This Week in Poker: May 25 – 31

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  • PG News May 31, 2016
  • 8 mins Read

In the PokerGuru feature ‘This Week in Poker’ we bring to 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

The temperatures seemed hotter than ever, with excitement for the 47th World Series of Poker (WSOP) that starts in Las Vegas today. Led by Team PokerStars Pro Aditya Agarwal, this year will see largest-ever Indian turnout at the festival. While a few are already there, majority of the players will join in at a later date, with their eyes on the July-scheduled $10K Main Event.

Leading up to the WSOP is the 2016 Super High Roller Bowl, which is currently playing out at the ARIA Resort & Casino Las Vegas. Now completing Day 2, the event drew an elite list of 45 top pros and is now down to just 16, all of whom are vying for a piece of the $15,000,000 prize pool, which will be available only to the top seven finishers.

The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) 10 Macau concluded last week with Jian Guo Sun winning the Main Event for HK $2,149,600. The only Indian cash in the Main Event was by Rashid Sharfuddin at 22nd place for HK $64,850.

Online action was headlined by Ronak ‘hellrokr’ Agarwal, who claims our “PokerGuru Star of the Week” title for making an impressive third place in the PokerStars $215 Sunday Million.

After a fabulous KO Knockout Mayhem, players can look forward to one of the most scintillating promotions at Spartan Poker, India’s best online poker experience. The INR 1 CRORE June Bonanza, exclusively for cash games players, is available across all stakes, where players can win huge amounts of Bonus Money, in direct proportion to the points they accumulate!

In this weekly report, we also have news from Goa and Maharashtra, both concerning casinos. Internationally, there are several announcements, with brand tie-ups for Kevin Martin (PokerStars) and Phil Ivey (Rosters.com).

Then there is a new poker-training site from the World Poker Tour (WPT), the latest update from the Global Poker League (GPL), and PokerStars planning to compensate players in New Jersey who had Full Tilt Points, post-the Black Friday mess.

Besides that, we also have news about an online poker bill being rejected in Pennsylvania and the Asian Poker Tour (APT) releasing a partial schedule for 2017, as well as tournament reports from the WSOP Circuit New Orleans and the Big Stax Events in Pennsylvania.

Online Railbird Report

The recent spate of upcoming players making BIG scores online continues, emphasizing the growing popularity of the sport. This week we have another new weekly winner, in ‘Ronak ‘hellrokr’ Agarwal.

Ronak Agarwal

Ronak had a dream run this Sunday and even he would not have thought that a seat won in a $2.5 Spin & Go would fetch him a career-best $93,813.12 from a third place finish in the biggest weekly online MTT – ‘$215 Sunday Million, $1M GTD’ on PokerStars,. No points for guessing that he is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week.”

The other notable scores are majorly at PokerStars and include –

Aditya ‘Intervention’ Agarwal, who won the ‘Hot $162, $20K GTD’ for $4,354.97

Sahil ‘$lim$hady19’ Chutani finished in sixth place for $3,000 in the freeroll ‘VIP: Super Saturday, Goldstar +, $100K GTD’

Arsh ‘BigggTymeR’ Grover made $2,310.55 for a fifth place in the Hot $33, $35K GTD’

Piyush16’ scored a fourth place making $1,724.99 in the ‘Big $162, $12K GTD’

Raghu Ram ‘Spine619’ Krishna and Arvindhan ’tiltalert86′ L chopped the ‘Big $22, $8K GTD’ for $1,894.07

Tarun ‘aggtarun’ Goyal cashed $1,282.28 for a second place in the ‘Big $7.50 $10K GTD’

Amit ‘bblacklegend’ Jain made 43rd place for $1,048.96 in the ‘$1,050 Thursday Thrill [Progressive KO], $300K GTD’

Anmol ‘anmols94’ Srivats won the ‘$3,000 Early Monsoon’ on 888poker for $1,362.50

Spartan Poker June Promotions

One of the hottest-ever promos – INR 1 Crore June Bonanza begins at Spartan Poker tomorrow, with INR 25 Lakhs in prize money up for grabs each week! Exclusively for Cash Games players, the promo is available across all stakes and has five Leaderboards!

