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Team Chinese Taipei Wins Asian Nations Cup 2023

The International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP) hosted the Asian Nations Cup 2023 from February 24 to 27 at the Match Poker Esports Arena in Hong Kong, with 12 teams competing for a chance to make it to the World Championship in Zurich. Team Chinese Taipei performed exceedingly well in the group stages and fought hard in the final round to emerge as the champions!

The competition was intense, with teams from all over Asia vying for the top spot. However, Team Chinese Taipei outshone the rest, displaying exceptional skill, strategy, and teamwork throughout the three-day-long competition.

 

Led by former Bollywood actor Harman Baweja, Team India brought Abhishek Goindi, Gaurav Gala, Abhishek Jalan, Sanskriti Lohia Jalan, Areyann Gurbaxani and Siddharth Kadel to compete in the Asian Nations Cup 2023.

 

Despite being the defending champions from 2021, Team India’s journey in the tournament was cut short at the group stage.

 

Day 1 Recap

Day 1 of the tournament started with all 12 teams raring to go.

 

After the 1st session of Day 1 was completed, India was placed fifth among six teams in Group 2. China was leading Group 1, while Vietnam headlined Group 2.

 

Halfway through Day 1, India made no headway and remained at #5, while Israel displaced Vietnam as the Group 2 leaders. China retained their lead in Group 1.

 

By the end of Day 1, India had dropped to #6, while Korea emerged as the Group 2 leaders, with Japan and Vietnam ranked #2 and #3, respectively. In Group 1, Chinese Taipei edged past China (#2) to grab the lead. Hong Kong B were placed #3.

 

Day 2 Recap

After 300 hands on Day 2, the top three teams from both groups advanced to the finals. China (#1), Chinese Taipei (#2), and Singapore (#3) qualified from Group 1, while Korea (#1), Vietnam (#2), and Israel (#3) advanced through Group 2.

 

After a tough and viciously contested final round, Team Chinese Taipei emerged as the clear winner and will now participate in the World Championship to be held in Zurich.

 

Team Ukraine Defends IFMP Nation’s Cup World Championship Title, Team India Finishes 4th

The International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP) Nation’s Cup is arguably one of the most action-driven and ‘sportified’ global platforms among all the poker leagues in the sport. With the COVID-19 caused hiatus for live stops, the Nation`s Cup, too, had to be held online to meet the dates that were announced. Using CISCO`s Webex digital platform to conduct the proceedings, the IFMP Nation’s Cup World Championship played out over the weekend on May 30 & 31, with 120 players from 12 countries coming together to battle it out for the prestigious title!

In the end, it was the reigning champions Ukraine who went two for two by defending the title. Ukraine had debuted in the competition last year, where they dethroned reigning champions Ireland to claim the top spot with 1,837 points. Repeating much of that dominating form, the team took an early lead and held on to it to win the title with 1,369 points.

IFMP congratulated the team on their remarkable victory!

There was a sizable virtual rail rooting for Team India. Captained by Gaurav Gala and comprising of eight other team members, namely, Tanmay Bagga, Rishab Jain, Aditya ‘Bitti’ Agarwal, Krina Gala, Zubin Panthaki, Vidur Singhal, Anujkumar Kodam and Kalyan Chakravarthy, Day 1 saw wild swings in the team standings. India was placed fourth at the end of Day 1, a position it retained going into the finals. As it turned out, the team eventually finished in fourth place with 1,270 points.

Team Australia collected 1,320 points for a second-place finish, with Team Lithuania placing third with 1,281.5 points.

IFMP tweeted the official results.

The Indian arm of the IFMP congratulated the Indian team for its commendable performance.

 

IFMP Nation’s Cup

The Nation’s Cup is the marquee event on Match Poker’s annual calendar. Alongside defending champions Team Ukraine, the competition was attended by the European champion`s Spain, Singapore, Australia, Belarus, Lithuania, Ireland, Taiwan, South Korea, Germany, Poland, and Asian champion`s India. In all, there were 120 poker players from 12 counties who participated in the Nation`s Cup.

IFMP had confirmed on April 17 that the competition would be moved online to a digital platform due to the COVID-19 health pandemic. Test sessions were conducted with every team to ensure that things go smoothly during the tournament.

 

Team India’s Performance

Team India created history last year in November when it won the IFMP Asian Nation’s Cup for the first time. The winning team comprised of Tanmay Bagga, Rishab Jain, Aditya ‘Bitti’ Agarwal, Prateek Mishra, Krina Gala, and Taran Mundkar and was captained by Gaurav Gala.

