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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!
Welcome to the first ‘This Week in Poker’ update of 2021! We start off this recap with news from the domestic online poker circuit. With live poker tournaments still pretty much out of the picture, the online poker action continues to be the driving force for the industry.
Topping this week`s online charts, we have Sagar Choudhury. The IIM-Rohtak alumni went on a trailblazing run on Friday (January 1), ringing in the New Year celebration in style! Choudhury couldn`t have asked for a better start to the year as he shipped two flagship tourneys on the day, Spartan Poker’s The Elite and PokerBaazi’s The Weekly HighRoller. This, along with a litany of deep runs through the week, helped him accumulate an impressive ₹13.65 Lakhs in winnings, making him our first “PokerGuru Star of the Week” of 2021!
Next in line is the two-time Millionaire champion, Manish Lakhotia. The Siliguri-based pro had topped the December online leaderboard, and there was no let-up in form for this MTT crusher who championed two tourneys this past week – Spartan Poker’s Sunday SuperStack and Adda52’s La Luna.
PokerGuru Ambassador`s Ashish Ahuja and Laksh Pal Singh alongside Jaideep Sajwan and Sahil Mahboobani were the other big scorers this week.
PokerStars India’s “Star of the Month” leaderboard race found another champion with online reg Siddharth Gangwar bagging the “Star of the Month” – December title. He won MTT tickets worth ₹1.15 Lakhs and a PokerStars India goodie bag for the win! That`s not all! Gangwar is already chasing back-to-back titles, having topped the January Week #1 standings to storm his way into the January Finale.
January has all the bearings to be an explosive month! Spartan Poker`s India Online Poker Championship (IOPC) – January 14 to 31 – Adda52 ‘January Suit Up’ series – January 1 to 31 – and PokerBaazi`s APT 2021 Online Series India – January 15 to 26 – promise a firecracker start in the New Year!
There is good news for poker players interested in some passive income. India`s fastest-growing online poker site, MPL Poker, recently threw open its affiliate program offering players the best-in-the-industry commissions for referring players to the site.
The biggest news from the international sphere was the online-live hybrid 51st WSOP Main Event. Argentinian pro Damian Salas, who had won the GGPoker-leg of the Main Event, defeated Louisiana’s Joseph Hebert, the WSOP.com leg champion, heads-up in Las Vegas to win the bragging rights of becoming the new World Champion. He won an additional $1 Million for the win along with the most sought after bracelet in poker.
Grabbing headlines was news of another former World Champion, the 2003 WSOP Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker, who parted ways with PokerStars after endorsing the brand for 17 years.
Huckleberry Seed was named the 59th inductee to the Poker Hall of Fame (PHoF) and the lone player to make it in the “Class of 2020. ” He beat out other accomplished nominees like Matt Savage, Isai Scheinberg, Eli Elezra, and Antonio Esfandiari.
Online Railbird Report
The first week of 2021 belonged to Sagar Choudhury. The Mumbai-based pro championed two flagship tourneys on Friday alongside a string of FT finishes. In all, he collected almost ₹13.65 Lakhs through the week, making him our first “PokerGuru Star of the Week” of 2021.
His top finishes include:
Manish Lakhotia features yet again among the top winners! The December leaderboard topper raked in almost ₹12.20 Lakhs through the week.
His top finishes include:
PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Ahuja ranked #3 on the annual leaderboard last year. The Chandigarh-based MTT crusher looks on track to make 2021 even more eventful. He cashed over ₹9.50 Lakhs this past week – most of it through three title victories.
His top finishes include:
Ahuja’s fellow teammate Laksh Pal Singh was not far behind. His biggest haul came in The Elite, a tourney he chopped with Sagar Choudhury to win ₹5.37 Lakhs. Singh also FT-ed The Ballers, cashing in almost ₹7.32 Lakhs this past week.
Seasoned reg Sahil Mahboobani placed runner-up in the Godfather for ₹3.78 Lakhs and placed fourth in The Ballers for ₹1.87 Lakhs, raking in almost ₹6.98 Lakhs.
‘PsychG0d’ (Adda52 Millions ₹25 Lakhs GTD for ₹6.86 Lakhs), The LagLawyer (Godfather ₹25 Lakhs GTD for ₹6.25 Lakhs), The Game Changer 4.0 winner, JaiKiran Kumar (Destiny ₹22 Lakhs GTD for ₹5.83 Lakhs), and ‘pokraj’ (The Ballers ₹22.5 Lakhs GTD for ₹5.62 Lakhs) were the other big winners this past week.
