This Week in Poker: April 15 – 21

In the PokerGuru feature ‘This Week in Poker,’ we bring you the weekly roundup of the most significant online scores by Indian MTT players along with the top stories from both the live and online poker circuit.

Here are this week’s top stories!

We have now entered the fourth week of the nationwide lockdown. On April 14, when the 21-day quarantine period was to get over, Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the lockdown till May 3. India has already reported over 20,000 positive Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, with the death toll closing in on the 700-mark. In such circumstances, it seems likely that the quarantine will be further extended.

While the social distancing protocols have brought the live poker scene to a standstill, it has never been a better time to play online. There were some massive tournaments and played out this week, and most-awaited of these was indubitably PokerBaazi’s EndBoss ₹5 Crores GTD. Being India’s biggest online tournament to-date, it understandably attracted a lot of attention. Registering 5,847 entries, this record-smashing tournament logged in a never-before-seen ₹5.85 Crores prize pool.

Pune-based recreational player Abhishek ‘Human_AI’ Maheshwari‘s name will go down in the annals of Indian poker history as the first-ever EndBoss champion and the first player to win a monstrous ₹1 Crore payday! The 27-year-old Maheshwari pulled a ‘Chris Moneymaker’ as he converted a ₹5,000 deposit, into an eight-figure windfall!

It was not an easy stunt to pull-off as the final table consisted of several experienced players like Romit ’tilt83′ Advani (3rd for ₹40.05 Lakhs), Aditya ‘KesarDa’ Kesharwani (4th for ₹26.54 Lakhs), Rishab ‘ryuk’ Malik (5th for ₹19.35 Lakhs), Shubham ‘Aurangzeb_9’ Mahapatra (6th for ₹15.49 Lakhs), Priyank ‘Piko1432’ Kothari (7th for ₹12.62 Lakhs), Sankalp ‘Wobbegong’ Marwah (8th for ₹10.11 Lakhs) and Anirban ‘pottysingh’ D Das (9th for ₹8.06 Lakhs). The stakes were high, and Maheshwari gave it all that he had had to run his short stack all the way to the top, where he bested the more experienced Neel ‘Worm33’ Joshi (runner-up for ₹65.01 Lakhs) heads-up to win this historic tournament. For this incredible victory, Maheshwari is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

Though the EndBoss, and subsequently Maheshwari, were the center of attention, there were others too who made the headlines. Particularly, PokerGuru Ambassador Parikshit ‘Zapdos1311’ Dhall, who decimated a 1,497-strong entry field in Spartan Poker’s SSS Millionaire ₹1.5 Crores GTD to win a career-vest ₹26.56 Lakhs. Sagar ‘$tuTheKidUngar’ Patnaik finished runner-up for ₹15.30 Lakhs.

Spartan Poker also became the first online platform in the country to launch the 6-Card PLO game variant this week.

With the live scene now all but dead due to the ‘social distancing’ protocols that have been put in place, poker players have increased their affinity for digital platforms. One such pro is poker superwoman Nikita Luther who hosted a LIVE webinar with Raise Your Edge founder Ben ‘bencb789’ Rolle, titled ‘Raising the Stakes with Nikita Luther’ on April 18.

Luther’s peer and presently the only Indian still part of the PokerStars Team of Ambassadors, Muskan Sethi, has been featured in the poker documentary called “Poker Queens” alongside the likes of Kristen Bicknell, Kathy Liebert, Jennifer Tilly, Angelica Hael, and Jennifer Harman. The documentary is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

Sethi’s fellow Ambassador, Sharad Rao, has announced that his year-long association with PokerStars India as a streamer will be soon coming to an end.

The biggest news coming from the international sphere was the postponement of the WSOP summer series to the fall of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only that, but even the WPT revealed that it would be postponing the WPT Cambodia stop. In fact, even the International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP) has moved the Nations Cup Final online, and the competition is to go ahead as scheduled on May 30 and 31.

Online Railbird Report

PokerBaazi crowned India’s biggest online tournament to-date in the EndBoss ₹5 Crores GTD that played out last week. The tournament gathered 5,847 entries (Day 1A – 1,205, Day 1B – 1,376, Day 1C – 1,374, and Day 1D – 1,892) across four starting flights, collecting a massive ₹5.85 Crores in the prize pool.

The back story of the EndBoss winner was equally inspiring as it was a 27-year-old old recreational player from Pune, Abhishek ‘Human_AI’ Maheshwari, a satellite winner, who went on to win this massive tournament. One of the shortest stacks at the start of the final table, Maheshwari did all that he could and even hit the right cards when he most needed them to win this career-defining title. Maheshwari locked horns with the more experienced Neel ‘Worm33’ Joshi heads-up, and eventually defeated the latter to emerge the EndBoss champion, taking home a life-changing paycheque of ₹1 Crore! Maheshwari’s stupendous performance makes him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!!”

Joshi may have missed out on that eight-figure score, but he had a super-profitable run for he pocketed a sizeable ₹65.01 Lakhs for finishing runner-up.

The EndBoss also awarded million-plus paycheques to Romit ’tilt83′ Advani (3rd for ₹40.05 Lakhs), Aditya ‘KesarDa’ Kesharwani (4th for ₹26.54 Lakhs), Rishab ‘ryuk’ Malik (5th for ₹19.35 Lakhs), Shubham ‘Aurangzeb_9’ Mahapatra (6th for ₹15.49 Lakhs), Priyank ‘Piko1432’ Kothari (7th for ₹12.62 Lakhs) and Sankalp ‘Wobbegong’ Marwah (8th for ₹10.11 Lakhs).

