This Week in Poker: June 17 – 23

In the PokerGuru feature ‘This Week in Poker,’ we bring you the weekly roundup of the most significant online scores by Indian MTT players along with the top stories from both the live and online poker circuit.

Here are this week’s top stories!

We are nearly at the end of June, and what a thrilling month this has already been! Not only was online poker thriving, but even live poker saw some prospects for revival. Still, let’s start off with the online scene.

With Sundays being the busiest days on the virtual felts, it comes as no surprise that the winners of the marquee events also headlined the weekly scores. This past Sunday, it was Anurag ‘Sangahi’ Sangahi, who reigned supreme in Adda52’s ₹1 Crore GTD AOPS Full House Finale. After besting 1,970 entries, he clinched the title for a mighty ₹21 Lakhs payday. Not only was it Sangahi’s personal-best online score, but it was also responsible for bagging him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week” title!

Sangahi’s heads-up rival, Abhishek ‘chicky’ Tibrewala, banked an equally impressive ₹12.17 Lakhs for his runner-up finish.

Online regular Ayush ‘lazyman’ Garg, along with PokerGuru Ambassadors Vivek Singh and Ashish Ahuja were among the other breakout winners this week.

The big news to hit the domestic industry was the announcement by one of India’s leading online poker brands, Spartan Poker. On June 23, the tournament-centric brand announced on social media that former WSOP bracelet winner Nikita Luther had joined their ranks as a Team pro.

The company had more good news to share as the site has preponed the much-awaited July edition of the India Online Poker Championship (IOPC) by a week. The series will now run from July 9 to 26.

However, Spartan Poker wasn’t the only operator with attractive promotions and offers for players. India’s most trusted online poker site, PokerBaazi, has released the dates and details of the ever-popular The Game Changer 3.0 that will run from July 1 to 5. Additionally, the site will be hosting a month-long ₹1 Crore Cash Bonanza in July that will award massive cash prizes across six leaderboards.

We also received an update on the long-awaited Goa casino policy this week with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant stating that he will approve the notification only after conducting a careful review of the concerned rules once the COVID-19 situation improves.

Moving to the international scene, the second edition of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Online Series recently completed its ninth day of proceedings, having crowned 141 champions so far. Canada’s ‘EL BEANjo’ is the biggest winner at the series so far, after they shipped the $1 Million GTD Main Event for $144,350, following a three-way deal.

While the online sphere is prospering worldwide, the live scene is also slowly coming back to form. Europe`s largest casino, King’s Casino, hosted the €100K GTD PLO High Roller. The event was won by two-time bracelet winner Roger Hairabedian, who claimed the title and the top prize of €40,401.

Online Railbird Report

Another blockbuster week for online poker has passed by! Grabbing the limelight this week was Anurag ‘Sangahi’ Sangahi, who outlasted a 1,970-strong field to capture Adda52’s ₹1 Crore GTD AOPS Full House Finale for a whopping ₹21 Lakhs. While this is Sangahi’s best online performance, he has, with the win, multiplied his overall winnings to over ₹31.02 Lakhs and is deservedly our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

Runner-up Abhishek ‘chicky’ Tibrewala, who pocketed ₹12.17 Lakhs, was the only other player to bank a singular seven-figure score this week.

Another standout performer was Ayush ‘lazyman’ Garg, who won two AOPS titles back-to-back. Garg first captured the AOPS Godfather for ₹8.01 Lakhs and topped that up by taking down the AOPS Mini Highroller the next day for a new personal-best ₹8.95 Lakhs. Garg is ranked 15^th place on our monthly leaderboard with more than ₹24.92 Lakhs in winnings, while his lifetime recorded winnings are north of ₹2.72 Crores.

PokerGuru Ambassador Vivek Singh was another trailblazer who had a profitable run over the week, winning north of ₹13 Lakhs. Singh’s best performance came in Spartan Poker’s Destiny that he won for ₹7.98 Lakhs, alongside a runner-up finish in Adda52’s AOPS Mini Highroller for ₹5.22 Lakhs.

Singh’s stable-mate Ashish Ahuja was on a brilliant winning streak as he championed the Sunday SuperStack on Spartan Poker for ₹7.40 Lakhs. Ahuja also won Adda52’s AOPS Inception for ₹3.98 Lakhs, for a cumulative tally of more than ₹11.4 Lakhs.

The other notable scores of the week include –

Nikita Luther Joins Spartan Poker as Team Pro

India’s only female WSOP bracelet winner Nikita Luther has officially parted ways with Adda52 and joined Spartan Poker as the newest addition to their pro team.

Read the complete report here

Spartan Poker Prepones Its Biggest-Ever IOPC by a Week (July 9-26)

India’s leading online poker operator, Spartan Poker’s much-awaited India Online Poker Championship (IOPC) July edition, has been preponed a week. The series will now be commencing on July 9 and will run till July 26, awarding a never-seen-before ₹25 Crores GTD in prize money. The IOPC Main Event champion will, along with the prize money, win a majestic gold crown!

Read the complete report here

PokerBaazi Announces The Game Changer 3.0 in July!

India’s most trusted online poker site, PokerBaazi, has released the details for the third edition of The Game Changer that offers a colossal ₹2 Crores GTD and runs from July 1 to 5 with a buy-in of ₹5,500. The site has also unveiled a month-long ₹1 Crore Cash Bonanza for July that will award whopping cash prizes across six leaderboards.

Read the complete report here

Eric Rosen Beats Alexandra Botez in the Challengers Choker Cup Finals

American chess phenom Eric Rosen defeated Romanian chess streamer and Canada resident, Alexandra Botez in the Challengers Choker Cup finals that took place on June 18.

Read the complete report here

APT Online Series

The second edition of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Online Series is currently underway on Asia-facing Natural8.com. The 15-day series completed its ninth day on Monday and has so far crowned 141 champions. Topping the list of winners till now is Canada’s ‘EL BEANjo’. The anonymous player was named the new APT Online Series Champion last week and won $144.35K after a three-way deal in the $1 Million GTD Main Event. The player also received an APT Trophy and an APT Championship Ring for his victory.

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.