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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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We are closing in on the festive season, and the intense shopping and preparations for the Durga Puja and the Navratris are just around the corner. Resonating with the excitement of the upcoming festive season, the online poker platforms continued to dish out mind-boggling MTT and cash game action.
Even though the digital felts have been the center of attention for the longest time, there can be no denying that Indians have performed exceeding well in live tournaments this year. The South-Asian circuit has been the preferred stomping grounds for most Indians, but this week, we caught an Indian in action at the 2022 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Cyprus. The long-time poker room operator Santhosh Suvarna made his Triton Poker debut in Event #5: $75K NLHE 8–Handed at the 2022 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Cyprus, and what a debut it was! The Dubai-based Indian entrepreneur finished eighth for a career-best $245,000 (₹1.95 Crores), making him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”
The 2022 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Cyprus is well past the mid-way stage, with Thailand’s Punnat Punsri taking down the $100K NLH Main Event for $2.60 Million. Patrik Antonius, Ben Tollerene, Pieter Aerts, Kahle Burns, Sam Grafton, Christopher Philippou and Matthias Eibinger shipped the other tournaments at the series. Running at the Merit Royal Hotel & Casino, the series will culminate on September 19.
Speaking of Indians doing well in international tournaments, Young Gun Arsh Grover captured his second live title in 20 days this week! The Delhi lad came out on top in Event #3: $900 NLHE of the 2022 PokerGO Tour – Stairway to Millions at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, banking a cool $12,510 (~₹9.95 Lakhs).
Persisting with their domination on the South-Asian felts, Team India has made their mark in the 2022 APT Philippines II, banking six cashes, including a title! Jasven Saigal, who won his maiden WPT trophy last month, added his career-second APT title to his list of achievements after championing Event #13: ₱22K NLHE for ₱532,300 (₹7.41 Lakhs).
Coming to the virtual felts, there was no dull day this entire week. It was an electrifying weekend with Spartan Poker’s Millionaire Series 5.0, MPL Poker`s Master Series, and PokerDangal’s DMVS winding up proceedings.
Vinayak Bajaj was the online chartbuster this week! On Sunday, the 29-year-old poker pro became a two-time The Millionaire champion when he took down Spartan Poker`s Millionaire Series 5.0 Main Event for ₹31.77 Lakhs. And as the icing on the cake, he won the Adda52 Millions as well, rounding up a jaw-dropping ₹44.81 Lakhs across his breakout run this week.
Dhaval Mudgal was another mover and shaker for his second-place finish in the Millionaire Series Main Event. The seasoned MTT pro fired up another runner-up finish in the MS #40 – High Roller, lapping up ₹37.37 Lakhs overall.
Where Mudgal missed the two flagship titles by whiskers, Saransh Garg took down two flagship tournaments. He won Spartan Poker`s MS #48 – Saturday Millionaire and followed that up with shipping the Tuesday High Roller a few days later, adding ₹27.69 Lakhs to his weekly tally.
The Galactic Series-82 [MAIN EVENT – Progressive KO champion Aditya Singh, Sanish Chhabra, Harshit Sanghi, Devendra Suthar, Myron Pereira, Pranav Bang, Ankit Bajaj, and Kunal Patni were the other top online scorers of the week.
Running full throttle now is PokerBaazi’s first-ever 1000X Series (September 12 – 17), where all the events offer 1000X value on the buy-in!
If you enjoy reality shows and poker, PokerHigh’s The Player Hunt Season 2 will hit the sweet spot. India’s first & only poker-based reality show premiered on celebrity host and VJ Rannvijay Singha`s YouTube channel on September 9.
Moving over to the industry news, on September 9, the Supreme Court heard the Tamil Nadu government’s appeal challenging the Madras High Court order that quashed the state’s online gaming ban. The two-judge bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Vikram Nath issued a notice, giving the respondents – Junglee Games, Play Games24x7, Head Digital Works, and the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) – four weeks to file their replies.
In Meghalaya, the government’s decision to regulate online gaming and permit casinos hasn’t borne well with the opposition and various groups across the state. Deputy CM Prestone Tynsong assured the media last month that the government had decided against setting up casinos in the state. However, on Monday, state law minister James Sangma told the legislative assembly that the government is focused on promoting tourism and has issued temporary casino licenses to three applicants.
On a positive note, Google Inc has announced a brand-new one-year pilot project, starting September 28, 2022, permitting DFS and online rummy apps on the Google Play Store.
In other international tournament action, Corey Wade captured the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Tampa (SHRT) Main Event for $471,686 (three-way deal).