The team’s composition was changed for the finale, and while ‘Bitti’ was making an appearance in the contest for the third time, Mishra and Mundkar were replaced by Zubin Panthaki, Vidur Singhal, Anujkumar Kodam and Kalyan Chakravarthy, making for a total of nine players who represented the country in the Nation`s Cup.

 

Day 1

Day 1 began at 1.30 pm (IST) on May 30. The 12 teams played a total of four sessions, each session consisting of 50 hands.

While Team Taiwan closed out Session 1 on the top, by the end of Session 2, Ukraine had catapulted to the top, with Singapore and Australia in hot pursuit.

Team India was in sixth place after Session 1 but pushed back to the ninth spot after Session 2. The team rallied up to fourth place by the end of Session 3, a position it maintained through Session 4.

With Day 1 in the books, it was Team Ukraine in the lead with 1,412.5 points, followed by Singapore (1,386.5 points), Australia (1,349 points), and India (1,337points).

IFMP tweeted the end of Day 1 results.

 

Day 2

The teams played two more sessions of 50 hands each, completing a total of 300 hands before the draw for the finals took place.

At the end of Session 1 on Day 2, Team Ukraine had maintained its lead with 1,736.5 points, but Australia (1,709 points) had improved to push Singapore to the third position. India (1,659.5 points) stayed put in fourth place.

Team Singapore recovered fast and closed out Session 2 on the top with 2,074 points, with Ukraine, Australia, and India all close behind each other.

With 300 hands completed, the top six teams made it to the IFMP Nation’s Cup finals!

 

The Finals

The finals comprised of two sessions of 75 hands each.

Leading the final six teams into the final session of the IFMP Nation’s Cup was Team Singapore (1,037 points), followed by the teams from Ukraine and Australia. India managed to make it to the finals with 1,005 points, while Taiwan and Lithuania were the last two on the points tally.

PositionCountryPoints
1Singapore1037
2Ukraine1029
3Australia1022.5
4India1005
5Taiwan977.75
6Lithuania974.5

Denying Australia the win, Team Ukraine once again took on the winner’s mantel with a staggering 1,369 points. It also remained a reasonable distance ahead of Team Australia that finished second with 1,320 points, and Team Lithuania (1,281.5 points) that took third place. Team India led by Gala finished in fourth place with 1,270 points.

PositionCountryPoints
1Ukraine1369
2Australia1320
3Lithuania1281.5
4India1270
5Taiwan1268.25

Incidentally, this is the third time Team India has participated in the IFMP Nation’s Cup. The first Indian team to represent the country at this contest was in 2017, where the Harman Baweja-led Mumbai All Stars finished fifth at the competition. Team India led by Gala finished had finished fifth at last year in this contest.

IFMP Nations Cup Final Moved Online (May 30 – 31)

The International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP) via a press release shared with us today confirmed that its scheduled Nations Cup Final will be moving ahead as planned but will be held online because of the COVID- 19 crisis.

The Nations Cup will be hosted on May 30 and 31, with 14 competing nations taking part in the competition through IFMP’s digital host platform. The participating teams include defending World Champions Ukraine, European Champions Spain, Asian Champions India, along with Taiwan, Australia, Singapore, Korea, Ireland, Poland, Germany, Belarus, Lithuania. Joining this list will be a Digital Nation and a pick by IFMP President Patrick Nally.

Players will be able to access the gameplay software on their mobile phones or tablets.

The COVID-19 global crisis has affected 210 countries worldwide, with at least 2,184,566 confirmed positive cases so far and a death toll touching 146,897. The pandemic has brought all live poker operations to a standstill, forcing poker brands to either cancel or postpone their scheduled live stops.

Following in the footsteps of other global brands like the WSOP, WPT, and Irish Poker Open, IFMP has also opted for the digital route.

Moving the Nations Cup online should be relatively easy for the IFMP to pull off considering how even the live matches are held on smart devices. As for the other elements that make the competition a team sport, the IFMP digital platform will allow players to see and communicate with their table competitors during the session, clarified the press release. The platform will also allow players to interact with teammates and the captain to strategize during the breaks.

For production purposes, all players will be shooting personal video introductions. Since players from around the world will be competing in the event at once, some countries will be playing the sessions in the mornings and some at night.

