This Week in Poker: September 7 – 13

This Week in Poker: September 7 - 13
  • Profile picture
  • Atmadeep Ghosh September 15, 2022
  • 8 Minutes Read

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!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by PokerGuru (@pokerguru_india)

 

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!

Vinayak Bajaj
Vinayak Bajaj

 

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.

Dhaval Mudgal
Dhaval Mudgal

 

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.

Saransh Garg
Saransh Garg

 

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.

Aditya Singh
Aditya Singh

 

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

PlayerPrize AmountEventPoker Site
Vinayak Bajaj
₹31.53 LakhsMS #57 – Main Event ₹2 Crores GTDSpartan Poker
Harshit Sanghi₹16.97 LakhsMS #40 High Roller (6-Max) ₹65 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Aditya Singh
₹14.70 LakhsGalactic Series-82 [MAIN EVENT – PKO] ₹1 Crore GTDPokerStars India
Pranav Bang
₹13 LakhsMS #43 – Friday Millionaire – ₹50 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Myron Pereira
₹10.76 LakhsMS #53 – Sunday Millionaire - ₹50 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Karan Kapur₹9.58 LakhsMS #33 – Wednesday Millionaire ₹40 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Kaleem Pasha
₹6.12 LakhsMega Suits – ₹25 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Prem Madderla₹6.05 LakhsThe Ballers ₹20 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Kanchan Sharma
₹6.04 Lakhs1000X#4 Sunday Prime ₹35 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Vinayak Bajaj
₹5.89 LakhsAdda52 Millions – ₹25 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Ram Kakkar
₹5.73 LakhsThe Summit ₹15 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Aditya Singh₹5.25 LakhsGalactic Series-58 [Championship Highroller] ₹25 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
“sarryu”₹5.16 LakhsMS #55 – Deepstack Turbo - ₹20 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Devrat Singh
₹5.15 LakhsGodfather 25 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Vishwas Khanna₹5.05 LakhsThe Weekly HighRoller ₹12 Lakhs GTDPokerBaazi
Bhanu Prakash KC₹4.92 Lakhs1000X#12 – Tuesday Prime - ₹25 Lakhs GTDPokerBaazi
Saransh Garg₹4.78 LakhsTuesday High Roller (6-Max) ₹15Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Pratik Manjrekar₹4.41 Lakhs1000X#1 Kickoff ₹25 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Deepesh Raka
₹4.25 LakhsMS #38 (7 Max) - ₹20 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Bharath Kumar₹4.18 Lakhs1000X#8 – Monday Prime ₹18 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Ashish Ahuja₹3.61 LakhsMega Stack ₹18 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
“Ronima1978”₹3.47 LakhsThe Mint ₹14 Lakhs GTDAdda52
Karan Radia
₹3.24 LakhsThe Pride ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Kaleem Pasha₹2.88 LakhsMaverick ₹15 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Devendra Suthar
₹2.70 LakhsGalactic Series-67 [Uppercut] ₹12 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Kartik Ved
₹2.42 LakhsMS #35 – Turbo (PKO) - ₹10 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Chandan Arora
₹2.29 LakhsIron Man ₹8 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Thiyam Dannish₹2.28 Lakhs1000X#3 ₹15 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
“vysh4987”
₹2.22 LakhsThe Rainmaker ₹10 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
“fedorholz2020”
₹2.19 LakhsMS #45 – Deepstack Turbo - ₹12 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
“kushagrakhatri”₹1.98 LakhsBounty Builder HR ₹10 Lakhs GTDPokerStars India
Ritwik Khanna
₹1.96 LakhsSunday Showdown – ₹10 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Samay Singh Modi
₹1.91 LakhsGalactic Series-49 [Night on Stars] – ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Abhinav Malhotra₹1.90 Lakhs1000X#5 ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
“WhatIffGawd”
₹1.82 LakhsMS #39 ₹8 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
Gaurav Bhutra
₹1.77 LakhsMS #42 – Multi Entry - ₹10 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
“rdx1111”
₹1.71 LakhsGalactic Series-85 [The Big Crunch] ₹10 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Vishal Tulsyan
₹1.61 LakhsMS #44 – ₹8 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Anish Arora
₹1.57 Lakhs(7-Max) SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Areyann Gurbaxani
₹1.54 LakhsMS #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 LakhsMaster Series #26 ₹6 Lakhs GTD
MPL Poker
Anurag Srivastava₹1.48 LakhsMS #32 ₹8 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Vinay Rajpal
₹1.47 Lakhs(7-Max) SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTDPokerBaazi
“VishuChi”
₹1.44 LakhsMonster Turbo ₹5 Lakhs GTD
Adda52
Farookh Thangkhiew₹1.42 Lakhs1000X#13 – ₹10 Lakhs GTDPokerBaazi
Himanshu Arora
₹1.41 Lakhs1000X#9 – ₹8 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Sabur Ali
₹1.36 Lakhs(7-Max) Daily SPRINT ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Clinton Tavares
₹1.33 LakhsGalactic Series-50 [Steller Stack 6-Max] – ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Kritagya Sharma
₹1.23 LakhsMS #58 – D’Lite Day 2 - ₹10 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Vinay B
₹1.18 LakhsGalactic Series-68 [Battle Royale 8-Max] ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Manish Jangid
₹1.14 LakhsGalactic Series-59 [The Classic PKO] ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerStars India
Rishabh Gupta₹1.10 Lakhs1000X#11 – ₹8 Lakhs GTDPokerBaazi
Madhab Pal₹1.09 LakhsMaster Series #23 – ₹6 Lakhs GTD
MPL Poker
Vishal Ojha
₹1.07 LakhsMS #41 - Turbo (6-Max) ₹5 Lakhs GTD
Spartan Poker
Aman Parakh₹1.07 LakhsTue Poker Nite #1 ₹4 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
“platinum”
₹1.04 LakhsMS #37 ₹5 Lakhs GTDSpartan Poker
“Mmkay711”₹95K1000X#6 - ₹6 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Kamal Kumar
₹90KMaster Series #20 – ₹4 Lakhs GTD
MPL Poker
Rishabh Sharma₹90KMaster Series#32 - ₹5 Lakhs GTD
MPL Poker
“The Old Lady”₹87K1000X#10 – ₹7 Lakhs GTDPokerBaazi
Abhishek Sonu₹80K(7-Max) Afternoon Boost ₹5 Lakhs GTDPokerBaazi
Yash Swaika₹72K1000X#7 (PLO-4) ₹5 Lakhs GTD
PokerBaazi
Roshan Fernandes₹60K(7-Max) Afternoon Boost – ₹5 Lakhs GTDPokerBaazi

