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!

The third week of March witnessed a lot of edge-of-the-seat action, with Spartan Poker’s Final Table Series (FTS) 2.0 and PokerStars India’s MicroMillions wounding down to a scintillating close.

Headlining this week’s top winners predictably is the FTS Main Event champion, Siddharth Karia. The Young Gun traversed a field of 622 entries in the ₹2 Crores GTD event to take home not just a career-best ₹32.26 Lakhs cash prize but also an 18K diamond-studded Gold Medallion, a customized Game Face, and an exciting hamper! For his stellar run, Karia is deservedly our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

The 29-year-old MTT pro had entered the FTS Main Event final table with the third largest stack and ended up striking a heads-up deal with runner-up Avinit Bagri to win the prestigious title. Avnit Bagri came extremely close to clinching the FTS Main Event title but had to contend with an equally impressive second-place payout worth ₹30.19 Lakhs.

Kushagra Mehta was one of the most consistent players at the FTS 2.0. Twice in the series, he came close to grabbing the FTS title, namely in the FTS#2 Kick-Off (runner-up for ₹9.03 Lakhs) and the FTS#11 Big Game (runner-up for ₹10.37 Lakhs). He wrapped up the series by placing third in the FTS Main Event for ₹17.24 Lakhs. His phenomenal performance has propelled him on top of the March leaderboard standings with ₹37.55 Lakhs in winnings (₹35.92 Lakhs in profit).

The two-time Millionaire champion Manish Lakhotia had made his way into the top three of the yearly leaderboard last week. He has steadily made his way to the top, dislodging the IOPC The Crown winner, PokerGuru Ambassador Laksh Pal Singh, from the top seat. Lakhotia presently has ₹1.03 Crores in annual winnings (₹23.83 Lakhs in profits) – and is only ₹59,749 ahead of Singh in annual earnings.

Most of the top scorers this week are big winners from the FTS 2.0. This includes Sumit Sapra, Rohit Agrawal, Ramesh Rao Thotapalli, Arjun Pasricha, Young Gun Anujkumar Kodam, Kumar Vatsal, Young Gun Shardul Parthasarathi, PokerGuru Ambassador Devvrat Arya, and the FTS 2.0 leaderboard topper Pulkit Goyal.

PokerStars India’s ‘Star of the Month’ March leaderboard race closed out Week #3 on Sunday with the 2020 India Poker Champion Rubin Labroo headlining the 25 qualifiers. Karan Malhotra and Sanish Chhabra ranked second and third in the leaderboard standings.. The March race has entered its final week, with the Finale to take place on March 24 at 9 PM.

The FTS 2.0 has ended, but Spartan Poker continues to roll out attractive offers and promotions for its user base. On popular demand, Spartan Poker has extended its cash game promotion, the ₹1 Crore Cash Club by three weeks (March 5 – 31).

Asia’s largest online poker room, Natural8, will also be churning out $8.8 Million in promotions all through March. The site, which is a top skin on the GGPoker Network (GGPN), is running $100 India-exclusive freerolls every Saturday (5:30 PM IST). That`s not all! The site will be hosting two online series simultaneously, the Vietnam Series of Poker (VSOP) Series (March 13 – 21) and the Omaholic Series 2021 (March 14 – 28).

Speaking of promotions, PokerBaazi has come on board as Associate Sponsors with IOS Boxing Promotions to host India`s first Las Vegas-style pro-boxing event – the ‘Battle on Ship 2021’. The event will see boxing champion and RummyBaazi Ambassador Vijender Singh defend his 12-0 winnings streak against Russia’s Artysh Lopsan, on March 19, in a super middleweight (76kg) showdown. The match will take place on the rooftop of the Majestic Pride Casino in Goa.

While the virtual felts have been dominating most of the action, live poker tournaments finally made a comeback in Goa with the DPT Xpress last week. The series had a record-smashing run from March 11 to 14 onboard Casino Deltin Royale. The series was off to a great start, with the series-opener ₹5K Burn N Turn registering 333 entries. Jaipur-based Shrey Baj claimed his career-first live title for a ₹3.35 Lakhs payday. The ₹10K Bounty title was captured by Sandeep Ramesh for ₹2.75 Lakhs, while Gautham Raju won the ₹10K Deepstack Turbo for ₹4.30 Lakhs.

