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!

We’re just coming off a super-charged week with Spartan Poker’s The Millionaire Series 2.0 closing out its smashing run on Sunday. With the COVID-19 pandemic unleashing a fresh wave of panic and Goa and Sikkim casinos shutting down, online poker was the only solace for poker players, many of whom have been forced back into lockdown mode. Nonetheless, The Millionaire drew traffic by droves, and we saw nearly thrice as many players raking in seven-figure winnings this week.

The one name that stands tall among the rest is PokerGuru Ambassador Kartik Ved. The WSOP bracelet winner made a title-sweeping run on the closing day of the series by winning two titles, including the ₹1.5 Crores GTD Millionaire Series #16 – The Millionaire for ₹29.90 Lakhs. He scored twice more in the tourney to net a collective ₹30.32 Lakhs before taking down The Millionaire Series #14 – Deepstack shortly afterward for another ₹17.77 Lakhs. The operations head at PokerGuru Staking bagged his third title of the week last night in the Mega Stack – Millionaire Bubble, working up an impressive ₹52.76 Lakhs in weekly winnings, making him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!!”

Fellow stablemates Arjanveer Chadha and Ashish Ahuja also hogged the headlines for earning the “Super Achiever” badge – Ahuja for becoming the second player to make it into the “₹8 Crore Club” and Chadha for crossing ₹7 Crores in lifetime winnings.

Young Gun Shardul Parthasarathi, PokerGuru Ambassador Laksh Pal Singh, Goonjan Mall, Kanav Parwal, and Young Gun Gaurav Sood were the other top performers this week.

Across the virtual scape, PokerBaazi is celebrating the launch of its new and improved app by hosting its biggest cash game festival ever, the “Daily Cash Smash Extreme.” The cash game promotion runs from May 8 to May 17 and offers ₹10 Lakhs in prizes daily.

PokerDangal’s low-mid-stakes offering, the Dangal Value Series, got underway May 11 and promises over ₹35 Lakhs in total prize pool guarantees, even as BLITZPOKER’s 10:30 PM “BLITZ Covid Relief” tournament guaranteeing ₹75,000 is running daily till May 14.

While these are the domestic highlights, the $100 Million GTD WSOP Super Circuit Online Series (May 1 – 30) is gathering steam on the GGPoker Network.

While the pandemic situation is getting worse in India, things seem to have turned around in the U.S., with casinos slowly returning to their full capacity.

Promising more live poker action in Asia is the World Poker Tour (WPT) that announced the 2021 edition of the WPT Japan to run from September 12, 18-20 at Sammy Inc.’s Tokyo company headquarters.

Online Railbird Report

PokerGuru Ambassador Kartik Ved has had a breakout week, and we are still only on the third day. The Mumbai resident went on a tear on Sunday, winning not one but two headline tourneys, including The Millionaire Series showstopper, the ₹1.50 Crore GTD Millionaire Series #16 – The Millionaire for ₹29.90 Lakhs. He scored twice more in the event to net a collective ₹30.31 Lakhs. He also took down the Millionaire Series #14 – Deepstack for ₹12.76 Lakhs. Two more deep runs saw Ved boost his bankroll by a whopping ₹44.26 Lakhs in Sunday winnings. He added the Mega Stack – Millionaire Bubble title to his tally last night for ₹4.56 Lakhs, in all, adding ₹52.76 Lakhs this week. For his phenomenal run, Kartik Ved is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!!”

His top finishes include:

– 1^st in the Millionaire Series #16 – The Millionaire ₹1.5 Crore GTD for ₹29.90 Lakhs

– 1^st in the Millionaire Series #14 – Deepstack ₹40 Lakhs GTD for ₹12.76 Lakhs

– 1^st in Mega Stack ₹18 Lakhs GTD Millionaire Bubble for ₹4.56 Lakhs

– 3^rd in The Summit ₹15 Lakhs GTD for ₹2.30 Lakhs

Young Gun Shardul Parthasarathi lived up to his reputation of making runner-up finishes by taking second place in the Sunday “The Millionaire” for ₹16.61 Lakhs. Two more cashes in the event saw Parthasarathi pocket over ₹17.21 Lakhs in the Sunday flagship. His cumulative winnings through the week came in at ₹19.23 Lakhs.

His top finishes include:

– 2^nd in Millionaire Series #16 – The Millionaire ₹1.5 Crores GTD for ₹16.61 Lakhs

– 3rd in The Mint ₹15 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.84 Lakhs

The #1 ranked player of the year, PokerGuru Ambassador Laksh Pal Singh, has been on a dream run, and the titles only keep piling up. Making a splash this week, the PokerGuru Staking member championed the ₹50 Lakhs GTD Millionaire Series #8 High Roller for ₹17.24 Lakhs, putting up ₹19 Lakhs in weekly earnings.

His top finishes include:

– 1^st in the Millionaire Series #8 High Roller ₹50 Lakhs GTD for ₹17.24 Lakhs

Goonjan Mall was another MTT crusher who hit the Sunday headlines after topping 238 entries in the ₹50 Lakhs GTD Adda52 Big Game for ₹16.33 Lakhs. With ₹18.08 Lakhs in weekly winnings, Mall sits at #8 on the annual leaderboard standings.

His top finishes include:

-1^st in Adda52 Big Game ₹50 Lakh GTD for ₹16.33 Lakhs

Kanav Parwal was another star performer at The Millionaire Series. He won Event #10 The Elite, and placed runner-up in Event #3, raking in ₹16.99 Lakhs in weekly winnings. His consistent performance also saw him topping The Millionaire Series leaderboard standings.

His top finishes include:

-1^st in Millionaire Series #10 – The Elite ₹40 Lakhs GTD for ₹13.99 Lakhs

– 2^nd in Millionaire Series #6 ₹7 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.49 Lakhs

Young Gun Gaurav Sood (collective winnings – ₹15.04 Lakhs), Myron Pereira (collective winnings – ₹14.40 Lakhs), Bhanu Prakash (collective winnings – ₹13.32 Lakhs), Yudhishter Jaswal (collective winnings – ₹12.99 Lakhs), Millionaire Series Monster Stack champion Arjun Kochhar 12.59 Lakhs), Vikranth Varma (collective winnings – ₹13.48 Lakhs), Millionaire United runner-up finisher Armaan Kochhar (collective winnings – ₹10.69 Lakhs), Young Gun Sanat Mehrotra (collective winnings – ₹10.53 Lakhs) and PokerGuru Ambassador Gokul Raj (collective winnings – ₹10.07 Lakhs) were others who banked seven-figures through the week.

Notable Winners of the Week

PokerStars India Announces 100% Reload Bonus Offer From May 10-23

PokerStars India is back with its popular promotion, the 100% Reload Bonus. From May 10 to 23, the site offers a 100% bonus on all deposits between ₹20,000 to ₹1 Lakh.

Read the complete report here

PokerDangal Announces “Race to Riches” Campaign Offering Over ₹2 Crores in Giveaways

PokerDangal has come out with the “Race to Riches” promotion for May, offering over ₹2 Crores in giveaways across the Dangal Value Series (DVS), Summer Cash Carnival, Summer Deposit Codes, and a 50% TDS Refund offer.

Read the complete report here

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.