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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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With September now ending, the virtual MTT action has gradually dried out. PokerStars India`s INCOOP, PokerBaazi`s IMPS Gold Edition, and Spartan Poker`s UVS have all completed their run, and it wouldn`t be amiss to say back-to-back MTT stops have impacted the poker liquidity significantly. Even the weekly flagships have seen their guarantees getting slashed practically across the board as sites struggle to minimize overlays in the face of declining turnouts.
The online action will soon be relegated to second-page, with the 2021 WSOP just around the corner. The pandemic resultant travel restrictions might have spoilt the prospects for a record Indian participation at the series this year. Nevertheless, WSOP regulars like Aditya Agarwal, Kartik Ved, Nikita Luther, Kunal Patni, Dhaval Mudgal, bracelet winner Abhinav Iyer, Young Gun`s Neel Joshi & Arsh Grover, and Sreeharsha Doddapaneni have confirmed their attendance at the annual series. So, be sure to keep an eye on PokerGuru for daily updates of all the happening in Sin City!
Coming back to the virtual felts, 23-year-old Mohammad Azhar topped the charts yet again as he won the Adda52 Big Game on Sunday for ₹15.37 Lakhs – his fifth seven-figure score of the year. The CAT aspirant added a cumulative ₹19.08 Lakhs in winnings this week, bagging our “PokerGuru Star of the Week” title.
Young Gun Sahil Chutani, Piyush Nanda, PokerGuru Ambassador Vishal Bajaj, and Manish Lakhotia were the other top weekly scorers.
October promises to be a blockbuster one for PokerBaazi players, with the site laying out unparalleled promotions and giveaways as part of its seventh-anniversary celebrations. The month is replete with offers like Cash Smash 7.0, LIC Leaderboard, EndBoss, T20 Fantasy, and much more, in all worth over ₹12 Crores in prizes.
Not to be outdone, Spartan Poker is bringing back its most-celebrated weekly tournament, The Millionaire, after a three-week hiatus. Starting on September 30, the popular weekend flagship will repeat its Thursday to Sunday routine each week, guaranteeing ₹20 Lakhs to the ultimate champion.
The new entrant IndiaPlays has an enticing ‘One India, One Rupee, One Lakh’ tournament for the recreational and small-stakes players coming up on October 2. Players can win from a ₹1 Lakh GTD prize pool for a meager ₹1 buy-in.
In another landmark legal victory for the RMG industry, the Kerala High Court, on September 27, struck down the state government’s notification banning online rummy. In its order, the court noted that the ban was arbitrary and violated the right to trade and commerce.
September 20 marked the start of live casino operations in Goa, and just a week later, we received news of live poker room operator Manish Adnani signing up as the operations head of the PokerBaazi LIVE poker room onboard Casino Majestic Pride in Goa.
While the WSOP is gearing to kick off, the Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) has returned at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas after a 33-month hiatus. The $300K buy-in event runs from September 27 to September 29, featuring some of the biggest names of the poker fraternity, including GGPoker Ambassador Daniel Negreanu, Alex Foxen, Seth Davies, Michael Addamo, Justin Bonomo, and many others.
Online Railbird Report
The weekend was choc-a-bloc with action with three prominent MTT stops playing down to a finale. Resultantly, seven big winners emerged, no one more so than Mohammad Azhar.
The 23-year-old poker reg has charted a dramatic climb up the popularity charts ever since his phenomenal NPS Main Event victory in June. On Sunday, he won the Adda52 Big Game for ₹15.37 Lakhs, his third-best career finish. In all, he added ₹19.08 Lakhs through the week, making him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!“
The Adda52 Big Game victory helped him cross ₹2 Crores in annual winnings, catapulting him to #20 in the yearly leaderboard rankings.
His top finishes include:
> 1st in Adda52 Big Game for ₹15.37 Lakhs
> 2nd in PokerBaazi’s The Weekly HighRoller for ₹2.35 Lakhs
> 9th in Spartan Poker’s Mega Stack – Millionaire Bubble for ₹30,000
> 5th in PokerStars India’s INCOOP-97 Uppercut Mini for ₹28,822
Young Gun Sahil Chutani scored ₹13.27 Lakhs this past week, including PokerStars India’s INCOOP-95 Highroller KO Championship title.
