This Week in Poker: August 29 – September 4

This Week in Poker
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  • PG News September 4, 2018
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In the PokerGuru feature ‘This Week in Poker’ we bring to you the weekly round-up of the biggest online scores by Indian MTT players along with the top stories from both the live and online poker circuit.

Here are this week`s top stories

It’s been an action-packed week in the world of poker, and while tournament poker action was at its peak at the 2018 European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona that ran through its concluding week to finally close on September 2, many big online and live tournaments are coming soon to set the felts on fire!

The top-of-the-line attractions include the $60 Million partypoker Powerfest and PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) that have already rolled out on September 2, while India’s first long-run poker league, the Global Poker League (GPL) India is opening to its Bootcamp on September 8. The upcoming World Poker Tour (WPT) Korea and Vietnam stops will add to the glitter of poker action in the weeks to come.

The 2018 EPT Barcelona concluded with many events running their course to crown winners, including the €5,300 Main Event that was won by Polish player Piotr Nurzynski. Kunal Punjwani was the only Indian who managed to run deep in the Main Event, with a 176th place finish for €10,770 (~₹8.91 Lakhs).

On the domestic side, the countdown begins for the Global Poker League (GPL) India Bootcamp that is being hosted in New Delhi on September 8. Bringing 60 worthy qualifiers together for the first time, the Bootcamp is where all the action and drama promises to be! 12 of these 60 hopefuls will make it to six city-based teams that will compete for the PSPC Platinum Pass through the GPL India Regular Season starting on September 15.

Even as Indian challengers missed out on participating in the PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) due to the gaming operator’s ring-fenced site, many big names are in the fray in the online series that features a total of 61 tournaments.

partypoker’s biggest stage – POWERFEST is back as well. Starting from September 2, this series consists of 670 tournaments with a jaw-dropping prize pool of over $60 Million, scheduled across three weeks till September 23.

Meanwhile the buzz in the social media has already begun for the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Korea that will be hosted in Incheon, South Korea from September 18-24 and WPT Vietnam, scheduled from September 26 to October 4. Even as WSOP bracelet winner Nikita Luther will be leading seasoned pros Kunal Patni, Amit Jain and Dhaval Mudgal in the first-ever WPT Global Teams Event at WPT Korea, many other players are discussing their travel plans and exchanging information on travel and lodging, to participate.

The 2018 Poker Masters series will be visiting Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on September 6 and will run through till September 15, featuring a total of seven tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $10,550 to $103,000.

The virtual felts were enraptured with high-octane action as our “PokerGuru Star of the Week” Rubin ‘kornkid’ Labroo headlined the winners by taking down the Baazi Super Sunday (BSS) ₹15 Lakhs GTD SuperStack on India`s most trusted poker site PokerBaazi for an impressive ₹3.45 Lakhs. The Khelo365 Colossal Leaderboard announced the names of its leaderboard toppers including NETHAA’ (Gold Leaderboard for ₹1 Lakh), ‘Mohanlal’ (Silver Leaderboard for ₹60,000) and ‘triCkydOn’ (Bronze Leaderboard for ₹22,000).

The domestic front was teaming with news and updates beginning with the opening of the Pakyong Airport in Sikkim will be a gigantic boost to the casino industry.

However, on the down side, PokerNation has decided to part ways with Microgaming Network and cease its operations from September 15.

Nevertheless, All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) has launched the ‘Pro Series’ that will begin on September 4.

We wrap up this week’s recap with tournament reports from EPT Barcelona, Unibet Poker Belgian Championship and WPT500 Los Angeles.

Online Railbird Report

The BSS ₹15 Lakhs GTD SuperStack overshot its guarantee this past Sunday and taking advantage of the increased payouts, Rubin kornkidLabroo crushed the 197 strong entry field and took away the grand prize of ₹3.45 Lakhs and the title of “PokerGuru Star of the Week”.