The current season of the Nations Cup had kicked off with Europe’s Nations Cup in Ukraine, where Spain was crowned the champion. The Asian Nations Cup was hosted in Taiwan, where 5 nations had qualified and Team India, captained by Gaurav Gala and consisting of, Aditya ‘Bitti’ Agarwal, Tanmay Bagga, Rishab Jain, Prateek Mishra, Krina Gala, and Taran Mundkar won the cup. The upcoming Nations Cup will crown the World Match Poker Champion for 2020.

Team India after Winning Asian Nations Cup
Team India after winning the Asian Nations Cup

 

Nally’s official statement in the press release read, “All International Sports Federations are facing enormous challenges due to the pandemic but we are fortunate that, with our gameplay software, we are able to play a ‘live’ event but in individual home locations. Match Poker is a sport based entirely on skill and it’s the combination of a team’s effort that will ultimately produce the winner.”

“The social relationships developed through the hosting of our Match Poker events are important to us and we are looking forward to getting back to live events as soon as practical, but we will continue to support our international competition schedule in this manner until such times as our’ sporting family’ can be reunited” he added.

This Week in Poker: August 24 – 30

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

Live action shifted from the European Poker Tour (EPT) 13, Barcelona in the north-western part of the globe to the far-east with the Macau Poker Cup (MPC) 25, which began on August 26. In the interim Indian players were busy making hay at the Deltin Poker Tournament (DPT) in Goa, with Vikas Singh emerging the champion of the 30K Main Event for INR 17.60 Lakhs and Rohit Tiwari taking down the 60K Highroller for INR 27.70 Lakhs, besides several other winners at side events.

The EPT 13, Barcelona completed its featured events with Sebastian Malec winning the Main Event for €1,122,800 and Connor Drinan taking down the High Roller for €849,200. Among Indians, Muskan Sethi and YS Jas made multiple cashes at side events, with Arsh Grover min-cashing the Main Event.

Online action was dull this past week and our “PokerGuru Star of the Week” is none other than Aditya ‘Adi Agarwal’ Agarwal who made over $3,000 on PokerStars this past week.

The pace is however all set to escalate with the WCOOP 2016 staring from September 4, which will also mark the start of the thrilling new “The Millionaire” tournament on the first Sunday every month at Spartan Poker. Players can log on now to catch the excitement with these events, which have a INR 10 lakhs guaranteed for the winner!

Not to forget the whopping packages at Spartan Poker’s APT Satellites that will reward winners with an all expenses package to APT Philippines III, worth INR 2 lakhs, and yes this satellite will also run on September 4, so highlight the date on your calendars. And, there will also be the ‘Bang’ series running all through the week at FTR Poker.

In other weekly updates, we have the latest from Goa, where the casino issue continues to be a bone of contention among political parties.

International reports include business news about the Asian Poker Tour (APT) sponsoring the All Japan Poker Championship (AJPC) at its 10th edition and its return to Macau with a first-ever cruise poker tournament, PokerStars categorizing its live events under two brand identities and this leading to the Aussie Millions reverting to its standalone status.

In this edition of our weekly report we also have news about the online poker bill in California, an online license for PokerStars in Romania, the release of the 2016 WSOP – ESPN telecast schedule and a bid by Caesars for a new casino in Canada.

Finally, we have tournament reports from the World Poker Tour (WPT) National Montreal and the RunGood Poker Series Horseshoe Council Bluffs Main Event, besides our weekly Global Poker Index (GPI) update.

Online Railbird Report

It promises to be a gigantic Sunday on September 4 for online enthusiasts, with three huge events lined up. These include the WCOOP 2016 and its latest companion series, the Mini-WCOOP. Then there will be the new Spartan Poker promo, ‘The Millionaire” and Sunday will also see the second of the APT Philippines III satellites.

Our “PokerGuru Star of the Week” is Aditya ‘Adi Agarwal’ Agarwal who collects it for the eighth time this year. This week, Aditya won the PokerStars ‘$109 NLHE [Turbo], $4K GTD’ for $1,933.48. He added another $1,194.28 from a sixth place finish in the PokerStars ‘$215 NLHE [Turbo], $10K GTD’.

Aditya Agarwal

Aditya Agarwal

Other notable scores include:

‘jamnation1’ won $2,325.60 for winning the PokerStars ‘Bounty Builder $16.50, $25K GTD’.

Vinay ‘vinaycdy’ Choudhry who collected $1,063.78 for a third place in the PokerStars ‘Big $22, $8K GTD’.

