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Team India is the Latest IFMP Asian Nations Cup Champion!

November 7 was a landmark day for Indian poker as the team representing the nation at the 2019 International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP) Asian Nations Cup lambasted the competition to become the latest Asian Nations Cup champions!

Comprising of Tanmay Bagga, Rishab Jain, Aditya ‘Bitti’ Agarwal, Prateek Mishra, Krina Gala, and Taran Mundkar and captained by Gaurav Gala, the Indian team was “in it to win it.” From Day 1 and all through to Day 3, the team came out on top every single day! Topping the leaderboard at the end of Day 2 had ensured Team India a seat at the World Championship. The only goal after that was bringing the Asian Cup home – and Team India accomplished that in style!

Despite starting off on the back foot, the team was able to get back into the game and gave it their best shot when it mattered the most. The first session saw Bagga, Agarwal, and Jain playing from the Indian brigade. The session did not go as planned as the team placed third. Strong performances by Team Australia and Taiwan meant that India remained stuck in the third spot in the second session as well. Just before the third session, Agarwal was substituted with Mishra. The team picked up some momentum and moved a spot to second place. The final two sessions were played in the dark, and that’s when Team India brought their A-game to the table. Ultimately, it was a comfortable win for the team that displayed excellent teamwork and strategic planning.

In fact, Prateek Mishra was one of the most significant contributors to India’s ultimate victory and finished in eighth place on the individual rankings with 75,521 chips.

Talking about Team India’s victory at the 2019 Asian Nations Cup, President of the Indian Federation, Varun Goenka, said, ““This is a dream come true, and I’m still struggling to wrap my head around what this incredible team has achieved. All credit goes to the players and captain Gaurav Gala for doing something absolutely monumental for poker in India. They are all superstars – this is a day we will all remember and cherish forever. They have made history and are now fully focused to doing their best and representing India with pride at the Nations Cup Final in Peru next month. I couldn’t be more proud.”

Team India With Varun Goenka
Team India With Varun Goenka

While the top four teams – India, Taiwan, Australia, and Singapore – were competing for the Asian Nations Cup, the bottom five teams – Korea, Israel, Philippines, Hong Kong, and Japan – were fighting to book the final berth on the “Road to Peru.” While Team Israel did put up a tough fight, it was Team Korea who shined through and will be joining the top four teams in Lima for the World Championship next month.

Korea’s Lim Yohwan was awarded the “Player of the Tournament’ title.

 

Team India Champions the 2019 IFMP Asian Nations Cup

The top four teams, namely India, Singapore, Australia, and Taiwan, played five sessions of 60 hands each.

 

Team Standings After 1st session

RankTeamChipsPoints
1Taiwan+46339172.5
2Singapore+21745146
3India+91104142.5
4Australia+23020139

Host nation Team Taiwan was off to a flying start in the first session of play and sky-rocketed to the top of the table. Team Singapore was placed second, and Team India was in the third spot. Team Australia brought up the rear guard in fourth place.

 

Team Standings After 2nd session

RankTeamChipsPoints
1Australia+3215166
2Taiwan+21626151
3India-36029144
4Singapore+11188139

Team Australia sailed through to the top, with Team Taiwan just 15 points behind in second place. Team India was still stuck in third place, while Team Singapore had fallen down two spots to fourth place.

 

Team Standings After 3rd Session

RankTeamChipsPoints
1Australia-3963157.5
2India+19440154.5
3Taiwan+1860148
4Singapore-17337140

The third session of play saw Team Australia juggernaut to the top, with Team India also improving their standing to second place. Team Taiwan fell to the third spot, and Singapore stayed steady in fourth place.

 

Team Standings After 4th session

RankTeamChipsPoints
1India+45889175
2Taiwan+19665151
3Singapore-37363143
4Australia-28191131

Till session three, the scores were visible for all teams and players to see, but from the fourth session onwards, the teams played in the dark, which meant that they were not aware of their progress.

During the fourth session, Team India pulled through and finally whisked away the top seat from Team Australia, pushing the latter down to the fourth place. Team Taiwan jumped up a spot to settle in second place, while Team Singapore bettered its position to third place.

PokerGuru caught up with one of the star performers of the Indian squad – Aditya “Bitti” Agarwal. He gave us a brief recap of how the day went for the team, along with explaining the team strategy.

