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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!
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It’s that time of the year when we immerse ourselves in the joys of the nine-day-long festival! While the country is busy preparing for Navratri and Durga Puja, poker players were treated to some dhamakedaar action this week!
Team India has left no stone unturned, scouring through the South-Asian lefts off late. Having secured two Main Event titles in Vietnam in 2022 already, several top pros lined up in contention to bag the third one in the VN₫ 8 Billion GTD WPC-SEAPT Main Event! PokerGuru Ambassador Kartik Ved, fresh off a smashing run in the 2022 WSOP this summer, pulled out a nail-biting runner finish in the showstopper, netting VN₫ 2 Billion (~₹68.91 Lakhs), making him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”
Local player Ha Manh Tuong shipped the WPC-SEAPT Main Event for VN₫ 3.22 Billion.
Another Indian pro, Deepak Bothra, placed seventh in the Main Event for VN₫ 480 Million. While many other Indians scored in the series, Nishant Sharma was the only team member to win a title and down the High Roller Single Day for VN₫ 679.50 Million.
Speaking of Indians winning live titles, the inaugural Road to PSPC Manila saw Naveen Tiruvalluri (Won Warm-up event for ₹4.87 Lakhs), J Raju (Won High Roller for ₱860,000; ₹11.89 Lakhs) and Dhanesh Chainani (Won NLH Turbo Freezeout for ₱302,460; ₹4.18 Lakhs) clinching side event titles.
While Ved dominated the action on the live felts, the virtual felts saw his stablemate, PokerGuru Ambassador Vishal Bajaj, raking in the most moolah. The 26-year-old poker pro accumulated an impressive ₹28 Lakhs throughout the week, most prominently taking down Spartan Poker’s ITM #18 – Blizzard for ₹15.65 Lakhs.
Young Gun Sahil Chutani had a phenomenal Sunday run! He won two flagship tournaments, Adda52 Big Game (₹15.64 Lakhs) and PokerBaazi’s BSS SuperStack (₹5.80 Lakhs), rounding up a whopping ₹22.03 Lakhs across his weekly run.
Vishnu Khandelwal, Young Gun Arsh Grover, Loveleen Singh, and Kashish Singh Rathore were the week`s other top online winners.
Spartan Poker’s India Turbo Masters 2.0 is nearing its finale, but poker lovers still have much to look forward to, especially on PokerBaazi. India’s most trusted online poker site is turning eight next month, and PokerBaazi has begun celebrating this momentous occasion with two blockbuster announcements.
Cash game players are being treated to the biggest-ever Anniversary Cash Leaderboards (September 26 – October 25) with ₹7 Crores in prizes spread across all stakes. Tournament players have the brand-new G.O.A.T – the “Greatest of all Tournaments” to look forward to, which guarantees a never-seen-before ₹7 Crores in prize money.
Gamezy Poker, in association with PokerGuru, is giving cash game lovers a chance to win the brand-new iPhone 14. You must generate the maximum rake by playing on the Gamezy Poker app from September 22 to October 22. Only players who have signed up on the site using the PokerGuru Powerplay link are eligible for this promotion.
In a piece of news that sent ripples in the gaming circuit, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet, on September 26, approved an ordinance to ban online gaming in the state. Once the Tamil Nadu governor approves, the ordinance will be promulgated in the state, making all online games for stakes illegal.
In a shocking move, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence issued the biggest show cause notice in the history of indirect taxation on Bengaluru-based online gaming company, Gameskraft Technology Private Ltd. The company approached the Karnataka High Court, which granted them an interim stay on the order, setting October 11 as the date for the next hearing.
Shifting back to the international tournament updates, the 2022 Poker Go Tour Poker Master went underway at the PokerGO Studio inside the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on September 22. The series has already crowned six winners in Jeremy Ausmus (Won Event #1: $10K NLHE for $204,000), Ethan Yau (Won Event #2: $10K NLHE for $197,600), Ronald Keijzer (Won Event #3: $10K PLO for $202,500), Adam Hendrix (Won Event #4: $10K NLHE for $192,400), Nick Guagenti (Won Event #5: $10K 8-Game for $186,000) and Martin Zamani (Won Event #6: $10K NLHE for $223,100).
Josh Reichard overcame a 368-strong field in the WSOPC Horseshoe Council Bluffs Main Event, claiming his 13th World Series of Poker Circuit ring, a $120,445 top prize & a free entry to the 2023 WSOP Tournament of Champions.
Ken Baime took down the 2022 Mid Stakes Poker Tour U.S. Poker Championship Main Event at Sycuan Casino Resort for $82,512, and that too after missing his flight home.
