This Week in Poker: April 29 – May 5

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!

If May promised to be significant for online poker, the writing was on the wall this past week. Action on the global felts has taken off explosively, with GGPoker hosting the first-ever WSOP Online Super Circuit, alongside the APT Online Series that is underway at the network’s Asia-facing Natural8.com. But what kept the lockdown blues away for the home pros was several massive tournaments on the domestic turf.

The Spartan Super Series (SSS) is five days into the running and well past the halfway mark. The series played out its biggest event on Sunday, with The Millionaire Legends ₹1.5 Crores GTD bringing in 568 entries over two starting flights. Jostling past a reg-infested field, and the 106 Day 2 qualifiers was Young Gun Devang ‘equity_hunter’ Yadav. The young go-getter has had a breakout start to the year with two big scores in January. Yadav first won the prestigious BPT Online High Roller and followed that up by taking down the BPT Live 25K MegaStack. While Yadav is already a Millionaire X5 finalist, this time he struck a heads-up deal with ‘karanmangla’ before defeating the latter to capture the Millionaire title all by himself. Yadav’s trailblazing run that earned him his personal-best ₹30 Lakhs makes him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!!”

While ‘karanmangla’ finished a close second for ₹29.99 Lakhs, seasoned pro Dhaval ‘MandirYahinBanayenge’ Mudgal (3rd for ₹13.50 Lakhs) was another player who banked a seven-figure score. The musician-turned-poker pro was in phenomenal form last week and came out as the second biggest winner. In addition to his deep run in the Millionaire, Mudgal final tabled three more tourneys on Spartan Poker, namely, the SSS#6 The Elite (4th for ₹4.88 Lakhs), the Sunday SuperStack (4th for ₹3.24 Lakhs) and the Destiny 40 Lakhs GTD (runner-up for ₹7 Lakhs), pocketing a staggering ₹28.62 Lakhs over these scores!

Matching the Millionaire fervor was Adda52’s Full House ₹1 Crore GTD, where Deepak ‘bothras’ Bothra sailed past 2,082 entries and his heads-up rival Kanav ‘alibaba_kings’ Parwal (runner-up for ₹12.90 Lakhs) to walk away with a career-best score of ₹20 Lakhs.

Another online reg Rajesh ‘RULS’ Singh joined the millionaire club after he beat Mudgal heads-up to win the Destiny for ₹11.67 Lakhs.

The biggest story outside the domestic online action revolved around the WSOP Online Super Circuit that is currently underway on GGPoker Network. The inaugural series has already awarded two gold circuit rings to ‘TheMadQueen’ and ‘JuanMartinDelPotro54,’ respectively.

Meanwhile, another GGNetwork site, Natural8.com, is currently playing host to the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Online Series. It’s been a smashing outing for the series in its inaugural online run. While over half of the events on the schedule are over, all of them smashed their guarantees. Some of the standout winners at the stop include Michael Soyza, Pete Chen, ‘PetitFoxx’, and Ho Bao ‘Yummers’ Qiang.

Hosting the $100 Million GTD series has certainly worked well for GGPoker, and the brand continued to forge several big tie-ups this week. It has partnered with popular poker training site, Pokercode, and even onboarded the site`s co-founder Fedor Holz as its Brand Ambassador. At the same time, the network has brought on-board leading European online poker and casino site OlyBet.

It’s certainly been a big week for poker. The Stars Group (TSG) and Flutter Entertainment merger was finally officiated, creating the world’s biggest gaming company.

Following the WSOP’s footsteps, the Venetian also indefinitely postponed its poplar DeepStack Championship Poker Series.

Even as the COVID-19 lockdown continues to keep us indoors, things seem to be getting better in other places. Europe’s biggest casino, King’s Resort in Rozvadov, has announced that it plans to reopen on May 11, along with sister concerns, Admiral Casino in Rozvadov and King’s Casino in Prague.

Online Railbird Report

Topping the charts in what was a blockbuster week of online poker action were two prominent names from the domestic circuit – Young Gun Devang ‘equity_hunter’ Yadav and poker pro Deepak ‘bothras’ Bothra.

Yadav has been crushing the virtual felts lately. Before May 3, Yadav’s career-best score was ₹12.07 Lakhs that he had won in PokerBaazi’s BPTO HIGHROLLER 6-Max ₹50 Lakhs GTD on January 4. Interestingly, Yadav is technically not a first-time Millionaire winner. He had on October 6, finished fourth in Spartan Poker’s The Millionaire X5 for ₹11.40 Lakhs. He more than doubled his previous personal-best score when he took down Spartan Poker’s The Millionaire Legends ₹1.5 Crores GTD for a mouth-watering ₹30 Lakhs last Sunday and presently has well over ₹1 Crore in recorded online winnings. For this trailblazing performance, Yadav is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

Yadav had agreed to a heads-up deal that saw him walk away with the title; however, the runner-up ‘karanmangla’ banked an equally impressive ₹29.99 Lakhs in prize money.

Bothra was the other pro who bagged a seven-figure score on Sunday night by shipping the second edition of Adda52’s Full House ₹1 Crore GTD for ₹20 Lakhs. Incidentally, Bothra too is a past Spartan Poker The Millionaire X5 winner. He had also placed fourth in the marquee tourney for ₹11.05 Lakhs about a month after Yadav, in November. Bothra’s overall recorded online cashes stand tall at ₹1.87 Crores.

