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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
We are now in the last month of the year, but that doesn’t mean that the poker action is slowing down. With the ongoing PokerStars LIVE Asia Jeju Red Dragon and Asian Poker Tour (APT) Finale Philippines already keeping us railbirds on the edge of our seats, there is so much more to come in the next year.
But that’s not all. While the partypokers $20million guaranteed MILLIONs Online, that began on November 25, has heightened the action on the online felts, the live felts are awaiting the start of the 2018 AJPC Asian Circuit, Incheon (Dec 7-16), European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague (Dec 7-18) and partypoker Grand Prix Gala, Rozvadov (Dec 9-31).
2019 is expected to hit the ground running with the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) 2019, Paradise Island (Jan 5-16), followed by the MPN Poker Tour – Tallinn (Jan24-27).
Back to the ongoing events, this past week a number of Indian pros were seen in action at both Jeju Red Dragon and the APT Finale Philippines. Young Gun Abhinav Iyer, Kalyan Chakravarthy, Adda52 Team pro Kunal Patni, Sumit Sapra and MadOverPoker pro Zarvan Tumboli prominently featured in several events at the Jeju Red Dragon series but have thus far not posted a score. Nonetheless, Chakravarthy and Sapra have both made Day 2 of the ₩12M High Roller and ₩800K Megastack events respectively.
Meanwhile, the APT Finale Philippines spells a culmination for the APT’s schedule for the year. Being held at Resorts World Manila (RWM) since November 27, the series is on its final stretch. Victory came sweet and early for India as Amanpreet Singh shipped the NLH Single Day (Shot Clock) event (PHP 273,300 – ₹3.63 Lakhs) for his maiden APT trophy. Singh’s title win is also the only score clinched by an Indian at the series so far. While the Main Event crowned a winner in Mikiya Kudo, the second featured event i.e. the Championships Event is currently underway. Team India’s 2017 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet champion Aditya Sushant and Madhav Gupta are among the players resuming play on Day 2 of the event.
The virtual felts has been brimming with action of late, with PokerBaazi Premier League (PPL) Winter Edition (Dec 10-16) and MadOverPoker’s Indian Bounty Championship (Dec 7-9) slated to begin soon. Following a week that saw some big scores being posted by the regular pros including Ayan ‘interalia_1’ Ray (PokerBaazi’s ‘The Endeavour’ for ₹2.80 Lakhs), Nadeem ‘Downtownplaya’ Basha (PokerStars India’s ‘Highroller NLHE’ for ₹1.93 Lakhs) and PokerStars Team pro Aditya Agarwal (PokerStars India’s ‘Super Tuesday NLHE’ for ₹1.19 Lakhs), the action intensified on Sunday. Dominating the list of winners was India’s first WSOP bracelet winner Aditya ‘serendipity789’ Sushant who topped the Sunday Special – Progressive KO ₹15 Lakhs GTD on PokerStars India for a first-place prize money of ₹3.15 Lakhs, earning himself the “PokerGuru Star of the Week” title.
In other news related to the Indian online poker industry, the poker site PokerHigh announced that it had acquired the assets of Hippo52.
The biggest news coming in from the domestic gaming quarters was the launch of Australian real-money fantasy sports website, Draftstars by its parent company, PlayUp in India. We also heard that Indian-origin former Canadian MP Raj Grewal was investigated for his gambling activities.
We conclude this week’s recap with tournament reports from 2018 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) stops in Harrah’s Cherokee and Planet Hollywood, 2018 888poker LIVE festival London, 2018 Master Classics of Poker, 2018 WPT Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open, 2018 Borgata Fall Poker Open and 2018 WPT DeepStacks Thunder Valley.
Reaffirming his status as the poster boy of Indian poker and our “PokerGuru Star of the Week”, Aditya ‘serendipity789’ Sushant juggernauted through a field of 367 entries (200 unique and 167 re-entries) on the Sunday Special – Progressive KO ₹15 Lakhs GTD event on PokerStars India to win ₹3.15 Lakhs in prize money.
