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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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June has been a phenomenal month for poker all around. While the virtual felts witnessed high-octane action with Spartan Poker`s IOPC June 2022 and PokerBaazi`s 1100 THC Series adding significant value to the daily flagships, the Indian rail had plenty to cheer with Indians making waves at the 2022 WSOP and APT Vietnam!
With so much happening, it is no surprise that the week`s big winners were players who won or ran deep in the flagship events.
BTR Staking founder Young Gun Sahil Chutani grabs our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!” title for defending his IOPC – Legends title on Sunday! He added a jaw-dropping ₹62.46 Lakhs to his weekly tally!
The week’s other top scorers were Dhruvin Kothari, Anmol Narang, Anurag Srivastava, and Deepak Raina.
With the IOPC on its final week, things are going to sizzle up as two more marquees, including the stop’s star attraction, the whopping ₹4 Crores GTD IOPC – The Crown, that plays down to a champion on Sunday.
While the Texas Holdem Championship (THC) is on its last legs, PokerBaazi recently announced the renewal of its exclusive India partnership with the Asian Poker Tour. Sounding off the extension will be the biggest-ever APT India Online Series. The fourth edition of the series runs from July 1 to 10 and has over ₹10 Crores in the guaranteed prize pool, spread across 59 tournaments. The flagship series will hand out 10 APT Trophies and two Championship Rings through its 11-day run!
Cash game players can win from ₹1 Lakh in daily game bonuses through BLITZPOKER’s ‘Malamaal Daiy’ promotion. Running until June 29, the promotion has been curated especially for the low-stakes grinders playing from ₹1/₹2 to ₹5/₹10 stakes.
Coming to the live action, Team India is off to one of its most promising starts ever at the WSOP with Young Gun Abhinav Iyer, India’s poker pioneer Aditya Agarwal, 2020 PokerStars LIVE Red Dragon Manila High Roller champion Ankit Ahuja, and Manan Bhandari scoring in various bracelet events at the ongoing 2022 WSOP.
Moving closer to home, the APT Vietnam Hanoi series has also seen an influx of Indian participants, and the team has exerted a dominating presence at the inaugural stop. Young Gun Shardul Parthasarathi made the headlines this week after taking down the VND 5 Billion GTD APT Vietnam Hanoi Main Event, clinching his career-first live title and a mammoth VND 1,929,250,000 (~₹64.84 Lakhs). PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Munot banked VND 1,286,190,000 for his runner-up finish, his second one within two weeks since his second-place finish in WPT Prime Vietnam. Two other players have lifted APT Trophies since with Alok Birewar taking down Event #13: NLHE 2 for VND 191.84 Million and the 2022 WPT Vietnam Main Event champion Zarvan Tumboli shipping Event #17: Hyper Deep Stack Turbo for VND 73.06 Million.
Online Railbird Report
Like the week before, this past week laid out electrifying MTT action with Spartan Poker`s IOPC and PokerBaazi`s THC heading into their final week.
Headlining the blockbuster week was the poker coach, Young Gun Sahil Chutani. On Sunday, the high-stakes cash game specialist defended his IOPC – Legends title on Spartan Poker and impressively carried two stacks to the FT, taking home a mammoth ₹47.11 Lakhs overall (a three-way deal). And if that was not enough, he championed PokerStars India’s Sunday flagship, Summer Series-65 [Super Highroller], and won another two titles, filling in a whopping ₹62.46 Lakhs across his weekly run. Chutanu`s blistering run has pushed him to #3 in the weekly charts, making him an obvious choice as our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”
His top finishes include:
The CA from Gujarat, Dhruvin Kothari, chopped the IOPC #79 – Legends (6-Max) title with Sahil Chutani and Anmol Narang, netting ₹29.37 Lakhs in third place. He also took down IOPC #76 – Sunday Prime for another ₹14.74 Lakhs. Kothari comes in at #2 in the weekly rankings with ₹44.42 Lakhs in total winnings.
His top finishes include:
The former The Millionaire and Destiny champion, Anmol Narang, takes the #3 spot in the weekly rankings. He finished runner-up in IOPC #79 – Legends (6-Max) for a personal-best ₹31.32 Lakhs (cumulatively ₹32.13 Lakhs).