Notable Winners of the Week
Player | Prize Amount | Event | Poker Site |
---|---|---|---|
PsychG0d | ₹6.86 Lakhs | Adda52 Millions ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
mowgumotu | ₹6.25 Lakhs | Godfather ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Ashish ‘rocky3705’ Ahuja | ₹6.04 Lakhs | Mega Suits ₹30 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
JaiKiran 'Laard Labakdas' Kumar | ₹5.83 Lakhs | Destiny ₹22 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
pokraj | ₹5.62 Lakhs | The Ballers ₹22.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Sagar 'Strangeplay' Choudhury | ₹5.54 Lakhs | The Elite ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Manish 'thekid' Lakhotia | ₹5.30 Lakhs | Sunday SuperStack ₹25 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Psycorp | ₹4.86 Lakhs | BSS SuperStack ₹25 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Anuj 'anuj25395' Yadav | ₹3.82 Lakhs | Maverick ₹15 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Sagar ‘sagarpupul’ Choudhury | ₹3.64 Lakhs | The Weekly HighRoller ₹12 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Vivek 'KasolHieghts' Singh | ₹3.29 Lakhs | Mega Stack ₹17 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Guneet ‘GSK1515’ Kwatra | ₹3.12 Lakhs | Sunday Highroller ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
wolfbacki45 | ₹3.07 Lakhs | Sunday Special Progressive KO ₹15 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Pawan ‘_luffy_1x1’ Tez | ₹2.90 Lakhs | The Mint ₹15 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Amit ‘RagingBull’ Kaushik | ₹2.73 Lakhs | Excalibur ₹10 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Ratul 'Atriohm' Steves | ₹2.55 Lakhs | Ultron ₹13 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Tokio999 | ₹2.46 Lakhs | Titan Stack ₹10 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Nitin ‘philhermouth’ Arora | ₹2.35 Lakhs | The Pride ₹10 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Aditya Kumar ‘balls86’ Patodia | ₹2.28 Lakhs | Big Slick ₹12.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
TheLagLawyer | ₹2.09 Lakhs | Uppercut MAGIC Edition ₹10 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Siddhanth 'PluRibu$' Kripalani | ₹2.05 Lakhs | Money Heist ₹8 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Siddharth ‘champ-ak’ Pandey | ₹2.01 Lakhs | ReCharge ₹10 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Vinod 'Jamesoo7' Bhasker | ₹1.98 Lakhs | Iron Man ₹8 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Ashish 'Spewushhhiiiii' Ahuja | ₹1.90 Lakhs | Highroller ₹10 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
asaRishi | ₹1.88 Lakhs | The Big Show ₹8 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Sreeharsha ‘yUDdam’ Boneni | ₹1.57 Lakhs | TGIF ₹8.5 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Anirban ‘pottysingh’ D Das | ₹1.45 Lakhs | Blockbuster ₹6 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Chirag 'Chiragkhandelwal' Khandelwal | ₹1.41 Lakhs | The Race ₹7 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Devvrat ‘[email protected]’ Arya | ₹1.33 Lakhs | Big Bubble Rush ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
asaRishi | ₹1.32 Lakhs | New Year Bonanza Turnament ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Yash 'Babyshark21' Chitre | ₹1.28 Lakhs | Running Hot ₹5.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Yash9694 | ₹1.27 Lakhs | Battle Royale ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Anirban 'pottysingh' D Das | ₹1.27 Lakhs | BSS Monster 6-Max ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Shivam ‘brooskyradio1’ Shukla | ₹1.27 Lakhs | Uppercut Mini ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Aditya 'konstantin' Singh | ₹1.20 Lakhs | BSS MegaStack ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Manish ‘newkidpoker’ Lakhotia | ₹1.19 Lakhs | La Luna ₹4 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Devvrat 'glitch_d' Arya | ₹1.11 Lakhs | Monster Turbo ₹5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Nachiketa 'KnowsBleed' Jha | ₹1.06 Lakhs | UVS#12 - DeepStack Boost ₹4.75 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Mithun 'aghoraa' | ₹1.01 Lakhs | Hurricane ₹4.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Kaushal33 | ₹1 Lakh | Grand Slam ₹4 Lakhs GTD | Khelo365 |