The Asian Poker Tour Taichung Championships Event was a fitting prelude to the just-started APT Taiwan at the CPT Club in Taipei. Local boy Wang Hong Che bested the 427-player field, eventually striking a three-way deal to grab the trophy for NT$200,000, with Lin Ian (2nd for NT$250,000) and Chen Jung Chou (3rd for NT$228,700) netting better payouts.
Online Railbird Report
PokerGuru Ambassador Vishal Bajaj pulled off another blistering run this week! The MTT crusher championed two flagship tournaments and made two other runner-up finishers, making away with close to ₹28 Lakhs!
His top finishes include:
> 1st in Spartan Poker’s ITM #18 – Blizzard for ₹15,65,195
> 2nd in Spartan Poker’s ITM #30 Tuesday Big ₹3,89,025
> 2nd in Spartan Poker’s Ultron for ₹3,78,103
> 1st in PokerStars India’s Highroller for ₹2,23,336
> 7th in Spartan Poker’s ITM #4 Friday Supersonic for ₹1,11,027
> 5th in PokerBaazi’s The Pride for ₹69,090
The poker coach ranked #1 in annual profits, Sahil Chutani, was another chartbuster with two flagship titles and a hefty ₹22.03 Lakhs in collective winnings.
His top finishes include:
> 1st in Adda52 Big Game for ₹15,63,729
> 1st in PokerBaazi’s BSS SuperStack for ₹5,79,285
Vishnu Khandelwal added ₹17.22 Lakhs to his weekly tally. He fired up three FT scores on Spartan Poker since our last weekly roundup, most notably chopping the ITM #18 – Blizzard title with Vishal Bajaj, banking ₹14.84 Lakhs in second place.
His top finishes include:
> 2nd in Spartan Poker’s ITM #18 – Blizzard for ₹14,83,938
> 6th Spartan Poker’s Thursday High Roller for ₹1,57,200
> 7th in Spartan Poker’s Ultron for ₹80,605
Young Gun Arsh Grover, the #4 ranked player in the 2022 POY standings, jumped back in the POY race with a bang. This past week, he lapped up ₹15.33 Lakhs through three podium finishes (including two flagship titles).
His top finishes include:
> 1st in Spartan Poker’s ITM #16 Sunday Supersonic for ₹8,50,421
> 3rd in Spartan Poker’s Wednesday High Roller for ₹2,43,000
> 1st in PokerBaazi’s The Big Show for ₹1,98,801
Loveleen Singh lapped up a personal-best score of ₹14.18 Lakhs for placing second in Adda52 Big Game, crossing ₹1 Crore in recorded online winnings.
Kashish Singh Rathore was another head-turner who hit the jackpot in PokerDangal’s first-ever The Big Show, netting a site-best ₹10.20 Lakhs.
Shashank Chakravarthy, Young Gun Anmol Mehta, Siddhanth Kapoor, Raghav Anant & PokerGuru Ambassador Mithun Mahesh were the week’s other top scorers!
Notable Winners of the Week
Player Prize Amount Event Poker Site
Vishal Bajaj
₹15.65 Lakhs ITM #18 Blizzard ₹1 Crore GTD
Spartan Poker
Sahil Chutani
₹15.64 Lakhs Adda52 Big Game ₹50 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Kashish Singh Rathore ₹10.20 Lakhs The Big Show ₹60 Lakhs GTD
PokerDangal
Arsh Grover
₹8.56 Lakhs ITM #16 Sunday Supersonic ₹35 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
“RoshuRen”
₹6.58 Lakhs ITM #4 – Friday Supersonic (6-Max) - ₹30 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
“Theshark100” ₹6.12 Lakhs Godfather ₹25 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Srihari Bang
₹5.96 Lakhs Thursday High Roller (6-Max) ₹25 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Sahil Chutani
₹5.79 Lakhs BSS SuperStack ₹20 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Neel Joshi
₹5.74 Lakhs ITM #30 Tuesday Big (6-Max) ₹15 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Siddhanth Kapoor
₹5.40 Lakhs The Ballers ₹20 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Abhishek Goindi ₹5.25 Lakhs Wednesday High Roller (6-Max) ₹20 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“gdgdg”
₹4.61 Lakhs The Summit ₹15 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Mithun Mahesh ₹4.06 Lakhs Ultron ₹20 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Samyak Sethi ₹3.86 Lakhs The Weekly Highroller ₹12 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Saransh Garg ₹3.73 Lakhs Destiny 25.0 ₹20 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Gurpal Singh
₹3.63 Lakhs The Mint ₹14 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Arjanveer Singh Chadha
₹3.57 Lakhs ITM #28 Tuesday Supersonic ₹14 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Gurpal Singh
₹3.15 Lakhs Maverick ₹15 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Jyoti Ranjan Nayak
₹3.01 Lakhs ITM #22 Monday Supersonic ₹12 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Snehil Aggarwal
₹2.76 Lakhs The Pride ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Allen Romeo
₹2.41 Lakhs The Endeavour ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Chirag Sodha
₹2.29 Lakhs Bounty Builder HR ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Vishal Bajaj
₹2.23 Lakhs Highroller ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Utkarsh Somaaieyaa ₹2.12 Lakhs ITM #17 DST ₹10 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
