This Week in Poker: September 2 – 8

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!

As we wrap up the second week of September, a lot has been happening on the virtual felts. Starting off with the domestic action, Spartan Poker’s GPS The Millionaire was the showstopper this week. Having registered 2,012 entries, the event crowned a champion in mystery user ‘RangeMerge,’ who pocketed a jaw-dropping ₹17.22 Lakhs for their win, with ‘Sid297’ placing runner-up for ₹9.59 Lakhs. Online regular Sanish Chhabra finished third for ₹6.69 Lakhs.

However, the top winner across the domestic felts was none other than Vaibhav Sharma. The online phenom enjoyed a three-day winning streak that included two titles – Spartan Poker’s GPS – Grand Sunday Superstack for ₹7.68 Lakhs and Adda52’s The Mint for ₹3.75 Lakhs – banking a cumulative ₹13.66 Lakhs to become our “PokerGuru Star of the Week!”

Raghav Bansal and Harsh Dembla were among the other top scorers of the week.

Moving onto the international felts, the inaugural 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Online series culminated its run on GGPoker-Natural8 earlier today. This past week witnessed a lot of electrifying action with the magnum opus $25 Million GTD Main Event registering over 5,802 entries to generate a record $27.55 Million prize pool. Bulgaria’s Stoyan Madanzhiev clinched the Main Event title for a life-altering $3.90 Million!

Besides the Main Event, the last event to award a bracelet, Event #83: $10K WSOP Super MILLION$ saw India’s “M26GreenWood” entering the final day as the final table chip leader. The player came excruciatingly close to capturing India’s second WSOP bracelet of the series, ultimately finishing sixth place for $288,836 (~₹2.12 Crores). The bracelet was taken down by Connor Drinan, who won $1.42 Million.

GGPoker Ambassador Fedor Holz also claimed his career-second WSOP bracelet in Event #79: $25K Heads-Up for $1.07 Million, while Belgium’s Michael Gathy conquered his fourth gold bracelet in Event #85: $500 The Closer for $272,504.

In other news, in the third wave of crackdowns on Chinese apps, the Indian government banned the popular online multiplayer battle royale game, PUBG, along with 117 other apps.

Fantasy sports company Dream11 is staring at another legal challenge after a special leave petition was filed against the company in the Supreme Court with regards to the Rajasthan High Court order that had stated that Dream11 was a game of skill.

On a positive note, after the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) received the green light from the authorities on September 4, the Royal Calcutta Turf Club (RCTC) announced, on September 7, the start of its Calcutta Cold Weather Season 2020-2021 from October 31.

Additionally, the Andhra Pradesh government that had announced a ban on online gambling on September 3 is yet to block any of the online gaming apps or sites.

On September 6, the poker world bid farewell to Poker Hall of Famer and WPT legend, Mike Sexton, who passed away at the age of 72, after a prolonged battle with prostate cancer.

Online Railbird Report

With a server error forcing Adda52’s Full House Finale to be rescheduled to September 13, Spartan Poker’s GPS The Millionaire was the week’s biggest draw. The anonymous player ‘RangeMerge’ topped the 2,012-strong field and defeated ‘Sid297’ heads-up to collect a whopping ₹17.22 Lakhs. Runner-up’ Sid297’ pocketed ₹9.59 Lakhs and cashed a second time placing 16th for ₹75,248, while third-place finisher Sanish ‘Sanish21’ Chhabra added ₹6.69 Lakhs to his bankroll.

However, the week’s star performer was Vaibhav Sharma, who clinched two title titles, alongside several deep runs. Sharma was on his MTT best on Sunday when he captured the GPS – Grand Sunday Superstack for ₹7.68 Lakhs. The same day, Sharma also finished sixth in PokerBaazi’s BSS SuperStack for ₹1 Lakhs. Continuing his hot run, Sharma final-tabled the GPS Grand ReCharge for ₹1.22 Lakhs on Monday, and raked in another big score a day after, after he took down Adda52’s The Mint for ₹3.75 Lakhs. Sharma’s tally over these scores has crossed the ₹13.66 Lakhs mark, making him the “PokerGuru Star of the Week!!”