Rubin ‘poopalert123’ Labroo banked $1,021.33 from a sixth place finish in the PokerStars ‘Bounty Builder $44, $40K GTD’.


2016 WCOOP / Mini-WCOOP

The WCOOP 2016 will run for 23 days till September 26 with a whopping $50 Million in tournament guarantees across 80 events. The highlights will be the $10,000,000 guaranteed Main Event, where the champion will net $1.5M, as well as the Super High Roller with a $102K buy-in.

A smaller companion series – the Mini-WCOOP will accompany the WCOOP this year, with similar events, but with far smaller buy-ins allowing recreational players to enjoy the same experience.

Read the complete details here.

Spartan Poker Promotions

The coming Sunday will sound off the starting gun for the hot new tourny, The Millionaire at Spartan Poker. This particular event will run on the first Sunday of every month and has a huge guaranteed INR 10 lakhs for the champion.

Read the complete details here.

The first of the APT Philippines III satellites was won by Rakesh Kalla and you could be the next big winner! Just catch the next mega-satellite on Sunday, September 4 and wing your way into the APT Philippines III with all expenses paid.*

Read the complete details here.

Spartan Poker continues to empower the underprivileged through its charity tournaments and the latest saw the site donate INR 2.63 Lakhs to Vasundhara Foundation For Art, which works in providing support to families of Indian Defense personnel.

Read the complete details here.

‘Bang’ Series On FTR Poker

A new series, Bang will be running every night at 9.30pm on FTR Poker with a range of buy-ins and formats to suit all players. Satellites are already on several times daily to the series.

Deltin Poker Tournament

The second edition of the DPT presented by Adda52.com concluded successfully with large player-crowds thronging all events. The series saw Vikas Singh winning the 30K Main Event for INR 17,60,000, after defeating a field of 235 entries.

Vikas Singh

Read the complete story here.

Tarun Goyal took down the Kickoff event for INR 6.35 lakhs and was inducted into the Adda52 Pro Team.

Tarun Goyal

Read the complete story here.

At the 60K Highroller, amidst the 171 entries, it was Rohit Tiwari who won the event for INR 27.70 Lakhs and Gaurav Gala won the final 15K Bounty event.

Rohit Tiwari

Read the complete story here.

Goa Casino Issues

With the 2017 elections looming, parties in Goa have increased the hue and cry over the casino issue, in order to win votes. The latest salvo came from the Congress, which made a statement that they were not against casinos operating, but their presence in the River Mandovi.

Read the complete story here.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that has newly entered Goa also took on the BJP’s challenge for a face-to-face debate and accused the government of encouraging casino culture.

Read the complete story here.

EPT 13 Barcelona

The EPT 13 Barcelona is now done with its featured events and taking the most prestigious trophy at the series was Sebastian Malec who won the €5,300 Main Event for €1,122,800 on a €27 qualifier.

Sebastian Malec

An Indian-origin player, Harcharan Dogra from Spain final tabled at seventh place for €230,950. Arsh Grover cashed the event for €5,630 at 354th place.

Harcharan Dogra after exiting the Main Event

Read the complete story here.

Connor Drinan was the champion of the €10,000 High Roller for €849,200, defeating an entry-field of 591.

Connor Drinan

Read the complete story here.

Early on, Indian-origin pro Pratyush Buddiga won the €25K Single Day High Roller for €690,275 and Stefan “mindgamer” Jedlicka claimed the Estrellas Barcelona €2,200 High Roller title for €251,500.

Read the complete story here.

Mahmood Rasheed was the champion of the €400 PokerStars Cup for €174,000.

Muskan Sethi cashed in two side events. She first made 68th place for €960 in the €500 NL Turbo event and another 80th place in the €300 NL Hyper Turbo for €340. YS Jas also cashed for €5,890 in the €5k NL Hyper Turbo making a deep run at 18th place.

Muskan Sethi

Muskan Sethi

APT to Sponsor AJPC

The APT will be sponsoring the 10th edition of the AJPC and will have 15 prizes going towards the APT Philippines Golden Week 2017. The series is scheduled to run from April 26 to May 7, 2017 in the Philippines.

Read the complete story here.

APT Returns To Macau After 3 Years, First-Ever Cruise Poker Event

The APT announced its return to Macau after three years with the APT Macau 2016 that will run from Oct 19 to 25. This event will follow the APT Poker Cruise 2016, a tournament to be held aboard a luxurious liner in Kowloon Bay with four events from September 29 to October 2, 2016.

