This Week in Poker: March 13 – 19

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  • Namita Ghosh March 20, 2019
  • 7 Minutes Read

In the PokerGuru feature ‘This Week in Poker’ we bring you the weekly round-up of the biggest 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

A lot has happened in the world of poker as we crossed the ‘ides of March’ into the penultimate week of the month. The week was full of thrilling poker action both on the live and online felts, with some ominous news coming through as well. Let us take a look back at the week that just passed us by.

The hilly city of Gangtok played host to the four-event long Deltin Poker Tournament Express (DPTX) Sikkim that ran from March 14 to 17 at the Casino Deltin Denzong. Catering mainly to low-mid stakes poker players, the series recorded decent numbers on its second run. The biggest winner at the series was indubitably Ankit Jajodia who claimed his maiden live title in the ₹15K Main Event for ₹3.25 Lakhs. The other winners at the series included Debashis Bal (₹5K Burn N Turn Event for ₹1.60 Lakhs), Sandip Jhawar (₹10K Bounty for ₹85,000), along with the team of Aayush Aggarwal and Rishab Dalmia (₹10K Tag Team for ₹81,300).

Mirroring the exceptional domestic performances Team India has also been trailblazing across international felts. Just as The Indian Poker Series (TIPS) Winter Edition closed out, our Indian challengers were seen in action at the second edition of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Vietnam. Madhav Gupta is sitting on top of the Indian scorecard at the moment with a score of VND 316,910,000 (₹9.39 Lakhs) from his fourth-place finish in the Kickoff event, but the scorecard features other names as well including Shashank Jain, Eka Vedantham and Kalyan Chakravarthy who have all cashed at the series. The Main Event VMD 8 Million GTD started today and India’s Yasheel Doddanavar (333,000) and Vedantham (323,500) were the top stacks among 37 Day 1A survivors, while Day 1B is currently underway.

Perhaps the most incredible performance of this week came from Abhishek Goindi who finished runner-up at WPT Barcelona Event #6 – €1,100 PLO and banked approximately €25,000 (₹19.57 Lakhs) in the process, making him our PokerGuru Star of the Week.”

With Indians performing brilliantly in the international domain, domestic railbirds have a lot more to look forward to as the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Sochi hits the floor at Casino Sochi today. Representing Team India at the series will be PokerGuru Team Ambassadors Tathagata Sengupta, Kartik Ved, and Jayjit Ray, along with India`s first bracelet winner Aditya Sushant and Anant Purohit.

Meanwhile, winners of the third season of the Match Indian Poker League (Match IPL) – Team Pune Kings comprising of Captain Gaurav Gala, First Lady of Indian Poker Shuchi Chamaria, online pros Rubin Labroo and Akshay Nasa, alongside Tanmay Bagga and Akash Shekhar with Team Manager Amar Katharani – will head off to Dublin, Ireland where the 2019 Nations Cup will be held from March 22-29.

The third and fourth episodes of the inaugural Global Poker League (GPL) India were broadcast on Colors Infinity and Colors HD on Saturday, March 16. Team managers – Aditya Agarwal (Kolkata Creators), Kavin Shah (Mumbai Jetsetters) and Vidwath Shetty (Bengaluru Hackers) vetted their online qualifiers through the interview round and all six GPL India Teams finally came together for the first time on stage.

While the live scene was rife with excitement, the virtual felts too witnessed thrilling action. PokerStars India reaped in the rewards for revamping its marketing strategies which have resulted in sharp increase in traffic on the site more clearly evident from the marked increase in the numbers at the brand’s most popular Sunday extravaganza, the Sunday Special Progressive KO ₹25 Lakhs GTD. On March 17, the event recorded an all-time high of 479 entries (281 unique and 198 re-entries) proving that the global brand is slowly and steadily closing the gap between its competitors. The high-value tournament was eventually won by ‘MarwadiPro’ who took home a whopping ₹4.57 Lakhs in prize money.

The biggest online winner, however, was Zarvan ‘MomSaid5Bet’ Tumboli who catapulted to the top of PokerBaazi’s headline Sunday tournament – Baazi Super Sunday (BSS) SuperStack ₹25 Lakhs GTD – and pocketed ₹5.60 Lakhs in the process.