Harsh 'harsh1327' Bubna | ₹96,238 | Battle Royale ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Pratibh ‘Pratibh Saluja’ Saluja | ₹92,186 | Sixth Sense ₹5 Lakh GTD | PokerStars India |
maglumagic27 | ₹87,218 | UVS #6 ₹4.35 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Ricardo | ₹86,000 | Reraise ₹2 Lakhs GTD | Khelo365 |
faze123 | ₹82,750 | Voyager ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Faiz 'MidStakeGrinder' Alam | ₹82,534 | The Flash ₹5 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Ashish 'rocky3705' Ahuja | ₹82,500 | Voyager ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Amit ‘quark’ Kaushik | ₹75,710 | Wednesday MegaStack ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Aarchit ‘Aarchit’ Dhadwal | ₹75,369 | Voyager ₹2.5 Lakhs GTD | Adda52 |
Partho ‘SpidermanIndia’ Datta | ₹62,597 | Night on Stars ₹5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
manish.89 | ₹59,480 | Monday MonsterStack ₹2 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
PokerQueen1911 | ₹56,678 | Monster Stack ₹3 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Ashish ‘Notoriouskonvict’ Nailwal | ₹56,300 | Saturday 6-Max SuperStack ₹2 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
83KK | ₹55,500 | Ultimate PLO ₹2 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Ero Sennin | ₹54,820 | Night Rider - Monster Stack ₹2.45 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
yutah999 | ₹50,000 | Mega Spalsh ₹1 Lakh GTD | Khelo365 |
kinghigh | ₹46,000 | BigBang ₹1 Lakh GTD | Khelo365 |
Ajit 'ace_bob_here' Singh Arora | ₹45,823 | The Classic PKO ₹2 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Kj3939 | ₹44,760 | Turbo ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Jat777 | ₹43,070 | Turbo ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
Aditya ‘Konstantin’ Singh | ₹42,230 | Turbo ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
sidarth1 | ₹42,225 | Turbo ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
BhootAAya | ₹42,000 | Ragnarok ₹2 Lakhs GTD | Pocket52 |
maglumagic27 | ₹40,150 | Night Rider – Monster Stack ₹2.45 Lakh GTD | Spartan Poker |
Trilok 'heartbroker' Meena | ₹38,689 | UVS#11 - The Centurion ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
jmdpanku27 | ₹38,528 | Ultrasonic ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
calyx666 | ₹38,445 | Ultrasonic ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Paras ‘AAKKQQJJ’ Jain | ₹38,176 | UVS #4 ₹1.65 Lakh GTD | Spartan Poker |
vegasbaby1892 | ₹37,847 | Ultrasonic ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Amit 'amit_3103' Sinha | ₹36,460 | PBBS#34 Main Event ₹2 Lakhs GTD – Day 2 | PokerBaazi |
yash1805 | ₹35,330 | Deepstack ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
Pankaj ‘jmdpanku27’ Sharma | ₹33,498 | Ultrasonic ₹1.5 Lakh GTD | PokerStars India |
Amit ‘Stu Ungar 7694’ Kaushik | ₹32,956 | Ultrasonic ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
goMUCKurself | ₹30,000 | PLO Boost Monster ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerBaazi |
Nutbuster1992 | ₹30,000 | PLO Boost Monster ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerBaazi |
uhhhhlala | ₹30,000 | 6-Max Holdem Boost ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerBaazi |
Yuvraj ‘Yuvi0069’ Bhardwaj | ₹29,840 | 6-Max Holdem BOOST DST ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerBaazi |
Siddharth ‘Siddonuts’ Pandey | ₹29,560 | PLO Boost Monster ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerBaazi |
Raksha ‘Rakshajindal’ Agarwal | ₹28,150 | 6-Max Holdem BOOST DST ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerBaazi |
Siddharth 'Siddonuts' Pandey | ₹28,150 | 6-Max Holdem BOOST DST ₹1 Lakh | PokerBaazi |
Bhuvan ‘se7en2’ Arora | ₹27,060 | PBBS#25 7-Max Highroller ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD | PokerBaazi |
GOODFATHER999 | ₹25,157 | Bigstack Turbo ₹1 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
asdfmrinal | ₹25,157 | Bigstack Turbo ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerStars India |
