This Week in Poker: February 16 – 22

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!

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In the absence of a flagship series, the online MTT action has been on a bearish run for almost two weeks now. However, two high-voltage stops, Spartan Poker’s Final Table Series 4 and PokerBaazi’s National Poker Series, are just around the corner, and they have the poker community preparing in earnest for two weeks of high-octane action.

The prospects of better MTT turnouts have further been revived with the Karnataka High Court`s recent landmark judgment overturning the online gaming ban in the state. Bengaluru is one of the largest HUBs for poker in India, and the move should make for increased player liquidity with online gaming sites resuming operations at full-scale in the state.

Coming back to the week just passed us by, despite the relatively slow action, we did see some big winners. Topping the list – and by a reasonable margin – was PokerGuru Ambassador Vishal Bajaj, the #10 ranked player of 2021, who bags our “PokerGuru Star of the Week” title. The PokerGuru Staking player won two flagship titles, Spartan Poker’s Sunday Superstack and PokerStars India’s Highroller, rounding up ₹14.19 Lakhs in total winnings.

Rishab Malik, PokerGuru Ambassador Chandan Arora, Induprakash Mishra, and Jasven Saigal were the week’s other top scorers.

Even as the MTT regs await the FTS and NPS to commence, the low to mid-stakes players have PokerDangal’s brand-new Great Indian Poker League to wet their feet into. The ₹50 Lakhs GTD 19-event-long series starts today and continues until February 27.

With the anticipation for the NPS building up, PokerBaazi has brought back the Road to NPS Satty Series. The mega series will run a plethora of satellites from February 27 to March 4, and there are NPS tickets worth over ₹79 Lakhs to be won!

Spartan Poker players can grab FTS tickets worth over ₹24 Lakhs through the Cash Fiesta – FTS Edition (February 14 to March 13) and Mega Satellites (February 19 -27) running on the site.

For short deck poker fans, Natural8’s Short Deck Series has a stacked 72 events lined up from February 20 to 27 and a whopping $1 Million in prize pool guarantees.

In other news, the third edition of the Global Poker Awards took place on February 18 at the PokerGO Studio inside the ARIA Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The star-studded gala saw Ali Imsirovic bagging an impressive three awards (GPI Player of the Year, PokerGO Tour Player of the Year, and Players Choice for Toughest Opponent). Veronica Brill, Adam Friedman, Jamie Kerstetter, and Doug Polk were other notable winners.

Online Railbird Report

PokerGuru Ambassador Vishal Bajaj is no stranger to tournament success, and he seemed to have found his winning mojo this week. One of poker pioneer Aditya Agarwal`s mentees, Bajaj, shipped two flagship tournaments this past week, Spartan Poker’s Sunday Superstack and PokerStars India’s Highroller, and FT-ed another two events. His weekly scorecard touched ₹14.19 Lakhs, making him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week.”

His top finishes include:

> 1st in Spartan Poker’s Sunday Superstack for ₹8.18 Lakhs

> 1st in PokerStars India’s Highroller for ₹1.83 Lakhs

> 4th in Adda52’s The Ballers ₹20 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.75 Lakhs

> 6th in Adda52’s Adda52 Millions ₹25 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.06 Lakhs

The former Millionaire champion Rishab Malik went on a tear unlike any we have seen this year. The 26-year-old poker pro won an incredible four marquee tournaments on PokerBaazi in five days, filling in ₹10.74 Lakhs to his weekly tally.

His top finishes include:

> 1st in PokerBaazi’s The Summit for ₹3.90 Lakhs

> 1st in PokerBaazi’s The Pride for ₹2.57 Lakhs

> 1st in PokerBaazi’s (7-Max) BSS SPRINT for ₹1.71 Lakhs

> 1st in PokerBaazi’s (7-Max) SPRINT for ₹1.27 Lakhs

> 7th in PokerStars India’s Highroller for ₹42,677

The freshly inducted PokerGuru Ambassador Chandan Arora got off to a flying start with PokerGuru Staking. He lapped up a collective ₹9.04 Lakhs this past week, including PokerBaazi’s BSS SuperStack title for a career-best ₹4.80 Lakhs.

His top finishes include:

> 1st in PokerBaazi’s BSS SuperStack for ₹4.80 Lakhs

> 2nd in Spartan Poker’s Destiny for ₹3.54 Lakhs

> 6th in PokerBaazi’s The Pride for ₹51,477

Induprakash Mishra made quite some noise on BLITZPOKER as he won the Destiny and UVS#45 – Main Event this week, filling in ₹7.05 Lakhs in total winnings.

His top finishes include:

> 1st in BLITZPOKER`s Destiny for ₹4.91 Lakhs

> 1st in BLITZPOKER`s UVS#45 – Main Event for ₹1.37 Lakhs

> 7th in BLITZPOKER`s UVS #46 – Everest for ₹36,510

Jasven Saigal, Aayush Arya, Ayush Garg, Young Gun Arsh Grover, PokerGuru Ambassador Mithun Mahesh, and Sanket Arora were the week’s other top scorers!

Notable Winners of the Week

PokerDangal’s ₹50 Lakhs GTD Great Indian Poker League Begins Today

The inaugural Great Indian Poker League (GIPL) sets off today on PokerDangal. Offering ₹50 Lakhs in cash prizes across 19 affordable events, the series will run till February 27.

Read the complete here

PokerBaazi’s “Road to NPS” Offers NPS Tickets Worth ₹79+ Lakhs (February 27 – March 4)

PokerBaazi’s “Road to NPS” Satty Series is returning for its second edition from February 27 to Mach 4, offering the much-awaited array of satellites to the NPS! With buy-ins starting as little as ₹55 and going up to ₹3,000, there are NPS tickets worth over ₹79 Lakhs to be won!

Read the complete here

Spartan Poker Hosting Cash Fiesta – FTS Edition & Mega Satellites For FTS 4.0

With the Final Table Series (FTS) 4.0 ready to kick-off on March 4, Spartan Poker has two separate promotions – Cash Fiesta – FTS Edition (February 14 to March 13) and Mega Satellites (February 19 -27) – running for players to win FTS tickets worth over ₹24 Lakhs at affordable buy-ins.

Read the complete here

Natural8`s $1 Million GTD Short Deck Series Runs From February 20-27

Natural8’s Short Deck Series runs from February 20 to 27, 2022, with $1 Million in guaranteed prize pools spread across 72 tournaments. The tournament buy-ins range from $52.50 to $10,300, offering players of all bankrolls to participate in the festival.

Read the complete report here

Ali Imsirovic Sweeps 3 Awards at the Global Poker Awards in Las Vegas

Ali Imsirovic was undeniably the star at the third Global Poker Awards and bagged three awards. Besides winning the GPI Player of the Year trophy, he was also awarded the PokerGO Tour Player of the Year and Players Choice for Toughest Opponent awards.

Nadya Magnus (GPI Female Player of the Year) and David Mzareulov (GPI Mid-Major Player of the Year) also won awards for their achievements in live tournaments last year.

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.