WSOP 2022: Ankit Ahuja, Aditya Sushant, Arsh Grover, Anik Ajmera & Abhinav Iyer Make Day 2ABC in Main Event, Indo-American Shiva Dudani Finishes Runner-Up in Event #69

Ankit Ahuja, Aditya Sushant, Arsh Grover, Anik Ajmera, Abhinav Iyer & Shiva Dudani
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  • Attreyee Khasnabis July 6, 2022
  • 5 Minutes Read

Tuesday marked Day 36 of the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP,) which had three events on the tap! While the $10K Pot-Limit Omaha Championship played down to a winner, the $1K Million Dollar Bounty and Day 1C of the $10K Main Event World Championship had the tournament floor at the Bally`s and Paris Las Vegas buzzing with activity.

Sean Troha was the only bracelet winner of the day. The North Olmstead, Ohio, resident staged an almost inconceivable comeback on the final day of Event #69: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship, and defeated Indo-American Shiva Dudani heads-up to win his career-first WSOP bracelet and a massive $1,246,770 top prize. The start-of-day chip leader Dudani took home a career-best $770,556 for his runner-up finish.

Sean Troha
Sean Troha

 

Event #68: $1,000 Million Dollar Bounty kept the excitement in top gear as players started drawing the mystery bounties on Day 2. Four Indians returned for Day 2, and all of them cashed, with Nirav Parekh (60th for $14,130, ~₹11.17 Lakhs) managing the deepest run from the team. Nishant Sharma (89th for $8,360, ~₹6.63 Lakhs), Gokul Krishna (217th for $5,260 ~₹4.17 Lakhs), and Aditya Systla (234th for $4,560 ~₹3.62 Lakhs) rounded out the Indian scores.

Nirav Parekh, Nishant Sharma, Gokul Krishna and Aditya Systla
Nirav Parekh, Nishant Sharma, Gokul Krishna and Aditya Systla

 

Matt Glantz, who had previously criticized the Million Dollar Bounty event, ironically, was the one to draw the jackpot $1 Million bounty. Even though he couldn`t progress to Day 3, falling out in 42nd place for $20,730, we are sure he will not have much to complain about.

Matt Glantz
Matt Glantz

 

Michael Smith (50,300,000) bagged the end-of-day chip lead and will be headlining the remaining 33 players to Day 3.

The day’s biggest attraction was once again Event #70: $10,000 No-Limit Hold ’em Main Event World Championship. Day 1C gathered 1,800 entries, the lowest among the first three starting flights, taking the total field to 3,580. Over 5,000 entries are needed on Day 1D to surpass the 8,773-entry record set at the 2006 Main Event.

A total of 1,376 players managed to bag a stack for Day 2ABC, and among the list of survivors were five Indians, Ankit Ahuja (177,200), Aditya Sushant (154,000), Young Gun Arsh Grover (136,600), Anik Ajmera (113,100), and Abhinav Iyer (56,500).

Ankit Ahuja, Aditya Sushant, Arsh Grover , Anik Ajmera and Abhinav Iyer
Ankit Ahuja, Aditya Sushant, Arsh Grover , Anik Ajmera and Abhinav Iyer

 

Joining them on Day 2ABC will be the Day 1A qualifiers Chiraag Patel (145,400) and Abhishek Goindi (28,200) and Nirav Parekh (121,700), Sriharsha Doddapaneni (92,300), Paawan Bansal (44,600), and Nathan Rao (26,000), who bagged and tagged from Day 1B.

The Day 1C chip leader Patrick Clarke (397,200) will be unpacking the most chips when the 4,018 survivors return for Day 2ABC on July 7.

 

Event #68: $1,000 Million Dollar Bounty – Day 2

Day 2 of Event #68: $1,000 Million Dollar Bounty was a highly anticipated one because of the massive mystery bounties that were to be drawn! There was a grand $1 million bounty prize to be won by one lucky player and several other massive bounties prizes up for grabs. In contention for these ginormous prizes were the 826 returning players from the four starting flights, of which only 33 made their way into Day 3.

Michael Smith (50,300,000) topped the day-end chip counts and bagged a commanding lead, with Natalie Hof (37,200,000), Paul Chauderson (31,900,000), David Timmons (31,000,000), and Jorge Juri (29,600,000) rounding out the top five stacks among the survivors.

Four Indians were among the contenders for the bounty prizes, including Nirav Parekh (1,050,000) through Day 1A, Nishant Sharma (520,000) through Day 1B, Aditya Systla (515,000) through Day 1B, and Gokul Krishna (395,000) through Day 1C. However, none of them survived the day’s play.

Nirav Parekh secured his first WSOP cash, finishing 60th for $14,130 (~ ₹11.17 Lakhs). While he might be out of the Million Dollar Bounty, Parekh carried a decent stack of 121,700 on Day 1B of Event #70: $10,000 No-Limit Hold ’em Main Event World Championship.