Read more details on the promotion here.

Goa Political Accusations Continue

The blame-game on the casino issue in Goa politics continued. First, Vinay Tendulkar from BJP accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of calling Goa a state of ‘drugs, sex and casinos’, demanding an apology.

A few days later the Porvorim Panchayat accused the local BJP of taking credit for their hard work and also came out against the new offshore casino license allotted by the government.

Read the complete story here.

MTDC Estimates INR 1,500 Crores From Casinos

In the ongoing response-process to the PIL on an archived Gambling Act, a latest update from the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation states that if allowed, onshore casinos could bring in revenues of about INR 1,500 crores.

Read the complete story here.

APPT 10 Macau Recap

The HK $25,000 Main Event saw an unexpected player Jian Guo Sun upset Alex Ward’s dominance to take the title for HK $2,249,600.

Jian Guo Sun

After a great opening with several cashes, the APPT 10 Macau ended on a dull note for India, with only Rashid Sharfuddin cashing the Main Event at a 22nd place for HK $64,850.

Read the complete story here.

Kevin Martin, Latest Twitch Sensation Signed By PokerStars

Kevin ‘GarlicXToast’ Martin, a young poker player, found his popularity at Twitch gain him a brand tie-up by PokerStars. With an interactive style, Martin already has about 28,106 followers.

Kevin Martin

Read the complete story here.

Phil Ivey “Global Partner” To Rosters.com

Rosters.com, new daily fantasy sports (DFS) site has signed up legendary pro, Phil Ivey as their “Global Partner” to promote the growing popularity of these sports. Two promos, ‘Vegas Dream’ and ‘Beat Phil’ are already underway at Rosters.com.

Read the complete story here.

“LearnWPT.com” Poker-Training Site By WPT

A new poker training site, “LearnWPT.com” has been launched by the WPT, but with a focus on clarity of instruction. Reputed WPT boot instructor Nick Binger, will be the lead faculty at the site.

Read the complete story here.

GPL Week 7

The GPL is closing down its first Regular Season and the penultimate Week 7 saw players enjoying the locales. Currently, the Montreal Nationals are leading among the Americas and in the Eurasia conference, it is the Moscow Wolverines who are on top.

Read the complete story here.

PokerStars Plans To Compensate New Jersey Players With Lost Full Tilt Points

Players were compensated for funds lost at Full Tilt by PokerStars, after the Black Friday debacle, but many with accumulated Full Tilt Points were left high and dry. PokerStars is now planning to return these through a promo, but this will only be for New Jersey players.

Read the complete story here.

Pennsylvania House Rejects Online Poker Bill

A proposal for an online bill was rejected by the Pennsylvania assembly, which Representative Payne argued was a safeguard for consumers. The option to restudy the bill has been left open for a later date.

Read the complete story here.

APT 2017 Partial Schedule Released

A partial schedule for 2017 was released by the APT, outlining six stops. These are all at Philippines, which remains the epicenter of the APT as it traditionally has, though venues are yet to be announced.

Read the complete story here.

WSOP Circuit New Orleans Main Event Won By David Hubbard

David Hubbard conquered the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans $1,675 Main Event for $235,500. The event was the last of this season and drew a large 785 entry-crowd.

David Hubbard

Read the complete story here.

Kevin Grabel Makes History At The Big Stax

Bensalem in Pennsylvania played out the trio of Big Stax tournaments and Kevin Grabel became the first player to win two of these back-to-back. Grabel first claimed the Big Stax XVI 300 for $78,450, and then he won the Big Stax XVI 500 for another $43,000.

Kevin Grabel

Read the complete story here.

That is all for this edition of our weekly report, but it promises to be an exciting week ahead with the WSOP beginning, so keep your browsers locked in at PokerGuru for all the updates…

Related Articles:

1. APPT 10 Macau: Jian Sun Upsets Ward to Win Main Event Title For HK $2,249,600; Curtains Down With Nan Tu, Alvan Zheng & Jason Lo Winning Last Three Side Events

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