This Week in Poker: August 26 – September 1

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!

We enter September with some very attractive tournament and cash game announcements by the leading online platforms. And right on time too, since online action was relatively sluggish this week, with the vast majority of the weekly flagships registering overlays.

Walking away with the biggest prize on the domestic felts was former GameChanger champion, Shagun Jain. Jain outlasted a 1,721-player field in Adda52’s Full House Finale to win ₹25 Lakhs. For his phenomenal run, Jain is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

Vikaash ‘vicky0809’ Shah, who finished runner-up to Jain, scored ₹13 Lakhs.

The IIT Kanpur alumni Ayush ‘HighHopes’ Garg was another mover and shaker. Garg championed Spartan Poker`s flagship The Millionaire last Sunday, climbing on top of the 1,971-strong field to win a personal-best ₹12.60 Lakhs! If that was not enough, he went ahead to champion PokerBaazi’s BSS MegaStack the same day for ₹1.77 Lakhs to earn a combined ₹14.37 Lakhs.

Next on the list of this week`s top scorers is Millionaire runner-up Neeraj ‘SelfClaimedPros’ Kumar, who netted ₹11.63 Lakhs, and Vikranth ‘borntrouble’ Varma, who won two titles – Adda52’s Godfather for ₹7.05 Lakhs and PokerBaazi’s The Crest for ₹2.12 Lakhs!

Like we said, September is promising high-octane across the major sites! PokerBaazi has a crackling lineup of promotions lined up this month like the Cash Dash, the ₹2 Crores GTD Game Changer 4.0, and the second edition of the Indian Micro Poker Series (IMPS).

The company’s sister concern, RummyBaazi, has its own reasons to cheer after raising $3 Million (~₹22.15 Crores) in funding last week.

MTT enthusiasts have the third edition of Spartan Poker`s Grand Poker Series to look forward to. With ₹10 Crores guaranteed across an 11-day schedule, the series is headlined by the ₹2 Crore GTD Main Event, ₹1 Crore GTD GPS The Millionaire, and the ₹50 Lakhs GTD GPS Battlefield.

Pocket52 loyalists have the Ship-It Series to keep them busy this month. With ₹4.50 Crores in prize pool guarantees & ₹19 Lakhs in Leaderboard prizes, there is an abundance of value on offer for MTT players.

Not to be left behind, Khelo365 is running a very lucrative “No TDS” promotion on all cashouts on its site. The brand has confirmed that is has paid over ₹25 Lakhs in TDS on behalf of its players already!

Moving over to the other top stories of the week, the Mayor of Panaji, Uday Madkaikar, rubbished the earlier reports in media that the Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP) was reviewing its decision of not renewing the trade licenses to offshore casinos. He made it clear that the CCP was firm on its stance of not renewing the trade licenses of Goa casinos.

The online rummy sector has made its way back in the news. A practicing lawyer, M. Vinoth, filed a petition in the Madras High Court seeking a ban on the online rummy platforms with foreign stake while underlining the need for regulating the online rummy sector.

In the U.S., free-to-play mobile poker app PokerBros has been removed from the Apple app store, though the poker company claims this is a temporary issue.

The 8th Annual Ed Asner & Friends Celebrity Poker Tournament was a star-studded event that played out online on August 29. American actor Clancy Brown claimed the trophy and later donated it in a silent auction conducted by the Ed Asner Family Center to help individuals with autism, development delays, and other special needs.

We’re now into the final week of the 2020 WSOP Online series, and making heads turn this week was the $25 Million GTD Event #71: $5,000 Main Event. With 5,802 entries coming in over 23 starting flights, the Main Event defied all predictions by entering the record books for generating a $27,559,500 prize pool – the biggest-ever collected by an online poker tournament! Only 38 players now remain for Day 2 that will play out on Sunday, with Bryan “smbdySUCKme” Piccioli (18,417,492) in the lead.