The star attraction of the series, the ₹15K Main Event, locked in an impressive 421 entries. Ramesh Rao Thotapalli won his first major live title at the event, banking ₹12.04 Lakhs. Thotapalli has been crushing both the live and online felts lately. Two days before taking down the DPT Xpress Main Event title, Thotapalli came close to winning his first FTS title in the FTS Highroller, finishing third for ₹12.51 Lakhs.

In the other top developments, mobile gaming company Nazara Technologies’ much-awaited Initial Public Offering (IPO) opened for subscriptions today, making it the first Indian gaming firm to be publicly listed. The IPO is an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 52.9 Lakh equity shares by the company’s shareholders and promoters, and the issue closes on March 19.

The first of the three delayed WPT Main Event FTs from last year finally played out on March 10. The 2020 WPT Gardens Poker Championship found a winner in the San Diego-based player Markus Gonsalves, who won his first-ever WPT title and a personal-best $554,495 cash prize.

In other news, the Twitter feud between Vanesa Kade and Dan Bilzerian took a new turn on March 9 when GGPoker canceled the former’s affiliate account. The move led to a lot of drama on the microblogging site. After facing a lot of criticism, the site eventually came out with a six-paragraph statement defending its position. Needless to say, that too backfired with the poker community asking GGPoker to fire Bilzerian.

Online Railbird Report

In a week that saw an equal splattering of live and online poker, Young Gun Siddharth Karia ruled the virtual felts. The 29-year-old MTT pro outmaneuvered the 622-player field to capture the ₹2 Crores GTD FTS#25 Main Event title for a career-best ₹32.26 Lakhs! Karia won ₹32.46 Lakhs this past week to win the “PokerGuru Star of the Week” title.

Avinit Bagri finished runner-up to Karia in the FTS Main Event for a ₹30.19 Lakhs payday. He also cashed in the FTS Head Hunter, collecting ₹30.23 Lakhs overall.

Young Gun Anujkumar Kodam final-tabled three flagship tourneys this week, padding his bankroll by over ₹28.97 Lakhs.

His top finishes include:

– 4th in the FTS #25 Main Event ₹2 Crores GTD for ₹13.44 Lakhs

– 5^th in the FTS#17 Highroller ₹1 Crore GTD for ₹8.35 Lakhs

– 1st in the Adda52 Millions for ₹6.86 Lakhs

Rohit Agrawal grabbed the spotlight by shipping the ₹1 Crore GTD FTS#17 Highroller for ₹28.49 Lakhs.

Finishing runner-up to Agrawal in the High Roller was seasoned reg Sumit Sapra who added a whopping ₹26.38 Lakhs through the week.

His top finishes include:

-2^nd in the FTS#17 Highroller ₹1 Crore GTD for ₹19.25 Lakhs

– 1^st in the FTS#23 for ₹6.77 Lakhs

Kushagra Mehta persisted with his spectacular form this week. Following his runner-up finish in the FTS#2 Kick-Off last week, Mehta added two more FT runs to his scorecard in the FTS#11 Big Game and the FTS Main Event, ending the week with an overall score of ₹28.26 Lakhs.

The FTS Big Game champion and the inaugural FTS Main Event winner, Arjun Pasricha, also final tabled the FTS #14 Monster Stack. He has reasons enough to celebrate since he earned over ₹22.13 Lakhs this week.

His top finishes include:

– 1st in the FTS #11 Big Game ₹85 Lakhs GTD for ₹16.44 Lakhs

– 4th in the FTS #14 Monster Stack ₹70 Lakhs GTD For ₹4.80 Lakhs

– 14th in the FTS #20 Head Hunter ₹40 Lakhs GTD for ₹54,278

Alok Birewar’s poker bankroll swelled by over ₹17.17 Lakhs on the back of his FT finish in the FTS Main Event and The Summit victory.

His top finishes include:

– 5th in the FTS #25 Main Event ₹2 Crore GTD for ₹10.54 Lakhs

– 1st in The Summit ₹15 Lakhs GTD for ₹3.84 Lakhs

– 4th in the Adda52 Millions for ₹2.15 Lakhs

Pulkit Goyal also grabbed two titles this past week, and along with FT finishes, he added ₹16.75 Lakhs to his poker winnings. He also topped the FTS 2.0 leaderboard, earning an additional ₹10 Lakhs in leaderboard prizes.