Online Railbird Report
Online action was intense and busy, and topping this week`s charts is Vinayak Bajaj, who raked in a massive ₹44.81 Lakhs. Bajaj most notably won Spartan Poker`s Millionaire Series Main Event for ₹31.77 Lakhs, becoming a two-time The Millionaire champion!
His top finishes include:
> 1st in Spartan Poker’s MS #57 – Main Event Day 2 for ₹31,77,114
> 1st in Adda52 Millions for ₹5,89,226
> 3rd in PokerBaazi’s The Summit for ₹2,57,985
Musician-turned-poker player Dhaval Mudgal takes the #2 spot in the online charts. The long-time poker veteran made a smashing runner-up finish in Spartan Poker`s MS #57 – Main Event for ₹24.35 Lakhs, netting ₹37.37 Lakhs this past week.
His top finishes include:
> 2nd in Spartan Poker’s MS #57 – Main Event Day 2 for ₹24,34,948
> 2nd in Spartan Poker’s MS #40 – High Roller (6-Max) for ₹11,42,760
Saransh Garg shipped two Spartan Poker flagships and FT-ed another three tournaments, lapping up ₹27.69 Lakhs over the week.
His top finishes include:
> 1st in Spartan Poker’s MS #48 – Saturday Millionaire (7-Max) for ₹10,00,000
> 2nd in Spartan Poker’s MS #53 – Sunday Millionaire for ₹9,04,271
> 1st in Spartan Poker’s Tuesday High Roller (6-Max) for ₹4,78,040
Aditya Singh added the prestigious Galactic Series-82 [MAIN EVENT – Progressive KO] title to his many wins, netting approximately ₹24.55 Lakhs over the week.
His top finishes include:
> 1st in PokerStars India’s Galactic Series-82 [MAIN EVENT – Progressive KO] for ₹14,70,280
> 1st in PokerStars India’s Galactic Series-58 [Championship Highroller 8-Max] for ₹5,24,847
> 4th in Spartan Poker’s Tuesday High Roller (6-Max) for ₹1,73,850
Sanish Chhabra, Harshit Sanghi, Devendra Suthar, Myron Pereira, Pranav Bang, Ankit Bajaj, and Kunal Patni were the week`s other top online winners.
Notable Winners of the Week
Player Prize Amount Event Poker Site
Vinayak Bajaj
₹31.53 Lakhs MS #57 – Main Event ₹2 Crores GTD Spartan Poker
Harshit Sanghi ₹16.97 Lakhs MS #40 High Roller (6-Max) ₹65 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Aditya Singh
₹14.70 Lakhs Galactic Series-82 [MAIN EVENT – PKO] ₹1 Crore GTD PokerStars India
Pranav Bang
₹13 Lakhs MS #43 – Friday Millionaire – ₹50 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Myron Pereira
₹10.76 Lakhs MS #53 – Sunday Millionaire - ₹50 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Karan Kapur ₹9.58 Lakhs MS #33 – Wednesday Millionaire ₹40 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Kaleem Pasha
₹6.12 Lakhs Mega Suits – ₹25 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Prem Madderla ₹6.05 Lakhs The Ballers ₹20 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Kanchan Sharma
₹6.04 Lakhs 1000X#4 Sunday Prime ₹35 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Vinayak Bajaj
₹5.89 Lakhs Adda52 Millions – ₹25 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Ram Kakkar
₹5.73 Lakhs The Summit ₹15 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Aditya Singh ₹5.25 Lakhs Galactic Series-58 [Championship Highroller] ₹25 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
“sarryu” ₹5.16 Lakhs MS #55 – Deepstack Turbo - ₹20 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Devrat Singh
₹5.15 Lakhs Godfather 25 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Vishwas Khanna ₹5.05 Lakhs The Weekly HighRoller ₹12 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Bhanu Prakash KC ₹4.92 Lakhs 1000X#12 – Tuesday Prime - ₹25 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Saransh Garg ₹4.78 Lakhs Tuesday High Roller (6-Max) ₹15Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Pratik Manjrekar ₹4.41 Lakhs 1000X#1 Kickoff ₹25 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Deepesh Raka
₹4.25 Lakhs MS #38 (7 Max) - ₹20 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Bharath Kumar ₹4.18 Lakhs 1000X#8 – Monday Prime ₹18 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Ashish Ahuja ₹3.61 Lakhs Mega Stack ₹18 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“Ronima1978” ₹3.47 Lakhs The Mint ₹14 Lakhs GTD Adda52
Karan Radia
₹3.24 Lakhs The Pride ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Kaleem Pasha ₹2.88 Lakhs Maverick ₹15 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Devendra Suthar