Rubin Labroo
Rubin Labroo

Other notable scores of the week include –

‘GSK1515’ won ₹2.85 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Special ₹15 Lakhs GTD’

‘AceRag’ won ₹1.75 Lakhs for 1st place in PokerBaazi ‘BSS PLO ₹5 Lakhs GTD’

Pranjal ‘lilmessi’ Gandhi won ₹1.16 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘The Monster 6-Max ₹5 Lakh GTD’

Akshay ‘sherlock52’ Nasa won ₹1.10 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘BSS ₹5 Lakhs GTD MegaStacks’

‘22AD83’ won ₹52,947 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Stars ₹2 Lakhs GTD’

‘ztpr’ won ₹44,736 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Storm ₹3 Lakhs GTD’

Rambabu ‘GIXXER9’ Patel won ₹25,696 for 1st place in the MadOverPoker ‘Dynamite’

‘tiltlovesme’ won ₹21,677 for 1st place in the MadOverPoker ‘Grenade’

‘sush2209’ won ₹17,359 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Warm-Up ₹1 Lakhs GTD’

Puneet ‘MujheMatRoko’ Arora won ₹14,943 for 1st place in the MadOverPoker ‘Madhouse’

‘HeartBreakKid’ won ₹8,935 for 1st place in the MadOverPoker ‘Madhouse’

PokerLion Announces ₹1 Lakh GTD Sign-up Freeroll

On the heels of the launch of its Android app, India’s newest poker site PokerLion.com has announced a ₹1 Lakh Guaranteed Sign-up freeroll for players which is open to all first-time registrants.

Read the complete story here.

PokerNation Parts Ways WithMicrogaming Network, Poker Operations to Discontinue on Sep 15

This past week, online poker site PokerNation ended its relationship with the international software provider Microgaming Network, while announcing that they would be discontinuing operations from September 15.

Read the complete story here.

Six Plus Hold ‘em Variant Likely to Launch on PokerStars

Hot on the heels of its various game launches this year, PokerStars is assessing the possibility of launching a new Hold ‘em variant, the Six Plus Hold ‘em. The game has picked up popularity in Asian circuit in recent years and is offered at many casinos and sites in Europe, Russia and the US as well.

Read the complete story here.

Domestic Casino Industry Expected to Get a Huge Boost With SpiceJet Commencing Flights From Sikkim’s Pakyong Airport Starting Oct 4

The opening of the first airport in the north-eastern state of Sikkim, Pakyong Airport, from October 4, is expected to be a huge boost to the state’s economy, including the domestic casino industry as Sikkim is the only location in India that legally allows casinos to operate on land.

Read the complete story here.

All India Gaming Federation to Launch ‘Pro Series’ Starting Sep 4

The ‘Pro Series’ was launched this week by the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) and will comprise of a Masterclass featuring select poker pros, followed by tournaments held at the Deltin Royale in Goa.

Read the complete story here.

EPT Barcelona 2018

The action was feverishly thrilling at Casino Barcelona in the past week where the 2018 European Poker Tour (EPT) concluded after yet another week of exciting tournaments with attractive buy-ins and impressive guarantees.

The biggest showstopper of the week was the €5,300 Main Event where a record-breaking 1,931 entries congregated over two starting flights.

A total of six Indian challengers, namely Kunal Punjwani, PokerBaazi Team Pro Abhisek Panda, PokerStars India Team Pro and GPL India Delhi Diehards Manager Muskan Sethi, Young Gun Abhinav Iyer, Samay Parikh and Charu Vikram Kaushik entered the Main Event. While Panda busted out in the opening flight 1B itself, Sethi, Iyer, Parikh and Kaushik fell out empty-handed on Day 2.

Punjwani was the lone Indian who managed to add to his scorecard, with a 176th place finish, for which he banked €10,770 (~₹8.91 Lakhs). Punjwani’s run also warrants mention for the fact that he made it to Day 3 play and even railed six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu out of the Main Event.

