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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!
The high-octane action from January spilled over to February as Spartan Poker’s biggest-ever IOPC 14.0 came to a resounding close on Sunday, even as PokerBaazi’s first-ever PLO Championship took off on Friday.
Topping the weekly charts was none other than the country’s poker stalwart, Aditya Agarwal. The Kolkata-born veteran pro overcame a record 5,173-entry field in the IOPC headliner, ₹5 Crores GTD IOPC #141 The Crown, to win ₹65.93 Lakhs* (from four stacks), storming to #2 in the POY rankings. Agarwal accumulated a jaw-dropping ₹67.53 Lakhs over the week, making him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”
The IOPC #141 The Crown runner-up finisher, Young Gun Arsh Grover, Abhinav Iyer, Anmol Srivats, Bhanu Prakash KC, Ashish Munot, Gaurav Sood, Sahil Mahboobani, Mahesh Shyamsundar, Eka Vedantham, Sashank Chakravarthy, Mahesh Shyamsundar, Eka Vedantham, and Sashank Chakravarthy were the week`s other top online winners.
Matching the January fervor, poker brands continue to dish out attractive promotions for the tournament and cash game crowd.
PokerMatch India has announced the ₹32 Crores (over €4 Million) GTD PokerMatch Knockout Masters that runs from February 13 – March 14.
IndiaPlays recently unveiled a new and revamped brand identity as a precursor to the launch of its new platform interface, IndiaPlays version 2.0, expected later this year. The platform will host its rake-free ₹25 Lakhs GTD The Dominator Series for micro-stakes grinders from February 16 – March 5.
Gamezy Poker’s February MTT calendar features 140 mid-to-high stakes tournaments, guaranteeing an attractive ₹3.20 Crores in cash prizes.
The APT Hanoi Vietnam VSOP began its 38-event run on February 3, marking the onset of APT’s live events calendar for 2023. Team India has made early inroads, having already bagged a title, posted a runner-up finish, and a host of deep finishes in the festival’s opening week. Headlining the Indian scorecard were the Spartan Poker Team Pros Zarvan Tumboli and Nikita Luther. Tumboli almost won the series-opener Event #1: Kickoff, placing runner-up for VN₫405 Million (3-way deal), with Vietnam’s Phan Minh Duc lifting the trophy and a career-best VN₫520 Million.
Luther placed one better in Event #22: NLH – Super Holdem (3 hole cards) – Hyper Turbo, shipping the event for her maiden APT trophy and the VN₫85.37 Million up top.
Kunal Patni, Amanpreet Singh, poker operator Praveen Dwarkanath, and Alok Birewar were others adding to the Indian scorecard.
In industry developments, the much-awaited 49th GST Council meeting has been postponed to February-end. While all eyes are on how the Council decides to the indirect taxes on the online gaming, casinos, and horseracing sectors, Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs Vivek Johri recently said that all online gaming companies characterized as offering betting services are liable to pay 28% GST on the full value of the bets.
In other updates, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) banned over 230 illegal betting, gambling, and China-based loan apps, believed to be involved in illegal money laundering activities.
West Bengal’s Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, voiced her disapproval on allowing casinos to set shop in West Bengal.
In Tamil Nadu, Rajya Sabha member Anbumani Ramadoss, and the All India Democratic Women’s Association, have strongly advocated for the assent of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Bill 2022.
Poker players planning to make a trip to Las Vegas for the 54th annual World Series of Poker can now draw up their tournament plans. The prestigious festival will run at the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas strip from May 30 to July 18, 2023. The full-blown schedule for the richest poker festival is out, and the upcoming series promises to be the biggest ever, offering 129 gold bracelets, including 95 in live tournaments.
In the other international stories, the three-time WSOP bracelet winner Nick Schulman replaced Gabe Kaplan as the commentator for PokerGO’s High Stakes Poker show.