Even though poker is growing by leaps and bounds both online and live, the poker capital of the country Goa continues to take the political limelight as the Goa casino industry found itself yet again on shaky grounds following the death of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

In other news, the Goa government allowed a seventh offshore ship, Essel Group’s ‘Big Daddy,’ into the River Mandovi on March 13, leading to further political turmoil within the state. Indian gaming giant, Dream 11 entered into a four-year exclusive partnership with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), becoming the BCCI’s official partner for the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL). Meanwhile, Tencent India released a statement saying it will engage with the authorities to have the ban lifted from the popular online game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds aka PUBG in Gujarat.

Online Railbird Report

India’s most trusted poker site, PokerBaazi saw its most popular event the BSS SuperStack ₹25 Lakhs GTD attract a massive field of 648 entries, collecting ₹32.40 Lakhs in the prize pool. MadOverPoker pro Zarvan ‘MomSaid5Bet’ Tumboli topped them all adding ₹5.60 Lakhs to his bankroll.

Zarvan Tumboli
Zarvan Tumboli

Other notable scores of the week include –

‘MarwadiPro’ won 4.57 Lakhs for 1st place in PokerStars India ‘Sunday Special – Progressive KO 25 Lakhs GTD ‘

Gaurav ‘mozzie17’ Sood won 2.92 Lakhs for 1st place in 9stacks ‘Sunday Stacks 15 Lakhs GTD’

Aditya ‘serendipity789’ Sushant won 2.42 Lakhs for 1st place in PokerStars India ‘High Roller NLHE 12 Lakhs GTD’

Shuchi ‘pescatarian8’ Chamaria won 1.84 Lakhs (includes 1.20 Lakhs Bounty) in PokerStars India ‘Battle Royale 10 Lakhs GTD’

Vishal ‘Bhai9’ Marwaha won 1.03 Lakhs for 1st place in PokerBaazi ‘The Monster 6-Max 5 Lakhs GTD (RE)’

Vinay ‘Lovecee’ Choudhry won 1.01 Lakhs for 1st place in PokerBaazi ‘BSS PLO 5 Lakh GTD (RE)’

Rony ‘bisadip176’ Chowdhury won 1 Lakhs for 1st place in PokerBaazi ‘BSS MegaStack 5 Lakhs GTD (RE)’

‘ganpat’ won 88,000 for 1st place in MadOverPoker’s ‘Rehab – 5 Lakhs GTD’

kgjadoo’ won 49,705 for 1st place in PokerStars India ‘The Classic NLHE 1,500 1.5 Lakhs GTD’

Sogani22’ won 39,320 for 1st place in PokerStars India ‘Sunday Stars – 2,500 NLHE 2 Lakhs GTD’

SirRampagealot’ won 38,516 for 1st place in PokerStars India ‘Sunday Storm – 330+R NLHE (6-Max), 2 Lakhs GTD’

‘Amaru’ won 37,950 for 1st place in Khelo 365 ‘Big Splash ₹75K GTD’

phunsukhwangdu’ won 37,713 for 1st place in PokerStars India ‘The Classic 2 Lakhs GTD’

freak_weird0’ won 34,869 for 1st place in PokerStars India ‘Sunday Warm-Up 1.5 Lakhs GTD’

‘NovaSky47’ won 23,113 for 1st place in PokerStars India ‘Afternoon on Stars ₹1 Lakh GTD’

‘Ja59405’ won 18,576 for 1st place in Khelo 365 ‘Deep Stack 30K GTD NLHE (Max 5 Rebuys)’

‘prcp’ won 18,387 for 1st place in PokerBaazi ‘Sunday ₹1 Lakh GTD (RE)’

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PokerStars Sunday Million Offers $10 Million GTD on April 14

Celebrating the 13th anniversary of its most-popular online tournament – Sunday Million – PokerStars announced that the tournament guarantee on the international client will be increased from $1 Million to $10 Million on April 14.

PokerStars Sunday Million

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partypoker POWERFEST is Back With $30 Million GTD

partypoker announced its online poker tournament series, POWERFEST, which is scheduled to run from March 31 to April 14, with $30 Million in guarantees on offer.

partypoker

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888poker Returns With XL Blizzard

888poker XL Blizzard

888poker announced the XL Blizzard, a 34-event long series that will be hosted from April 4-14 and is accessible to players all across the globe.

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Jaime Staples To Join partypoker Team Online

After appointing Matt Staples as the first member of its high-profile new poker streaming squad, partypoker has roped in Matt’s brother Jaime Staples to the team. Jamie is a popular Twitch streamer and was a Team PokerStars pro since April 2015, but only recently parted ways with the brand.

