This Week in Poker: February 24 – March 2

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!

February closed out in grandly, with the online felts continuing to dominate the action. Grabbing the spotlight this week was the two-time Destiny winner Siddhanth Kripalani. The Mumbai-lad did not win any tourneys this past week. Instead, he set the virtual felts ablaze with numerous deeps. Some of his top scores came in the ATOC Mini Main Event Finale (runner-up for ₹10.06 Lakhs), The Elite (runner-up for ₹4.57 Lakhs), and Trending Thursday (5th for ₹1.10 Lakhs), all adding up to ₹17.31 Lakhs in cumulative earnings. For his incredible performance, Kripalani is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Ahuja, the #3 ranked player last year, has not slowed down in his endeavors. This past week, he won two titles, namely, the ATOC Gladiator and the Sunday Superstack. He finished runner-up in the Trending Thursday and took 10th place in The Millionaire. All of this brought Ahuja ₹17.12 Lakhs in weekly earnings, making him the second-biggest winner since our last weekly update.

The week`s single-biggest score belonged to the ATOC Mini Main Event Finale champion Surbhit Grover who banked a mouth-watering ₹15.63 Lakhs on Sunday. Talking about the massive paydays, the former IOPC The Crown champion Harshit Sanghi was the other big Sunday winner. He ended up shipping his career-first Millionaire title for an impressive ₹13.65 Lakhs payday.

PokerGuru Ambassador Rony Chowdhury, Young Gun Gaurav Sood, Nitin Arora, Young Gun Kanchan Sharma, Sahil Chutani, Bharat Vasan, and Suresh O all found mention on the list of the week`s biggest winners.

The month-end brought with it a new PokerStars India “Star of the Month.” Online reg Armaan Kochhar won the bragging rights after taking down the February Finale last week. He won MTT tickets worth ₹1.15 Lakhs and a PokerStars India branded goodie bag.

While the 92-event-long Adda52 Tournament of Champions (ATOC) has been creating quite a stir on the virtual felts since February 25 and will continue to do so till March 8, all eyes are now set on the upcoming Final Table Series (FTS) 2.0 on Spartan Poker. Running from March 7 to 14, the series boasts a colossal ₹10 Crores in guaranteed prizes. The series’ main attraction will be the eight featured events that will be live-streamed across several platforms, including the PokerGuru Facebook page. Calling the action for these live-streamed events will the 3-member panel comprising of UK’s top poker pro Sam Razavi, two-time WSOP bracelet winner Kevin Macphee, and Responsible Gaming Ambassador Muskan Sethi.

Baazi Games also came out with a special announcement of its own. The gaming startup revealed its digital association with famous Bollywood and TV actor Divyenndu, who will be promoting the company’s real-money platforms, PokerBaazi, BalleBaazi, and RummyBaazi.

In other news, India’s only BSE-listed casino and Hospitality Company, Delta Corp., revealed ambitious plans. The company is looking to spend ₹150 Crores building a new casino vessel to replace the Deltin Caravela. The ship in question will be made at the company’s recently acquired Waterways Shipyard and is expected to be ready by mid-2022. Moreover, it is looking to invest between ₹1,000 to ₹1,500 Crore to build its integrated resort in Pernem, Goa.

Live tournament poker is starting to find a footing – both in India and globally. The World Poker Tour (WPT) recently closed out its stop at Casino Sochi in Russia. 19-year-old Maksim Sekretarev shipped the ₽245,000 (~$3,300) entry buy-in Main Event, banking a career-best ₽11,996,600 (~$160,694).

Online Railbird Report

Siddhanth Kripalani needs no introduction! Not many players can boast of having won both the IOPC Millionaire United and the GameChanger – two of the most challenging and prestigious tourneys. Not to forget, he is the only player to date to have won the Destiny title in back-to-back weeks. Unlike some of the more recent “Stars of the Week’s,” Kripalani did not win a ₹1 Crore GTD Sunday flagship title to automatically land the title. Instead, he FT-ed three top-tier tourneys, collecting ₹17.31 Lakhs cumulatively. Kripalani`s blazing run fetches him the “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

His top finishes include:

-2^nd in the ATOC Mini Main Event Finale ₹75 Lakhs GTD for ₹10.06 Lakhs

-2^nd in The Elite ₹30 Lakhs GTD for ₹4.57 Lakhs

– 5^th in the Trending Thursday ₹16 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.10 Lakhs

Hot on Kripalani’s trail is PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Ahuja, who encashed ₹17.12 Lakhs this week. His standout win was taking down the ATOC Gladiator.