Other notable scores of the week include –
Arun ‘freaky123’ Arora won ₹3 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘BSS ₹15 Lakhs GTD SuperStack’
Ayan ‘interalia_1’ Ray won ₹2.80 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘The Endeavour ₹10 Lakhs GTD’
Vikas ‘deepthought’ Singh won ₹2.55 Lakhs for 1st place in the 9stacks ‘Sunday Stacks ₹10 Lakhs GTD’
Vishal ‘vishal0701’ Yadav won ₹2.10 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘The Vagas ₹10 Lakhs GTD’
Nadeem ‘Downtownplaya’ Basha won ₹1.93 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Highroller NLHE ₹10 Lakhs GTD’
‘ABdevilliers’ won ₹1.26 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘The Monster 6-Max ₹5 Lakhs GTD’
Akshay ‘sherlock52’ Nasa won ₹1.20 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘BSS PLO ₹5 Lakhs GTD’
Aditya Agarwal won ₹1.19 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Super Tuesday NLHE ₹5 Lakhs GTD’
Prashanth ‘nemesis9961’ Sekar won ₹1.19 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Wednesday Stars NLHE ₹5 Lakhs GTD’
Laksh Pal ‘boomtilt23’ Singh won ₹1.13 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘BSS MegaStack ₹5 Lakhs GTD’
Rubin ‘kornkid’ Labroo won ₹85,652 for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘6-Max Wednesday SuperStack ₹3 Lakhs GTD’
‘KarmaPoker’ won ₹84,480 for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Tuesday MonsterStack ₹3 Lakhs GTD’
Joey ‘inisme’ Saha won ₹47,248 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Stars ₹2 Lakhs GTD’
Shubham ‘Shabbaking’ Singla won ₹39,750 for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘6-Max MegaStack Turbo ₹1 Lakh GTD’
‘sheldon11cooper’ won ₹38,988 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Storm ₹2 Lakhs GTD’
Abhisek ‘iPhone’ Swami won ₹38,000 for 1st place in the PokerRaj ‘Nations Cup Qualifier ₹1 Lakh GTD’
‘Aditya’ won ₹37,781 for 1st place in the MadOverPoker ‘Dyamite’
‘pranaygowda’ won ₹36,000 for 1st place in the MadOverPoker ‘Grenade’
‘GutshotHaiBro’ won ₹28,441 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘The Classic NLHE ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD’
Swetha ‘phunsukhwangdu’ Sharma won ₹28,080 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Warm-Up ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD’
‘UnderWood’ won ₹17,500 for 1st place in the MadOverPoker ‘NightCrawler’
Annkur ‘Flopzila’ Agarwal won ₹17,195 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Supersonic ₹1 Lakh GTD’
Online poker platform MadOverPoker (MoP) announced a new high value tournament series named Indian Bounty Championship. The series is slated to run from December 7-9 guaranteeing over ₹15 Lakhs across eight progressive knockout tournaments with buy-ins ranging from ₹630 to ₹3,150. MOP has also announced the IBC Leaderboard with ₹2 Lakhs is prizes up for grabs.
Read the complete story here.
This past week, PokerHigh announced a merger with Hippo52. According to the deal, PokerHigh will consolidate its assets with Hippo52 and the 1,400 users of the site, along with their balances, have been transferred to PokerHigh.
Read the complete story here.
The inaugural 2018 PokerStars LIVE Asia Jeju Red Dragon took off in style on November 30. The ten-day tournament series witnessed some of the best pros from the Asian circuit in attendance. A select group of players from India are also present at the series which include Young Gun Abhinav Iyer, Kalyan Chakravarthy, Adda52 Team pro Kunal Patni, Sumit Sapra and MadOverPoker pro Zarvan Tumboli.
While the Indian pros have participated in multiple series, they are yet to post a score. At present, Kalyan Chakravarthy is carrying a big stack of 300,000 among the 45 runners who have advanced to Day 2 in the ₩12M High Roller. Sumit Sapra accumulated a commendable stack of 284,000 in the ₩800K Megastack and will also feature in the Day 2 proceedings.
Read the complete story here.
The star attraction of the series is undoubtedly the ₩2.2M Red Dragon Main Event which is scheduled to begin from December 5.
The last frontier for the Asian Poker Tour (APT) in its roster of tournaments this year is the 2018 APT Finale Philippines, being hosted in Resorts World Manila (RWM). The series kicked off on November 27 and has seen a big group of Asian and international players in attendance.
Even as many tournaments have concluded, the Championships Event is currently underway and two Indian challengers – Aditya Sushant and Madhav Gupta have carried big stacks to Day 2.
Read the complete story here.
Early in the series, Amanpreet Singh opened Team India`s scorecard by taking down his career-first APT title in the NLH Single Day (Shot Clock) event for (PHP 273,300 – ₹3.63 Lakhs).
Read the complete story here.
The PHP 10 Million Main Event has been one of the biggest highlights of the ongoing APT stop and the event was captured by Japan’s Mikiya Kudo who rose to the top of 307 entrants to win the APT Trophy and PHP 2,844,500. From the Indian contingent we saw Sushant and Dilip Menon take the fight to Day 2 amid 149 survivors, but both of them fell out before the money bubble.
