This Week in Poker: May 2 – 8

This Week in Poker: May 2nd - May 8th
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  • PG News May 14, 2018
  • 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

Even as the heat increased to scorching levels, a spate of activity both on the positive and negative side kept the poker world on its toes, with live and online tournaments, besides several major developments.

The biggest news was the shutting down of Goa’s three onshore casinos-Crown, Carnival and Strikein the wake of the hiked casino license fee. The latest development however gave Casino Strike a new life as the Bombay High Court gave interim relief and permitted them to resume operations after they pay ₹10 Crores. The casino will reduce its area from the existing 1,013 square meters to around 300 square meters.

On the other hand, great news came for gamers as Sikkim’s Pakyong Airport finally obtained its license to run commercial flights which will surely boost the tourism and casino industry of the state.

Amid other highlights, online poker site MadOverPoker announced their first ever Hysteria Live in Bengaluru’s Tilt Room on May 19. On the online front, a new entrant is making noise as PokerLion.com entered the market aiming to give the “Ultimate GAMING Experience to Poker Players in India”.

The poker players in the United States now have a reason to rejoice too as their online gaming experience changed completely this past week with WSOP.com launching its platform in Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey to offer a combined platform for players.

Though the west was rejoicing, the east mourned as news came in about the International Poker Tour (IPT) being called off by AliSports and two casinos – PokerStars Live Macau and Galaxy Macau shutting down their poker operations.

Moving on to the other top stories, Danny McDonagh joined the PokerStars Live team as the Executive Tournament Director and Maria Ho and Lupe Soto got inducted in the Women in Poker Hall of Fame 2018.

In another brand alliance, popular gamer Sophia ‘Djarii’ White was signed by Unibet as its brand ambassador of poker.

Goa is busy playing host to the Poker Sports League 2018 and after Day 2 of the one-of-a-kind poker league home team Goan nuts is leading in points followed by Bengaluru Warriors and Delhi Panthers.

Next, players can look forward to the online extravaganza The MoneyMaker 5.0 on India’s most trusted poker site – PokerBaazi. On the live front, there will be AJPC Asian Circuit – INCHEON (May 18 – 27) and the 888poker LIVE Barcelona (May 23 – June 4) coming up soon.

There is also the SCOOP running on the PokerStars International client with Indians barred from participating.

Our final segments cover the reports of live action from EPT Monte Carlo, partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America, APT Macau Championships 2018 Main Event and MSPT Canterbury Park Season 9 Main Event.

Online Railbird Report

The biggest sweat of the week came from Nishaanth ‘Shanni’ S who takes our “PokerGuru Star of the Week title” after he won ₹3.03 Lakhs for taking down the PokerBaazi ‘Baazi Super Sunday ₹15 Lakhs GTD (Superstack)’.

Other notable scores include –

‘abhi.sheikh9’ won₹2.39 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday High Roller – ₹15,000 NLHE, ₹5 Lakhs GTD’

Jayaraj ‘Winner’ Ninama won the Vegas Package on 9stacks.

Harshil ‘Uncle Scrooge’ Dhingra won the Vegas Package on 9stacks.

Saurabh ‘newkidintown’ Arora won the Vegas Package on 9stacks.

Kartik ‘TheInternetKid’ Ved won ₹2.33 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Special – ₹5,000 NLHE, ₹12 Lakhs GTD’

Aditya ‘Aditya Agarwal’ Agarwal won ₹1.92 Lakhs for 2nd place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Special – ₹5,000 NLHE, ₹12 Lakhs GTD’

Kanishk ‘Gooner1317’ Upreti won ₹1.20 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Baazi Super Sunday ₹5 Lakhs GTD (MonsterStack Hyper Turbo)’

‘SANDYINC.’ won ₹48,682 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Stars’

‘thehungrykid’ won ₹48,000 for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Baazi Super Sunday (₹1 Lakh GTD PLO) (Re-entry)’