A total of 19 Indians finished ITM in the Main Event, but the most standout performance of the week was delivered by India’s “Iwanashipit”, who finished third in Event #75: $300 Double Stack NLH for $72,204 (~₹52.80 Lakhs). “MisterPro” posted a ninth-place finish in Event #73: $1,000 NLHE 6-Handed for $22,250 (~₹16.42 Lakhs).

Online Railbird Report

The revival of the live poker scene in India may seem bleak now, but the online MTT`s have kept the action on track. After a blockbuster summer, the virtual felts have also seen some decline though, and most of the big-ticket tourneys this past week experienced overlays.

Despite the gradual decrease in online traffic, the online platforms were ambitious enough to offer guarantees to stay in the competition, making it a ‘value-filled’ week for the poker lovers!

Since Sundays usually host the week’s biggest tournaments, it comes as no surprise that the champion of Adda52’s ₹1 Crore GTD Full House Finale, Shagun ‘sogani94’ Jain, is this week’s top winner. While the event suffered a landslide ₹13.95 Lakhs overlay, the Game Changer 2.0 winner trounced a field of 1,721 entries to claim a mouth-watering ₹25 Lakhs payday. For his phenomenal run, Jain is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

In the tournament, Jain’s final opponent was Vikaash’ vicky0809’ Shah, who pocketed a runner-up score of ₹13 Lakhs.

Spartan Poker concluded August with a standalone ₹1 Crore GTD The Millionaire. The event gathered 1,971 entries, falling ₹1.45 Lakhs short of the break-even mark. Ayush ‘HighHopes’ Garg added a Millionaire title to his long list of achievements and a ₹12.60 Lakhs payday after taking down the tourney. He cut a heads-up deal with Neeraj ‘SelfClaimedPros’ Kumar (runner-up for ₹11.63 Lakhs). In fact, Garg went on to ship PokerBaazi’s ₹8 Lakhs GTD BSS MegaStack, on the very same day, for ₹1.77 Lakhs, taking his cumulative Sunday winnings to ₹14.37 Lakhs.

Online reg Vikranth’ borntrouble’ Varma was another standout winner this week for winning two flagship titles. He took down Adda52’s Godfather for ₹7.05 Lakhs and PokerBaazi’s The Crest for ₹2.12 Lakhs. His total tally over these two wins crossed ₹9 Lakhs.

The other notable performers included Alok ‘Mazacar’ Birewar (Spartan Poker’s Sunday SuperStack ₹35 Lakhs GTD for ₹6.92 Lakhs), Young Gun Anmol ‘anzzzzz’ Mehta (Adda52 Millions ₹25 Lakhs GTD for ₹6.86 Lakhs), PokerGuru Ambassador Naresh ‘FreeFlow’ Veeravalli (Spartan Poker’s The Elite ₹35 Lakhs GTD for ₹6.78 Lakhs) and Vinayak ‘koi.toh.rok.lo’ Bajaj (PokerStars India’s The Hercules ₹40 Lakhs GTD for ₹6.55 Lakhs).

The notable scores of the week include –

PokerBaazi Announces Cash Dash, Game Changer 4.0 & IMPS For September

PokerBaazi has announced a fabulous lineup of promotions as part of its ‘Super September’ campaign. There is the Cash Dash promotion for cash game players that will be giving away more than ₹1 Crore in leaderboard prizes over the month.

Coming up mid-week is the ₹5,000 buy-in ₹2 Crores GTD Game Changer 4.0 (September 16 to 20) followed by the second edition of the Indian Micro Poker Series (IMPS) (September 21 to October 4) that’s boasts of over ₹2 Crores in prize pool guarantees across 120-plus events.

Read the complete report here

Spartan Poker’s Grand Poker Series Kicks-off September 3, Guarantees a Massive ₹10 Crores!