The 2023 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship wound up this week. Belarusian poker pro Aliaksandr Shylko bested the 1,014-player field to become the second PSPC champion, pocketing the top prize of $3,121,838.
Canada’s Sam Greenwood (Won Event #53: $250,000 Super High Roller for $2,317,100), USA’s Isaac Haxton (Won Event #66: $100,000 7-Handed High Roller for $1,555,360) and Bulgaria’s Ognyan Dimov (Won Event #59: $25,000 NLH PCA High Roller for $990,655) won the last three high rollers at the 2023 PCA.
The eight-event-long PGT Mixed Games series (February 4 – 11) is now well underway at the PokerGO Studio inside the ARIA Resort & Casino. Shaun Deeb (Won Event #1: $10,300 HORSE for $208,800), Eli Elezra (Won Event #3: $10,300 Triple Stud Mix for $155,000), and John Monnette (Won Event #2: $10,300 8-Game) are the first three winners to emerge at the inaugural series.
Online Railbird Report
An action-packed week witnessed the culmination of Spartan Poker’s biggest-ever India Online Poker Championship 14.0. The series showstopper was the ₹5 Crores GTD IOPC #141 The Crown. Day 2 ran on Sunday with 771 qualifying stacks from a starting field of 5,173 entrants. Poker veteran Aditya Agarwal overcame the competition, eventually striking a heads-up deal, to claim the prestigious title for a jaw-dropping ₹65.93 Lakhs* (from four stacks). Agarwal’s weekly haul came in at a hefty ₹67.53 Lakhs, making him the week’s top scorer and our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”
His top finishes include:
> 1st in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #141 The Crown for ₹57,73,215
Young Gun Arsh Grover chopped the IOPC #141 The Crown heads-up with Agarwal, taking home a career-best ₹48.93 Lakhs (from three stacks) in second place. Grover’s nearly evened out with Agarwal in weekly scores falling just whiskers behind with ₹65.36 Lakhs in total winnings, storming to the top of the POY rankings.
His top finishes include:
> 2nd in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #141 The Crown for ₹48,35,055
> 2nd in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #123 Friday High (6-Max) for ₹6,41,004
> 12th in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #136 Sunday Prime for ₹1,01,598
> 1st in PokerStars India’s Master Minds for ₹99,257
> 2nd in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #104 for ₹91,213
Abhinav Iyer posted runner-up finishes in Spartan Poker`s IOPC #115 Mega High Roller and IOPC #29 Sunday High. He finally made the top finish in IOPC #38 Sunday High, accumulating a whopping ₹58.20 Lakhs this past week.
His top finishes include:
> 2nd in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #115 Mega High Roller (6-Max) for ₹37,92,700
> 1st in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #138 Sunday High (6-Max) for ₹14,61,460
> 5th in PokerBaazi’s BSS HighRoller for ₹1,41,000
> 100th in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #141 The Crown for ₹1,13,175
The former Young Gun Anmol Srivats captured the biggest buy-in tournament ever at IOPC, the ₹2.10 Lakhs entry buy-in IOPC #115 Mega High Roller, for ₹53.35 Lakhs, adding ₹53.91 Lakhs over the week.
His top finishes include:
> 1st in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #115 Mega High Roller (6-Max) for ₹53,35,000
Bhanu Prakash KC boosted his bankroll by ₹32.79 Lakhs this week and finished #3 in the IOPC 14.0 leaderboard rankings for an additional ₹18 Lakhs (bonus money).
His top finishes include:
> 3rd in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #141 The Crown for ₹24,64,700
> 1st in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #142 for ₹3,02,486
> 3rd in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #108 Wednesday Spotlight for ₹1,64,527
> 4th in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #117 All Rounder for ₹75,460
> 5th in Spartan Poker’s IOPC #119 for ₹42,891
Ashish Munot, Gaurav Sood, Sahil Mahboobani, Mahesh Shyamsundar, Eka Vedantham, Sashank Chakravarthy, Mahesh Shyamsundar, Eka Vedantham, and Sashank Chakravarthy were the week`s other top online scorers.