His top finishes include:
> 1st in PokerStars India’s INCOOP-95 Highroller KO Championship for ₹9.65 Lakhs
> 7th in Adda52 Big Game for ₹1.82 Lakhs
> 8th in PokerBaazi’s The Summit for ₹49,266
> 8th in PokerStars India’s INCOOP-124 Sunday Warm-up for ₹12,343
Piyush Nanda was another trailblazer who made the headlines for taking down the INCOOP-125 Main Event PKO title for a career-best ₹12.77 Lakhs (includes ₹5.54 Lakhs in bounties). He collected ₹13.14 Lakhs this past week.
His top finishes include:
> 1st in PokerStars India’s INCOOP-125 Main Event PKO for ₹12.77 Lakhs
> 1s n PokerStars India’s INCOOP-101 Afternoon on Stars for ₹34,028
The WPT India High Roller PokerGuru Ambassador Vishal Bajaj deserves a prominent mention. The MTT pro championed Adda52’s Godfather and FT-ed two other tourneys, adding up to ₹10.67 Lakhs in total earnings.
His top finishes include:
> 1st in Adda52’s Godfather for ₹6.20 Lakhs
> 2nd in Adda52’s Excalibur for ₹1.52 Lakhs
> 9th in PokerStars India’s INCOOP-125 Main Event PKO for ₹94,951
> 3rd in PokerStars India’s INCOOP-117 Micro KO Championship for ₹64,421
> 9th in PokerBaazi’s The Endeavour for ₹25,200
The #2 ranked player of the year, Manish Lakhotia, won Spartan Poker`s Sunday Superstack for the second time on Sunday. He rounded out the week with ₹10.35 Lakhs in total earnings.
His top finishes include:
> 1st in Spartan Poker’s Sunday Superstack ₹35 Lakhs GTD for ₹7.82 Lakhs
> 3rd in PokerBaazi’s The Endeavour ₹12 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.13 Lakhs
The other top scorers included The Big Deal winner Siddharth Gangwar (₹10.17 Lakhs in cumulative winnings), Sunday Showdown & UVS #45 – Everest winner Vinayak Bajaj (₹10.14 Lakhs in cumulative winnings), and the INCOOP-125 Main Event PKO runner-up finisher PokerGuru Ambassador Gokul Raj (₹10.04 Lakhs in cumulative winnings).
Notable Winners of the Week
Player Prize Amount Event Poker Site
Sanjay 'Apollo1' Taneja ₹6.37 Lakhs The Elite (6-Max) ₹27 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Arjanveer Singh 'ballistik310' Chadha ₹6.10 Lakhs INCOOP-137 [Deepstack Championship] ₹35 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Lavesh 'Lavesh7' Meena ₹4.52 Lakhs The Ballers ₹22.5 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Abhishek 'Abhi23451' Pandey ₹4.16 Lakhs Destiny ₹22 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Shashank ‘Goldfish03’ Shekhar ₹3.82 Lakhs Maverick ₹15 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Ajay ‘messironaldo007’ Dhayal ₹3.47 Lakhs The Mint ₹14 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Suresh 'oil_trader' Kolli ₹3.35 Lakhs The Weekly HighRoller ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Haider 'Haider' Madraswala ₹3.19 Lakhs The Summit ₹15 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Ankit 'Shippament' Wadhawan ₹2.92 Lakhs Mega Stack Millionaire Bubble ₹15 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Rajat ‘sharabikebabi’ Sharma ₹2.42 Lakhs INCOOP – 106 Uppercut ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Dhaval ‘Rehab77’ Mudgal ₹2.35 Lakhs The Pride ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Atishay 'nutscracker' Samuel ₹2.19 Lakhs The Endeavour ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Prabhat 'comeon' Kumar ₹2.12 Lakhs IMPS#96 (6-Max) HighRoller ₹15 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Karan 'The Annihilator' Radia ₹2.02 Lakhs INCOOP-139 [PLO Championship] ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Sandeep ‘thak’ Thakral ₹2 Lakhs Iron Man ₹8 