This Week in Poker: July 21 – 27

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)

With the 11^th edition of the India Online Poker Championship just a few days away from closing, the remainder of the week is guaranteed to witness explosive poker action. And there`s an action-packed August on the horizon with the APT Online Series India & WPT Online India set to kick off on August 1.

Coming to this past week’s online action, Mohit Bhati reigned supreme over everyone else. The 34-year-old took down two IOPC titles this week, including the IOPC High Roller for a jaw-dropping ₹23.25 Lakhs, adding up an impressive ₹32.66 Lakhs in total winnings. For his spectacular run, Mohit Bhati is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

Amit Suresh Gehani, Young Gun`s Arsh Grover & Anuj Yadav, and Sumit Sapra, Mohammad Azhar were the other top winners of the week.

Even with the IOPC July Edition keeping the MTT players more than satiated, Spartan Poker has rolled out a value-laden promotion for cash game players. The Spartan 308 Cash Fest went live on July 25 and offers players a 200% deposit bonus and up to 108% withdrawable cash all through August.

The APT Online Series India returns for its second edition on PokerBaazi on August 1. If you are looking for a cost-effective way into the mega-series, check out the APT Mega Satty Series. The three-day satellite series runs from July 28 to 30, with 114 tickets valued over ₹30 Lakhs up for grabs!

Joining in the promotions mayhem is the fast-growing poker site, PokerDangal. The online poker operator has announced its leaderboard-centric cash game promotion, Cash Splash. There is ₹1 Lakh to be won daily through the promotion`s 20-day run from August 1 to 20.

In what is undoubtedly the most encouraging development for the online gaming industry this year, The Madras High Court`s first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy pulled up the Tamil Nadu government over the online gaming ban in Tamil Nadu. While hearing the pleas challenging the ban, the court criticized the justification provided by the government for the same and reserved its judgment for August 3 to be delivered through video conferencing.

Jumping over to the ongoing 2021 WSOP Online Series, eight bracelets were awarded over the course of the week. Only a few days are left for the WSOP.com-leg of the series to end, following which the series will move over to the GGPoker/Natural8 network, allowing international players, including Indians, a chance at winning the coveted gold bracelet.

Online Railbird Report

The 11^th edition of the IOPC kept tournament players busy for another week, and Mohit Bhati headlined what was a blockbuster week of tournament action. The 34-year-old is a relatively lesser-known player in the circuit who made heads turn by winning two IOPC titles this past week, netting ₹32.66 Lakhs overall. Bhati had come into the week with the Sunday Prime win, and he carried the momentum through, shipping the IOPC #66 Wednesday Prime. Entering the IOPC #73 High Roller as the chip leader, Bhati went wire-to-wire to claim his third IOPC title for a career-best ₹23.25 Lakhs. Bhati’s stupendous form has won him the distinction of becoming our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

His top finishes include:

> 1^st in the IOPC #66 Wednesday Prime ₹50 Lakhs GTD for ₹8.23 Lakhs

> 1^st in the IOPC #73 High Roller ₹1 Crore GTD for ₹23.25 Lakhs

The week’s singular biggest score was claimed by Amit Suresh Gehani, who championed the IOPC #92 Legends on Monday for ₹30 Lakhs.

His top finishes include:

> 1^st in the IOPC #92 Legends ₹1.75 Crore GTD for ₹30 Lakhs

Young Gun Arsh Grover’s runner-up finish in the IOPC #92 Legends fetched him a ₹24.79 Lakhs paycheque, pushing him to #6 on the annual leaderboard standings.

The IOPC #92 Legends third-place finisher, Sumit Sapra, raked in a collective ₹22.31 Lakhs over the week.