Notable Winners of the Week
Player Prize Amount Event Poker Site
Aditya Agarwal ₹57.73 Lakhs IOPC #141 The Crown ₹5 Crores GTD Spartan Poker
Anmol Srivats ₹53.35 Lakhs IOPC #115 Mega High Roller ₹1 Crore GTD Spartan Poker
Md Asraf Ali ₹16.52 Lakhs IOPC #136 Sunday Prime ₹70 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Abhinav Iyer ₹14.61 Lakhs IOPC #138 Sunday High (6-Max) ₹40 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Anand Babu Pallikona ₹12.53 Lakhs The MoneyMaker ₹1 Crore GTD PokerBaazi
Vishal Ojha ₹10.24 Lakhs IOPC #122 Friday Prime ₹60 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Mahesh Shyamsundar
₹9 Lakhs IOPC #107 Wednesday High (6-Max) ₹30 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Aditya Singh ₹8.71 Lakhs IOPC #114 Thursday Prime ₹40 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Amol Nimsarkar ₹8.70 Lakhs IOPC #139 Value Millionaire ₹50 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Sashank Chakravarty ₹8.03 Lakhs IOPC #106 Wednesday Prime ₹50 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Avinash Kumar ₹7.97 Lakhs Big Whale ₹30 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Deepak Bothra ₹7.57 Lakhs PC#3 (PLO-6) HighRoller ₹30 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Aditya Singh ₹7.15 Lakhs IOPC #123 Friday High (6-Max) ₹40 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Vishnu Adithan
₹5.96 Lakhs (7-Max) BSS Championship ₹35 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Arun Sriram ₹5.56 Lakhs The Ballers ₹20 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Harshad Barve ₹5.46 Lakhs BSS HighRoller ₹20 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Ratul Steves ₹5.05 Lakhs Mega Suits ₹25 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Sashank Chakravarthy ₹4.98 Lakhs Godfather ₹25 Lakhs GTD Adda52
“Wanabepro299” ₹4.86 Lakhs Red Spade Series-13 [Sunday Special] [8-Max, PKO] ₹25 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Sahil Nair ₹4.63 Lakhs BSS SuperStack ₹25 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Sahil Mahboobani ₹4.48 Lakhs The Summit ₹20 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Nikhil Jain ₹4.19 Lakhs IOPC #116 Thursday Spotlight ₹20 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Prince Kumar ₹4.13 Lakhs IOPC #140 Value Mine ₹35 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Aishwary Sharma ₹4.04 Lakhs Maverick ₹15 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Sanat Mehrotra ₹5.05 Lakhs The Weekly HighRoller ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Vaibhav Sharma ₹3.99 Lakhs Red Spade Series-01 [The Colosseum] ₹18 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Deepankur Gupta ₹3.83 Lakhs Tuesday High Roller (6-Max) ₹15 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“Sagar97706” ₹3.73 Lakhs IOPC #108 Wednesday Spotlight ₹15 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“Maelwyn” ₹3.50 Lakhs The Mint ₹14 Lakhs GTD Adda52
“Durr102” ₹3.41 Lakhs The Endeavour ₹20 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Abhishek Goindi ₹3.41 Lakhs PC#11 (PLO-4) ₹20 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Adithya N G
₹3.16 Lakhs Red Spade Series-14 [Sunday Highroller] [6-Max] ₹15 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Sachin Raj ₹3.09 Lakhs The Pride ₹15 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Bhanu Prakash KC ₹3.02 Lakhs IOPC #142 ₹15 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Gopal Bajaj ₹3.01 Lakhs Mega Stack ₹15 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Anish Arora
₹2.84 Lakhs IOPC #124 Friday Spotlight – Triple Chance ₹20 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Aditya Singh ₹2.41 Lakhs (7-Max) SPRINT ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Rahul Purohit ₹2.29 Lakhs (7-Max) SPRINT ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“hik18”