Jaimie Staples
Jaimie Staples

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WPT Partners With Unreel to Launch Free OTT Streaming Service – WatchWPT

The World Poker Tour (WPT) has recently partnered with leading video streaming service provider Unreel to offer players and fans easy access to WPT’s high-quality video content through its new free OTT (over-the-top) streaming service WatchWPT.

Watch WPT

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Team India All Set to Take EPT Sochi by Storm; Series Hits Casino Sochi Today

PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Sochi is all set to kick-off its second edition today. Running till March 29, the series will feature 12 events and is expected to be attended by quite a few Indian players including the likes of PokerGuru Team Ambassadors Tathagata Sengupta, Kartik Ved, and Jayjit Ray, along with India`s first bracelet winner Aditya Sushant and Anant Purohit.

EPT Sochi

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Goa CM Manohar Parrikar Passes Away

Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar passed away on March 17 at the age of 63. Parrikar had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year in February. He was at the helm of a BJP-coalition government with Goa Forward Party (GFP), Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and independents as coalition partners.

While earlier staunchly opposed to Goa’s casino industry, Parrikar had acknowledged the revenue that the casino sector brought for Goa and tabled a casino policy envisioning relocation of the offshore casinos inland. With his demise, and an ongoing tussle for power may jeopardies the future of the casino industry.

Manohar Parrikar

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The BCCI – Dream11 Partnership

Early this year, India’s gaming behemoth, Dream 11 announced that it has crossed the 5 Crores (50 Million) mark in registered users and will be ambitiously aiming to cross the 10 Crores (100 Million) mark. In what can be called a big step for the company to achieve this optimistic target, Dream11 has entered a four-year exclusive partnership with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The partnership makes Dream11 the BCCI’s official partner for the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) and will take off with the upcoming 2019 IPL that begins on March 23.

Dream11 will also power the ‘official fantasy game’ of IPL, and the collaboration will open the doors for millions of Cricket fans to create their own fantasy cricket teams. Dream11 will also undertake brand integrations and on-ground activations at various stages of the VIVO IPL matches.

Dream11

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Tencent India Seeks Withdrawal of Ban on PUBG in Gujarat

Several districts of Gujarat have banned the popular online game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds aka PUBG, and over the week, police have arrested different groups found playing the game. Reacting to this, Tencent India – the Indian arm of the game’s creator, i.e., Tencent Holdings has issued a statement saying it will engage with the authorities to have the ban lifted, and seek legal basis of the ban.

PUBG

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Goa’s 7th Offshore Casino ‘Big Daddy’ Enters River Mandovi

Resulting in political turmoil, the Goa government allowed a seventh offshore ship, Essel Group’s ‘Big Daddy,’ into the River Mandovi on March 13. Reacting to ‘Big Daddy’ sudden presence, State Ports Minister Jayesh Salgaonkar conducted an impromptu inquiry to find out why the ship was allowed to enter the river in such haste.

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GPI Reveals Nominees For 2019 Global Poker Awards

Mediarex Sports and Entertainment owned Global Poker Index (GPI) recently announced the Global Poker Awards to recognize poker excellence both on and off the felts. The first edition of the Global Poker Awards will consist of 13 different categories and will be broadcast on Poker Central’s popular streaming platform, PokerGO on April 5.

GPA Awards

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2019 DPT Xpress

The second edition of the Deltin Poker Tournament Express (DPTX) Sikkim kicked off on March 14 at the picturesque Casino Deltin Denzong. A sub-brand of the much bigger DPT brand, DPTX mainly caters to the low-mid stakes poker players, and this year the series pulled in a commendable crowd even with some of the more established names in the domestic circuit flying off to Ho Chi Minh City to participate in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Vietnam.

The series opener, i.e., the ₹5K Burn N Turn event, pulled in a total of 130 entries (56 unique, 27 rebuys and 47 add-ons) which eclipsed last year’s turnout of 122 entries. Former Team Director of Kolkata Kings for Poker Sports League (PSL) – Debashis Bal took down the title for a handsome paycheque of ₹1.60 Lakhs.

Debashish Pal
Debashish Pal

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The star attraction of the series was the two-day long ₹15K Main Event which drew in a 64-strong entry field and crowned a winner in Ankit Jajodia who won his first-ever live title, along with his career-best score of ₹3.25 Lakhs.

