This Week in Poker: January 20 – 26

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 approaching the end of January, and online activity is as high octane as ever. While the 10^th edition of the IOPC has entered its final stretch, PokerBaazi’s inaugural APT Online Series India and PokerStars India’s Winter Series have run their course. However, with the IOPC yet to announce a winner in its showstopper, IOPC – The Crown, the upcoming weekend has all the makings of being grand!

Coming to this week’s online extravaganza, Spartan Poker’s ₹1.75 Crores GTD IOPC#73 Millionaire Legends was the talk of poker town. Registering 770 entries, the event posted a guarantee-crushing ₹1.92 Crores prize pool. Aniket Waghmare defied all odds to overcome a stacked FT to clinch his career-first Millionaire title and a personal-best ₹36.36 Lakhs payday! Waghmare`s only other noteworthy score of the week came in the IOPC#44 Destiny, where he finished 10^th for ₹62,500. Sitting with ₹36.89 Lakhs in recorded winnings this past week and a net profit of ₹34.56 Lakhs, Waghmmare is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

(NOTE: The weekly leaderboard rankings on the website compute cashes from Sunday to Saturday, the weekly report results are basis the cashes from Wednesday to Tuesday)

The Millionaire Legends runner-up, PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Munot, collected ₹22.15 Lakhs. The 2019 WPT India Main Event champion may not have won any titles this week, but FT-ed four tourneys, raking in upwards of ₹28.28 Lakhs in total winnings.

PokerBaazi-hosted APT Online Series India also closed out its inaugural run last night, with the APT#52 Main Event crowning a champion in well-known reg Rajat Mahajan. He outduelled Nikhil ‘boatfish’ Mawandia (runner-up for ₹24.82 Lakhs) heads-up to capture his first-ever APT trophy and the prestigious APT Championship Ring, not to get a career-best ₹34.06 Lakhs payday.

While we are talking about Main Event winners, Jai Saha bagged the PokerStars India’s Winter Series Main Event title for ₹6.89 Lakhs, collecting enough TLB points to top the ‘Star of the Month’ January Week #4 standings.

Sriharsha Doddapaneni, Abhinav Iyer, Shardul Parthasarathi, Vishal Tulsyan, Shashank Jain, Aditya Kulkarni, Divanshu Khurana, Manish Lakhotia, Ujjwal Narwal, Sagar Choudhury, and Sahil Chutani were others to bank seven-figure payouts this past week.

Moving over to Goa, one of the oldest offshore casinos anchored on the River Mandovi, Deltin JAQK, recently witnessed a change in its poker room management. A second-generation diamantaire, Priyank Mehta, and partner Abhishek Patni have taken over casino`s day-to-day poker operations.

Meanwhile, Dangal Games, the parent company of PokerDangal and RummyDangal, recently closed out a $1 Million (approx. ₹7.30 Crores) ‘Series A’ funding round from an undisclosed strategic investor. The brand intends to use these funds to expand its technical capabilities and make its services more user-friendly.

In other news, the official Indian member of the International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP), Match Poker India, has joined hands with Saran Sports to venture into India’s corporate sector.

The Mumbai-based game developer Nazara Technologies’ long-awaited IPO might finally be coming about soon. The gaming startup has filed papers with the capital markets regulator, Securities, and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to float an Initial Public Offering (IPO). The IPO listing will make Nazara the first Indian gaming firm to enlist on the market.

Online Railbird Report

Headlining what turned out to be another blockbuster week for online poker was the Spartan Poker-hosted ₹1.75 Crores GTD IOPC #73 Millionaire Legends. Aniket Waghmare emerged as the champion, snagging his first-ever Millionaire title and a career-best ₹36.36 Lakhs. With ₹37.34 Lakhs in recorded earnings through the week, Waghmare is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

The other flagship Main Event winner of the week, Rajat Mahajan, outran a ginormous field of 1,932 entries in PokerBaazi`s ₹2 Crores GTD APT #52 Main Event on Tuesday, banking a personal-best ₹34.06 Lakhs. Add to that his long list of ITM finishes that include three FT scores, Mahajan comes in a close second to Waghmare with ₹36 Lakhs in total earnings!

Young Gun Shardul Parthasarathi rounds out the top three winners since our last update. Infamous for his runner-up finishes, he added another three 2^nd place finishes to his tally this week. His weekly earnings round up to ₹33.47 Lakhs.

