This Week in Poker: October 17 – 23

In the PokerGuru feature ‘This Week in Poker’ we bring to you the weekly round-up of the biggest 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

Yet another week of intense poker action has gone by, and matching the fervor on the international felts headlined largely by the action at the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), were big tournament series that set the domestic online action on fire. With the Global Poker League (GPL) India gearing up towards a crackling finale, there’s much for the railbirds to celebrate.

Indian poker professionals have undoubtedly been running the big race this year. If the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Macau Poker Cup was among the first international stops where Team India scored deep runs, the Indian challengers surely proved their mettle at the 2018 APPT Macau, the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) APPT Manila, WPT Vietnam and APT stops in Korea and Vietnam, to name just a few. Continuing in the same spirit, our Indian challengers are busy at work at the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) currently underway at the King’s Casino in Rozvadov. Six of the WSOPE events are done and dusted, and Team India has added seven scores to its tally headlined by Manish Goenka’s final table finish in the €550 PLO ( 6^th for €9,313 – ₹7.85 Lakhs) and Dhawal Lachhwani’s deep run (10^th for €6,949 -₹5.87 Lakhs) in the €1,100 Monster Stack NLHE.

It was a BIG week online with the virtual felts sizzling with action as the PokerBaazi Premier League Autumn’18 ran through a full schedule on October 21. The series came to a thundering close on Sunday with the The MoneyMaker 7.0 and dominating the massive entry-field, 24-year-old Bengaluru based Nikhil ‘stringbet710’ Sayilen crushed the event for a handsome payout of ₹33.92 lakhs, making him our “PokerGuru Star of the Week”.

Additionally, the Aussie100 #1 ₹30 Lakhs GTD event on 9stacks rewarded 15 winners with a special 9stacks Aussie Millions package, each worth ₹2 Lakhs and among the beneficiaries were Harshil ‘UncleScrooge’ Dhingra, Sanjay’Werewolf’ Taneja, Phanindra ‘loading…’ Akkina and Manoj ‘Darknight’ Pentakota.

Another big online winner came through the Khelo365 Colossal Leaderboard that ran from July 30 to September 30, where Dhiraj Chawla came out as the bumper prize winner. The site has more recently launched a new Khelo365.com Immortals Daily Cash Leaderboard.

Among the major developments on the domestic front was news of India’s only BSE listed company Delta Corp posting a double-digit profit growth in the second financial quarter of the year, while Mumbai-based Nazara Technologies Ltd is eyeing expansion in India and Africa. Another big story coming in from the legal corridors was that from the Calcutta High Court that turned down a plea from a lottery operator to keep lotteries out of the ambit of the GST.

In the international gaming sector, Portugal cancelled plans to impose a flat 25% online gambling tax, and the proposal was kept out of the year’s finance budget tabled before the parliament, while PokerStars announced a return of the 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure highlights to Channel 4 for UK fans. A number of poker brands announced major stops and schedules, including the 2019 APT Tokyo Japan stop, while online major partypoker announced the 2018 Monster Series with a combined prize pool guarantee of $3.4 Million.

Meanwhile even as the WSOPC stop at Horseshoe Casino, Hammond comes to a close, poker zealots can look forward to thrilling updates from the WSOPE along with the WPTDeepStack Brussels stop that is coming up next from November 6 to 11. Another major stop will be the partypoker Caribbean Poker Party that will be held in Nassau on November 10 and run till November 18.

We wrap up this week’s recap with tournament reports from the 2018 WSOPE, 2018 Coolbet Open Main Event, 2018 MSPT Michigan Poker Championship, Wynn Poker Fall Classic Championship and the WSOPC.

Online Railbird Report

Headlining the virtual felts this past week was the historic PokerBaazi The Moneymaker 7.0 ₹1 Crore GTD that drew in a total of 1,357 entries (715 entries and 642 re-entries). Winning this marathon tournament was Nikhil ‘stringbet710’ Sayilen, who banked an impressive ₹33.92 lakhs for his victory, and for this win, he is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week”.

Other notable scores of the week include –

Ankit ‘akj290’ Jajodia won ₹4.56 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘BSS ₹20 Lakhs GTD SuperStack’.

‘kumar570’ won ₹2.89 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Special ₹15 Lakhs GTD’.

‘Nbackdown’ won ₹1.40 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi‘BSS PLO ₹5 Lakhs GTD.’

Akash ‘akash_durr’ Gupta won ₹1.38 lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi‘BSS MegaStack₹5 Lakhs GTD.’

Anik ‘Incognito Nit!’ Ajmera won ₹48,682 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Stars ₹2 Lakhs GTD’.

Durga Deepak ‘pokerchess’ Botta won ₹48,000 for 1st place in the MadOverPoker ‘Dyamite’.

‘Radmod’ won ₹44,064 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Storm ₹3 Lakhs GTD’.

‘Lokimon’ won ₹34,000 for 1st place in the MadOverPoker‘Grenade.’

‘$00th$ayer’ won ₹21,848 for 1st place in the PokerStars India ‘Sunday Warm-Up ₹1 Lakh GTD.’

‘nonveg’ won ₹17,000 for 1st place in the MadOverPoker‘MadHouse.’

Ryan ‘BinkSSS’ Cardoso won ₹16,6660 for 1st place in the MadOverPoker‘NightCrawler.’