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Vineeth 'Luckywinner' Bolar ₹1.96 Lakhs UVS#29 Futuristic – UVS Special ₹12 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Rohit ‘mrblue1205’ Malhotra ₹1.96 Lakhs The Big Show ₹7.5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Sanat 'durrsanta' Mehrotra ₹1.69 Lakhs INCOOP-84 Night on Stars ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Karan 'Karangogi' Malhotra ₹1.64 Lakhs ReCharge ₹8 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Rishab 'Rish1994' Malik ₹1.36 Lakhs Running Hot ₹5 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Shashank ‘Goldfish097’ Shekhar ₹1.30 Lakhs INCOOP – 108 Battle Royale ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Aayush 'Eureka226' Arya ₹1.28 Lakhs Wednesday Vibes ₹6 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Yogesh ‘pokerbrat0118’ Choudhary ₹1.22 Lakhs IMPS#82 BIG KO ₹6 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Hell12 ₹1.09 Lakhs La Luna ₹4 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Atishay 'momstacos' Samuel ₹98,844 INCOOP-86 Deepstack ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Yash ‘Babyshark21’ Chitre ₹97,216 Voyager ₹3 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Harsh 'harsh1327' Bubna ₹96,600 (5-Max) Daily SPRINT ₹4 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Instamuck ₹87,046 IMPS#91 ₹4 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Ssick_One ₹69,620 Deepstack ₹4 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Raveena Sharma ₹68,170 UVS#46 ₹3.50 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Kamal ‘kamalpunjabi1’ Punjabi ₹67,680 UVS#27 DeepStack ₹3.20 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Srujan ‘gambling_buddha’ Grudelly ₹65,033 UVS#40 Monster Stack ₹3.50 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Ravindra ‘wormhole’ Arikeri ₹55,343 Voyager ₹3 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Sanu15 ₹48,730 Night Rider – MonsterStack ₹2.25 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
sarthak2222 ₹46,171 INCOOP-82 Total KO 100% ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
‘Suchetana’ ₹43,750 IMPS#83 Daily ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
sanskrit ₹43,030 IMPS#90 DAILY ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
‘scorpion14’ ₹43,000 Big Bang ₹1 Lakh GTD Khelo365
shubhiks ₹41,562 INCOOP-89 Ultrasonic ₹2 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
vikas. ₹42,374 Night Rider – Monster Stack ₹2.25 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
‘Blackgold333’ ₹41,870 IMPS#84 Turbo ₹3 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
'kibolche' ₹38,873 Deepstack ₹1.75 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Abhishek 'Addysonu' Sonu ₹38,294 INCOOP-79 Afternoon on Stars ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
chiku16 ₹36,000 Sunday Night Rider ₹1.50 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Amrit ‘amrit1111’ Mishra ₹32,918 Nighttide DST Adda ₹1.50 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Avish 'thehorse7' Sharma ₹30,550 Daily Night SPRINT ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
‘Dennis9229’ ₹30,070 Daily Night Sprint ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
buffalosoldier ₹27,500 Mega Freeze (FO) ₹1 Lakh GTD Spartan Poker
Sumeet 'Sumitsingh199' Rajpurohit ₹25,800 IMPS#87 ₹1 Lakh GTD PokerBaazi
Akhand 'akhand188' Shukla ₹24,758 INCOOP-87 Bigstack Turbo ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Palu9713 ₹23,038 UVS#25 ₹1.25 Lakh GTD Spartan Poker