Kunal Punjwani
Kunal Punjwani

Read the complete story here.

The event was eventually taken down by online qualifier from Poland, Piotr Nurzynski who beat Haoxiang Wang in the heads-up to claim the top payday of €1,037,109. The final four players had entered a deal and pre-locked different amounts, and since Nurzynski had already locked up his PSPC Platinum Pass being the last online qualifier standing, the second Platinum Pass was awarded to runner-up Wang.

Piotr Nurzynski
Piotr Nurzynski

Read the complete story here.

Overall across two weeks of action at the 2018 EPT Barcelona, a total of four Indians posted scores.

2018 EPT Barcelona Indian Cashes

2018 EPT Barcelona Indian Cashes
2018 EPT Barcelona Indian Cashes

Meanwhile, the grand poker festival concluded, with winners crowned in various other events, including Max Silver, Andras Nemeth, Alexander Petersen and Benjamin Pollak.

2018 EPT Barcelona Winners

2018 EPT Barcelona Winners
2018 EPT Barcelona Winners

888poker Live London Festival Starts From November 22

The 888poker Live London festival will be hosted by the Aspers casino from November 22 till December 3 and several poker heavyweights are expected to attend including Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi, Scott Blumstein, Joe Cada and Tony Miles.

Read the complete story here.

WPT & partypoker Announce Schedule For Season XVII WPT Montreal Festival

Scheduled for the highly anticipated Season XVII WPT Montreal Festival, being jointly hosted by the World Poker Tour (WPT) and partypoker Live has been announced. The festival will begin on October 21 and continue through to November 4.

Read the complete story here.

World Poker Tour & partypoker LIVE Enter 4-Year Partnership

The World Poker Tour (WPT) has announced that it is entering a four-year partnership with partypoker LIVE, in a bid to offer global poker players more options on poker. The two poker giants will host seven events across Canada and Europe, with each having a prize pool guarantee of up to €3 Million.

Read the complete story here.

WSOP May Move to Caesars Forum

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is rumored to be shifted to the upcoming Caesars Forum convention hall post completion in 2020. Though Caesars Entertainment has officially denied this early in August, a Las Vegas blog have claimed insider information that the company is giving serious thought to making the move.

Read the complete story here.

Christophe De Meulder Wins 2018 Unibet Poker Belgian Championship Main Event

Belgium’s Christophe De Meulder outlasted a field of 438 runners to win the 2018 Unibet Poker Belgian Championship €550 Main Event for €42,020.

Christophe De Meulder
Christophe De Meulder

Read the complete story here.

Michael Copeland Wins WPT500 Los Angeles For $181,950

Starting over 16 starting flights, the $500+70 NLHE WPT500 Los Angeles attracted 2,509 runners and saw two final days of play and outlasting the field, Michael Copeland took down the event for his career-best score of $181,950. Indian origin player Sanjay Mayekar final tabled the event and finished in seventh place for $28,960.

Michael Copeland
Michael Copeland

Read the complete story here.

And with this, we conclude this week’s round up of the latest news updates and developments from the world of poker. We will return again next week with our weekly report, stay tuned!

Related Articles:

1. Sunday Online Railbird Report: Rubin ‘kornkid’ Labroo Crushes the BSS ₹15 Lakhs GTD SuperStack on PokerBaazi For ₹3.45 Lakhs

2. PokerLion Announces ₹1 Lakh GTD Sign-up Freeroll

3. Domestic Casino Industry Expected to Get a Huge Boost With SpiceJet Commencing Flights From Sikkim’s Pakyong Airport Starting Oct 4

4. All India Gaming Federation to Launch ‘Pro Series’ Starting Sep 4

5. EPT Barcelona 2018: Indian Challenger Kunal Punjwani Finishes 176th in Main Event, Mark Buckley Leads 56 Runners For Day 4

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