Zeta Sagittarii | ₹24,081 | Sunday Storm ₹1.5 Lakh GTD | PokerStars India |
Arpan 'Novus' Majhi | ₹24,000 | BattleField Tuesday ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerDangal |
Venkata Suman 'fuddu' Kudithipudi | ₹23,962 | UVS #2 ₹1.20 Lakhs GTD | Spartan Poker |
Viking12345 | ₹23,000 | Hercules ₹1 Lakh GTD | Pocket52 |
jevan | ₹23,000 | Hercules ₹1 Lakh GTD | Pocket52 |
iamankiyyadav | ₹21,848 | Afternoon on Stars ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerStars India |
Hrhamid | ₹21,500 | Dominator ₹50K GTD | Khelo365 |
LALLRONA | ₹21,000 | Wednesday PLO ₹1 Lakhs GTD | PokerDangal |
jinedo | ₹20,734 | Sunday Supersonic ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerStars India |
Akash ‘fisheater0510’ Gupta | ₹19,940 | Bigstack Turbo ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerStars India |
Bhishma | ₹17,250 | Pocket Jacks ₹75K GTD | Pocket52 |
crazyass93 | ₹16,524 | Afternoon on Stars ₹1 Lakhs GTD | PokerStars India |
HassiAces | ₹16,500 | Pocket Jacks ₹75K GTD | Pocket52 |
hajaara | ₹16,500 | Pocket Jacks ₹75K GTD | Pocket52 |
Sudhanshu01 | ₹15,186 | Monday Blues ₹75K GTD | PokerDangal |
SamSax13 | ₹14,831 | Afternoon on Stars ₹1 Lakh GTD | PokerStars India |
GKReddy | ₹12,900 | Nitro PLO ₹30K GTD | Khelo365 |
Rickdiculous | ₹12,144 | Unravel ₹50K GTD | Pocket52 |
moneymind | ₹12,000 | Weekend Fun ₹50K GTD | PokerDangal |
Akqj | ₹11,960 | Unravel ₹50K GTD | Pocket52 |
Puffpuffpass | ₹11,684 | Unravel ₹50K GTD | Pocket52 |
Dinesh ‘Mahabir1993’ Tigga | ₹11,500 | Unravel ₹50K GTD | Pocket52 |
Turulab | ₹11,500 | Unravel ₹50K GTD | Pocket52 |
Dinesh 'mahabir1993' Tigga | ₹11,500 | Unravel ₹50K GTD | Pocket52 |
yutah999 | ₹10,000 | Under The Gun ₹20K GTD PLO | Khelo365 |
wsopwinner | ₹9,300 | Insomnia ₹30K GTD | PokerDangal |
sonofagun | ₹8,400 | Insomnia ₹30K GTD | PokerDangal |
kkiol | ₹8,000 | Grinder 2.0 ₹20K GTD | Khelo365 |
Jitendersingh | ₹8,000 | Grinder 2.0 ₹20K GTD | Khelo365 |
R410A | ₹7,200 | Grinder 2.0 ₹20K GTD | Khelo365 |
Sandhiya1122 | ₹7,200 | Grinder 2.0 ₹20K GTD | Khelo365 |
ApniDuniya | ₹7,200 | Grinder 2.0 ₹20K GTD | Khelo365 |
Sabran1 | ₹7,200 | Grinder 2.0 ₹20K GTD NLHE | Khelo365 |
Pokerking123 | ₹2,400 | Dangal Dinner ₹10K GTD | PokerDangal |
PokerStars India`s “Star of the Month” – December, Siddharth Gangwar Tops January Week #1 Leaderboard Standings
Siddharth Gangwar made the headlines twice over this week. He caught his big break on December 30 when he topped the 100-player field in the PokerStars India’s “Star of the Month” December Finale to win MTT tickets worth ₹1.15 Lakhs and a PokerStars India goodie bag. He was back on the grind almost immediately and accumulated an impressive 677 TLB points last week to top the SOTM January Week #1 standings.
Read the complete report here
MPL Poker’s Affiliate Program Offers Lucrative Earning Potential
Fantasy sports giant Mobile Premier League (MPL) added poker to its platform almost a year ago. The poker platform has been growing by leaps and bounds since making it the country`s fastest-growing online poker network. MPL Poker recently rolled out its affiliate program publicly, guaranteeing the best-in-the-industry commissions to high potential affiliates.
Read the complete report here
Damian Salas Emerges as the 51st WSOP World Champion!
And we have a new World Champion! The 51st World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event heads-up finale took place at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on January 3. Argentina’s Damian Salas, who’d entered the finale after winning the GGPoker-leg of the Main Event, defeated the WSOP-leg champion, Louisiana-based Joseph Hebert, to claim the additional $1 Million, along with the bracelet and the bragging rights of becoming the 51st WSOP World champion.
Read the complete report here
Chris MoneyMaker Parts Ways With PokerStars
Chris Moneymaker – the 2003 WSOP Main Event champion – whose blazing run almost 18 years ago made poker a household game in the US, parted ways with online poker giant PokerStars after endorsing the brand for 17 years.
Read the complete report here
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 in the New Year. Till then, stay safe and enjoy your New Year celebrations!