Among the other big winners were ‘HatodaTyagi (GPS Grand – The Elite on Spartan Poker for ₹8.46 Lakhs) and seasoned pro Raghav’ thatssosick’ Bansal (Destiny on Spartan Poker for ₹7.69 Lakhs).

Harsh ‘kakori kabab’ Dembla deserves special mention for his consistent form, including a 3rd place finish in the INCOOP-28 Hercules for ₹5.21, and clinching the Pocket Aces title on Pocket52 for ₹3.07 Lakhs to cumulatively earn ₹8.29 Lakhs.

The notable winners of the week include –

Poker Dangal Announces Exciting Cash & Tournament Offerings to Celebrate 3 Years

Poker Dangal completes three years this month, and marking the occasion, the site has rolled out a slew of attractive cash game and tournament offerings, guaranteeing over ₹1.50 Crores in cash prize giveaways! The lineup includes 10 Ka Dum and Make It & Take It promotions, while for tournament enthusiasts, there is the Dangal Grinder Series (DGS) guaranteeing ₹25 Lakhs across 16 tournaments. Headlining the series will be the ₹10 Lakhs GTD DGS Main Event.

Read the complete report here

PUBG Among 118 Chinese Apps Banned

The hugely popular online multiplayer battle royale game, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, aka PUBG, has been banned along with 117 other Chinese apps, by the Indian government.

PUBG Lite app available on Google Play store has also been banned, while the game’s desktop version is still available in the country.

Read the complete report here

PokerStars Exits China, Taiwan & Macau

Global online poker giant PokerStars has officially exited Asian countries like China, Taiwan, and Macau, on directives of parent company Flutter Entertainment that aims to make its entire gaming operations more compliant.

Read the complete report here

WSOP Online 2020

The 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Online series has been the headline story these last two months. And the record-shattering series is finally in the history books. The series unleashed intense online action on the felts with an exhaustive schedule and the closing week brought its share of sparks.

Early on in the week, two-time WSOP Circuit ring winner, Jeffrey Dobrin won his first-ever WSOP bracelet and $189,666 after topping the 2,408 entries in Event #80: People’s Choice Event [Pros Vote], where the players voted to play $600 6-max NLHE.

Read the complete report here

The series showstopper – Event #77: $5,000 NLHE Main Event entered the history books by creating a prize pool of $27,559,500 over 5,802 entries that came in via 23 starting flights. This is the biggest prize pool to be ever created in an online tournament. Day 3 played out on Sunday, with Bulgaria’s Stoyan Madanzhiev defeating Genling Gao heads-up to ship the tourney for a life-changing $3.90 Million!

Read the complete report here

As the week wore on, semi-retired poker pro and GGPoker Ambassador Fedor Holz emerged triumphant in Event #79: $25K Heads-Up, where he battled past a 127-player field to win his second career bracelet and $1.07 Million.

Read the complete report here

Belgium’s Michael Gathy also walked away with his career’s fourth bracelet after he bested a field of 4,012 entries to win Event #85: $500 The Closer.

Read the complete report here

Among those making their debut in the WSOP bracelet club was Italy’s “Paquitooo” Molinelli (Event #81: People’s Choice Event [Spin the Wheel] for $243,415) and beauty diva Melika “Melirazavii” Razavi (Event #82: $1,050 Beat the Pros for $239,180).

Alexander “Kobbajun” Kobbeltvedt won his first WSOP bracelet and a $296,403 payday in Event #84: $100 WSOP MILLION$. The tournament saw India’s “AnshuD” finish third for $139,151 (~₹1.02 Crores).

Read the complete report here

This turned out to be a fantastic series for Team India, and can easily be called the best season for Indians at the WSOP. Apart from the fact that “Mandovi” shipped a bracelet in Event #64: $840 Turbo Bounty NLHE, the Indians raked in more than two dozen final table finishes, including several close runs. Keeping the country’s bracelet hopes alive at last was “M26GreenWood,” who chip led their way into the final table of Event #83: $10K WSOP Super MILLION$. However, the player suffered several terrible setbacks on the final table to eventually finish their run in sixth place for $288,836 (~₹2.12 Crores). The title was captured by Connor Drinan for $1.42 Million.

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.