Ankit Jajodia
Ankit Jajodia

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Another first-time winner was Sandip Jhawar. Jhawar claimed the title in the ₹10K Bounty event and bagged ₹85,000 in cash prize.

Sandip Jhawar
Sandip Jhawar

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The final event of the series was the ₹10K Tag Team event. A total of 17 teams registered for the event; outlasting them all was the team of Aayush Aggarwal and Rishab Dalmia who won ₹81,300 for their victory.

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2019 WPT Vietnam

The World Poker Tour (WPT) returned to Pro Poker Club in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam for the second time this year. Running since March 14, the series features a total of 15 tournaments and has already crossed the halfway mark, building up anticipation for the Main Event that kicked off on Tuesday with the first of its starting flights.

Day 1A of the Main Event attracted 136 entries (includes 19 re-entries), and if Team India has been in good attendance at the series, then the inaugural flight saw a good Indian turnout as well and prominently present was WPT Vietnam defending champion Dhaval Mudgal alongside the WPT India champion Nikunj Jhunjhunwala. The limelight was however stolen by Yasheel Doddanavar (333,000) who closed Day 1A as chip leader, followed closely by Eka Vedantham (323,500).

WPT Vietnam ME

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The series opener, i.e., the Kickoff saw a total of seven Indians progress to Day 2 from four starting flights. While Madhav Gupta stormed his way into the final table and finished fourth, (VND 316,910,000 ~₹9.39 Lakhs), also posting scores were Shashank Jain (24th for VND 38,230,000 ~1.13 Lakhs), Eka Vedantham (58th for VND 17,870,000 ~₹52,997), Praveen Dwarkanath (61st for VND 17,870,000 ~₹52,997) and Pavan Ashokumar Jain (74th for VND 15,380,000 ~₹45612).

Yasheel Doddanavar
Yasheel Doddanavar

At the Deepstack Turbo, Yasheel Praveen Doddanavar was seen finishing sixth for VND 20,170,000 (₹59,790), and Kalyan Chakravarthy finished 8th in the Super High Rollers (VND 200,230,000 ~₹5.91 Lakhs).

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2019 WPT Vietnam Indian Cashes

Event NamePlayer NameFinishPrize Money
KickoffMadhav Gupta4th VND 316,910,000 (₹9.39 Lakhs)
Super High RollersKalyan Chakravarthy 8th VND 200,230,000 (₹5.91 Lakhs)
KickoffShashank Jain24th38,230,000 (₹1.13 Lakhs)
Deepstack TurboPraveen Kumar8thVND 2,06,80,000 (₹61,505)
Deepstack TurboYasheel Praveen Doddanavar6thVND 20,170,000 (₹59,790)
KickoffEka Vedantham58th VND 17,870,000 (₹52,997)
KickoffPraveen Dwarkanath61st VND 17,870,000 (₹52,997)
KickoffPavan Jain74thVND 15,380,000 (₹45,612)

 

Even while Rex Clinkscales captured the Kickoff title after a heads-up deal with Kopyl Waldemar to pocket VND 905,000,000 (₹26.83 Lakhs), the Super High Rollers was won by Wayne Heung for VND 2,002,310,000 (₹59.55 Lakhs), even as many other side events crowned champions.

 

2019 WPT Vietnam Winners

Event NameWinnerPrize Money
KickoffRex ClinkscaleVND 905,000,000
DeepstackNguyễn Đức ThànhVND 16,51,70,000
Deepstack Turbo Pham Quang Anh VND132,000,000
Bounty 2-DayLe Ngoc Khanh VND 176,140,000
Super High RollersWayne HeungVND 2,002,310,000
Short Deck Hold ‘em Macaron TranVND 202,490,000
Deepstack TurboPang Choyi JoeyVND 15,52,20,000

Abhishek Goindi Finishes Runner-Up in WPT Barcelona Event #6 – €1,100 PLO

The record-breaking World Poker Tour (WPT) Barcelona series saw each of the respective WPT-branded events set records for field size in Europe including the WPT500, WPTDeepStacks, and WPT Main Tour. However, one of the side-events at the series saw three Indians reach the final table. Event #6 – €1,100 PLO pulled in approximately 160 entries and had Abhishek Goindi, Jagdeep Singh and Gaurav Gala all making final table finishes. While Singh placed sixth for €7,000 (₹5.47 Lakhs), and Gala finished eighth for €3,000 (2.34 Lakhs), it was Goindi who was the show-stopper as he finished runner-up for approximately €25,000 (₹19.57 Lakhs) making him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week.”