Muskan ‘Muskan Sethi’ Sethi won ₹44,904 for 4th place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday High Roller – ₹15,000 NLHE, ₹5 Lakhs GTD’

‘GhantaSkill’ won ₹38,000 for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Baazi Super Sunday ₹1 Lakh GTD (Turbo FreezeOut)’

Amresh ‘0Termi’ Kumar won ₹38,000 for 1st place in the 9stacks ‘Sunday Stacks’

PokerLion.com Enters the Online Poker Market with a Roar

The last week saw a new player entering the domestic online poker world – PokerLion.com which aims to give the “Ultimate GAMING Experience to Poker Players in India” and to educate the masses that poker is a game of skill. Brainchild of Navneet Makharia, PokerLion.com has partnered with Microgaming and boasts of a platform with rich graphics, simple user interface, collusion free games, fast deposit and withdrawal facility, alert fraud analyst team and loads of deals & bonuses for all poker fans.

PokerLion.com
PokerLion.com

Read the complete story here.

MadOverPoker’s First-Ever Hysteria Live at Tilt Room in Bengaluru

There’s reason for domestic poker players to rejoice, with the announcement of MadOverPoker’s first ever ‘Hysteria Live’ event to be hosted in the recently launched Tilt Room in the garden city – Bengaluru.

Boasting of ₹5 Lakhs in guaranteed prizes, the ₹4,400 buy-in re-entry event will take place on May 19 at 2pm.

Crown, Carnival & Strike Shut Shop in the Wake of Hiked Casino License Fee

After the recent hike of casino license renewal fee by the Goa government, this week, The Crown, The Carnival and just recently Casino Strike have closed their operations after their inability to pay the hiked fee. After six casinos paid the fee this year, the government has reportedly collected ₹200 crore of additional revenue in comparison with last year. Another ₹100 – ₹150 crore is expected to flow in soon from the remaining 5 casinos.

The latest development however gave Casino Strike a new life as they can now resume operations after they pay ₹10 Crores.

Read the complete story here.

Gangtok Airport Gets Commercial Operating License

In a great news bound to increase tourists and gamers alike coming to Sikkim, the Pakyong Airport built at the height of 4,700 feet from sea level and 35 kilometers from Gangtok finally obtained its license to run commercial flights. Only Spicejet has got the licensed permission to fly in and out and will soon be starting direct flights between Kolkata and Pakyong.

Read the complete story here.

IPC Team Takes Over Goa’s Big Daddy Poker Room

This week, the India Poker Championship (IPC) team took over the newly launched Big Daddy poker room onboard the recently resurrected Maharaja Casino in Goa.The key personnel in-charge of operations of the Big Daddy poker room will be Vasim Rozani.

Read the complete story here.

Danny McDonagh Joins PokerStars Live Team as Executive Tournament Director

Moving out of his current role as the WPT Live Events Specialist of WPT-Asian Pacific region, Danny McDonagh this past week announced joining the PokerStars Live team as the Executive Tournament Director. Apart from the routine supervision, McDonagh intends to focus on flagship events with a clear priority being the players.

Danny McDonagh
Danny McDonagh

Read the complete story here.

Maria Ho & Lupe Soto Inducted in Women in Poker Hall of Fame

The result of the 2018 Women in Poker Hall of Fame (WiPHoF) were announced this past week with CEO and Executive Director of Senior Poker Tour – Lupe Suto and TV personality and commentator Maria Ho to join the prestigious club. They will be officially inducted at the Orleans casino in Las Vegas on June 26.

Read the complete story here.

Popular Video Gamer Sophia ‘Djarii’ White Joins Unibet as Brand Ambassador

This past week, Unibet announced signing in Sophia ‘Djarii’ White as its brand ambassador for poker gaming ventures. Unibet hopes to cash in on her massive online fan following which includes over 60,000 followers on Instagram, 50,000 on Twitter, close to 33,000 subscribers on YouTube and 262,000 subscribers on Twitch TV. White has already come up with videos on poker, doling out tips and inviting her subscribers to post suggestions.

