This Week in Poker: December 23 – 29

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 are now on the penultimate day of the year and before it ends, let’s take a final look at the week that just passed us by in our last ‘This Week in Poker’ recap for 2020.

As has been the case for months now, the virtual felts witnessed electrifying action, especially with Spartan Poker hosting the final Millionaire tourney of the year. The tourney crowned a champion in 27-year-old Shyam Kumar, who bagged a career-best ₹17.19 Lakhs, along with the “PokerGuru Star of the Week” title!

The runner-up Avijit Jaiswal locked in an impressive ₹9.50 Lakhs and walked away with a cumulative ₹10.09 Lakhs in winnings on Sunday.

Manish Lakhotia, PokerGuru Ambassador Arjanveer Singh Chadha, Ashok Kumar Kailash, Abhishek Goindi, Ashok Kumar Kailash, and Young Gun Ujjwal Narwal were among the other big scorers of the week.

PokerStars India`s ‘Star of the Month’ – December leaderboard race completed its Week #4 run on Sunday. Topping the final round of 25 qualifiers was Palash Nandwani, who topped the charts with 467 TLB points after shipping the Sunday Special PKO. The finale is slated for 9 PM tonight.

PokerDangal’s ₹5 Lakhs GTD GLORY came to a close on December 26, with Aniruddha Joshi, aka ‘Pocketaces_’ coming out on top to win ₹1.25 Lakhs. That`s not all! He also booked himself a berth as a team member of the Kolkata Kings at Poker Sports League’s (PSL) upcoming Season 3 Virtual!

Spartan Poker is all set to dominate the poker felts in the New Year with the 10^th edition of its flagship India Online Poker Championship (IOPC) series making a comeback from January 14 to 31. The series offers a whopping ₹28 Crores in prize pool guarantees, and further sweetening the deal, the site has rolled out an extensive range of deposit offers to all the series’ featured events and other star attractions.

Moving to the international sphere, the WSOP.com leg of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event took place at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on December 28. Louisiana’s Joseph Hebert emerged victorious, banking a jaw-dropping $1.553 Million payday. He will now face off against Argentinian pro Damian Salas, who had shipped the international leg (GGPoker/Natural8) of the Main Event on January 3 to determine who will become the 51st World Champion!

Online Railbird Report

‘Tis was a week of festive celebrations, and lighting up the virtual felts was the final Millionaire edition of the year. 27-year-old Shyam Kumar outran a field of 2,040 entries to enter the elite “Millionaire`s Club” for a whopping ₹17.19 Lakhs. Kumar, who hails from Gaya and is an alumnus of IIM Lucknow, had won his way into Day 1C through a ₹330 satellite. Kumar`s trailblazing win not only made him the final Millionaire champion of 2020 but also the year’s last “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

Avijit Jaiswal pocketed ₹9.50 Lakhs for his runner-up finish in The Millionaire, while also placing 42^nd in the tourney for another ₹27,336, to collectively earn ₹9.77 Lakhs. Along with a 12^th place finish in PokerStars India’s Sunday Highroller for ₹31,586, Jaiswal added ₹10.09 Lakhs to his bankroll on Sunday.

Manish Lakhotia was another MTT reg who featured among the week`s standout winners. While Lakhotia banked a runner-up score worth ₹4.06 Lakhs in The Elite on Friday, he followed that up with a fourth-place score in Adda52’s Mega Suits on Sunday for ₹2.25 Lakhs. With two more FT scores in The Mint and the Mega Stack on Tuesday, Lakhotia earned well over ₹8.96 Lakhs through the week.

PokerGuru Ambassador Arjanveer Singh Chadha is another name that made the top winners list. Chadha captured PokerBaazi’s Wednesday flagship, The Pride, for ₹2.21 Lakhs. Just two days later, he placed fourth in Adda52’s The Ballers for ₹1.87 Lakhs. He hogged the limelight again on Sunday when he took down the Adda52 Millions for ₹4.74 Lakhs, all in all, adding ₹8.83 Lakhs to his week`s tally.

Ashok Kumar Kailash (Sunday SuperStack ₹35 Lakhs GTD for ₹6.77 Lakhs), Abhishek Goindi (3^rd for ₹6.50 Lakhs, 215^th for ₹10,812 in The Millionaire ₹1 Crore GTD), Ashok Kumar Kailash (Sunday SuperStack ₹35 Lakhs GTD for ₹6.77 Lakhs) and Young Gun Ujjwal Narwal (The Elite ₹25 Lakhs GTD for ₹5.99 Lakhs) were the other top scorers of the week.

The notable winners of the week include –

Palash Nandwani Tops Final Week Qualifiers For PokerStars India December Leaderboard Finale

PokerStars India’s ‘Star of the Month’ – December leaderboard race saw the final group of 25 qualifiers making it to the finale. Palash Nandwani topped the weekly standings with 467 TLB points.

The 100 December qualifiers will be converging for the finale at 9 PM tonight. The winner will be declared the “Star of the Month’” – December and will receive MTT tickets worth ₹1.15 Lakhs, with the runner-up to take home ₹35,000 worth of tournament tickets.

Read the complete report here

Spartan Poker Announces Mega Deposit Codes For ₹28 Crores GTD IOPC 2021

The announcement of the 10^th edition of Spartan Poker`s India Online Poker Championship (IOPC) set the poker community buzzing with excitement. And taking the excitement several notches higher was the rollout of an entire range of deposit offers by the site. Players can win tickets to marquee IOPC tourneys by making deposits starting as little as ₹2,500.

Read the complete report here

Joseph Hebert Wins WSOP.com Leg of WSOP Main Event

The final table of the WSOP.com leg of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event played out at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on December 28. Louisiana’s Joseph Hebert, who had entered the final table as the chip leader, defeated Ron Jenkins heads-up to win a life-changing $1.553 Million. He will be facing the GGPoker-leg Main Event champion, Damian Salas, on January 3 over the bragging rights of becoming the 51^st World Champion and the additional $1 Million reserved for the winner.

Three-time bracelet champion Upeksha De Silva was disqualified from the FT and handed out the ninth-place payout after he tested positive for COVID-19.

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 in the New Year. Till then, stay safe and enjoy your New Year celebrations!