Abhishek Goindi
Abhishek Goindi

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2019 TIPS Winter Edition

Hosted at Europe’s most popular casino, The Indian Poker Series (TIPS) Winter Edition closed out a successful series on March 11. The series saw a fair representation of players from different nationalities, particularly the Indian contingent that was in attendance in sizeable numbers. After the Main Event was taken down by Israel’s Lior Moshe Padoba after a four-way deal, the series wrapped up with another player from Israel, Eran Ellmeiech reaching a heads-up deal with fellow countryman Yosef Boker to win the NLH Bounty for €2,273 (₹1.78 Lakhs), even as the latter banked €2,474 (₹1.94 Lakhs) for his runner-up finish.

Eran Ellmeiech
Eran Ellmeiech

Team India picked up a total of 21 scores including two title wins, three runner-up finishes and ten final-table finishes, all making for cumulative earnings of €78,809 (₹62,13,224). The top scorers from the Indian contingent were Pulkit Goyal (Main Event – 5th for ₹25 Lakhs), Jagdeep Singh (TIPS and KENTA Europe High Roller – 2nd for ₹10.99 Lakhs), Gaurav Gupta (Main Event – 11th for ₹4.20 Lakhs) and Tarun Goyal (Main Event – 16th for ₹3 Lakhs).

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WSOP.com Online Circuit Gives Away 13 Rings

The WSOP.com Online Circuit played out in the U.S. and awarded 13 rings along with a total $1,719,280 in prize money. Capping off the series was the $525 Main Event that was taken down by William Romaine for $92,400.

WSOPC Online

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Simon Brandstrom Ships the WPTDeepStacks Barcelona

The week-long WPTDeepStacks Barcelona attracted a ginormous field of 1,232 entries through five starting flights, becoming the fifth-largest field in WPTDeepStacks history. Swedish player Simon Brandstrom bested the field to claim not only his maiden WPT title but also his first-ever live tournament title at the event, along with his career-best score of €270,000 which includes a €2,000 WPTDS European Championship package.

Simon Brandstrom
Simon Brandstrom

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Darius Neagoe Wins 888poker LIVE Bucharest Main Event

At the 2019 888poker LIVE Bucharest Main Event, Romania’s Darius Neagoe reached a heads-up deal with Bogdan Nicolae to claim the title and €62,300 in prize money along with a 2019 WSOP Main Event package worth $12,600.

Darius Neagoe
Darius Neagoe

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Vitalijs Zavorotnijs Takes Down WPT Barcelona Main Event

The Season XVII World Poker Tour (WPT) Barcelona €3,300 Main Event attracted a massive field of 1,227 entries to become the second-largest Main Event of Season XVII generating a prize pool worth €3,570,570. Latvia’s Vitalijs Zavorotnijs outlasted the huge entry field to snag his career-first WPT title, along with a best-live score of €600,000.

Vitalijs Zavorotnijs
Vitalijs Zavorotnijs

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Vinicius Lima Captures WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open (WPO) Championship

The WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open (WPO) Championship event attracted 1,415 entries across two starting flights and culminated in Vinicius ‘Viny’ Lima taking the event down for his maiden WPT title, along with a career-best score of $728,430.

Vinicius Lima
Vinicius Lima

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Criminal Defense Attorney Bill Byrnes Claims Career-First HPT St. Louis Main Event Title

The Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) $1,650 Main Event drew in 444 entries creating a prize pool of $646,020. Criminal defense attorney Bill Byrnes outmanoeuvred the field to win his maiden HPT title along with a best-live cash of $148,587.

Bill Byrnes
Bill Byrnes

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Foxwoods Poker Classic Opener Culminates in 4-Way Chop

The Foxwoods Poker Classic $600 Opening Event attracted 1,823 entries and culminated with Ralph Macri capturing the title and $87,000 after a four-way deal and another heads-up deal with Kyle Merron.

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Sean Yu Wins WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino Main Event

Outlasting a field of 678 entries that created a prize pool of $1,027,170, the WSOPC Bicycle Casino $1,700 Main Event crowned a winner in WSOP bracelet winner Sean Yu who won the event for $210,585 & his seventh gold ring.

Sean Yu
Sean Yu

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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.

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