₹2.24 Lakhs PC#15 (PLO-5) ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Avinash Kumar ₹2.13 Lakhs (7-Max) SPRINT ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Harsh Kumar ₹2.12 Lakhs IOPC #125 All Rounder ₹11 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Anmol Mehta ₹2.09 Lakhs Red Spade Series-05 [Uppercut] ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Anindit Pan ₹2.06 Lakhs PC#9 (PLO-4) ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Siddharth Rajan ₹2 Lakhs Iron Man ₹8 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Pradip Ghosh ₹1.84 Lakhs (7-Max) SPRINT ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Varun Bansal ₹1.72 Lakhs IOPC #109 All Rounder 11 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Shravan Suresh ₹1.71 Lakhs Daily Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Deepak Singh ₹1.70 Lakhs PC#2 (PLO-5) ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Utkarsh Vaish ₹1.69 Lakhs IOPC #134 ₹8 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Amol Nakhwa ₹1.64 Lakhs IOPC #113 Triple Chance ₹6 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Jimmy Arora ₹1.63 Lakhs PC#19 (PLO-6) ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Pravin Jain ₹1.57 Lakhs IOPC #117 All Rounder ₹11 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“suryasedhu2817” ₹1.55 Lakhs Sunday Showdown ₹10 Lakhs GTD Adda52
“FartinLutherKing” ₹1.43 Lakhs IOPC #119 ₹7 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Devendra Suthar ₹1.40 Lakhs Daily Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“Yash9995” ₹1.37 Lakhs The Big Show ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“saurav29” ₹1.36 Lakhs PC#16 (PLO-6) ₹8 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“Seram” ₹1.35 Lakhs Daily Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Deepankur Gupta ₹1.32 Lakhs Daily Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Hemant Meena ₹1.23 Lakhs BSS Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“CharPatteWala” ₹1.20 Lakhs PC#14 (PLO-4) ₹7 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Vaibhav Bhatia ₹1.20 Lakhs Eliminator [8-Max] – ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Vinay B ₹1.17 Lakhs The CashMaker – Triple Chance ₹8 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Rahul Sengar ₹1.14 Lakhs PC#20 (PLO-4) ₹8 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Shrey Baj ₹1.10 Lakhs IOPC #111 ₹5.50 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“angrydevil” ₹1.07 Lakhs Daily Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“jaishreeram10” ₹1.07 Lakhs PC#18 (PLO-4) ₹8 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Devendra Suthar ₹1.01 Lakhs Turbo Masters [8-Max] ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Arsh Grover ₹99K Master Minds [8-Max] ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
“blazin666”
₹97K (7-Max) Afternoon Boost ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Prateek Kukranji ₹86K PC#13 (PLO-5) ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Vivekk Dube
₹81K (7-Max) SPRINT – ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“YourMaje$ty”
₹70K IOPC #103 PKO ₹6.50 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“MrJo” ₹69K (7-Max) Afternoon Boost ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
PokerMatch India to Host ₹32 Crores GTD PokerMatch Knockout Masters Series (February 13 – March 14)
PokerMatch India has announced the PokerMatch Knockout Masters (PKM), featuring a guaranteed prize pool of ₹32 Crores (over €4 Million), starting on February 13 and running until March 14.
Read the complete report here.
IndiaPlays Unveils Revamped Brand Identity
Premier gaming platform, IndiaPlays recently unveiled a new and improved brand identity that is a precursor to its version 2.0, a new platform interface set to launch in mid-2023.
Read the complete report here.
IndiaPlays Announces Rake-Free ₹25 Lakhs GTD The Dominator Series (February 16 – March 5)
Just days before the rebranding, IndiaPlays launched an exciting new tournament series for micro-stake grinders, The Dominator Series. Running from February 16 to March 5, the online festival comprises 39 high-value events offering a combined prize pool guarantee of ₹25 Lakhs.
Read the complete report here.