His top finishes include –

> 2nd in the IOPC #52 High Roller ₹1 Crore GTD for ₹17.44 Lakhs

> 2nd in the APT #33 Championship Event ₹40 Lakhs GTD for ₹8.52 Lakhs

> 2nd in the IOPC #66 House Party ₹13 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.59 Lakhs

> 11^th in the IOPC #73 The Millionaire Legends ₹1.75 Lakhs GTD for ₹2.25 Lakhs

PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Munot was a consistent performer and collected a whopping ₹31.93 Lakhs through the week – the bulk of it coming from his runner-up finish in The Millionaire Legends.

His top finishes include-

> 2^nd in the IOPC #73 The Millionaire Legends ₹1.75 Crores GTD for ₹22.15 Lakhs

> 2^nd in the Deepstack Madness for ₹3 Lakhs

> 4^th in the Winter Series – 30 Highroller SE ₹25 Lakhs GTD for ₹2.06 Lakhs

> 4^th in the IOPC #59 TGIF ₹18 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.24 Lakhs

> 16^th in the APT #38 Super Highroller ₹80 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.05 Lakhs

Young Gun and India’s solo WSOP gold bracelet winner Abhinav Iyer raked in ₹25.02 Lakhs this week. He caught his big break in the ₹80 Lakhs GTD APT#38 Super High Roller, winning the tourney for ₹20.73 Lakhs.

His top finishes include:

> 1^st in the APT #38 Super Highroller ₹80 Lakhs GTD for ₹20.72 Lakhs

> 14^th in the APT #52 Main Event ₹2 Crore GTD for ₹1.52 Lakhs

> 7^th in The Ballers for ₹73,158

Two-time Millionaire winner Sriharsha Doddapaneni decimated a star-studded field to take down Spartan Poker`s ₹1 Crore GTD IOPC High Roller. His weekly tally crossed ₹23 Lakhs.

PokerGuru Ambassador Arjanveer Singh Chadha added ₹18.43 Lakhs to his tally this week. He crossed the benchmark ₹6 Crore-mark in recorded earnings on Tuesday and is already among the top five ranked players this month with over ₹42 lakhs in recorded winnings.

His top finishes include:

> 5^th in APT#38 Super Highroller ₹80 Lakhs GTD for ₹5.18 Lakhs

> 5^th in The Ballers ₹22.5 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.32 Lakhs

> 5^th in Adda52 Millions ₹25 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.50 Lakhs

> 4^th in Adda52’s The Mint ₹15 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.20 Lakhs

> 6^th in the Winter Series -30 Highroller SE ₹25 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.14 Lakhs

> 1^st in the PokerBaazi’s APT#51 Turbo ₹5 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.05 Lakhs

Aditya Kulkarni finished runner-up in the APT #38 Super Highroller for ₹14.51 Lakhs. He managed to win an APT title and placed runner-up in another APT event, earning over ₹18 Lakhs through the week!

Sagar Choudhury earned a cumulative ₹17.88 Lakhs primarily on the back of a third-place score in IOPC #52 High Roller ₹1 Crore GTD for ₹10.50 Lakhs.

Vishal Tulsyan (3rd in IOPC#73 The Millionaire Legends ₹1.75 Crores GTD for ₹15.71 Lakhs), Shashank Jain (4^th in the APT #52 Main Event ₹2 Crores GTD for ₹15.68 Lakhs), Divanshu Khurana (4^th in the APT #52 Main Event ₹2 Crore GTD for ₹12.44 Lakhs), Manish Lakhotia (won APT #33 Championship Event ₹40 Lakhs GTD for ₹12.14 Lakhs), Ujjwal Narwal (4th in IOPC#73 The Millionaire Legends ₹1.75 Crores GTD for ₹11.86 Lakhs), and Sahil Chutani (IOPC #44 Destiny ₹50 Lakhs GTD for ₹10.05 Lakhs) were the week’s other top scorers.

Notable Winners of the Week

Jai Saha Tops the PokerStars India “Star of the Month” January Week #4 Standings

The Winter Series Main Event champion, Jai Saha, topped the Week #4 standings in the “Star of the Month” – January leaderboard race.

Read the complete report here

Dangal Games Announces $1 Million ‘Series A’ Fund Raise From Strategic Investor

Dangal Games, the parent firm of real-money online platforms PokerDangal and RummyDangal, raised $1 Million (approx. ₹7.30 Crores) in a ‘Series A’ funding round from an undisclosed strategic investor.

Read the complete report here

IFMP Collaborates With Saran Sports For Expanding Match Poker India Presence to the Corporate Sector

Match Poker India – the official Indian member of the International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP) has joined hands with Saran Sports to penetrate India’s corporate sector.

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.