Sofia White
Sofia White

Read the complete story here.

WSOP.com Launches in Delaware, Nevada & New Jersey

It was a historic week for online poker in the United States as the World Series of Poker welcomed players from Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey under the shared liquidity deal to offer a combined platform for players from these three states. WSOP also announced “Coast to Coast Classic,” series and a new and improved loyalty programcalled “Poker Rewards”.

Read the complete story here.

International Poker Tour Called Off & 2 Macau Casinos Stop Poker Operations

After the ban on all poker apps in Mainland China, the International Poker Tour (IPT) has been indefinitely called off by AliSports. Making matters worse for Macau’s poker market, two casinos – PokerStars Live Macau and Galaxy Macau shut down their poker operations.

Read the complete story here.

Chris Moneymaker Wins 2 Main Events at New Jersey SCOOP 2018

Last week, WSOP 2003 Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker won not one but two New Jersey SCOOP (NJSCOOP) titles and two near title finishes. He first shipped Event 33-H ($200 NLHE Final Weekend Kickoff) for $5,445.55, then took down Event 34-H ($200 Stud Hi/Lo) for $2,631.98. He went on to finish runner-up in Event 35-H ($50+R NLHE 3-Max) for $2,485.27 and took the fourth place in Event 36-H ($200 Mixed NLHE/PLO, Progressive KO) for $1,113.86 + $947.44 in bounties.

Chris Moneymaker
Chris Moneymaker

Read the complete story here.

EPT Monte Carlo

The 2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT at the Société des Bains de Mer was indeed a special affair with several noteworthy stories written. The man who won the most significant event of the series – €5,300 Main Event was a driving instructor from Paris named Nicolas Dumont who outlasted the 762-entry field to bank €712,000 top prize, the EPT title and the coveted Platinum Pass worth $30,000.

Nicolas Dumont
Nicolas Dumont

Read the complete story here.

The man who created the most buzz this week at the series was Justin Bonomo, who after taking down the first €25K Single-Day High Roller, shipped the second €25K Single-Day High Roller event for €259,700. With this, Bonomo marked his fourth six-figure cash of the series!

Justin Bonomo
Justin Bonomo

Meanwhile, Albert Daher took down the €25K High Roller event and Bryn Kenney shipped the €10K High Roller event.

Read the complete story here.

Taylor Black Wins partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America

The partypoker MILLIONS North America $5,300 Main Event drew a total of 1,954 runners and paid out the top 251 places with the top three finishers walking away with at least a million-dollars.The event came to an end with California’s Taylor Black lifting his first MILLIONS trophy and took home the C$1,400,000 top prize after defeating Darryll Fish heads-up.

Taylor Black
Taylor Black

Read the complete story here.

Hung Sheng Wins APT Macau Championships 2018 Main Event

The APT Macau Championships 2018 at the Macau Billionaire Poker, Babylon Casino wrapped up this week after Taiwan’s Hung Sheng Lin won the HK$2 Million guaranteed APT HK$11,000 Main Event for HK$587,000. Lin also lifted the APT Championship Trophy, and the exclusive APT Championship Ring.

Hung Sheng Lin
Hung Sheng Lin

Read the complete story here.

Rob Wazwaz Wins MSPT Canterbury Park Season 9 Main Event

40-year-old Rob Wazwaz made his record ninth final table and finally claimed a title after taking down the second MSPT Season 9 $1,100 Main Event at Canterbury Park. Wazwaz outlasted the 526-entry field that made it largest major poker tournament ($1K+ buy-in) in State history and finally defeated two-time MSPT champ Blake Bohn heads-up.

Rob Wazwaz
Rob Wazwaz

Read the complete story here.

And that is all for this edition of our weekly report. We will be here again next week, same time, so stay logged on to catch all the latest news from the world of poker.

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