Top 5 Online Scores of 2020

2020 is a year none of us will forget. Yes, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has made wearing masks and working from home the new normal. But for poker, 2020 brought on an unprecedented boost in the online gaming traffic, giving a big push to online poker. The online operators went into a tizzy trying to keep up with the sudden spike, and the result was players got treated to massive tournament guarantees and other enticing promotions!

We look at the ‘Top 5 Online Scores of 2020’ across the domestic online poker platforms for this feature. The list does not include results from the 2020 WSOP Online Series.

The biggest story on this front was the record-shattering ₹5 Crores GTD EndBoss on PokerBaazi. With the EndBoss, PokerBaazi set a new benchmark for the industry, and it’s no surprise that the top finishers in the tourney occupy the top two spots on our list. The event was announced in a pre-COVID environment – right on the sidelines of the Baazi Poker Tour (BPT) in January. While that was unheard of in India, the lockdown only pushed the numbers up, and the ₹11,000 entry buy-in tourney that ran from April 15 to 19 registered a record 5,847 entries across four starting flights. Abhishek Maheshwari was the last player standing in the tourney and won the single-biggest score of the year, an unheard-of ₹1 Crore! The runner-up Neel Joshi also banked a career-defining ₹65.01 Lakhs.

#3 on the list of the top scores in 2020 is Anurag Srivastava’s blazing run in the ₹3 Crores GTD IOPC #98 The Millionaire Main Event in February for ₹59.33 Lakhs.

Taking the #4 and #5 spots are the two AOPS Main Event Finale winners on Adda52 -former PokerGuru Ambassador Faiz Alam (₹2 Crores GTD AOPS Main Event Finale for ₹50 Lakhs in March) and Sahil Agarwal (₹2 Crores GTD AOPS Main Event Finale for ₹50 Lakhs in April).

Let’s take a closer look at the top five online scores of the year.

1. Abhishek Maheshwari

Won the ₹5 Crores GTD EndBoss on PokerBaazi for ₹1 Crore

A little known 27-year-old recreational player from Pune, Abhishek Maheshwari, entered the annals of poker history in April after championing the country’s biggest guaranteed tourney to date, PokerBaazi’s ₹5 Crores GTD EndBoss.

The life-changing ₹1 Crore Maheshwari won at the tourney is the single-largest online score earned by anyone to date on a domestic poker site. What added even more stardust to his victory was that Maheshwari gained his entry into the event by depositing ₹5K on PokerBaazi as part of a bonus offer.

He cut his way across a competitive 5,847-strong field and a tough FT to become the first Indian player to win an eight-figure payday of ₹1 Crore. Maheshwari’s win remains the top score of the year, one that remains unchallenged yet.

Read the complete story here

2. Neel Joshi

Runner-up in the ₹5 Crores GTD EndBoss on PokerBaazi for ₹65 Lakhs

An engineer by qualification, and a poker player by choice, Young Gun Neel Joshi, is ranked #2. Joshi lost the heads-up to Abhishek Maheshwari in PokerBaazi’s EndBoss, and even though he was denied the glory, the ₹65.01 Lakhs cash prize was consolation enough.

In addition to catapulting this 23-year-old to the top of the list of the year’s top scorers, this was a significant milestone in Joshi’s poker career.

Read the complete story here

3. Anurag Srivastava

Won IOPC #98 The Millionaire Main Event ₹3 Crores GTD on Spartan Poker for ₹59.33 Lakhs

Like Maheshwari, Anurag Srivastava pulled out one of the year’s top scores, and he did it relatively early on in the year. It was February; the COVID-19 pandemic was yet to rear its ugly head in India when Srivastava navigated his way across a 3,489-entry field in Spartan Poker’s ₹3 Crores GTD IOPC #98 The Millionaire Main Event to win ₹59.33 Lakhs. He cashed the tourney another three times, banking an impressive ₹60.34 Lakhs in total.

The 27-year-old MTT pro from Delhi continues to be the winningest Millionaire champion to date!

Read the complete story here

4. Faiz Alam

Won AOPS Main Event ₹2 Crore GTD on Adda52 for ₹50 Lakhs

Faiz Alam takes the #4 spot on this list. He earned the distinction on the back of his blockbuster performance in the Adda52-hosted AOPS Main Event Finale on March 14. Alam, who was then a member of the PokerGuru Staking, took down the ₹2 Crores GTD tourney for a jaw-dropping ₹50 Lakhs. Several other players have since pocketed as much as Alam. Still, Alam takes the #4 spot, as he was the first to collect as much.

Read the complete story here

4. Sahil Agarwal

Won AOPS Main Event Finale ₹2 Crores GTD on Adda52 for ₹50 Lakhs

On April 12, noted reg and a former PokerGuru Team Pro, Sahil Agarwal, ticked a significant milestone on his poker to-do list. He sailed past 2,271 entries to win Adda52’s flagship ₹2 Crores GTD AOPS Main Event. The victory saw him pad his bankroll by an enormous ₹50 Lakhs, making him one of the top scorers of 2020.

Read the complete story here

Two other players won a first-place cash prize of ₹50 Lakhs in 2020, namely, former Young Gun Nitish Gupta (AOPS Main Event Finale for ₹50 Lakhs in July) and Kumar Sahaj (WPT India Main Event in November).

Several other notable mentions might have missed out on making the top five list but undoubtedly deserve mention. These include Harshit Sanghi (IOPC #120 Main Event ₹3 Crores GTD – The Crown for ₹47.34 Lakhs), Kunal Bhatia (runner-up in IOPC #120 Main Event ₹3 Crores GTD – The Crown for ₹42.36 Lakhs), and Siddhanth Kripalani (won the Game Changer 3.0 ₹2 Crores GTD for ₹40.02 Lakhs)!