This Week in Poker: November 3 – 9

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!

The penultimate month of the year has been exciting for poker fans, with Team India taking the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) by storm. Even though the Indian participation at the WSOP is smaller this year, the Indian players in Las Vegas have kept the team`s scorecard ticking, but we`ll get to that in a bit. First, let’s check out what happened on the domestic virtual felts this past week.

The winningest MTT player in the country, Young Gun Gaurav Sood, dominates the weekly charts yet again – all but cementing his place at the top of the annual rankings. If all goes to plan, he will successfully close out the year at the top of the annual charts for a second consecutive year. On Sunday, the dentist-turned-poker pro won the two biggest tournaments underway – Adda52’s DOPT Highroller and Spartan Poker’s The Prestige – banking ₹23.65 Lakhs overall. No surprises then that Sood is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

PokerGuru Ambassadors were not too far behind, with teammates Arjanveer Singh Chadha and Ankit Wadhawan chopping PokerStars India’s Diwali Rush Series Main Event title heads-up. While Chadha walked away with the title and ₹13.49 Lakhs top prize, Wadhawan settled for an equally commendable ₹11.60 Lakhs in second place.

Another PokerGuru Staking stalwart Mithun Mahesh is next among the week`s top winners with ₹12.51 Lakhs to his name. Mahesh won two titles this week: PokerStars India’s Diwali Rush-06 Super Highroller for ₹7.65 Lakhs and PokerStars India’s Highroller for ₹2.39 Lakhs. He also placed runner-up in Adda52’s Godfather Junior for ₹1.62 Lakhs.

Rising Star Ritwik Khanna, Sandeep Thakral, Suraj N Yadav, Prakash Gupta, Abhishek Chaurasia, and Harshad Barve featured among the week`s other top scorers.

With the post-Diwali celebrations out of the way, PokerBaazi has come out with a fantastic new tournament for the low to mid-stakes players, the “₹10 Mein 10 Lakhpati.” Running for three weeks from November 15 to December 5, the site will be running daily qualifiers for ₹10, and the top 10 finishers in the weekly finale on Sunday will collect ₹1 Lakh each!

And as promised, coming to the WSOP updates, Team India picked up four scores this week. Vikranth Anga posted the most significant WSOP score by the team so far this year with an eighth-place finish in Event #64: $5,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha for $53,824 (~₹40.05 Lakhs). Vidur Sethi finished 24th for $17,923 (~₹13.33 Lakhs).

MPL Poker Ambassador Dhaval Mudgal bagged his career-best WSOP finish in Event #61: $600 Deepstack Championship NLHE, placing 30th for $7,120 (~₹5.30 Lakhs). The former bracelet winner, PokerGuru Ambassador Kartik Ved, picked up his first cash at this year’s WSOP in Event #65: $1,00 Mini Main Event, placing 77th for $5,305 (~₹3.93 Lakhs).

Coming to the holy grail of poker tournaments, the WSOP Main Event, we once again saw several Indians in the fray. Abhinav Iyer (410,900), poker superstar Aditya Agarwal (217,000), Vidur Sethi (183,400), Shashank Jain (103,600), and two-time bracelet champion Nipun Java (50,100) have already made it to Day 3 in the Main Event.

Additionally, Kalyan Chakravarthy (156,600), Kunal Punjwani (149,500), the husband-wife duo Yudhishter Jaswal (85,000) & Muskan Sethi (84,700), Ankit Ahuja (75,500), and Young Gun Siddharth Karia (39,500) will be playing Day 2CEF on Wednesday.

Kunal Patni (86,100) and Dhaval Mudgal (33,700) might have busted the Main Event, but both of them have made Day 2 in Event #68: $1,111 Little One for One Drop.

Online Railbird Report

The ranked #1 player in the country for 14 consecutive weeks, Young Gun Gaurav Sood, has all but guaranteed to take the lead to a 15^th week after netting a jaw-dropping ₹23.65 Lakhs this week. Sood championed the two biggest tournaments running on Sunday, Adda52’s DOPT Highroller (₹13.50 Lakhs) and Spartan Poker’s The Prestige (₹9.25 Lakhs) to top the weekly charts, also bagging our “PokerGuru Star of the Week” title!

PokerGuru Ambassadors didn`t do too bad either, and three of them featured among the top five winners this past week. PokerGuru Ambassador Ankit Wadhawan banked ₹13.65 Lakhs for chopping PokerStars India’s ₹75 Lakhs GTD Diwali Rush-23 Main Event title with teammate Arjanveer Singh Chadha for ₹11.60 Lakhs.

His top finishes include:

> 2nd in PokerStars India’s Diwali Rush-23 Main Event for ₹11.60 Lakhs.

> 6^th in Spartan Poker’s The Elite for ₹1.38 Lakhs

His teammate Arjanveer Singh Chadha added a hefty ₹13.49 Lakhs to his kitty. Chadha displayed top form in the Diwali Rush-23 Main Event that he won for ₹13.32 Lakhs.

Another one of PokerGuru Staking’s top talent, Mithun Mahesh, completed the trio of champions from the stable. Like Gaurav Sood, Mahesh won two titles this week and placed runner-up in another event to collect ₹12.51 Lakhs cumulatively.

