Home » News » WSOP 2018: 9stacks Qualifiers Nishant Sharma & Vivek Rughani With Kartik Ved Make Day 5 in Main Event With 310 Remaining

WSOP 2018: 9stacks Qualifiers Nishant Sharma & Vivek Rughani With Kartik Ved Make Day 5 in Main Event With 310 Remaining

PG News July 9, 2018
8 mins Read

The annually-held World Series of Poker is the final frontier for poker players, lovers and enthusiasts across the globe. And the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em MAIN EVENT – World Championship is the sparkling diamond atop the crown that is the WSOP tournament series. It is every poker fanatic’s dream to possess the World Championship title and it is with that fervent desire that the nine challengers of the Indian contingent began the proceedings on Day 4.

Leading Team India`s charge on Day 4 was 9stacks qualifier Nishant Sharma (684,000), followed by Aditya Agarwal (653,000), Rohan Bhasin (458,000), Kartik Ved (144,900), Jaideep Sajwan (104,000), Apoorva Goel (102,000), 9stacks qualifier Vivek Rughani (97,000), Sriharsha Doddapaneni (85,000) and Yudhishter Jaswal (48,000). Alas, not all of the nine progressed to Day 5.

The three Indian challengers who made is past Day 4, i.e. Nishant Sharma (1,172,000), Kartik Ved (1,096,000) and Vivek Rughani (1,076,000) are all WSOP debutants. Sharma and Rughani are part of the 25-player contingent sent to Las Vegas by the poker site 9stacks through their #LFGVegas promotion to participate in the WSOP. Both of who punched their ticket to the Main Event without shedding a buck as they both reached Level 75 and won the Main Event seat for free!

As for Ved, who is perhaps one of the most successful online MTT player in the country, has been coached by poker legend Aditya Agarwal himself.

The day didn’t end so well for the remaining six Indian players who fell out through the course of the day. Jaideep Sajwan (589^th for $23,940 – ~₹16.44 Lakhs), Aditya Agarwal (717^th for $19,900 – ~₹13.66 Lakhs), Rohan Bhasin (731^st for $19,900 – ~₹13.66 Lakhs), Yudhister Jaswal (977^th for $15,920 – ~₹10.93 Lakhs), Sriharsha Doddapaneni (1057^th for $15,920 – ~₹10.93 Lakhs) and Apoorva Goel (1148^th for $15,000 – ~₹10.30 Lakhs) were all eliminated today, with this their dreams of winning the World Championship title coming to a premature end.

With the bragging rights for the World Championship title along with the WSOP gold bracelet and top prize worth $8,800,000 hanging in the balance, the next few days are going to be the most exciting as the race to the top gets more intense.

Meanwhile, in Event #68: The Little One for One Drop – $1,000 +111 No-Limit Hold’em the second starting flight 1B featured 1,268 runners and 255 have carried forward to the next day. Topping the leaderboard is Robert Lofaso (156,700) and from Team India, Sriharsha Doddapaneni (66,200) and 9stacks qualifier Aditya Singh (37,100) advanced to Day 2.

Event #69: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed opened with 901 players and has now whittled down to 202 survivors that includes Indian pros Navkiran Singh (75,500), Akash Malik (63,000) and Shashank Jain (25,000) while Jarred Solomon (286,000) is leading the field coming into Day 2.

Event #65: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em MAIN EVENT – World Championship

The battle of the WSOP Main Event got spilled on to Day 4 and 1,182 runners, from starting player pool of 7,874, were seen back in action to compete for the grandest prize in the world of poker. The survivors who returned for Day 4 all made it into the money with min-cash of $15,000 (₹10.30 Lakhs). The Main Event is reaching its halfway mark but with 310 players still in the running, the championship is still wide open.

The ‘never say die’ attitude of the Indian contingent has set them apart as nothing compares to the thrill of a deep run in the Main Event. Nine Indian challengers started the day with 9stacks qualifier Nishant Sharma leading from the front with 684,000, along with Aditya Agarwal (653,000), Rohan Bhasin (458,000), Kartik Ved (144,900), Jaideep Sajwan (104,000), Apoorva Goel (102,000), 9stacks qualifier Vivek Rughani (97,000), Sriharsha Doddapaneni (85,000) and Yudhishter Jaswal (48,000), all returning back for another day of work.

From the team, only Nishant Sharma (1,172,000), Kartik Ved (1,096,000) and Vivek Rughani (1,076,000) made the cut and will be returning on Day 5.