“smellmynuts”
₹2.11 Lakhs ITM #5 Multi Entry DST - ₹10 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Dhinesh Kumar ₹2.05 Lakhs ITM #31 DST ₹8 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Arsh Grover
₹1.99 Lakhs The Big Show ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Bhanu Prakash KC
₹1.95 Lakhs ITM #14 DST (6-Max) ₹10 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Sandeep Varma RS
₹1.94 Lakhs Sunday Showdown ₹10 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Vikram Mishra ₹1.86 Lakhs Iron Man ₹8 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Vinay Yadav ₹1.79 Lakhs (7-Max) BSS SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Saransh Garg
₹1.57 Lakhs ITM #19 Turbo ₹5 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Sanjay Chaudhury
₹1.54 Lakhs BSS MonsterStack 6-Max ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Arindam Nayak
₹1.43 Lakhs Daily Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Pratibh Saluja
₹1.42 Lakhs Monster Turbo ₹5 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Akshay Kadam
₹1.40 Lakhs BSS Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Kunal Yadav
₹1.37 Lakhs Daily Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Narayan Ramaswamy
₹1.37 Lakhs Daily Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Samyak Sethi
₹1.35 Lakhs (7-Max) SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Yash Chitre
₹1.31 Lakhs (7-Max) SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Vinay B
₹1.31 Lakhs Daily Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Yash Jaiswal
₹1.27 Lakhs (7-Max) SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Bhavyajeet Singh Rathore
₹1.25 Lakhs Daily Value Boost ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Karan Radia ₹1.21 Lakhs ITM #6 Turbo - ₹5 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
“Bajaj111”
₹1.18 Lakhs (7-Max) Daily SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
“tiltplay”
₹1.18 Lakhs (7-Max) Daily SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
“Raldon” ₹1.18 Lakhs (7-Max) Daily SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Sanjeeta Kumari
₹1.17 Lakhs (7-Max) SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
“hr51wale”
₹1.11 Lakhs (7-Max) SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Karan Radia ₹1.03 Lakhs ITM #24 Turbo ₹4.50 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Vaibhav Sharma
₹1.01 Lakhs Night on Stars ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Karan Radia
₹1 Lakh Battle Royale [8-Max] ₹4 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Deepak Singh ₹93K (7-Max) Afternoon Boost ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Siddharth Karia ₹92K Deepstack Turbo ₹4.50 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Pradip Ghosh
₹90K (7-Max) Daily SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Rajesh Uttam
₹88K ITM #1 Kickoff - ₹5 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Yash Shrivastava
₹83K Uppercut ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
“weakerkickhai”
₹72K (7-Max) Afternoon Boost ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Nandan Pugalia
₹72K (7-Max) Afternoon Boost ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
“HarshitMuchhal” ₹65K (7-Max) Afternoon Boost ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
PokerBaazi’s 8th Anniversary Celebrations Get Underway With the Biggest-Ever ₹7 Crores Anniversary Cash Leaderboards, ₹7 Crores GTD G.O.A.T Starts October 30
PokerBaazi 8th-anniversary celebrations are guaranteed to be epic for both cash game and tournament players.
The site`s biggest-ever Anniversary Cash Leaderboards went live on September 26 with a never-before-seen ₹7 Crores in prizes across micro, low, mid, and high stakes for NLHE & PLO cash game lovers.
Read the complete report here.
And if you thought that was it, you were wrong! Setting a new benchmark for the industry, PokerBaazi has announced the biggest guaranteed tournament in Indian poker history – the ₹7 Crores GTD G.O.A.T. The ₹11,000 buy-in tournament will run eight qualifiers from October 30 to November 6, with the eventual champion guaranteed to walk away with the single-largest cash prize ever awarded in the country!
Read the complete report here.
PokerGuru Exclusive Offer! Play on Gamezy Poker to Win a Brand-New iPhone 14
Gamezy Poker is back with another exclusive offer for all PokerGuru fans and followers. The poker app will be gifting a brand-new iPhone 14 to the highest spender (player who generates the maximum rake) on the site between September 22 to October 22. The offer is exclusive to all players who have signed up / will sign up on Gamezy Poker using the PokerGuru Powerplay link.
Read the complete report here.
