This Week in Poker: July 17 – 23

In the PokerGuru feature, ‘This Week in Poker,’ we bring you the weekly round-up of the most significant online scores by Indian MTT players and the top stories from both the live and online poker circuits. Here are this week’s top stories!

The 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) may be over, but the poker action is far from finished. This past week was a whirlwind of live and online events, with Indian poker pros continuing to make a splash on the global stage.

The 2024 WSOP concluded with a bang, crowning a new Player of the Year: the unstoppable Scott Seiver. This poker veteran had an absolutely legendary summer, snagging three bracelets, making it to two additional final tables, and crushing the competition with 4,403.85 points. The runner-up, Michael Rocco, trailed behind with 3,803.67 points, while Jeremy Ausmus, who tied Phil Hellmuth’s record for the most final tables in a single series, finished in third place with 3,686.60 points.

But it wasn’t just Seiver who made headlines. Indian poker players had an incredible showing at the 2024 WSOP, racking up 219 cashes, reaching eight final tables, and, most importantly, winning two bracelets – doubling down on their record from last year.

Among the Indian players who made a mark, Santhosh Suvarna stood out, finishing 21st in the POY race with 2,495.07 points. He had a phenomenal summer, winning the $250,000 Super High Roller and racking up over ₹50 Crores in winnings.

While the WSOP may be over, a few Indian poker aces are still battling it out in Vegas. Meanwhile, the global poker scene is as vibrant as ever, with the WPT Cambodia just wrapping up and the DPT Xpress kicking off in Goa. Of course, the online action is still in full swing, with platforms like Natural8 India, PokerBaazi, and Adda52 offering plenty of opportunities for players to test their skills.

One Indian poker pro who’s been making waves in Vegas is Abhishek Goindi, the PokerBaazi Team Pro and head honcho at Poker Boot Camp India. He recently scored a breakthrough victory in the $500K GTD Event #66: $1,100 NLH UltimateStack at the DeepStack Championship Poker Series, outlasting a field of 571 players to take home a whopping $92,264 (~₹77.23 Lakhs) – his second-largest live cash ever. This impressive win makes him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

Indian players didn’t just shine at the WSOP; they also made a significant impact at the 2024 WPT Cambodia. With 89 cashes, a remarkable 38 final table appearances, four titles, and six runner-up finishes, the team dominated the series.

Nalin Rastogi joined the ranks of recent Indian champions like Karan Sitlani, Somashekar Kurkhepally Nahadeva, and Peter Hubert Fanthome by winning Event #30: $300 20/15/10 15 Sec, securing his first live title and a career-best payout of $3,696 (~₹3.09 Lakhs) following a six-way deal.

Raju Jaruplavath came close to his first WPT title, finishing second in Event #36: 3K High Roller for a career-high $39,821 (~₹33.33 Lakhs). This notable finish marked his fourth cash of the series, boosting his series total to $43,691 (~₹36.57 Lakhs). The event was won by Portugal’s Rui Bouquet, who took home $59,739 after outlasting a field of 75 entrants.

Team India Scores at the 2024 WPT Cambodia

While Indian players made a strong showing, the $500K GTD WPT Championship champion was China’s Sha Chengchun. He battled through a field of 913 players across three intense days to capture his first-ever WPT title, a career-high payout of $175,542, and a package worth $12,230 to the season-ending WPT World Championship. Xiaosheng Zheng and Zhang Cheng finished second and third for $117,030 and $86,360, respectively, and grabbed a seat in the WPT World Prime Championship worth $1,100.

WPT Cambodia – Title Winners

On the online felts, Ritesh Kothari emerged as the biggest winner this week. He has been crushing it lately, raking in a whopping ₹18.75 Lakhs from four cashes, including three tournament victories. But his crowning achievement was his win in Adda52’s Mega Millions on Sunday, where he took home a career-defining ₹17.35 Lakhs.

His top finishes include:

> 1st in Adda52’s Mega Millions for ₹17,35,000

> 1st in Adda52’s Monster Turbo for ₹1,01,005

> 1st in Adda52’s Nano PLO for ₹8,568

Of course, Kothari wasn’t the only one raking in the dough. Ashwin Vijayvergiya, Shagun Jain, Vishal Bajaj, Dayanand Prass, Shailesh Patel, Ashutosh Kumar, Sree Ram Kumar, Myron Pereira, and Arjanveer Singh Chadha all had notable wins this week.

Top Online Winners of the Week

PokerStars India is shaking things up by introducing an all-star team of ambassadors. This dynamic quartet of poker pros – Siddharth Karia, Goonjan Mall, Kanchan Sharma, and Neel Joshi – are not only skilled players but also passionate advocates for the Indian poker community.

Get ready to pack your bags and head to the Bahamas this December because WSOP Paradise is back! This year, the World Series of Poker is teaming up with GGPoker and Triton Poker to create an epic poker festival at the stunning Atlantis Paradise Island from December 6 to 19.

And this isn’t your average poker tournament. WSOP Paradise 2024 is set to boast the largest guaranteed prize pool in live poker tournament history, with the $25,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Championship (the Super Main Event) offering a jaw-dropping $50 Million guarantee. They expect a massive turnout of around 2,000 players, making this a truly historic event.

WSOP Paradise will also host the Triton Millions, a unique tournament that brings together successful business figures, celebrities, and high-rollers with their professional poker player guests. With each duo contributing $1 Million to the prize pool, you can bet the stakes will be high and the drama will be intense.

BREAKING: @RealKidPoker with some exciting news regarding @WSOP Paradise (with a little help from our friends @tritonpoker). pic.twitter.com/E8INsQgi23

— GGPoker (@GGPoker) July 24, 2024

The complete schedule is expected to be released later this year. If you’re dreaming of playing in this poker paradise, GGPoker will be hosting qualifiers soon, giving you a chance to win your way into this incredible event.

With this, we conclude this week’s round-up of the latest news updates and developments from the world of poker. We will return next week with another weekly report. Stay tuned!