Calcutta HC RejectsWrit Petition to Exempt Lotteries From GST

In bleak turn of events for the Indian lottery sector, Justice DebangsuBasak of the Calcutta High Court has rejected the plea by a lottery operator to keep lotteries out of the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Read the complete story here.

Delta Corp Registers Impressive Growth in Q2

Despite the dark clouds surrounding the casino industry in Goa, Delta Corp that runs four casinos in the state, posted a 39% growth in revenue for the fiscal Q2 which ended on September 30.

Read the complete story here.

Nazara Tech Looking to Acquire Firms in India & Africa

Mumbai-based Nazara Technologies Ltd. is looking to acquire several firms in India and Africa, in preparation for its public market debut slated for February 2019.

Read the complete story here.

2019 APT Tokyo Japan Schedule Released

The Asian Poker Tour (APT) has announced the schedule for 2019 APT Tokyo Japan to be held at the Casino Stadium Tokyo, beginning from February 1 to 11 which will consist of eight events that will award winners with entry packages to participate in the APT Philippines, instead of cash prizes.

Read the complete story here.

Portugal Postpones Plans to Implement New Online Gambling Tax

Just a week after the Portuguese government announced a 25% flat tax on online gambling revenue, the political authorities have now decided to leave the proposal out of the fiscal budget of 2019.

Read the complete story here.

Channel 4 to Cover PokerStars Caribbean Adventure 2018 For UK Fans

Scheduled to start from January 2019, next edition of PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), which will be offering the coveted Platinum Passes, will be viewable to UK poker fans via Channel 4.

Read the complete story here.

Monster Series Returns to partypoker

The 2018 Monster Series will be returning to the premier online site partypoker, featuring a combined prize pool guarantee of $3.4 Million from October 28 to November 4 with a total number of 144 tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $2.20 to $33.

Read the complete story here.

WSOPE 2018

The 2018 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) that has now entered its third consecutive week of action.

With a total of seven scores, five of which came in the second week, Team India has performed fairly well in the series so far. Right after the opening week saw Rakesh Lalwani’s scoring twice in the €550 Colossus – one on Day 1D (23^rd for €802 – ₹68,541) and another on Day 2 (188^th for €2,227 – ₹1.90 Lakhs), a few other Indian challengers have picked up scores in different events, adding to the team`s tally.

Leading from the top is co-founder of The Indian Poker Series (TIPS) and King’s Casino reg, Manish Goenka who has posted the highest score in the series till now. Goenka managed to enter Day 2 of €550 PLO with a stack of 98,000 and amassed a bigger stack to take 970,000 to the final table. His run ended with a sixth place finish that added €9,313 (₹7.85 Lakhs) to his bankroll.

Read the complete story here.

Earlier, the €1,100 Turbo Bounty Hunter saw India’s Bharath Janardhan and Lalwani enter the field and only Janardhan progressed to Day 2, where he ended up bubbling the final table to finish at 10^th place for €2,958 (₹2.49 Lakhs).

The €1,100 Monster Stack NLHE attracted 666 runners and carrying forward India’s bracelet hopes to the final day was Dhawal Lachhwani (10^th for €6,949 -₹5.87 Lakhs). Earlier, Goenka had finished in 29^th place for €3,080 (₹2.60 Lakhs).

Both Janardhan and Lalwani were once again seen in action, at the €1,650 Mixed PLO/ NLHE and only Janardhan managed to make the cut for Day 2 where he banked €2,564 (₹2.16 Lakhs) for his 29th place finish.

Indian Cashes At 2018 WSOPE

Meanwhile, six tournaments of the WSOPE have crowned winners, while the WSOPE King’s Trophy event will now enter its second day of play, where Team India will be represented by Madhav Gupta and Janardhan, with both co-incidentally returning with the same stack of 38,500 in chips.

Read the complete story here.

2018 WSOPE Winners

Mats Albertsen Ships 2018 Coolbet Open Main Event

The autumn edition of the 2018 Coolbet Open, hosted at the Olympic Park Casion and the Hilton Tallinn Park was shipped by Mats Albertsen, who outlasted a field of 589 entries and bagged the title and €60,510 in prize money.

Read the complete story here.

Matthew Stammen Takes Down 2018 MSPT Michigan Poker Championship Main Event

Defeating a player pool of 1,271 entrants, Matthew Stammen took down the 2018 MSPT Michigan Poker Championship Main Event for $218,565, after defeating Joey Wideman in the heads-up play.

Read the complete story here.

Steve Sung Wins Maiden Live Title in Wynn Poker Fall Classic Championship

The 2018 Wynn Poker Fall Classic Championship $1,600 NLHE Main Event pulled in 594 players generating a prize pool of $864,270. Smashing the competition to smithereens was Steve Sung who not only won his maiden live tournament title but also took home $170,550 in top prize money.

Read the complete story here.

Josh Reichard & Mo Nuwwarah Win WSOPC Rings on Same Day

Nine-time World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) gold ring winner Josh Reichard and poker reporter Mo Nuwwarah, who also happen to be roommates, won two WSOPC events on the same day at the Horseshoe Hammond stop. While Nuwwarah shipped the $600 HORSE event for $14,008, Reichard topped the $400 NLH Monster Stack for $38,392.

Read the complete story here.

And with this, we conclude this week’s round up of the latest news updates and developments from the world of poker. We will return again next week with our weekly report, stay tuned.