Nirav Parekh
Nirav Parekh

 

Nishant Sharma finished 89th for $8,360 (~ ₹6.63 Lakhs). This was Sharma’s fourth cash of the series (18th WSOP cash overall), boosting his WSOP earnings to over $300,000. His other three ITM scores of the series came in Event #64: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack (16th for $7,779, ~₹ 6.15 Lakhs), Event #21: $ 1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Monster Stack (142nd for $7,584, ~₹ 5.99 Lakhs) and Event #30: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed (207th for $1,754, ~₹ 1.39 Lakhs).

Nishant Sharma
Nishant Sharma

 

Gokul Krishna placed 217th place for $5,260 (~ ₹4.17 Lakhs), bagging his first WSOP score.

Gokul Krishna
Gokul Krishna

 

Aditya Systla fell in 234th place for $4,560 (~ ₹3.62 Lahs) for his first cash of the series. His best finish at the WSOP came in 2019 when he finished 14th in Event #71: SALUTE TO WARRIORS – $500 No-Limit Hold ’em for $5,819 (~₹4.60 Lakhs).

Aditya Systla
Aditya Systla

 

The day’s biggest story was Matt Glantz (42nd for $20,730) and his Million Dollar score. The high-stakes cash game pro had criticized the bounty event on Twitter, ignorant of what the future had in store for him.

 

Glantz’s road to the million-dollar bounty was set in the stars. He eliminated Justin Lett (538th for $2,780), who had a pair of Jacks that did not hold against Glantz’s pair of Tens. However, Glantz awarded Lett $5,000 for the million-dollar memory.

 

The former options trader commented, “I have my bounty hat on,” on his way to draw his bounty. As he slowly opened his envelope and initially noticed a “1” symbol followed by a comma, when he discovered he’d hit the jackpot, ecstatic Glantz jumped up and down as he yelled, “OH BABY!!!” and “COME ON!”

 

A fortunately ironic Glantz pulled the most sought-after $1,000,000 bounty to score a massive payday, at least a quarter-million dollars more than the $750,120 awaiting the eventual winner.

Soon after, his opinion of the bounty event improved a little as he tweeted, “I get it now…”

 

Glantz also remarked in an interview, “I figured I was going to win because I had two swaps with Shaun Deeb and Paul Volpe; both have 10%, and they’re the luckiest guys in poker; the rich are getting richer.”

Arin Youssefian (203rd for $5,260) found the $500,000 gold chest bounty, whereas Azim Popatia (112th for $6,100) pulled out the $250,000 bounty.

Daniel De Almeida (17,300,000) was another fortunate bounty drawer. He pulled off back-to-back gold chests and picked up $125,000 in bounties in five minutes.

A host of notables fell by the wayside on Day 2, including David “Bakes” Baker (109th for $6,100), Ravid Garbi (114th for $6,100), Mike Takayama (123rd for $6,100), Yuliyan Kolev (129th for $6,100) and former WSOP Main Event champion Ryan Riess (131st for $6,100).

All remaining players are assured at least $25,350 when they return on July 6 at 1 PM in the purple section of Paris Las Vegas.

Top 10 Chips Counts at the End of Day 2

  1. Michael Smith (SK) – 50,300,000
  2. Natalie Hof – 37,200,000
  3. Paul Chauderson – 31,900,000
  4. David Timmons – 31,000,000
  5. Jorge Juri – 29,600,000
  6. Quincy Borland – 27,000,000
  7. Florian Duta – 26,700,000
  8. Charles Combes – 24,300,000
  9. Adam Grandmaison – 20,900,000
  10. Mykhailo Lendel – 20,200,000

 

Event #70: $10,000 No-Limit Hold ’em Main Event World Championship – Day 1C

The third starting flight of Event #70: $10,000 No-Limit Hold ’em Main Event World Championship was another star attraction. Despite the PSA put out by WSOP the day before, Day 1C registered the lowest number of 1,800 entries among the first three starting flights, taking the total player field in the Main Event to 3,580.

After five levels of play, 1,376 players advanced to Day 2ABC. Leading the Day 1C survivors was Ireland’s Patrick Clarke (397,200). Marcus Stein (336,800) and David Eldridge (308,000) were the only other players to bag over 300K on Day 1C.

Among the survivors were five Indians – two of them former bracelet winners. Leading the group was Ankit Ahuja (177,200), followed by Aditya Sushant (154,000), Young Gun Arsh Grover (136,600), Anik Ajmera (113,100), and Abhinav Iyer (56,500).