The former IOC – The Millionaire Main Event champion, Anurag Srivastava, raked in ₹21.90 Lakhs this week. He made a litany of top finishes, most notably taking down the IOPC #65 – Friday Spotlight for ₹10.30 Lakhs and placed eighth in IOPC #79 – Legends (6-Max) for ₹4.33 Lakhs.
His top finishes include:
The 2020 DPTX ₹15K Main Event champion, Deepak Raina, pocketed a whopping ₹20.65 Lakhs (three-way deal) after taking down Spartan Poker`s IOPC #57 – High Roller and cumulatively added ₹21.15 Lakhs throughout the week.
Notable Winners of the Week
Player | Prize Amount | Event | Poker Site |
---|---|---|---|
Sahil Chutani | ₹38.36 Lakhs | IOPC#79 – Legends (6-Max) - ₹2.50 Crores GTD | Spartan Poker |
Deepak Raina | ₹20.65 Lakhs | IOPC #57 – High Roller (6-Max) - ₹1 Crore GTD | Spartan Poker |
Vishal Tulsyan | ₹15 Lakhs | Summer Series – 82 Main Event – ₹15 Lakhs for 1st – ₹75 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Dhruvin Kothari | ₹14.74 Lakhs | IOPC#76 - Sunday Prime - ₹65 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Rahul Kumar | ₹10.42 Lakhs | IOPC #49 – Wednesday Prime - ₹55 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Anurag Srivastava | ₹10.31 Lakhs | IOPC #65 – Friday Spotlight - ₹55 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Amit Sarupariya | ₹8.83 Lakhs | THC#64 Mini Main Event ₹50 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Saurabh Jain | ₹8.12 Lakhs | IOPC #56 – Thursday Prime - ₹38 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
“chaty” | ₹6.50 Lakhs | Adda52 Millions ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Sahil Chutani | ₹6.07 Lakhs | Godfather ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Vishal Bajaj | ₹5.98 Lakhs | IOPC #85 – Monday Prime ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Gopal Bajaj | ₹5.84 Lakhs | IOPC #92- Tuesday Prime ₹33 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Saurabh Rohila | ₹5.06 Lakhs | The Weekly HighRoller ₹12 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Sahil Chutani | ₹5.05 Lakhs | Summer Series -65 Super Highroller – ₹25 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Pranay Chaudhry | ₹4.90 Lakhs | BSS Superstack ₹20 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Vishal Tulsyan | ₹4.75 Lakhs | The Summit ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Aayush Arya | ₹4.68 Lakhs | The Ballers - ₹20 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Pranay Chawla | ₹4.14 Lakhs | IOPC#77 Sunday Spotlight - ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Wilson Yomso | ₹4.12 Lakhs | IOPC#78 - Wanderer - ₹40 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Haider Madraswala | ₹4.10 Lakhs | Nano ME Finale ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Dinesh Singh | ₹3.95 Lakhs | IOPC #58 – Thursday Spotlight - ₹20 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Vivek Singh | ₹3.90 Lakhs | Maverick ₹15 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Aman Parakh | ₹3.69 Lakhs | The Mint ₹14 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Prabhat Saini | ₹3.36 Lakhs | IOPC #50 – Wednesday Spotlight - ₹17 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Tanmay Benara | ₹3.35 Lakhs | IOPC #86 - Monday Spotlight ₹17 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Paras Jain | ₹3.34 Lakhs | IOPC #64 – Friday Prime - ₹22 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
“Darkelf97” | ₹2.93 Lakhs | The Endeavour ₹12 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Myron Pereira | ₹2.52 Lakhs | Summer Series–55 Highroller – ₹12 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Haider Madraswala | ₹2.43 Lakhs | The Pride ₹10 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Sahil Mahboobani | ₹2.38 Lakhs | IOPC #66 – All Rounder (6-Max) - ₹11 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
“kapz” | ₹2.36 Lakhs | The Big Show – ₹10 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
“shubham3153” | ₹2.35 Lakhs | THC#53 (6-Max) Turbo ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Biswadip Chowdhury | ₹2.35 Lakhs | Sunday Showstopper - 10L GTD | MPL Poker |
