This Week in Poker: March 22 – 28

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 past few weeks have been rather dull for online poker players in India. However, just before the start of April, things have started to heat up significantly. Spartan Poker’s India Turbo Masters 3.0 began proceedings on Sunday, and we’re looking at busy weeks ahead, with PokerBaazi’s National Poker Series India 2023 going live on March 29.

Dhinesh Kumar topped the weekly charts on the back of his victory march in Adda52’s Sunday headliner, Big Whale, bagging the week’s single-largest payout of ₹10.37 Lakhs. He wrapped up the week with ₹12.33 Lakhs in total winnings, taking home the “PokerGuru Star of the Week” title!

Mahima Walia Das, Sahil Nair, Sahil Mahboobani, and Snehil Aggarwal were the week`s other top online winners.

Live tournament players have been equally busy. Fresh from a hugely successful outing at the 2023 World Poker Tour Prime Cambodia, another sizable Indian contingent has landed at the 2023 Asia Poker Tour (APT) Phu Quoc, underway at Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam (March 24 – April 2). Within the first six days, Team India accumulated 23 cashes, including nine FT scores and a title win.

Continuing with his explosive form from the WPT Prime Cambodia, Young Gun Shardul Parthasarathi is again leading the charge for the Indian battalion at APT Phu Quoc. The poker coach’s sixth-place finish in Event #5: VN₫ 88 Million APT Super High Roller – 8 Max for VN₫ 278.12 Million is the largest yet by an Indian player in the series so far.

While Parthasarathi is the leading Indian scorer, old-timer Dhaval Mudgal got the country her first APT trophy in the ongoing series, taking down Event #20: VN₫ 11 Million Freezeout for VN₫ 157.16 Million.

South Asia may have become the favored stomping ground for Indian players. Still, the focus will soon shift to Goa as the WPT Prime India is returning for its fourth edition from April 12 to 18 onboard the luxurious Casino Deltin Royale.

In the meantime, there’s much to look forward to on the virtual felts.

The cricket fever has gripped the country, and PokerDangal has announced the innovatively-designed Dangal Premier League (March 31 – April 30) that offers up to 50% cashback on deposits on predicting the IPL match scores of concurrent IPL matches of the day. Additionally, the Dangal Premier Rewards offer cash prizes for collecting Dangal Points on the NLHE and PLO4, PLO5, and PLO6 cash tables.

Spartan Poker, India’s leading online poker platform, has announced its Ultimate Poker League (UPL) 2023, featuring a wide range of promotions and events that make UPL India’s biggest poker carnival. With over ₹56 Crores in guaranteed prizes, UPL runs from April 1 to May 31 and includes the India Turbo Masters 3.0, UPL Summer Celebration Series, UPL Cash Leaderboards, Feature Frenzy, Daily Dhamaka, and Freerolls. Participants can win exciting prizes like iPhones, laptops, motorbikes, and a brand-new Jeep car.

Get Mega, a fast-growing social gaming platform, offers unbeatable deposit bonuses for an exciting online poker experience. In a PokerGuru exclusive offer, players can claim up to 4X cashback with a minimum deposit of just ₹150. To take advantage of this fantastic offer, players must use the code ‘PGURU600‘ when depositing a minimum of ₹150 to receive a bonus cashback of ₹600 or use the code ‘PGURU1000‘ when depositing a minimum of ₹250 to receive a bonus cashback of ₹1,000.

The government announced significant changes on how TDS is deducted from winnings from online gaming in the Union Budget 2023. While the changes were initially to be implemented w.e.f from July 1, a recent update reveals that these changes will take effect from the beginning of the new financial year, April 1, 2023.

The TDS changes will also affect horse racing. The Royal Western India Turf Club in Mumbai has issued notices to patrons requesting compliance with new TDS rules for horse racing, including mandatory KYC filling-in.

The Puducherry government has taken a strong stand against online rummy by drafting a bill to ban them. The proposed Bill will be sent to the Centre for approval before passing. This move was taken on the same day (March 23) when Tamil Nadu re-adopted the Bill to ban real money online games.

We now have inputs that the 50th GST Council meeting may be held in June, and things may move forward on the long-pending decision on the GST to be levied on online gaming, horse racing, and casinos.

Online Railbird Report

The reigning Legend Poker Series Main Event champion, Dhinesh Kumar, sneakily notched up the “PokerGuru Star of the Week” title! The online reg reeled in a whopping ₹12.33 Lakhs throughout the week, most notably taking down Adda52’s Big Whale and claiming this week’s single-largest payout, i.e., ₹10.37 Lakhs.

His top finishes include:

> 1st in Adda52’s Big Whale for ₹10,37,400

Mahima Walia Das gave all the pros a run for their money by taking down two India Turbo Masters marquees on Spartan Poker back-to-back, taking an early lead in the ITM 3.0 leaderboard rankings. She grossed almost ₹10.82 Lakhs over the past week.

Her top finishes include:

> 1st in Spartan Poker’s ITM #6 Meteor for ₹9,34,000

> 1st in Spartan Poker’s ITM #14 Turbo 6 Max for ₹81,400

Sahil Nair was another online crusher, check-marking the weekly top scorer’s sheet and adding ₹10.38 Lakhs to his bankroll. His top feats were both on Adda52, winning Nano Main Event (1st for ₹4.03 Lakhs) and placing runner-up in Godfather (2nd for ₹4.20 Lakhs).