Another standout performer of the week was PokerGuru Ambassador Parikshit ‘Zapdos1311’ Dhall who stormed past a field of 1,497 entries, including his heads-up opponent Sagar ‘$tuTheKidUngar’ Patnaik (runner-up for ₹15.30 Lakhs) to win Spartan Poker’s SSS Millionaire ₹1.5 Crores GTD for ₹26.56 Lakhs.

The notable scores of the week include –

Spartan Poker Introduces 6-Card PLO Game Variant on Cash Game Tables

Spartan Poker has become the first domestic online platform to launch the 6-Card PLO game variant. The new game variant is available in ring games at the site.

Read the complete report here

Poker Masters Online Currently Underway

The high-stakes live series Poker Masters was shifted online to partypoker because of the ongoing lockdown. This inaugural Poker Masters Online series has already named 18 champions with 12 events yet to play out.

Elias Talvitie, Alex Foxen, Andras Nemeth, Joni Jouhkimainen, Kahle Burns, Timothy Adams, and Jason Koon are the prominent winners so far in the series.

Read the complete report here

WSOP Announces Super Circuit Online Series

The WSOP on April 15 announced its collaboration with global-facing GGPoker. This partnership will see the WSOP holding its Super Circuit Online Series on the GGPoker network.

Read the complete report here

Sharad Rao Parts Ways With PokerStars India

PokerStars India’s first streaming ambassador Sharad Rao has announced that his year as a streamer for the online site is coming to an end.

Read the complete report here

Nikita Luther Hosts Live Webinar With Poker Coach Ben ‘bencb789’ Rolle

India`s WSOP star Nikita Luther held a LIVE webinar titled ‘Raising the Stakes with Nikita Luther’ last Saturday that featured renowned international poker coach and Raise Your Edge founder Ben ‘bencb789’ Rolle as the special guest.

Read the complete report here

Muskan Sethi Features in Documentary “Poker Queens” Streaming on Amazon Prime

PokerStars India Team pro Muskan Sethi is among the accomplished poker players that feature in the poker documentary “Poker Queens” streaming on Amazon Prime.

Read the complete report here

Glaws.in Merges With Cricketprediction.com

India’s first news portal specializing in legal news, Glaws.in, completed its merger with cricket-centric site Cricketprediction.com.

Read the complete report here

Bertrand Grospellier Joins Former PokerStars Teammate Daniel Negreanu as GGPoker Ambassador, Tests Positive For COVID-19

GGPoker is on the rise and fast. The global online poker network has recently onboarded French poker pro Bertrand’ ElkY’ Grospellier as its newest brand ambassador.

Read the complete report here

Just days after announcing his association with GGPoker, Grospellier confirmed that he had tested positive with COVID-19.

Read the complete report here

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Crisis – Impact On Gaming Sector

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread havoc globally. While most nations have been forced to place restrictions on live venues like Casinos, online operators have been minting money as a deluge of player traffic is flocking the online poker sites during the lockdown.

51st Annual WSOP Postponed

The news that the community was waiting for a very long time, finally hit the newswires on April 20. The WSOP officially announced that the 51st edition of the summer edition had been postponed to the fall of 2020 in light of the public health emergency involving the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WSOP has not come out with the revised dates yet but indicated that it would revisit the initially announced schedule closer to the series, confirming only that the $10,000 Main Event Championship would be part of the series.

Read the complete report here

WPT Postpones Cambodia Stop, Prepones WPT Online Series

Just hours after the WSOP came out publicly with news of the postponement of its summer series, WPT also followed suit with a similar announcement for its Cambodia stop that was to be held from July 15 to 28 at the NagaWorld Integrated Resort in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The WPT has also preponed the WPT Online Series by a week to May 3 – 19.

Read the complete report here

IFMP Nations Cup Final Moved Online

The ongoing Coronavirus crisis has forced the International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP) to move the upcoming Nations Cup Final online. The matches will go ahead as planned on May 30 and 31 but will take place on a digital platform.

Read the complete report here

UKGC Bans Use of Credit Cards For Gambling

In a bid to check problem gambling during the ongoing pandemic, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), and UK’s Department of Culture, the Media and Sport (DCMS) have imposed a ban on the use of credit cards for gambling.

Read the complete report here

Philippines Govt to Sell PAGCOR-Owned Casinos

PAGCOR’s new CEO, Andrea Domingo, confirmed that the Philippines government was considering the sale of all under-performing Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) owned casinos. The government is looking to raise an additional PHP300 billion in revenue after the privatization of PAGCOR, most of which is to fight the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the complete report here

ARJEL Discourages Online Poker Operators to Attract Players With Deposit Bonuses

French gambling regulator ARJEL has directed online poker operators to refrain from offering bonuses to attract new players during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Read the complete report here

Virginia Governor Stalls Casino Legislation

The Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, has stalled two legislations that would have legalized casinos in the U.S. state. Northam has recommended amendments to ensure the bulk of the revenue from casino operations is diverted towards the public school system for their construction, renovations, or upgrades.

Read the complete report here

partypoker Hosts NHS Charity Event

partypoker hosted the U.K. NHS Online Charity Tournament on April 16 for the benefit of the NHS Charities Together. Half of the £50 ($62) buy-in in the rake-free tournament was donated to charity with partypoker matching an equal sum.

Read the complete report here

Grosvenor Casinos Arrange Free Lunch Initiative For NHS Workers

Grosvenor Casinos partnered with Uber Eats, Blue Light Card, and Absurd Bird to offer NHS and other emergency services staff in Chesterfield a free lunch.

Read the complete report here

Pro Golfers Play Charity Poker Tournament

Prominent golfers like John Daly, Jimmy Walker, and Michelle Wie played the ‘Chipping All-In’ charity poker tournament on April 16 to raise money for the employees of MGM Resorts.

Read the complete report here

And 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.