“FTBeast” | ₹2.35 Lakhs | IOPC #93 - Tuesday Spotlight ₹15 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Anant Purohit | ₹2.32 Lakhs | THC#43 Deepstack ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Vishal Ojha | ₹2.29 Lakhs | THC#68 Superstack ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Muthukumar Rajgopalan | ₹2.29 Lakhs | THC#48 Superstack ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Rajarshi Biswas | ₹2.24 Lakhs | THC#63 Sunday Monsterstack ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Sahil Chutani | ₹2.20 Lakhs | IOPC #59 All Rounder (Monster Stack) – ₹11 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Mahesh Shyamsundar | ₹2.17 Lakhs | IOPC #51 – All Rounder - ₹11 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Sandeep Varma RS | ₹2.09 Lakhs | Iron Man ₹8 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Akshat Sharma | ₹2.03 Lakhs | Summer Series-45 [Night on Stars – PKO Edition] ₹10 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Avinash Kumar | ₹1.91 Lakhs | Summer Series -85 The Big Crunch – ₹10 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Arjanveer Singh Chadha | ₹1.88 Lakhs | IOPC #94 - All Rounder ₹11 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
“Borntogamble” | ₹1.84 Lakhs | THC#73 Superstack ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Manju Devi | ₹1.76 Lakhs | Monday Madness – ₹7.50 Lakhs GTD | MPL Poker |
“sunrunner” | ₹1.62 Lakhs | IOPC #87 – All Rounder (6-Max) ₹11 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Gaurav Bhutra | ₹1.49 Lakhs | IOPC #46 8 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
“abhighosh31” | ₹1.45 Lakhs | IOPC #48 ₹7 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Ankit Saurabh | ₹1.36 Lakhs | THC#69 Monsterstack – ₹8 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
“Himanshu0707” | ₹1.35 Lakhs | THC#45 (7-Max) Turbo ₹8 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Surbhit Grover | ₹1.34 Lakhs | IOPC #82 ₹7 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Mohit Savargaonkar | ₹1.14 Lakhs | IOPC #89 – ₹7 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
“sjbdbfc” | ₹1.14 Lakhs | THC#74 Frenzy ₹6 Lakhs GTD (R+A) | PokerBaazi |
“Samimeel” | ₹1.11 Lakhs | La Luna ₹4 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Swapnil Patil | ₹1.08 Lakhs | Summer Series -47 Deepstack – ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Tanmay Benara | ₹1.06 Lakhs | THC#44 Megastack ₹6 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
“overthinker” | ₹1.01 Lakhs | THC#70 Megastack – ₹7 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Siddharth Gangwar | ₹1 Lakh | THC#75 (7-Max) Turbo ₹6 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Akshay Gupta | ₹89K | THC#72 Megastack ₹7 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Armaan Kochhar | ₹82K | Summer Series–57 The Classic – ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
PokerBaazi to Host Biggest-Ever ₹10+ Crores GTD APT India Online Series from July 1 –10
India’s most trusted online poker site, PokerBaazi, has extended its exclusive partnership with the premiere live tournament brand Asian Poker Tour for two more years. And the poker operator is kicking off this extended collaboration by hosting the biggest-ever APT India Online Series next month.
Returning for its fourth edition, the series will run from July 1 to 10 and boasts over ₹10 Crores in guaranteed prize money, spread across 59 tournaments! There are 10 APT Trophies and two APT Championship Rings to be won in the upcoming series.
Read the complete report here
BLITZPOKER’s Malamaal Daily Promotion Offers ₹1 Lakh in Game Bonus Daily (June 9-29)
In an exciting new promotion exclusively for the low-stakes grinders (playing on the ₹1/₹2 to ₹5/₹10 cash tables), BLITZPOKER is running a Malamaal Daily Promotion until June 29. The leaderboard-centric promotion has ₹1 Lakh in prizes (game bonus) up for grabs daily, making for a total giveaway value of ₹21 Lakhs.
Read the complete report here
2022 WSOP Updates
The 53rd annual World Series Of Poker (WSOP) is off to a record start! Multiple events registered record-shattering entry fields, and a slew of both first-time and repeat winners walked away with the gold bracelet.
Headlining Team India`s run in Las Vegas this week was the country`s first solo bracelet winner, Young Gun Abhinav Iyer, who made an FT run in Event #25: $800 NLHE Deepstack. The Young Gun banked $56,388 (~₹43.99 Lakhs) in seventh place, posting his 32nd WSOP cash.