Another player who deserves special mention is Rajesh ‘RULS’ Singh, after he bested Dhaval ‘MandirYahinBanayenge’ Mudgal (runner-up for ₹7 Lakhs) in the heads-up of Spartan Poker’s Destiny ₹40 Lakhs GTD and pocketed ₹11.67 Lakhs for his win.

Read the complete report here

The other notable scores of the week include –

WSOP Online Super Circuit Series

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) Online Super Circuit hit the GGNetwork on May 3. The $100 Million guaranteed series happens to be the biggest-ever online series in poker history.

In addition to the massive prizes, the series be awarding 18 WSOP circuit gold rings, the first of which was claimed by Canada’s ‘TheMadQueen’. The player triumphed over a 1,595-strong field and struck a heads-up deal with India’s ‘Igutu’ to win the series-opener, $1,111 buy-in Event #1: COVID Charity $1M GTD for $227,941. The tournament generated $1.77 Million in prize money, and since $111 of each buy-in pitched in was to be donated to the Nevada Community Foundation, $175,000 of the prize pool went to the foundation for COVID-19 relief.

‘JuanMartinDelPotro54’ won the second circuit gold ring in Event #2 KICK-OFF 500K GTD where he topped a 28,291-player field and reached a deal with ‘jolen’ at heads-up to claim the top prize of $137,120.

Read the complete report here

Big Moves By GGPoker Network

Partners With Pokercode, Onboards Fedor Holz as Brand Ambassador

Fast-growing online poker network, GGPoker has inked a partnership with poker training site and community, Pokercode. Alongside, GGPoker has also onboarded Pokercode’s co-founder, the German online MTT specialist, Fedor Holz, as its brand ambassador.

Read the complete report here

OlyBet Joins GGPoker

GGPoker has also partnered with Estonia-based Olympic Entertainment Group – the parent company of online poker, casino and betting site, OlyBet. Players on OlyBet have already been given access to GGNetwork tourneys, including the WSOP Online Super Circuit that is currently underway on the network.

Read the complete report here

APT Online Series

The Asian Poker Tour (APT) is presently hosting its inaugural 2020 Online Series from April 29 to May 10. The series that is being hosted on GGNetwork’s Natural8 has 62 events on the schedule with a combined prize pool guarantee of $1.54 Million.

The series is well past the halfway stage. Natural8 Ambassador and Asian superstar Michael Soyza won the first title on the opening day of the series. Soyza outlasted a 70-player field to win the $1K Buy-in High Rollers $30K GTD for $18,288.30.

Read the complete report here

Taiwanese pro and Natural8 Ambassador Pete Chen took down the Mini Main Event for $40,050.

Singapore’s ‘PetitFoxx’ is the biggest winner so far at the series. The player captured the $5,000 Super High Rollers for $53,380.

Read the complete report here

Another standout performer was Ho Bao ‘Yummers’ Qiang, who won the $500 High Roller Turbo $15K GTD for $10,350.

The action has since moved to the Main Event that logged in 938 hopefuls over four starting flights. Only 225 among them could make it to Day 2, with China’s ‘beibei’ (364,216) commanding the overall chip lead.

Read the complete report here

APT Online Series Winners

Goa Government Tasked to Send Migrant Workers Home

Goa government has initiated arrangements for the transit of migrant workers to their native regions across the country. There are estimated to be over 25,000 migrant workers, most employed in the hospitality and casino sectors that are stuck in the coastal state. The state’s municipal bodies are listing out such workers looking to return home, and the government will help arrange for their transit as long as they can pay for the fare.

Read the complete report here

Venetian Resort Las Vegas Postpones DeepStack Championship Poker Series

With Vegas closed down, the Venetian® Resort Las Vegas has followed the footsteps of the WSOP and postponed its marquee DeepStack Championship Poker Series. The 144-event series was scheduled to run from May 4 to July 26. Fresh dates and any changes in the schedule are yet to be announced.

Read the complete report here

Silver Heritage Group Cutting Costs During COVID-19 Pandemic

Amid the Coronavirus-led lockdown, Asian casino operator Silver Heritage Group Ltd. has initiated cost reduction strategies. The group owns and runs Tiger Palace Resort and the Millionaire’s Club and Casino in Nepal.

Read the complete report here

Advertising Watchdog Upholds Complaint Against Khelplay Rummy’s Marathi TV Ad

The independent Consumer Complaint Council (CCC) of ASCI has upheld a complaint against the online rummy site, Khelplay Rummy, for a recent Marathi television advertisement. The CCC found the advert objectionable and misleading and has directed the company to withdraw the ad.

Read the complete report here

Snapdeal Partners With Gamezop

E-commerce portal Snapdeal has entered a deal with mobile gaming startup Gamezop to add the latter’s top gaming titles, including Savage Revenge, Battle Fish, Rafting Adventure, Tower Twist, and Sticky Goo to its portal.

Read the complete report here

The Stars Group & Flutter Merger Complete

The much-awaited merger between PokerStars’ parent company The Stars Group (TSG) and Flutter Entertainment has been officiated. The merged entity called Flutter Entertainment plc is valued at more than £10 Billion (~$12.2 Billion).

Read the complete report here

King’s Resort Rozvadov & King’s Casino Prague to Reopen

Europe’s biggest casino King’s Resort and Casino, along with the Admiral Casino in Rozvadov and King’s Casino in Prague, are planning to reopen on May 11.

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.