His top finishes include:

– 1st in the FTS#20 Head Hunter ₹40 Lakhs GTD for ₹5.65 Lakhs

– 1st in the FTS #18 ₹30 Lakhs GTD for ₹4.43 Lakhs

– 4th in the FTS #11 Big Game ₹85 Lakhs GTD for ₹5.90 Lakhs

The other top scorers of the week are:

> FTS High Roller fourth-place finisher Rubin Labroo (Cumulative winnings – ₹15.84 Lakhs)

> Kumar Vatsal (won ₹70 Lakhs GTD FTS #14 Monster Stack for ₹13.51 Lakhs)

> This week’s Godfather and The Mint champion, Young Gun Shardul Parthasarathi (Cumulative winnings – ₹13.27 Lakhs)

> Latest DPT Xpress Main Event champion, Ramesh Rao Thotapalli (3^rd in the FTS#17 Highroller ₹1 Crore GTD for ₹12.51 Lakhs)

> FTS Main Event finalist, PokerGuru Ambassador Devvrat Arya (Cumulative winnings – ₹12.05 Lakhs)

> FTS Monster Stack runner-up Harshad Barve (Cumulative winnings – ₹9.97 Lakhs).

Notable Winners of the Week

Rubin Labroo Leads the PokerStars India “Star of the Month” – March Week #3 Qualifiers

Ace MTT reg Rubin Labroo garnered 1,066 TLB points last week in PokerStars India’s “Star of the Month”- March leaderboard race and leads the third batch of 25 qualifiers, making it to the March Finale slated for March 24.

Read the complete report here

Spartan Poker Extends 1 Crore Cash Club Promotion Till March 31

Spartan Poker has extended its popular ₹1 Crore Cash Club promotion by three weeks (March 5 – 31). The promotion will award another ₹75 Lakhs in prizes in the coming three weeks.

Read the complete report here

PokerBaazi Associate Sponsor for “Battle on Ship 2021”, Vijender Singh to Fight Russia’s Artysh Lopsan

RummyBaazi Ambassador, boxing icon Vijender Singh will be taking on Russia’s Artysh Lopsan in a boxing match on March 19. PokerBaazi is the associate sponsor for the event called the “Battle on Ship 2021” and will also be running a “Battle on Ship” freeroll at 7 PM today, awarding two VIP packages worth ₹25,000 each to the top two finishers.

Read the complete report here

Natural8 is Giving Away $8.8 Million Through March Madness Promotion

It will be an exciting month on Natural8 as the site will be giving away $8.80 Million in promotions and offers! Players can win prizes by playing on the site’s daily cash game leaderboards, or they can also try out the new Omaha Tables on the Natural8’s All-In or Fold cash game tables.

Read the complete report here

Natural8 has also announced $100 exclusive freerolls for Indian players every Saturday at 5:30 PM (IST).

Read the complete report here

The Asia-facing site will also be hosting the Vietnam Series of Poker (VSOP). The series kicked off on March 13 and will run till March 21. The series comprises 14 events, promising VND 2,000,000,000 ($86,900) in prize pool guarantees.

Read the complete report here

Omaha fans should check out the Omaholic Series 2021 on Natural8. Running from March 14 to 28, the series features 105 events and boasts of a jaw-dropping $7 Million in guarantees.

Read the complete report here

Deltin Poker Tournament (DPT) Xpress 2021

Following a year-long hiatus brought on by the COVID-19 induced lockdown, live poker tournaments returned to Goa with the 2021 DPT Xpress series on board the Deltin Royale.

The showstopper of the series, the ₹15K Main Event, took place on March 15 and was taken down by well-known player Ramesh Rao Thotapalli. The funnyman ran through the 421-entry field to clinch his career-first live title for a ₹12.04 Lakhs top prize.

Read the complete report here

Shrey Baj (Won the ₹5K Burn N Turn for ₹3.35 Lakhs), Sandeep Ramesh (Won the ₹10K Bounty for ₹2.75 Lakhs), and Gautham Raju (Won the ₹10K Deepstack Turbo for ₹4.30 Lakhs) were the other title winners at the series.

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.