Read the complete story here.
The series continues it run of tournaments till December 6, even though a majority of the events are in the books.
Australia-based betting and gaming company, PlayUp entered the Indian online gaming market last week with the launch of its popular pay-to-play fantasy sports platform, Draftstars for Indian residents. The site is currently offering international and domestic cricket challenges in addition to football, with plans to introduce Basketball and Kabaddi by the year-end.
Read the complete story here.
Former Liberal MP Raj Grewal has been probed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) over gambling charges. Grewal resigned from the Liberal caucus and his seat of Brampton East last week even though he was nominated to run for a second term in the next election.
Read the complete story here.
iPoker finally got the nod from Spanish gambling regulator DGOJ and joined the European shared liquidity market this past week. iPoker is the first B2B poker network to enter France and Spain, with the possibility of commencing operations in Portugal and Italy soon.
Read the complete story here.
Gionee’s chairman Liu Lirong denied losing 10 billion yuan (~$1.4 Billion) at the Imperial Pacific casino in Saipan recently however he agreed that he lost over 1 billion yuan ($144 Million). Lirong claimed that the company is on the verge of bankruptcy not because of his debts but due to increased competition and poor relationships with suppliers.
Read the complete story here.
The first-ever World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open drew a total of 898 entries generating a $2,873,600 prize pool. Pavel Plesuv took down the event and got his maiden WPT title along with a $504,820 payday.
Read the complete story here.
The 2018 Master Classics of Poker (MCOP) Main Event was taken down by Dutch award-winning journalist and TV show host Alberto Stegeman. The event saw 294 entries that helped collect a prize pool of €1,164,240 and Stegeman pocketed his career-best score of €240,183 for the victory.
Read the complete story here.
Vegas-local David Peters won back-to-back World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open $5,000 NLHE 8-Handed Events and walked away with the top prize of $143,159. The $250,000 guarantee of the event was crushed after 95 hopefuls registered, taking the prize pool to $421,250.
Read the complete story here.
The 2018 Borgata Fall Poker Open hosted at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, Atlantic City’s $2,700 Championship event attracted a huge field of 437 entries, creating a prize pool of $1,092,500. By the end, Wen hai Ying emerged on top to claim $200,000 in prize money and his maiden Borgata Open title.
Read the complete story here.
The 2018 WSOPC Planet Hollywood Main Event was attended by 518 entries and besting them all was Texan pro Travis Dorsey who took home $168,722 and won a seat into the 2019 Global Casino Championship.
Read the complete story here.
The WPTDeepStacks Thunder Valley Main Event was won by Alex Greenblatt who beat the 446-entry field to pocket a handsome payday of $122,500 which includes a $3,000 championship prize package. He locked horns with James Brown in the heads-up match and eventually prevailed to win his first-ever WPT title.
Read the complete story here.
Elilton ‘Tom’ Gouveia took down the WSOPC Harrah’s Cherokee $400 NLHE Kickoff for $104,807 to win his first WSOPC gold ring. The event pulled in 2,273 entries creating a prize pool of $750,090 with the top 230 places making it in the money.
Read the complete story here.
High Roller specialist Steve O’Dwyer shipped the 2018 Master Classics of Poker (MCOP) €25K Super High Roller hosted at the Holland Casino Amsterdam. O’Dwyer won the winner takes all cash prize worth €74,250 after defeating Stefan Wolzak in the heads-up battle.
Read the complete story here.
Winning his eighth WSOPC gold ring, Martin Ryan outlasted the 1,166-player field of the 2018 WSOPC Harrah’s Cherokee $400 NLHE Monster Stack event. The 57- year old Ryan banked $70,226 for his finish after defeating Forrest Raleigh in the heads-up match.
Read the complete story here.
The $2,200 High Roller event of the 2018 WSOPC Planet Hollywood was won by Nirath Rean who claimed his maiden WSOPC gold ring along with the first-place purse worth $58,802. Indian-origin player Ankush Mandavia finished sixth for $10,511.
Read the complete story here.
The 2018 888poker LIVE Festival London’s £2,200 High Roller got in the books this past week with Lithuania’s Matas Cimbolas topping the 74-entry field to bank the top prize of £42,505 following a heads-up deal with Tom Hall.
Read the complete story here.
And with this, we conclude this week’s round up of the latest news updates and developments from the world of poker. We will return again next week with our weekly report, stay tuned.