His top finishes include:

> 3rd in the IOPC #92 Legends ₹1.75 Crore GTD for ₹14.70 Lakhs

> 1st in The Summit ₹15 Lakhs GTD for ₹4.56 Lakhs

> 2nd in the IOPC #74 Thursday Spotlight ₹15 Lakhs GTD for ₹2.04 Lakhs

Young Gun Anuj Yadav is the only player to win four titles at the ongoing IOPC July Edition – two of them he won this week. Yadav was denied a fifth IOPC win in the IOPC #73 High Roller, where he placed runner-up for ₹15.75 Lakhs. His weekly tally stands tall at ₹21.19 Lakhs.

His top finishes include:

> 2^nd in the IOPC #73 High Roller ₹1 Crore GTD for ₹15.75 Lakhs

> 1^st in the IOPC #79 ₹15 Lakhs GTD IOPC #79 Friday Prime for ₹3.48 Lakhs

> 1^st in the IOPC #64 ₹6.85 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.34 Lakhs

The inaugural NPS Main Event champion Mohammad Azhar added an impressive ₹16.39 Lakhs to his poker bankroll this week.

His top finishes include:

> 1^st in the IOPC #80 Friday Spotlight ₹60 Lakhs GTD for ₹11.64 Lakhs

> 3^rd in The Weekly Highroller ₹12 Lakhs GTD for ₹4.17 Lakhs

Rajeev Kumar, Armaan Kochhar, Ritwik Khanna, PokerGuru Ambassador Laksh Pal Singh, Avadh Shah, Rubin Labroo, Aditya Singh, Young Gun Sanat Mehrotra, Ankit Khattar, and Kunal Patni were the other top scorers of the week.

Notable Winners of the Week

Spartan Poker’s 308 Cash Fest Runs July 25 to August 31

Cash game players can now rejoice with Spartan Poker rolling out a very lucrative Spartan 308 Cash Fest. The promotion runs from July 25 to August 31 and offers players a 200% deposit bonus and a chance at winning up to 108% withdrawable cash.

Read the complete report here.

APT Mega Satty Series to Award ₹30 Lakhs in Tickets to the APT India Online

In the run-up to the second edition of the APT Online Series India scheduled for August 1 to 8, PokerBaazi is hosting a three-day APT Mega Satty Series from July 28 to 30. The site is running five mega satellites daily with 114 tickets worth over 30 Lakhs to be won.

Read the complete report here.

PokerDangal’s Cash Splash to Award ₹1 Lakh in Prizes Daily (August 1-20)

The go-to site for the low-mid stakes players, PokerDangal, has lined up the Cash Splash, a leaderboard-centric cash game promotion for August. Running from August 1 to 20, PokerDangal will be awarding ₹1 Lakh in prizes to 20 players daily – the top five players across four leaderboards.

Read the complete report here

Madras High Court to Pronounce Judgment on Pleas Challenging TN Online Gaming Ban on August 3

The first bench of the Madras High Court heard several pleas challenging the Tamil Nadu Gaming and Police Laws (Amendment) Act 2021 over two sessions this week. While hearing the arguments of the state and legal representatives of several online rummy companies on July 23, Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee criticized the state government’s blanket ban on online gaming.

Read the complete report here

In the subsequent session, held on July 26, the High Court reserved his judgment in the matter for August 3 to be delivered through video conferencing.

Read the complete report here

WSOP Online 2021 Updates

A total of eight bracelets were awarded at the WSOP.com leg of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Online over the week. Headlining the list was Bradley Ruben, who bested the 1,551-entry field in Event #21: $600 PLO 6-Handed to win his second gold bracelet and $69,148.

Read the complete report here

“Lastbullet” (Won Event #22: $600 NLH Knockout for $46,796), Ryan Hagerty (Won Event #23: $500 NLH for $67,207), Byung Yoo (Won Event #24L$400 NLH Monster Stack for $77,475), David Peters (Won Event #25: $7,777 NLHE Lucky &’High Roller for $283,940), Eric Vanauken (Won Event #26: $500 NLH The Big 500 Encore for $93,627), “lox10” (Won Event #27: $1K PLO Championship for $86,440), and Daniel Lazrus (Won Event #28: $3,200 NLH High Roller Championship for $205,347) were the other bracelet winners of the week.

And 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.