Gamezy Poker’s February MTTs Guarantee Over ₹3.20 Crores in Cash Prizes
Gamezy Poker will be dishing out an attractive ₹3.20+ Crores in guaranteed prizes through its monthly MTT calendar that includes 140 mid-to-high stakes tournaments.
Read the complete report here.
2023 APT Hanoi Vietnam VSOP Updates
The Asian Poker Tour (APT) has flagged off its annual calendar of live stops with the 2023 APT Hanoi Vietnam VSOP, up and running at the VSOP Club in Hanoi, Vietnam, from February 3, with 38 tournaments on the schedule.
The Indian contingent has made early inroads. Three of our ‘desi’ pros opened the country’s scorecard in the series-opener Event #1: APT Kickoff. Spartan Poker Team Pro Zarvan Tumboli placed runner-up in the event for VN₫405 Million* (three-way deal).
Kunal Patni (13th for VN₫46.35 Million) and Amanpreet Singh (15th for VN₫40.69 Million) also posted deep finishes.
Vietnam’s Phan Minh Duc won the APT Kickoff title, lifting his maiden APT trophy and a career-best VN₫520 Million in prize money. Filipino pro David Erquiaga (3rd for VN₫499 Million) also benefitted from the three-way deal.
Read the complete report here.
Spartan Poker Team Pro Nikita Luther won India its first APT title of the year in Event #22: NLH – Super Holdem (3-hole cards) – Hyper Turbo. The win landed the former WSOP bracelet winner her maiden APT trophy and a VN₫85.37 Million cash prize.
Read the complete report here.
Praveen Dwarkanath and Alok Birewar posted ITM finishes in separate side events.
Team India Scores at APT Hanoi Vietnam VSOP
Rank Player Event Prize Amount (VND)
2nd Zarvan Tumboli Event #1: APT Kickoff VN₫405 Million
4th Alok Birewar Event #19: Single Day High Roller VN₫243.780 Million
1st Nikita Luther Event #22: Super Holdem (3 hole cards) – Hyper Turbo VN₫85.37 Million
13th Kunal Patni - 13th Event #1: APT Kickoff VN₫46.35 Million
15th Amanpreet Singh Event #1: APT Kickoff VN₫40.69 Million
5th Praveen Dwarkanath Event #22: Super Holdem (3 hole cards) – Hyper Turbo VN₫24.21 Million
37th Praveen Dwarkanath Event #5: Mystery Bounty Hunter VN₫13 Million
29th Praveen Dwarkanath Event #9: Sunday Special VN₫12.94 Million
Filipino pro Lester Edoc, Mike Takayama, Vietnam’s Dinh Duc Linh, China’s Yucheng Xiao, Germany’s Martin Finger, Vietnam’s The Vinh Nguyen, China’s Xianling Chen, Russia’s Sergei Kamuz, Lithuania’s Karolis Cekauskas, and Vietnam’s Hoang Hai Nguyen are others to have won side events at the 2023 APT Hanoi Vietnam VSOP.
The star attraction of the series, the VN₫10 Billion GTD Main Event, has run all four starting flights! The Main Event field has touched 640 entries, and the guarantee has been crushed, with ₫15,447,250,000 currently in the prize pool. Late registrations remain open until the start of Day 2. Hence the official numbers will likely be higher.
Twelve Indians are part of the 264-player surviving field returning on Day 2. These include Day 1B chip leader Prashant Bhutoria (247,500), Pranav Bagai (147,000), Praveen Dwarkanath (132,400), Ashish Munot (100,000), WSOP bracelet winner Nikita Luther (95,600), Zarvan Tumboli (91,700), Shardul Parthasarathi (88,400), Alok Birewar (85,900), Jasven Saigal (85,700), Kunal Patni (60,500), Sumit Sapra (51,000), and Ritesh Khatwani (31,300).
With this, we conclude this week’s roundup of the latest news updates and developments from the world of poker. We will return next week with our weekly report. Stay tuned.