 

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.

The Season 2 of PokerHigh's The Player Hunt

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).

Santosh Suvarna
Santosh Suvarna

 

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!

Kahle Burns
Kahle Burns

 

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.

Sam Grafton
Sam Grafton

 

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).

Hernan Jaybee Villa
Hernan Jaybee Villa

 

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).

Sofia Lovgren Fullmer
Sofia Lovgren Fullmer

 

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.

Jasven Saigal
Jasven Saigal

 

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.

Abhinav Iyer
Abhinav Iyer

 

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.

Kunal Patni
Kunal Patni

 

Read the complete report here

 

Team India`s Scores at APT Philippines II

RankPlayerEventPrize Amount
1stJasven SaigalEvent #13: ₱22K NLHE₱532,300 - ₹7.41 Lakhs
5thAbhinav IyerEvent #14: ₱76K High Rollers Single Day₱171,900 - ₹2.39 Lakhs
36thAbhinav Iyer₱55K Main Event₱146,700 - ₹2.05 Lakhs
40thLaksh Pal Singh₱55K Main Event₱122,300 - ₹1.71 Lakhs
9thKunal PatniEvent #13: ₱22K NLHE₱55,400 – ₹77,111
29thAnkit WadhawanEvent #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.

5 1 vote
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Top Online Poker Rooms

Top
PokerGuru