₹2.70 Lakhs Galactic Series-67 [Uppercut] ₹12 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Kartik Ved
₹2.42 Lakhs MS #35 – Turbo (PKO) - ₹10 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Chandan Arora
₹2.29 Lakhs Iron Man ₹8 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Thiyam Dannish ₹2.28 Lakhs 1000X#3 ₹15 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
“vysh4987”
₹2.22 Lakhs The Rainmaker ₹10 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
“fedorholz2020”
₹2.19 Lakhs MS #45 – Deepstack Turbo - ₹12 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
“kushagrakhatri” ₹1.98 Lakhs Bounty Builder HR ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerStars India
Ritwik Khanna
₹1.96 Lakhs Sunday Showdown – ₹10 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Samay Singh Modi
₹1.91 Lakhs Galactic Series-49 [Night on Stars] – ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Abhinav Malhotra ₹1.90 Lakhs 1000X#5 ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
“WhatIffGawd”
₹1.82 Lakhs MS #39 ₹8 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
Gaurav Bhutra
₹1.77 Lakhs MS #42 – Multi Entry - ₹10 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
“rdx1111”
₹1.71 Lakhs Galactic Series-85 [The Big Crunch] ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Vishal Tulsyan
₹1.61 Lakhs MS #44 – ₹8 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Anish Arora
₹1.57 Lakhs (7-Max) SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Areyann Gurbaxani
₹1.54 Lakhs MS #34 - ₹8 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
“Marciva”
₹1.53 Lakhs (7-Max) SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Areyann Gurbaxani ₹1.53 Lakhs (7-Max) Daily SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Smitesh Sandeep ₹1.50 Lakhs Master Series #26 ₹6 Lakhs GTD
MPL Poker
Anurag Srivastava ₹1.48 Lakhs MS #32 ₹8 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Vinay Rajpal
₹1.47 Lakhs (7-Max) SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
“VishuChi”
₹1.44 Lakhs Monster Turbo ₹5 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Farookh Thangkhiew ₹1.42 Lakhs 1000X#13 – ₹10 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Himanshu Arora
₹1.41 Lakhs 1000X#9 – ₹8 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Sabur Ali
₹1.36 Lakhs (7-Max) Daily SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Clinton Tavares
₹1.33 Lakhs Galactic Series-50 [Steller Stack 6-Max] – ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Kritagya Sharma
₹1.23 Lakhs MS #58 – D’Lite Day 2 - ₹10 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Vinay B
₹1.18 Lakhs Galactic Series-68 [Battle Royale 8-Max] ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Manish Jangid
₹1.14 Lakhs Galactic Series-59 [The Classic PKO] ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Rishabh Gupta ₹1.10 Lakhs 1000X#11 – ₹8 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Madhab Pal ₹1.09 Lakhs Master Series #23 – ₹6 Lakhs GTD
MPL Poker
Vishal Ojha
₹1.07 Lakhs MS #41 - Turbo (6-Max) ₹5 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Aman Parakh ₹1.07 Lakhs Tue Poker Nite #1 ₹4 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“platinum”
₹1.04 Lakhs MS #37 ₹5 Lakhs GTD Spartan Poker
“Mmkay711” ₹95K 1000X#6 - ₹6 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Kamal Kumar
₹90K Master Series #20 – ₹4 Lakhs GTD
MPL Poker
Rishabh Sharma ₹90K Master Series#32 - ₹5 Lakhs GTD
MPL Poker
“The Old Lady” ₹87K 1000X#10 – ₹7 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Abhishek Sonu ₹80K (7-Max) Afternoon Boost ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
Yash Swaika ₹72K 1000X#7 (PLO-4) ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Roshan Fernandes ₹60K (7-Max) Afternoon Boost – ₹5 Lakhs GTD PokerBaazi
PokerHigh’s The Player Hunt Season 2 is Now Live on Rannvijay Singha’s YouTube Channel!
The first episode of PokerHigh‘s The Player Hunt Season 2 recently went live on Rannvijay’s YouTube channel!
Hosted by celebrity VJ & actor Rannvijay Singha and his younger brother Harman Singha, the season ran from February 22 to May 22, starting with online game plays and moving on to offline shooting of selected contestants.
Read the complete report here.
Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Cyprus
The 2022 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Cyprus took off at Merit Royal Hotel & Casino on September 5 and will culminate on September 19. A host of events from the 14-event schedule crowned winners this week.
The Indian rail was losing sleep over Event #5: $75K NLHE 8–Handed, where long-time poker room operator Santhosh Suvarna was in the thick of the action. The Dubai-based Indian entrepreneur finished eighth in the event for a career-best $245,000 (₹1.95 Crores).
Suvarna’s trailblazing run in the event makes him the top scorer across the live, and online felts this week, making him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!
Two-time WSOP Europe bracelet winner, Kahle Burns, ran past the 88-entry field in Event #5 to capture his maiden Triton Poker title for a career-best $1.73 Million!
Read the complete report here.
From India, Santhosh Suvarna (20th and Amit Kanodia (26th) participated in Event #6: $200K NLHE Coin Rivet Invitational, but both players fell out of the money on Day 2.
PokerStars Ambassador Sam Grafton toppled the 115-player field to capture his first Triton Poker title and a personal-best $5.50 Million. Linus Loeliger finished runner-up for $3.90 Million.
Read the complete report here.
In another significant highlight, Thailand’s Punnat Punsri captured the $100K NLH Main Event for $2.60 Million.
Belgium’s Pieter Aerts (Won Event #3: $50K NLHE 6-Handed for $1,472,000), Patrik Antonius (Won Event #1: $25,000 NLHE 8-Handed for $825,000), UK’s Ben Tollerene (Won Event #2: $30,000 NLHE 6-Handed for $807,000), Pokercode.com cofounder & head coach Matthias Eibinger (Won Event #9: $50K NLHE 8-Handed Turbo for $545,000), and Christopher Philippou (Won Event 7 $25K PLO for $270,000) were the other Triton Poker titles this week.
APT Philippines II
Underway at The Grand Wing Casino – Newport World Resorts in Manila since September 6, the 2022 Asian Poker Tour (APT) Philippines II handed out the Main Event trophy earlier this week.
Columbia’s Hernan Jaybee Villa triumphed over the 497-player field to capture the coveted Main Event title and the APT Champions’ ring and trophy. He struck a heads-up deal with David Erquiaga, as part of which he locked ₱4.20 Million and Erquiaga ₱3.83 Million, leaving ₱360,300 and the trophy on the table. Villa went on to grab the bragging rights of becoming an APT Main Event champion and the top prize of ₱4.56 Million (~$80,250).
Erquiaga banked ₱3.83 Million (~$67,400), while Sofia Lovgren Fullmer, who had entered the final table as the dominating chip leader, finished third for ₱2,338,800 (~$41,160).
Read the complete report here
Five Indians, PokerGuru Ambassador Laksh Pal Singh, Kunal Patni, Jasven Saigal, Young Gun Abhinav Iyer, and Chirag Shah, made Day 2 of the Main Event. Still, only Iyer (36th for ₹2.05 Lakhs) and Singh (40th for ₹1.71 Lakhs) managed to finish in the money.
Read the complete report here.
Seasoned Indian pro Jasven Saigal brought India its first title in the series after topping the 109-player field in Event #13: ₱22K NLHE for ₱532,300 (₹7.41 Lakhs). Hong Kong’s Wai Chiu Cheng finished runner-up for ₱354,800.
Read the complete report here
Abhinav Iyer made a fifth-place finish in Event #14: ₱76K High Rollers – Single Day for ₱146,700 (₹2.05 Lakhs), picking up his second cash in the series.
In the ongoing ₱10 Million GTD Championships Event, Kunal Patni (175,500) and Abhinav Iyer (157,000) were among the 35 qualifiers advancing through the first starting flight, Day 1A. Day 1B is currently underway, and it would be safe to assume more Indians will join the action.
Read the complete report here
Team India`s Scores at APT Philippines II
Rank Player Event Prize Amount
1st Jasven Saigal Event #13: ₱22K NLHE ₱532,300 - ₹7.41 Lakhs
5th Abhinav Iyer Event #14: ₱76K High Rollers Single Day ₱171,900 - ₹2.39 Lakhs
36th Abhinav Iyer ₱55K Main Event ₱146,700 - ₹2.05 Lakhs
40th Laksh Pal Singh ₱55K Main Event ₱122,300 - ₹1.71 Lakhs
9th Kunal Patni Event #13: ₱22K NLHE ₱55,400 – ₹77,111
29th Ankit Wadhawan Event #1: ₱16,500 NLHE Mystery Bounty ₱21,700 - ₹30,202
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.