His top finishes include:

> 2nd in Adda52’s Godfather for ₹4,19,726

> 1st in Adda52’s Nano Main Event for ₹4,02,946

Sahil Mahboobani made a masterful run this week, collecting ₹9.31 Lakhs. Although Mahboobani had no win on his weekly report card, he made several distinctive appearances across some of the biggest flagship tourneys, ranking fourth on the week`s online charts.

His top finishes include:

> 3rd in PokerStars India’s Sunday Highroller for ₹1,67,071

> 3rd in PokerStars India’s The Colosseum [6-Max] for ₹1,59,561

> 5th in Spartan Poker’s Ultron for ₹1,34,831

> 8th in Spartan Poker’s ITM #4 Sunday Supersonic for ₹1,03,194

Snehil Aggarwal hit a Sunday home run, bagging away two major flagship titles to round out the top five finishers on the week`s online charts. Aggarwal accumulated at least ₹8.31 Lakhs this past week, binking PokerBaazi’s BSS SuperStack and PokerStars India’s Sunday Highroller.

His top finishes include:

> 1st in PokerBaazi’s BSS SuperStack for ₹4,99,752

> 1st in PokerStars India’s Sunday Highroller for ₹2,79,170

Pradip Ghosh, Shagun Jain, Raghav Chauhan, Faiz Alam, Hardik Nair, and Divyanshu Agrawal were the other top online scorers of the week.

Notable Winners of the Week

Earn Up to 50% Cashback on Your Deposit in PokerDangal’s Dangal Premier League (March 31 – April 30)

Aptly timed with the Indian Premier League, PokerDangal’s Dangal Premier League will take off on March 31 for a 31-day run-up to April 30. During this promotion, players can avail of up to 50% cashback on their deposit by predicting the IPL match scores of the day.

Another component of the promotion is the Dangal Premier Rewards, where you can collect Dangal Points on the NLHE and PLO4, PLO5, and PLO6 cash game tables, to win cash rewards ranging from ₹100 and capping at ₹7 Lakhs, and including an all-expenses-paid trip to Singapore, London, or Las Vegas for two.

Read the complete report here.

Spartan Poker’s Ultimate Poker League 2023 Offers a Whopping ₹56+ Crores in Cash Prizes (April 1 – May 31)

Spartan Poker has announced its summer schedule featuring the Ultimate Poker League (UPL) 2023. The UPL will run for two months, from April 1 to May 31, and promises to be India’s biggest poker carnival, offering tournament action, cash games, freerolls, prizes, and more.

With over ₹56 Crores in guaranteed prizes, the UPL includes India Turbo Masters 3.0, UPL Summer Celebration Series, UPL Cash Leaderboards, Feature Frenzy, Daily Dhamaka, and Freerolls. Exciting prizes like iPhones, laptops, motorbikes, and a brand-new Jeep car are also up for grabs.

Read the complete report here.

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Read the complete report here.

2023 APT Vietnam Phu Quoc Updates

Asian Poker Tour`s second stop of the year, the 2023 APT Phu Quoc, began in style at the luxurious Corona Resort & Casino’s Sapphire Conference Room on March 24. The festival has 44 tournaments on the schedule.

Sticking to their impeccable record in Vietnam, Indian players have made a significant impact in the early proceedings of the series, with several players arriving straight from the recently concluded WPT Prime Cambodia. In contrast, others have gone directly for the APT Phu Ouoc.

The Indian contingent has made early inroads, with 23 players already cashing in the series, posting nine final table finishes and a title victory!

On Tuesday, well-known circuit reg Dhaval Mudgal brought India her first APT trophy of the series, shipping Event #20: VN₫ 11 Million Freezeout for VN₫ 157.16 Million, bagging his career-second APT trophy.

Read the complete report here.

One player who has continued his dominant form from the 2023 WPT Prime Cambodia is poker coach Shardul Parthasarathi. The Young Gun has already locked in VN₫ 296.39 Million from two finishes. His standout run came in Event #5: VN₫ 88 Million APT Super High Roller – 8 Max, where he finished sixth for VN₫ 278.12 Million – the largest score by an Indian player in the series so far.

Vietnam’s Quan Trung Nguyen won the APT Super High Roller for a top prize of VN₫ 1.197 Billion.

Read the complete report here.

In addition to Shardul Parthasarathi, another player who has been a standout performer in APT Phu Quoc is MPL Poker Pro Siddharth Karia. The Young Gun has already notched up two final table scores.

Karia’s first final table finish came in Event #1: VN₫8.8 Million APT Kickoff, placing fourth for VN₫ 125.99 Million. He followed this up with another fourth-place finish in Event #11: VN₫ 5.5 Million NLHE Win The Button Turbo, earning VN₫ 25.10 Million. Karia has already banked VN₫ 151.09 Million in the series.

Morocco’s Ahmed Ibrahimi made headlines by winning back-to-back APT titles. He won Event #1: APT Kickoff for VN₫ 327.76 Million.

Read the complete report here.

The next day, Ahmed Ibrahimi championed Event #8: Sunday Super Stack for VN₫ 232.34 Million. With this win, Ibrahimi’s total winnings in the series now stand at an impressive VN₫ 560.10 Million.

Read the complete report here.

The highlight of the APT Phu Quoc series is undoubtedly the VN₫ 10 Billion GTD Main Event, which kicked off on Monday.

From a starting field of 172 entries in Flight A, 66 runners advanced to Day 2. Among the survivors were five Indian players, including Deepak Bothra, who bagged the second-largest stack of 298,700.

Team India’s Scores at 2023 APT Vietnam Phu Quoc

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 our weekly report. Stay tuned.