Sharma, who is an emerging star on the Indian poker scene, made his inaugural score at the WSOP in this year’s Event #34: $1,000 DOUBLE STACK No-Limit Hold’em where he finished 356^th for $2,508 (~₹1.72 Lakhs). This Young Gun had entered the Main Event on Day 1C and had ended the day’s play with a stack of 63,200. He bagged 231,000 in chips on Day 2C and sailed through to Day 3 building up a stack of 684,000. Sharma made it to the end of Day 4 and is leading the team`s Main Event campaign with a commendable stack of 1,172,000 for Day 5.

Ved, on the other hand, has had a rather dramatic tournament. Having started the Main Event on Day 1C with 66,500, he grew his stack to 307,300 by the end of Day 2C. But his stack fell tumbled down to 144,900 by the end of Day 3 and he started Day 4 fairly short-stacked. He lost a big pot when his pocket nines were outdone by his opponent’s pocket eights who managed to clip a set on the flop after moving all-in preflop and he was down to 6 to 7 big blinds. However, he steadily managed to double up his stack to 350,000 when his ace-king held on against an opponents king-queen. His stack went through a rollercoaster of ups and downs throughout the course of the day. As the play came to a halt for the day, he had raked up a comfortable stack of 1,096,000.

Rughani was the third Indian and second 9stacks qualifier to make it through Day 4. Another Day 1C entrant, he increased his starting stack of 111,800 to 234,300 by Day 2C. But his aggressive and ‘devil may care’ style of play resulted in a reduced stack of 97,000 on Day 3. But being short-stacked was not a hindrance for the daring player as he continued to flirt with danger on Day 4 and had accrued a stack of 1,076,000 by the time the bags were brought out.

Six of the Indian challengers exited the tournament on Day 4. Apoorva Goel’s (102,000) run culminated fairly early in the day with him taking home a payday of $15,000 (₹10.30 Lakhs) in 1,148th place.

Next to go was Sriharsha Doddapaneni (85,000), who chipped down and bowed out in 1,057th place to pocket $15,920 (₹10.93 Lakhs) for his efforts.

Yudhishter Jaswal (48,000) had carried the shortest stack among the Indians at the start of Day 4. But was eliminated when his were up against Antonio Esfandiari’s pocket sixes with the chips going in on the flop. The board ran . Jaswal did find a top pair of aces on the board but lost out to Esfandiari who had flopped a set of sixes. He finished in 977th place for $15,920 (₹10.93 Lakhs).

Rohan Bhasin (458,000 chips) had carried one of the above-average bags and he departed from the tournament in 731st place, pocketing a payday of $19,900 (₹13.66 Lakhs).

All eyes were on poker stalwart and Team PokerStars pro Aditya ‘Intervention’ Agarwal who had started the day with the second-largest chip count amongst the Indian battalion and was seated alongside Johnny Chan, John Botticello, Ludovic Geilich, David Bortolucci, Jacob Rasmussen, Diosdado Bisco, Marc-Etienne McLaughlin and Kenneth Adams.

Starting day 4 of the Main Event in the money. Feel blessed, that I get to play this wonderful tournament every year for the last 13 years with all the love and support. Lvl 16, 3k-6k(1k) with 653k, 1182/7874 #WSOP2018

— Aditya Agarwal (@AdiAgarwal_int) July 8, 2018

He fought hard to maintain his place on the felt, but by level 17 his stack had come down to 520,000. Agarwal suffered major losses along the way and couldn’t survive beyond the first two hours into the day.

Lvl 17, 4000-8000(1000) with 520k, 890/7874 #WSOP2018

— Aditya Agarwal (@AdiAgarwal_int) July 8, 2018

His elimination came at the hands of Ludovic Geilich. Geilich opened from under-the-gun and Agarwal called from big blind and the dealer dealt the flop . Agarwal checked and Geilich continued for 24,000. Agarwal check-raised and then went all-in for 157,000 and Geilich promptly called. Both players had flush draws with Agarwal holding against Geilich’s . Agarwal also had the possibility of hitting a back-door straight, but the turn and river were not what he needed and Geilich’s ace kicker was good enough to secure him the pot as Agarwal finished 717^th for $19,900 (₹13.66 Lakhs).

Out 717th, pretty tough day #WSOP2018

— Aditya Agarwal (@AdiAgarwal_int) July 8, 2018

Following in Agarwal’s footsteps was Jaideep Sajwan (104,000) who had entered the day at the back of a remarkably upward drive on the previous day. Sajwan finished in 589th place for $23,940 (₹16.44 Lakhs).

Team India Update After Day 4

Several other notables were also railed out of the event including Gal Yifrach (320^th for $37,705), Liv Boeree (379^th for $33,305), Johannes Becker (483^rd for $26,535), Kristen Bicknell (492^nd for $26,535), Jessica Dawley (543^rd for $23,940), Phil Ivey (547th for $23,940) and Jesse Sylvia (616^th for $21,750).