His top finishes include:

– 1^st in the ATOC Gladiator for ₹6.66 Lakhs

– 1^st in Sunday Superstack ₹30 Lakhs GTD for ₹5.79 Lakhs

– 2^nd in the Trending Thursday ₹16 Lakhs GTD for ₹2.30 Lakhs

– 10^th in The Millionaire ₹1 Crore GTD for ₹1.57 Lakhs

ATOC Mini Main Event Finale champion Surbhit Grover netted ₹15.63 Lakhs this past week.

His top finishes include:

-1st in the ATOC Mini Main Finale ₹75 Lakhs GTD for ₹15 Lakhs

Rony Chowdhury was the second PokerGuru Ambassador this past week to rake in ten-figure winning. Chowdhury chopped The Millionaire title with Sanghi. In all, he added ₹14.99 Lakhs over the week.

His top finishes include:

– 2^nd in The Millionaire ₹1 Crore GTD for ₹13 Lakhs

– 9th in the ATOC Thursday Feature for ₹45,000

The Millionaire champion Harshit Sanghi cashed ₹14.03 Lakhs this week.

His top finishes include:

– 1^st in The Millionaire ₹1 Crore GTD for ₹13.65 Lakhs

MTT beast Young Gun Gaurav Sood continues to pull in scores faster than a supercharged magnet attracting iron fillings. He lapped up ₹12.88 Lakhs, much of which came with him shipping the ATOC Thursday Feature last week.

His top finishes include:

– 1st in the ATOC Thursday Feature for ₹7.20 Lakhs

– 2nd in the Sunday Superstack ₹30 Lakhs GTD for ₹3.64 Lakhs

– 4th in the Futuristic ₹10 Lakhs GTD For ₹61,000

Nitin Arora was the last player standing in the Destiny last Wednesday. He registered ₹11.24 Lakhs in weekly winnings.

His top finishes include:

– 1^st in the Destiny ₹23 Lakhs GTD for ₹6.09 Lakhs

– 2^nd in the BSS #4 SuperStack ₹20 Lakhs GTD for ₹2.94 Lakhs

– 2^nd in the Blockbuster ₹6 Lakhs GTD for ₹94,860

Young Gun Kanchan Sharma (2nd in the ATOC Gladiator for ₹6.36 Lakhs), ‘EL_Gadafi’ (The Elite ₹30 Lakhs GTD for ₹6.78 Lakhs), ‘HerMess’ (3rd in The Millionaire ₹1 Crore GTD for ₹6.66 Lakhs), Sahil Chutani (Won ATOC Deepstack Titan for ₹6.65 Lakhs), Bharat Vasan (3rd in The ATOC Mini Main Event ₹75 Lakhs GTD for ₹6.65 Lakhs) and Suresh O (Won ATOC Millions for ₹6.41 Lakhs) were the other big scores of the week.

Notable Winners of the Week

Armaan Kochhar is PokerStars India`s “Star of the Month” – February, Karan Jain Tops Week #1 Qualifiers in March Race

Armaan Kochhar was named the fifth “Star of the Month” by PokerStars India. The online reg won the February Finale on February 24 to win MTT tickets worth ₹1.15 Lakhs and a PokerStars India branded goodie bag.

Read the complete report here

Karan Jain won two marquees titles last week to garner 992 TLB points, topping the SOTM March Week #1 leaderboard race.

Read the complete report here

Baazi Games Announces Digital Association with Divyenndu

Baazi Games has announced a brand-new digital association with Bollywood and TV actor Divyenndu. Known more for his role as “Munna” in the popular Netflix series “Mirzapur,” Divyenndu will be promoting the company’s real-money platforms, PokerBaazi, BalleBaazi, and RummyBaazi, in soon-to-release digital campaigns.

Read the complete report here

And 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.