The third edition of Spartan Poker`s Grand Poker Series (GPS) kicks-off on September 3. The 11-day series sports a massive ₹10 Crores in prize pool guarantees and is headlined by the ₹2 Crore GTD GPS Main Event, with other highlights being the ₹1 Crore GTD The Millionaire and the ₹50 Lakhs GTD GPS The Battlefield.

Read the complete report here

Pocket52 Launches Ship-It Series in September With ₹4.50 Crores in Prize Pool GTDs & ₹19 Lakhs in Leaderboard Prizes

India`s fastest-growing online poker site, Pocket52, has launched an action-packed Ship-It series running all through September. The series boasts ₹4.5 Crores in prize pool guarantees along with ₹19 Lakhs in leaderboard prizes.

Read the complete report here

Khelo365 Confirms Paying Over ₹25 Lakhs on Behalf of Players as Part of its Alluring “NO TDS” Promotion

Indian poker operator Khelo365 has come out with an alluring “NO TDS” policy across all site cashouts. The site is taking on the burden of paying 100% of all its players’ TDS liability. The site has confirmed paying over ₹25 Lakhs in TDS on behalf of its players.

Read the complete report here

RummyBaazi.com Receives $3 Million (₹22.15 Crores) in Seed Funding

RummyBaazi.com, a subsidiary of Baazi Games (the parent company of PokerBaazi), recently closed a $3 Million (~₹22.15 Crores) seed funding round. Udtara Ventures contributed $2 Million to the online rummy company, while Baazi Games pitched in the remaining $1 Million. The company has clarified that the investments will be directed towards product enhancement and marketing to acquire and strengthen its user base.

Read the complete report here

WSOP Online 2020

The inaugural 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Online is now on its last legs. The crème de la crème of the series, the $25 Million GTD Event #71: $5,000 Main Event set a new world record this past week by registering a whopping 5,802 entries across 23 starting flights, collecting a ginormous $27,559,500 prize pool!

Day 2 of the event played out on August 30, with 1,171 players returning to the felts. Only 728 among them were assured a min-cash of $11,834. Following 13 hours of intense play, the field dwindled down to only 38 runners. Bryan “smbdySUCKme” Piccioli grabbed the pole position with a stack of 18,417,492.

The list of confirmed Indians who finished ITM comprises of 19 names, among which “raavan” (90th for $27,675 – ₹20.34 Lakhs), “nite19” (236th for $20,123 – ₹14.79 Lakhs), “MisterPro” (243rd for $20,123 – ₹14.79 Lakhs) were the top three.

Read the complete report here

In fact, “MisterPro” had come excruciatingly close to claiming India’s second gold bracelet for the series in Event #73: $1,000 NLHE 6-Handed, but ultimately finished ninth for $22,250 (~₹16.42 Lakhs). Canada’s Jim “grousegrind” Lefteruk championed the event for $299,511.

Read the complete report here

Following on “MisterPro’s” heels was another Indian player, “Iwanashipit”, who came within striking distance of the gold bracelet in Event #75: $300 Double Stack NLH. In the end, Norway’s Trygve “FullSendWig” Leite won the bracelet and $130,100, while “Iwanashipit” finished third for $72,204 (~₹52.80 Lakhs).

Read the complete report here

Canada’s Thi Truong became the third female player to claim the WSOP bracelet at the ongoing series after taking down Event #74: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha for $215,938.

Read the complete report here

Besides the Main Event, the other prestigious event at the series was the Event #70: $25,000 NLH POKER PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP that crowned a champion in Christian Rudolph, who banked a hefty $1,800,290 paycheque.

Read the complete report here

One of the series’ three special bracelet events – Event #79: $25,000 Heads-Up NLHE drew 127 entries and is now down to the final four. Headlining the semi-finalists is the retired poker phenom and GGPoker Ambassador Fedor Holz with Spanish poker icon Sergi Reixach, Turkey’s Oktay Kahyaoglu and Brunno Botteon rounding out the other three advancing players.

Read the complete report here

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.