Barry Hutter (5,597,000) is leading the remaining 310 players into Day 5, along with Alexander Haro (5,031,000) and Brian Altman (4,861,000).

Top 10 Chip Counts At The End of Day 4

1. Barry Hutter – 5,597,000

2. Alexander Haro – 5,031,000

3. Brian Altman – 4,861,000

4. Andres Jeckeln – 4,506,000

5. Hari Bercovici – 3,510,000

6. Kelly Minkin – 3,459,000

7. Franklin Azevedo – 3,410,000

8. Ubaid Habib – 3,300,000

9. Nicholas Newport – 3,269,000

10. Krasimir Yankov – 3,264,000

Event #68: The Little One for One Drop – $1,000 +111 No-Limit Hold’em

The second starting flight of Event #68: The Little One for One Drop – $1,000 +111 No-Limit Hold’em ran its course with 1,268 entries coming into the field and only 255 surviving through. They will be joined by the 195 players who found a bag at the end of Day 1A and also the survivors of the third starting flight that will be kicking off soon.

The Little One For One Drop is another popular tournament of the WSOP and this year too there were a number of Indian faces who were spotted lining up to register. Two pros from the domestic circuit, Sriharsha Doddapaneni (66,200) and 9stacks qualifier Aditya Singh (37,100) have progressed to Day 2.

Paawan Bansal played exceptionally well as the battle began, taking his stack to 10,000 but his run was cut short after he lost a couple of crucial hands.

Doddapaneni and Singh will join the three Indians who progressed to Day 2 from 1A flight, i.e. 9stacks qualifier Sanjay Taneja (30,400) two-time bracelet winner Nipun Java (25,600) and Tarun Ravi (25,100). More Indians are expected to jump in through the third starting flight.

Meanwhile, Robert Lofaso topped the survivors on Day 1B with 156,700 and next big stack holders include Ran Ilani (150,500), Ray Medlin (133,700), Dylan Drazen (120,300) and Kyle Keranen (118,600).

Thur Nguyen (113,100), six-time bracelet winner Chris Ferguson (111,300), Bulgarian pro Yuliyan Kolev (90,400), bracelet winner Michael Wang (84,000), Dietrich Fast (73,100), Daniel Strelitz (64,900), Aaron Massey (64,000), and Maria Lampropulos (53,700) also found a bag for Day 2.

It wasn’t a great run for many though, and big names like Kristen Bicknell, Joey Weissman, Dan Shak, Alexander Allison, Mike Leah, Georgios Sotiropoulos, Dylan Linde, Phil Ivey, Jason Mercier, Ryan Laplante, Katie Lindsay, Griffin Benger and Ryan Yu were shown the door.

Payouts for the event are yet to be announced. Earlier on Day 1A, a total of 947 runners had entered the tournament building up a prize pool of $852,300 and John Utley (159,800) had bagged the chip lead.

Top 10 Chips Counts At The End of Day 1B

1. Robert Lofaso – 156,700

2. Ran Ilani – 150,500

3. Ray Medlin – 133,700

4. Dylan Drazen – 120,300

5. Kyle Keranen – 118,600

6. Thuy Nguyen – 113,100

7. Chris Ferguson – 111,300

8. Mike Parekh – 109,600

9. Sohale Khalili – 109,400

10. Ming Cheng – 103,800

Event #69: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed

Action got rolling in Event #69: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed that allowed one re-entry till the beginning of Level 9 with each player starting with a 15,000 stack. After 10 hours of play, the 901-strong player field has narrowed down to 202 runners.

Towards the conclusion of the day, the payouts were announced, that includes the top prize of $475,033 which forms a big portion of the $2,432,700 prize pool. Overall, 136 places will make it in the money and now that 202 players remain in the battle, the bubble can be expected to burst fairly soon on Day 2.

A bunch of Indians jumped into the tournament and two of them, Navkiran Singh (75,500), Akash Malik (63,000) and Shashank Jain (25,000) have advanced to Day 2.

Jarred Solomon holds the chip lead with his stack of 286,000 and following Solomon are Dominik Nitsche (220,200), Romain Lewis (215,300), Max Silver (187,000) and William Migely (187,000).

Silver who is notorious for his PLO prowess is featuring prominently in the field and may well take over the reins of the chip lead in the second day of the event. Nitsche, who is an accomplished no-limit player in Europe and has four bracelets under his belt is another player to watch out for. But as usual the WSOP battles have sprung many new faces to the top and Day 2 could well bring more surprises.

Others who are still in action are Scott Bohlman (149,300), Daniel Negreanu (73,700), Anthony Zinno (64,800), Randy Ohel (81,700), Erik Seidel (18,000), Chance Kornuth (79,000) and Connor Drinan (87,000).