Ssick_One ₹21,506 UVS#43 ₹1.25 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Blacknight9769 ₹21,388 INCOOP-81 4-Max ₹1 Lakh GTD PokerStars India
Sameer ‘_chipsy_’ Agarwal ₹20,453 UVS#17 ₹1.2 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
MrBigSlick139 ₹20,012 INCOOP-85 Primetime Grind ₹1 Lakh GTD PokerStars India
Underdoggg ₹19,490 UVS#14 ₹1 Lakh GTD Spartan Poker
puffpuffpass ₹17,996 UVS#30 ₹1.05 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
‘Santoshi’ ₹17,000 Dominator ₹50K GTD Khelo365
‘vijaysoni7174’ ₹15,300 Turbo ₹75K GTD PokerBaazi
rohin01 ₹14,500 IMPS#86 ₹75K GTD PokerBaazi
‘Srinikumar’ ₹13,800 Prime Time PLO ₹30K GTD Khelo365
Rahul ‘Vasili Arkipov’ Lal ₹13,125 UVS#16 4 Card PLO ₹50K GTD Spartan Poker
Iamgroot ₹12,375 Last Chance ₹45K GTD Spartan Poker
Mridul 'healingp' Kharkwal ₹12,210 INCOOP-88 Pl Omaha 6-MAx Turbo ₹25K GTD PokerStars India
‘Kamran777’ ₹12,140 IMPS#81 6-Max ₹75K GTD PokerBaazi
akdolos ₹11,960 IMPS#88 ₹80K GTD PokerBaazi
‘sudeepsingh’ ₹11,590 IMPS#79 ₹60K GTD PokerBaazi
'Ashu079' ₹11,500 6 Feet Under PLO ₹25K GTD Khelo365
ouroboros_ ₹10,373 UVS#28 - 4 Card PLO ₹45K GTD Spartan Poker
‘AkguruPRO’ ₹10,340 IMPS#78 4-Max Hyper Turbo ₹50K GTD PokerBaazi
Ashwin ‘PabloEscobaaar’ Bhanushali ₹9,988 Evening Adda ₹50K GTD Adda52
SAMPATKARA ₹9,388 INCOOP-83 Bounty Builder Progressive KO ₹40K GTD PokerStars India
‘mapaa’ ₹8,890 IMPS#80 5-PLO ₹50K GTD PokerBaazi
‘munukan’ ₹7,274 Holdem 250 ₹20K GTD Adda52
manish_jangid ₹7,150 INCOOP-80 4-Max Progressive KO ₹35K GTD PokerStars India
Mohsin ‘gongo’ Shaikh ₹7,000 Midnight Bash ₹25K GTD Adda52
IshhChadha ₹5,779 Epic - 4 Card PLO ₹25K GTD Spartan Poker
'trickett' ₹4,000 Quick Feeze PLO ₹10K GTD Khelo365
PokerBaazi Celebrates 7th Anniversary Bash Promising Over ₹12 Crores in Prizes
PokerBaazi completes seven years of operations on October 24. The site is going all out with an array of fantastic offers and tournaments throughout September and October, promising over ₹12 Crores in prizes to celebrate the momentous occasion.
Read the complete report here
Spartan Poker`s The Millionaire Guarantees ₹20 Lakhs to the Winner
Spartan Poker`s most popular weekly tournament, The Millionaire, is coming back on September 30. The ₹5,500 buy-in weekend flagship retains its same five starting flights format from Thursday to Sunday. However, it now guarantees a whopping ₹20 Lakhs to the champion.
Read the complete report here
IndiaPlays Announces ‘One India, One Rupee, One Lakh’ Tournament
The newest Indian online poker site, IndiaPlays, will be running its ‘One India, One Rupee, One Lakh’ tournament on October 2 at 4:30 PM. The event guaranteed ₹1 Lakh for just a ₹1 buy-in.
Read the complete report here
Manish Adnani Takes Charge of Operations at the PokerBaazi LIVE Poker Room in Goa
Industry veteran Manish Adnani has jumped ship to board PokerBaazi LIVE and will be spearheading the operations for the brand’s poker room onboard Casino Majestic Pride in Goa.
Read the complete report here
Kerala High Court Dismisses State Government’s Notification Banning Online Rummy
In another landmark legal victory for the real-money gaming sector, the High Court of Kerala on September 27 dismissed a notification issued by the state government in February to ban online rummy. Justice TR Ravi stated that the online rummy ban was arbitrary and violated the right to trade and commerce. It also violated the right to equality, guaranteed under the Indian constitution, the order read.
Read the complete report here
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.