ₹2.59 Lakhs Sunday HighRoller ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Harsh Dev Jhirmiria ₹2.51 Lakhs NPS#53 Slamdunk ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Advait Rajguru ₹2.49 Lakhs NPS#58 Marathon ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Ashish Ahuja ₹2.45 Lakhs ITM #108 DST ₹10 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Kapil Sethi ₹2.41 Lakhs NPS#64 Sunday Sail ₹15 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Gaurav Sood ₹2.39 Lakhs Bounty Builder HR ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
“roshan789” ₹2.36 Lakhs NPS#76 MegaDive ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Aniket Waghmare ₹2.27 Lakhs NPS#41 SPRINT ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Bharat Vasan ₹2.22 Lakhs NPS#46 Mega Rally ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Mohak Kapoor ₹2.19 Lakhs The Big Bash [8-Max] PKO ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
“John_wick1399” ₹2.16 Lakhs Pocket Kings ₹12 Lakhs GTD Pocket52
“ManiakGod” ₹2.15 Lakhs NPS#50 D eepDive ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Vinayak Bajaj ₹2.13 Lakhs Sunday Showdown ₹10 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Vikram Mishra ₹2.12 Lakhs NPS#47 SlamDunk ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Siddharth Pandey ₹2.04 Lakhs The Cashmaker - Triple Chance ₹8.50 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Mayank Maruka ₹2.03 Lakhs NPS#44 Hyper SPRINT ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Gurpal Singh ₹2 Lakhs Iron Man ₹8 Lakhs GTD Adda52
“kohal23” ₹1.99 Lakhs NPS#63 (PLO-6) SPRINT ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Satyam Verma ₹1.91 Lakhs ITM #110 Triple Chance Turbo ₹10 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Ankit Jajodia ₹1.88 Lakhs NPS#52 (PLO-5) Slam Dunk ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“anuragbamba” ₹1.73 Lakhs NPS#71 SlamDunk ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Hemant Meena ₹1.69 Lakhs ITM #99 Trilpe Chance DST ₹10 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Siddharth Pandey ₹1.68 Lakhs ITM #82 DST ₹7 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Karan Radia ₹1.63 Lakhs Monster Stack PKO ₹7.5 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
“AllwaysTilting” ₹1.35 Lakhs ITM #88 DST 7 Max ₹7 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Bibhu Agarwal ₹1.32 Lakhs NPS#70 SPRINT ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Aryan Singh ₹1.30 Lakhs ITM #91 Turbo ₹6.50 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Vikranth Varma ₹1.20 Lakhs NPS#66 SPRINT ₹8 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Buhr Advirkar ₹1.19 Lakhs ITM #114 Turbo ₹7 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
“Kalli420” ₹1.11 Lakhs Pocket Bullets ₹6 Lakhs GTD Pocket52
Areyann Gurbaxani ₹1.10 Lakhs Friday Bounty ₹4 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Manish Jangid ₹1.09 Lakhs ITM #109 ₹6 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“Pay2Win” ₹1.08 Lakhs Pocket Rockets 6 Lakhs GTD Pocket52
Kriti Kuksal ₹1.07 Lakhs ITM #87 ₹6 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Samay Singh Modi ₹1.05 Lakhs NPS#40 (PLO-6) SPRINT ₹7 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“sonju” ₹1.05 Lakhs ITM #100 Turbo ₹4.50 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“@k@shikrecords” ₹98K Eliminator [8-Max] ₹4 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
“magician2799” ₹96K NPS#67 DeepDive ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Mayank Maruka ₹95K Pocket Jacks ₹5 Lakhs GTD Pocket52
Laxmi Narayan Meena ₹92K NPS #65 Knockout ₹6 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Praveen Rana ₹85K NPS#45 (4-Max) Hyper SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Vivek Rawat ₹77K ITM #96 ₹4 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Mahima Walia Das ₹74K ITM #92 Turbo DeepStack ₹4 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
PokerSaint’s April Cash Game Festival Has ₹20 Lakhs in Daily Rewards
PokerSaint is hosting an exciting April Cash Game Festival, where you can win from a daily prize pool of ₹20 Lakhs. To participate, simply play on any cash table and accumulate VIP points to qualify for the Gold, Platinum, and Diamond leaderboards. You can win superb rewards every 6 hours by reaching specific VIP point milestones.
Read the complete report here.
MPL Poker’s April Promotions Guarantee ₹8 Crores in Winnings
MPL Poker is offering players a chance to win big in April with a guaranteed ₹8 Crores in winnings across cash games, tournaments, and more. The player-favorite Cash Bash promotion is back, offering up to 66% rakeback on cash tables, with a potential ₹5 Crores in total winnings. Additionally, new users who register in April can claim a massive ₹30,000 Welcome Bonus.
Read the complete report here.
PokerBaazi’s PLO Championship 2.0 Returns With ₹5+ Crores in Guaranteed Prizes
India’s first PLO-only tournament series, PokerBaazi’s PLO Championship, is returning for a second edition from April 20 to 30. With over ₹5 Crores in guaranteed prizes, the tournament series offers non-stop PLO-4, PLO-5, and PLO-6 action, with buy-ins starting from just ₹825. The series features 13 listed tournaments as trophy events, with players ranked on the series’ leaderboard getting a share ₹10 Lakhs in real cash bonus.
Read the complete report here.
Deposit on IndiaPlays to Win Free Tickets to the IndiaPlays Bounty Championship
IndiaPlays`s budget bounty tournament series, the ₹26+ Lakhs GTD IndiaPlays Bounty Championship, has kept the micro and small-stakes tournament players busy since April 7. The three-week-long tournament series has 96 bounty tournaments on offer and guaranteed prize pools of ₹26 Lakhs with bounty rewards on top. The buy-ins start at ₹55, and you can win a free ticket to the IBC marquees through nine attractive Deposit Offers.
Read the complete report here.
With this, we conclude this week’s round-up of the latest news updates and developments from the world of poker. We will return next week with our weekly report. Stay tuned.