Read the complete story here.

PokerStars Announces Major Changes in the Branding of Live Tournaments – Introduces PokerStars Championship and PokerStars Festival

During the EPT, PokerStars announced that henceforth all its live tournaments would be categorized into two main Brands – PokerStars Championship & PokerStars Festival. The first would be a more for professionals with serious and higher buy-in games. The second is slated to be a lighter version with lower buy-ins catering more to recreational players.

Read the complete story here.

Aussie Millions to Become Standalone Tour

In lieu of PokerStars decision as stated above, the Aussie Million now reverts to its standalone status. The series from down under had been patronized by PokerStars since 2014, but will now unfold early next year as a singular series.

Read the complete story here.

California Online Poker Bill Shelved Until 2017

A last ditch attempt to get the pending online poker bill in California approved failed and the bill has now been shelved till next year. The obstacles in the way of the bill was primarily the lack of consensus between stakeholders over the ‘bad actor’ terms, with the Assembly session expiring on August 31.

Read the complete story here.

PokerStars & Others Receive Online Gambling License in Romania

Romania had been in the process for launching a regulated online gambling market and finally granted a license to PokerStars, BetStars and SportingBet to operate within its jurisdiction. The sites will have to ensure all compliances are met with new customized software for the country.

Read the complete story here.

2016 Fall Television Schedule Released By ESPN and WSOP

ESPN and WSOP have released the television schedule for its 2016 highlights. The chief focus will be on the Main Event and the final table in October end. Pros Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak will be guest commentators this edition, along with the regular team of hosts.

Read the complete story here.

Caesars in Race For New Canadian Casino

The Canadian government has opened bidding for a casino construction in Toronto, touted to be the biggest of its kind yet. It was reported that Caesars Interactive had bid for the casino, with the results to be announced next year.

Read the complete story here.

Nathan Hall Wins WPT National Montreal (PPC WCC)

The WPT National Montreal Playground Poker Club’s World Cup of Cards (PPC WCC) was taken down by Nathan Hall for CAD $70,974, after he waded through an entry-field of 817 entries.

Nathan Hall

Nathan Hall

Read the complete story here.

RunGood Poker Series Horseshoe Council Bluffs Won By Mike Sortino

Mike Sortino emerged the winner at the RunGood Poker Series Horseshoe Council Bluffs Main Event for a sum of $40,320, after he eliminated Russell Licking in second place for $25,200.

Mike Sortino

Mike Sortino

Read the complete story here.

PokerGuru GPI Update – Fedor Holz Continues to Dominate, Nick Petrangelo Now No 2

The GPI rankings saw some upheaval, with the EPT 13 Barcelona, but Fedor Holz continued to maintain his lead on top of the leaderboard, thanks to his win at the Super High Roller (SHR) for €1,300,300. Nick Petrangelo displaced Jason Mercier from No. 2 position due to his win at the opening EPT 13 Barcelona €10,300 Single Re-entry event for €413,000.

Read the complete story here.

That ends this edition of our weekly report, but do make sure to log on same time next week, as we bring you all the updates from the domestic and international circuit.

Related Articles:

1. DPT Aug, 2016: Vikas Singh Takes Down 30K Main Event For INR 17.60 Lakhs

2. DPT Aug, 2016: Double Celebrations For Tarun Goyal Who Wins 10K Kickoff For INR 6.35 Lakhs & Signs Sponsorship Deal With Adda52, Rohit Tiwari Ships 60K Highroller

3. EPT 13 Barcelona: Sebastian Malec Converts €27 Qualifier Seat Into Main Event Victory Worth €1.12 Million, Connor Drinan Wins €10,000 High Roller For €849,200

Online Rankings

i Top Ranked Poker Players in India
Member Won
Member Won
Member Won
₹1,29,29,197
₹1,25,88,313
₹1,21,00,140
₹1,20,22,333
5.Vinay B Vinay B
₹1,15,16,843
6.M L M L
₹1,14,45,592
₹1,09,13,473
₹1,05,83,948
₹99,75,577
₹99,60,672
Member Profit
Member Profit
Member Profit
₹55,77,649
₹50,59,154
₹47,48,174
₹46,35,740
₹44,93,503
₹43,56,316
₹43,24,686
₹42,41,254
₹41,92,614
₹41,05,805
Member Points
Member Points
Member Points
43,040
36,048
28,827
4.N K N K
28,769
26,548
25,649
24,726
24,446
9.M L M L
23,604
23,352

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