Ankit Ahuja was only the Indian covered in the day`s live reporting. Towards the end of the day’s play, during Level 5, he brought about the elimination of Lynne Ji. The latter’s [j11] ran into Ahuja’s . The board bricked, sending Ji to the rail. Ahuja ended Day 1C with the 65th biggest stack of 177,200. Even though Ahuja has 21 WSOP cashes to his name, he has finished in the money in the Main Event only once before, an 822nd place finish in 2019 for $18,535.

Ankit Ahuja

 

Former bracelet winner Aditya Sushant was another Indian player who had a productive day and bagged 154,000, putting him 124th in chips. He has scored six times at this year’s series and will be looking to pick up his 40th WSOP score in the Main Event.

Aditya Sushant
Aditya Sushant

 

Arsh Grover was a late arrival at the 2022 WSOP. The New Delhi-based pro opened his scorecard at the series in Event #68: $1,000 Million Dollar Bounty No-Limit Hold’em, where he finished 1,331st for $1,326 (~₹1.05 Lakhs). He carried forward a stack of 136,600 (176th in position).

Arsh Grover
Arsh Grover

 

Anik Ajmera didn’t do too bad either and spun up the 60K starting stack to 113,100, bagging the 303rd biggest stack of the day. Ajmera had opened his WSOP scorecard earlier in the series with a 25th place finish in Event #39: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed for $12,143 (~₹9.45 Lakhs). That was the Bengaluru-based player’s only WSOP cash to date.

Anik Ajmera
Anik Ajmera

 

Abhinav Iyer was another bracelet winner from India carrying a stack to Day 2ABC. The Young Gun was the only one from the team to carry forward a below-starting stack of 56,500 (ranked 897th in chips).

Abhinav Iyer
Abhinav Iyer

 

The Day 1C field was replete with a host of Indo-American players, and several among them crossed the first hurdle. Some of them include:

PlayerChip Counts
Vikenty Shegal 228,000
Rogen Chhabra129,300
Kamal Bittar 126,600
Rahul Desirazu 122,700
Nikhil Gera119,200
Mayank Madan114,900
Nitish Gautam 110,900
Rahul Rastogi110,500
Eshaan Bhalla103,400
Nihal Advani99,200
Rajkumar Ramakrishnan96,000
Nitesh Rawtani82,800
Tarun Gulati77,400
Sreevatsan Balaji67,600
Vinay Patel63,300
Kalyan Chivukula61,500
Amitabh Mehra46,700
Nealkantha Abhyankar38,500
Jaspal Brar26,600
Kyle Arora13,600
Sandeep Pulusani 13,200

 

Another story that grabbed headlines on Day 1C of the Main Event was when Canadian player Arash Shahi approached six-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu to handle over $100. Shahi informed Negreanu that he owed the six-time WSOP bracelet winner a past debt from four years prior. In 2018, the two poker players competed in the same tournament, a $1,500 Limit-Hold’em event at the World Series of Poker.

Daniel Negreanu

 

During that event, Shahi wanted to get a massage at the table but realized he didn’t have any cash. Negreanu paid for the massage, and Shahi had promised to pay him back. Later in the day, Shahi went to the ATM to get $100 to give the Poker Hall of Famer but realized he’d already left. On Tuesday, he told Negreanu the story, gave him a $100 bill, and left him a note that read, “This is going to be lucky.”

Unfortunately for the GGPoker Ambassador, the bill couldn’t help him make the cut for Day 2ABC.

However, other notables like Ayaz Mahmood (220,200), Albert Hoekendijk (206,200), and Timur Margolin (188,500) had a relatively better run as they made it across to Day 2ABC.

Day 1D will begin at 11 AM (PDT) on July 6.

Top 10 Chip Counts at the End of Day 1C

  1. Patrick Clarke – 397,200
  2. Marcus Stein – 336,800
  3. David Eldridge – 308,000
  4. Xuan Liu – 268,200
  5. Eric Salazar – 267,100
  6. Mearl Wisehart – 266,800
  7. Jose Lopez – 263,600
  8. Quentin Roussey – 256,500
  9. Chris Fraser – 256,400
  10. Jordyn Miller – 248,700

 

The 1,376 survivors from Day 1C will join the 1,265 qualifiers from the Day 1A and Day 1B flights, making for a 4,018-player starting field on Day 2ABC. Day 1C chip leader Patrick Clarke (397,200) holds the overall chip lead for Day 2ABC.

Patrick Clarke
Patrick Clarke

 

Top 10 Chip Counts at the Start of Day 2ABC

  1. Patrick Clarke – 397,200
  2. Marcus Stein – 336,800
  3. Patrick Hagenlocher – 332,800
  4. Cedrric Trevino – 317,800
  5. David Eldridge – 308,000
  6. Wenzhi Fei – 300,000
  7. Suhaag Gandikota – 269,700
  8. Xuan Liu – 268,200
  9. Matthias Kribben – 268,100
  10. Chanracy Khun – 267,800

 

Content & Images Courtesy: PokerGO, PokerNews & WSOP

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