This Week in Poker: November 27 – December 3

Welcome to our latest edition of ‘This Week in Poker,’ where we bring you 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 highlights!

December has arrived, and while the winter chill sets in, the poker action is hotter than ever! Team India’s incredible performance in live tournaments across South Asia has been the talk of the town and for good reason. Indian players have been making their presence felt everywhere, from the USOP Grand Finale in Hai Phong to the PokerStars Manila Megastack 20. And with the big three – WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas, the WPT World Championship in Vegas, and the EPT Prague – all underway or about to start, the poker world is in for a thrilling end to 2024!

The 2024 U Series of Poker (USOP) Grand Finale at the Pullman Grand Hotel in Hai Phong, Vietnam, has been a scorcher. Six days in, and Team India was already making waves with 28 cash finishes and seven final table appearances. .Then, on Wednesday, Ankit Bhansali scored the big breakthrough for India. He captured the nation’s first title of the series – and the fourth USOP title for India this year! Bhansali, fresh off his first live victory at the DPT Grand ₹35K NLH Bounty in October, conquered the VN₫ 10 Million Midweek Superstack for a career-best VN₫ 724 Million (~₹24.15 Lakhs) after a heads-up deal with none other than Natural8 India Executive Director Kunal Patni. Even more impressive, this was his first cash of the series!

Ankit Bhansali etched his name into the USOP record books by winning India’s first title of the series – the fourth USOP title for India this year! Bhansali, who had recently tasted victory at the DPT Grand ₹35K NLH Bounty in October (his first live title), faced a formidable challenge in Event #27: VN₫ 10 Million Midweek Superstack.

While Bhansali stole the show, his heads-up opponent, Kunal Patni, has been the standout performer from the Indian contingent in the season-ending USOP series. Patni has been on an absolute tear lately, with his incredible heater starting at the APT Phu Quoc last month, where he won two titles, finished second, third, and fourth, and posted two other deep runs. Despite falling short of his second USOP title in the Midweek Superstack, Patni still walked away with VN₫ 666 Million (~₹22.22 Lakhs), his third final table and fourth cash of the series. His total winnings are already a staggering VN₫ 1.358 Billion (~₹45.30 Lakhs), making him the highest-earning Indian player at the USOP Grand Finale by far.

For his incredible performance, Kunal Patni is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

Team India Scores at USOP Grand Finale Hai Phong

The USOP Main Event is already underway, promising more fireworks! Meanwhile, a small group of players headed to Manila for the PokerStars Manila Megastack 20, which kicked off at the Okada Manila on November 29. Although they didn’t quite replicate the dominant performance we saw in Vietnam, two Indians managed to make a splash in Manila.

One of those players is a familiar face in the South Asian poker scene. Chirag Shah has been a regular in Manila and Malaysia for years, consistently cashing since 2017. Fresh off a strong showing at the APPT Manila Championship in October, Shah was back in action at the Manila Megastack 20. He came incredibly close to winning his second live title of the year in Event #5: ₱10,000 No Limit Hold’em – Turbo. The tension was palpable as he battled heads-up, ultimately striking a deal that saw him finish as runner-up, taking home ₱97,300 (~₹1.42 Lakhs). The title went to Japan’s Yuhei Ando, who also won ₱97,300.

Birangat Gambhir added to India’s presence on the leaderboard with a 25th place finish in Event #3: ₱16,500 No Limit Hold’em – Kickoff, earning ₱39,000 (~₹57,000). This event was won by Japan’s Keijiro Shimojo, who claimed the top prize of ₱874,443.

While the live felts were bursting with action, the virtual felts weren’t lagging behind either. This week, one player stood head and shoulders above the rest: Anant Purohit. He put on a masterclass on Natural8 India, racking up wins left and right. His biggest conquests were taking down the Sunday Bounty King 320 for a staggering ₹19.10 Lakhs and conquering the Bounty Hunters Fifty Stack 54 for another ₹7.38 Lakhs. By the end of the week, he’d amassed an incredible ₹35.95 Lakhs in winnings, making Purohit our top online earner of the week! With a mind-blowing ₹4.68 Crores in annual earnings, this poker veteran is having a career-defining year and is currently ranked #4 in the Player of the Year race!

Purohit wasn’t alone in his online dominance. The online leaderboards were packed with familiar names, all crushing the competition: Ram Kakkar, Ankit Wadhawan, Rajneesh Thakur, Himanshu Taneja, Nishaanth Shanmughasundaram, Tarush Gupta, and Aniket Waghmare!

Top Online Winners of the Week

While the virtual felts are already teeming with action, it’s about to get even better! PokerBaazi’s inaugural ₹35 Crore GTD WPT India Online Series is just days away, kicking off on December 8. This highly anticipated series will run until December 22, offering an awesome lineup of tournaments, jaw-dropping prize pools, and the chance to win nine prestigious WPT trophies—a dream for any poker player.

CoinPoker is also turning up the heat with its inaugural Cash Game World Championship (CGWC), which started on December 1 and runs non-stop through the holidays. The platform has become a 24/7 battleground for high-stakes No-Limit Hold’em action for some of the best players in the game, featuring $50/$100 and $100/$200 games with 100 big blind buy-ins, auto-reloads, and zero rake or ante. By the end of the month, one player will be crowned the Cash Game World Champion, claiming bragging rights, the title of best cash game player of 2024, and a Rolex Daytona worth almost $50,000! They can even have it engraved with their name to commemorate their victory.

Off the felt, CoinPoker is making waves as well. They’ve partnered with Raise Your Edge, a leading poker training platform, and welcomed its founder, renowned pro Benjamin “Bencb” Rolle, as a brand ambassador.

They’re also expanding their reach into the booming Brazilian poker market by signing MMA superstar Paulo Costa as their latest ambassador. Costa, a top-ranked UFC fighter, brings serious star power to the platform.

In other industry news, Nazara Technologies is making bold moves with a ₹196 Crores investment across five companies across five companies, even after a 32.80% dip in net profit in Q2 FY25. CEO Nitish Mittersain remains focused on long-term growth in India’s dynamic gaming market despite rising operating costs.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is tightening its rules on electronic device use and coaching during tournaments, prompted by the recent “Laptop-Gate” controversy. These changes, announced just days before the start of WSOP Paradise, aim to protect the integrity of the game and include a ban on all electronic aids like charts, apps, and solvers, device restrictions at final tables, and stricter phone usage guidelines.

Across the globe, poker champions also made their mark, including:

• Nichan Khorchidian won the Merit Poker Gatsby Gala Series Main Event for $307,700
• Denis Gergoc won the Euro Poker Million Championship for CHF 250,000
• Jianting Cai won the Jeju Poker Festival KR₩ 2 Million Red Dragon Championship for KR₩ 243.80 Million
• Eric Yanovsky won the Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open (RRPO) Event #1: $400 Deep Stack NLHE for $173,000
• Saurabh Gulati won the SunBet Poker Tour (SPT) ZAR 15,000 Main Event for ZAR 975,280
• Keith Johnson won the GUKPT Grand Final £1,500 High Roller for £46,420

Finally, “Gangnam Style” icon PSY is the new face of Solaire Resort Entertainment City and Solaire Resort North. This partnership aims to attract Korean tourists, capitalizing on PSY’s global fame and his recent sold-out Solaire concert.

This concludes this week’s round-up of the latest news and developments from the world of poker. We will return next week with another weekly report. Stay tuned