His top finishes include:

> 1^st in PokerStars India’s Diwali Rush-06 Super Highroller ₹ for ₹7.65 Lakhs

> 1^st in PokerStars India’s Highroller for ₹2.39 Lakhs

> 2nd in Adda52’s Godfather Junior for ₹1.62 Lakhs

Rising Star Ritwik Khanna FT-ed three flagship tournaments, which comprised the significant chunk of the ₹11.49 Lakhs he earned over the week.

His top finishes include:

> 3^rd in Adda52’s DOPT Highroller for ₹6.25 Lakhs

> 2nd in Adda52’s DOPT Epic for ₹2.95 Lakhs

> 4^th in Adda52’s DOPT Tuesday Feature for ₹1.20 Lakhs

Sandeep Thakral (Runner-up in DOPT Highroller), Suraj N Yadav (Won ReCharge, 3^rd in Destiny, and 4^th in The Elite), Prakash Gupta (3^rd in Diwali Rush-23 Main Event), Abhishek Chaurasia (Won Sunday Superstack), and Harshad Barve (Runner-up in The Prestige and DOPT Warm-up) were the other top scorers of the week.

Notable Winners of the Week

PokerBaazi Announces “10 Mein 10 Lakhpati” (November 15 – December 5)

PokerBaazi has announced a brand-new weekly tournament, the “₹10 Mein 10 Lakhpati,” offering 10 players a chance at becoming a Lakhpati for just ₹10 each week.

The event will run over three consecutive weeks from November 15 to December 5, with ₹10 buy-in Qualifiers running three times every day, from Monday to Saturday. All surviving qualifiers will get to play the weekly finale at 8 PM on Sunday. The top 10 finishers of the finale will win ₹1 Lakh each, and the bubble boy (11^th place) will win a OnePlus Nord.

Read the complete report here

WSOP 2021

The 52^nd annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) is now 43 days past us, and the wait is finally over – the much-awaited Event #67: $10K Main Event World Championship has hit the ground running! But before the Main Event got started, PocketFives head and Event #39: $1,500 PLO champion Josh Arieh grabbed the headlines for the second time at the ongoing series. Arieh won his fourth bracelet (his second at the series) in Event #66: $10K PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship for $484,791.

Read the complete report here

Another eye-catcher was the news of Dan “Jungleman” Cates finally entering the WSOP bracelet winners club. The newly minted Run It Once coach trounced a 63-player field in Event #60: $50K Poker Players Championship to collect $954,020. Ryan Leng`s chase for a fifth career bracelet ended in a runner-up finish.

Read the complete report here

Running alongside the starting flights of the Main Event was Event #65: $1,00 Mini Main Event. Georgios Sotiropoulos shipped the tourney for his third WSOP bracelet

PokerGuru Ambassador Kartik Ved was the only Indian to make Day 2 in the event, and he placed 77^th for his first cash at the series worth $5,305 (~₹3.93 Lakhs).

Read the complete report here

There were many first-time bracelet winners too. Twenty-two-year-old college graduate Cole Ferrao walked away with his first WSOP gold in Event #61: $600 Deepstack Championship NLHE. Eriz Zhang, Kevin Gerhart, Eelis Parssinen, and “Incel4life” also joined the bracelet winner’s club.

Team India posted a litany of deep runs this week. One of the more prominent of them was MPL Poker ambassador Dhaval Mudgal`s 30^th place finish in Event #61: $600 Deepstack Championship NLHE worth $7,120 (~₹5.30 Lakhs).

Vikranth Anga set the benchmark for the team this year with his eighth-place finish in Event #64: $5,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha for $53,824 (~₹40.05 Lakhs). Fellow countryman Vidur Sethi placed 24th for $17,923 (~₹13.33 Lakhs).

Now about the WSOP Main Event! The pinnacle tournament on every poker player`s bucket list, the Main Event turnout this year has been better than predicted. Five Indian players made it through Day 2ABD, with India`s first solo bracelet winner Abhinav Iyer (410,900) leading the charge. WSOP veteran Aditya Agarwal (217,000), Vidur Sethi (183,400), Shashank Jain (103,600), and two-time bracelet champion Nipun Java (50,100) are the other Indians already confirmed for Day 3.

Even as five Indians have already secured their seat into Day 3 (to be played on November 11), another batch of five Indians will be playing Day 2CEF on Wednesday. Kunal Punjwani (149,500) leads this group, with the poker-playing couple Yudhishter Jaswal (85,000) and Muskan Sethi (84,700) also making it further. The U.S.-based Ankit Ahuja (75,500) and Young Gun Siddharth Karia (39,500) also found bags for Day 2CEF that got underway at 11 AM (local time) on November 10.

Another bracelet sweat is developing for Team India in Event #68: $1,111 Little One for One Drop, where Kunal Patni (86,100) and Dhaval Mudgal (33,700) have qualified from Day 1A, while Sanjay Sharma (36,800) made it through Day 1B. The final starting flight, Day 1C, is scheduled for November 10.

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. Stay tuned.