WPC-SEAPT 2022 Series
For the first time, World Poker Championship (WPC) teamed up with South East Asia Poker Tour (SEAPT) for the VN₫ 20 Billion GTD WPC-SEAPT, which was hosted at the Grand Loyal Poker Club Hanoi in Vietnam from September 16 – 25.
Vietnamese pro Ha Manh Tuong shipped the VN₫ 8 Billion GTD WPC-SEAPT Main Event, banking an impressive VN₫ 3.22 Billion.
The Team India scorecard kept ticking this week as well. This week’s chartbuster was undeniably PokerGuru Staking’s head honcho Kartik Ved. The WSOP Online bracelet winner was eyeing his first-ever live title in the WPC-SEAPT Main Event but ended up falling one shy of the finish line, netting VN₫ 2 Billion (~₹68.91 Lakhs). The runner-up finish makes him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”
Ved’s fellow compatriot Deepak Bothra finished 7th in the Main Event for VN₫ 480 Million.
Read the complete report here.
Nishant Sharma lifted his career-first WPC-SEAPT trophy in the High Roller Single Day, banking an impressive VN₫ 679.50 Million. Kalyan Chakravarthy finished third for VN₫ 254 Million.
Read the complete report here.
Yu Je Nam (Super High Roller for VN₫ 1.828 Billion), Tzai Wei Phua (High Roller Single Day for VN₫ 1.018 Billion), Cao Ngoc Anh (Megastack Event for VN₫ 555 Million), Jinyoung Kim (Bounty Hunter Event for VN₫ 337.28 Million), Yannick Léonard (Megastack Closer for VN₫ 204 Million) and Norbert Koh Shi-Fu (Megastack Closer Turbo for VN₫ 52.76 Million) won the last few events at the series.
Read the complete report here.
Road to PSPC Manila
The first-ever Road to PSPC Manila had a glorious inaugural run at the PokerStars LIVE Manila poker room at Okada Manila. A host of side events played down to a winner over the weekend alongside the ₱22K Main Event.
Team India secured three titles with Naveen Tiruvalluri shipping the series-opener ₱1 Million GTD Warm-up for ₱353,158 (₹4.87 Lakhs) last week. Following in the footsteps of Tiruvalluri, J Raju and Dhanesh Chainani won PokerStars LIVE titles this week.
Germany’s Max Menzel won the Road to PSPC Manila Main Event for ₱2,579,000, a package worth ₱80K to the 2023 APPT Open Manila Main Event, and the coveted PSPC Pass worth $30K. Alexis Lim collected ₱2,334,000 in second place, courtesy of a heads-up deal.
From India, Chirag Shah (2nd for ₹1.42 Lakhs) & J Raju (124th for ₹33,000) cashed the Main Event.
Read the complete report here
India’s J Raju won his career-first PokerStars LIVE title in the ₱55K High Roller, netting ₱860,000 (₹11.89 Lakhs).
Read the complete report here
Dhanesh Chainani took down Event #15: ₱30K NLH Turbo Freezeout for his sixth PokerStars LIVE trophy and ₱302,460 (₹4.18 Lakhs) in prize money.
Read the complete report here
Singapore’s Jereld Sam bagged two titles in the series (Event #17: ₱20K Turbo Re-entry for ₱124,420) and (Event #10: ₱15,000 NLH Knockout (₱5K Bounty) – Single Re-entry for ₱149,400).
Kim Hak Do (Event #16: ₱15,000 Mystery Bounty For ₱310,000), Yu Je Nam (Super High Roller For VN₫ 1.828 Billion), and Edgar Asehan (Event #12: ₱10K NLH Hyper Turbo Re-entry For ₱133,350) won the other side events.
2022 Poker Go Tour Poker Masters
The 2022 Poker Go Tour Poker Masters has been up and running at the PokerGO Studio inside the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas since September 22. The schedule is loaded with ten high-value tournaments scheduled to run until October 2.
Five winners have emerged in the series so far. Jeremy Ausmus claimed his third PGT title of the year in Event #1: $10,000 NLHE for $204,000. Nick Schulman finished runner-up for $144,500.
Read the complete report here.
PLO specialist Ronald Keijzer championed Event #3: $10K PLO, bagging his first PGT title and a $202,500 cash prize. Ben Lamb finished runner-up for $145,800.
Read the complete report here.
Ethan Yau (Event #2: $10,000 NLHE for $197,600), Adam Hendrix (Event #4: $10K NLHE for $192,400), and Nick Guagenti (Event #5 $10K 8-Game for $186,000) are the three other title winners!
With this, we conclude this week’s roundup of the latest news updates and developments from the world of poker. We will return next week with our weekly report. Stay tuned.