Rob Wazwaz captured his first-ever gold bracelet in the event for a personal-best $358,346.
Read the complete report here
Aditya Agarwal (18th for $38,231 ~₹29.82 Lakhs) and Ankit Ahuja (33rd for $31,033 ~₹24.21 Lakhs) crossed the money line in Event #21: $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold’em. Mike Jukich championed the event, taking home his career-first bracelet and a jaw-dropping $966,577 payday.
Read the complete report here
Manan Bhandari was another player who added to India’s tally of WSOP cashes with his 32nd place finish in Event #30: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed for $6,585 (~₹5.13 Lakhs).
Daniel Weinman took down his career-first bracelet in the event for $255,359.
Christopher Chatman, Jeremy Ausmus, Adam Friedman, Denis Nesterenko, Stefan Lehner, Bryan Schultz, Ben Diebold, Jake Schindler, Michael Moncek, Daniel Zack, Dominick Sarle, and Leo Soma were other notable bracelet winners.
2022 WSOP Bracelet Winners of the Week
Player | Event | Prize Money (USD) |
---|---|---|
Jake Schindler | Event #12: $50K High Roller NLHE | $1,328,068 |
Mike Jukich | Event #21: $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold’em | $966,577 |
Stefan Lehner | Event #16: $3,000 NLHE | $558,616 |
Leo Soma | Event #14: $1,500 6-Handed NLHE | $456,889 |
Daniel Zack | Event #15: Omaha Hi-Lo 8 Or Better Championship | $440,757 |
Rob Wazwaz | Event #25: $800 NLHE Deepstack | $358,346 |
Bryan Schultz | Event #18: $1,000 Freezeout | $330,057 |
Ben Diebold | Event #10: $10K Dealer’s Choice 6-Handed Championship | $299,488 |
Adam Friedman | Event #22: $10K Seven Card Stud Championship | $248,254 |
Christopher Chatman | Event #24: $1,000 Flip & Go | $187,770 |
Dominick Sarle | Event #17: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw | $164,243 |
Michael Moncek | Event #13: $1,500 Limit Hold’em | $145,856 |
Jeremy Ausmus | Event #23: $3,000 6-Handed Limit Hold’em | $142,147 |
Denis Nesterenko | Event #20: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw | $108,250 |
2022 APT Vietnam Hanoi Updates
While the world’s richest and most prestigious poker festival, the 2022 WSOP, is underway in Las Vegas, the 2022 Asian Poker Tour Vietnam Hanoi is witnessing an insane summer rush by Team India.
Young Gun Shardul Parthasarathi made his way into the history books after taking down the series’ headliner, VND 5 Billion GTD APT Vietnam Hanoi Main Event, for a massive VND 1,929,250,000 (~₹64.84 Lakhs), along with the APT Trophy and APT Championship Ring.
Two weeks after placing runner-up in the WPT Prime Vietnam Main Event, PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Munot again came second, banking an admirable VND 1,286,190,000.
Read the complete report here
Adding to India’s number of title wins in the series, the IPC Megastacks ₹100K High Roller champion Alok Birewar shipped Event #13 NLHE 2 for VND 191.84 Million. Meanwhile, the 2022 BPT ₹100K Highroller winner Zarvan Tumboli won the Hyper Deep Stack Turbo for VND 71 Million.
Huy Quang Nguyen championed the 293-player field in the VND 1 Billion GTD Mystery Bounty to collect VND 325.60 Million (~₹10.93 Lakhs).
Vaibhav Sharma FT-ed the event, finishing seventh for VND 49.96 Million (VND 40.70 Million in bounties), netting VND 90.66 Million (~₹3.04 Lakhs) overall.
Read the complete report here
Circuit regular Jasven Saigal FT-ed the two-day Head Hunter, placing fifth for VND 29.96 Million (~₹1.01 Lakhs), while Ankit Jajodia took fifth in the VND 11 Million buy-in PLO Event for VND 17.16 Million (~₹57,844).
Read the complete report here
Terry Nguyen, Nguyen Manh Tuan, Pham Tien Dung, Phachara Wongwichit, Kajornnut Prirunrueng, and Hung Manh Dinh won the other APT Trophies this week.
And with this, we conclude this week’s roundup of the latest news updates and developments from poker. We will return again next week with our weekly report. Stay tuned.