Aditya 'Bitti' Agarwal
Aditya ‘Bitti’ Agarwal

“We had a “horses for courses’ strategy, so we gave all players a fit role according to their strengths, and they performed it to perfection. The day started on a negative note as we got caught in negative variance of the game, but that didn’t shake things up for us, and slowly and steadily, we picked up pace following our strategy.”

Talking about the crucial moment that propelled Team India to the lead, Agarwal narrated, “The crucial moment was in the fourth session where all the players dominated their entire table in synergy, and we got a huge jump to cover for what we had lost in the first two sessions. The final session, we just had to cruise to take down the Asian Cup.”

 

Final Team Standings

RankTeamChipsPoints
1India-67420763.5
2Taiwan+67885756.5
3Australia+20353750
4Singapore-20818730

Continuing with their trailblazing run, Team India towered over their rivals at the end of the day with 763.5 points. Host nation Taiwan gave India a tough fight, but ultimately ended their day in second place with 756.5 points. Team Australia (750 points) and Team Singapore (730 points) rounded out the last two spots.

It was indeed a magical moment when Team India was announced as the latest Asian Nations Cup winners! The excitement of the team was palpable, and the same was captured beautifully on camera.

Team Korea Books the Final Berth to Peru

The bottom five teams from Day 2 participated in the Plate Final to determine the fifth qualifier for the World Championship.

 

Team Standings in Asian Nations Plate Finals After 50 Hands

RankTeamChipsPoints
1Korea+73149163
2Israel+69285162.5
3Philippines-51814143
4Hong Kong-31624141
5Japan-58996140.5

Team Israel started the day on a strong note. After 50 hands, Israel and Taiwan were head-to-head with half a point separating the two teams. Philippines, Hong Kong, and Japan were the bottom three teams.

 

Team Standings in Asian Nations Plate Finals After 100 Hands

RankTeamChipsPoints
1Israel+178421333
2Korea+136772316
3Philippines-23687295.5
4Japan-98534285.5
5Hong Kong-192972270

Fifty more hands were played, and Team Israel successfully managed to extend their lead. Team Korea and Team Philippines held on to the second and third spots, respectively. Team Japan managed to improve its standing and moved into fourth place, while Team Hong Kong dropped to fifth place.

The details regarding the remaining Asian Nations Plate Finals were unavailable. However, it was Team Korea who came out on top and secured their seat at the upcoming World Championship.

 

Player of the Tournament

Team Korea’s Lim Yohwan was awarded the “Player of the Tournament’ honor. He had dominated the individual rankings for a majority of Day 2. While his rankings for Day 3 have not been made available, he still performed spectacularly to win the coveted award.

India’s Prateek Mishra was one of the best performers from the team and finished eighth in the individual rankings with 75,521 chips.

Prateek Mishra
Prateek Mishra

The Indian contingent, along with Teams Taiwan, Australia, Singapore, and Korea, have a crucial time ahead of them as they prepare for the World Championship next month in Peru.

Content & Images Courtesy: IFMatchPoker/Indian Match Hold ’em ’em Sport Confederation

Team India Leads Day 1 of IFMP Asian Nations Cup; Aditya Agarwal Headlines Individual Rankings

The International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP) Asian Nations Cup commenced on November 5 at the Hotel Le Midi in Taoyuan, Taiwan. Featuring 9 Asian nations, this is the second leg of the IFMP Nations Cup, which comprises of a total of three such stops. A total of 15 teams from all three stops will advance to the World Championship to be hosted in Lima, Peru starting from December 2.

Among the 9 teams featuring in the Asian Nations Cup is our very own Team India. Seven Indian challengers, namely Aditya ‘Bitti’ Agarwal, Krina Gala, Prateek Mishra, Rishab Jain, Tanmay Bagga and Tarun Mundkar, led by Team Captain Gaurav Gala have already started their campaign to bring home the Asian Nations Cup trophy and book their seats in the World Championship.

For those unfamiliar with the concept of Match Poker, the game requires individual members from the team to be seated at separate tables. Each player receives their cards digitally and begins with equal chips. Each table gets dealt identical cards, with teams being awarded points after every hand based on the combined chip counts of their team members. After a pre-determined number of hands have been played, the day’s play is concluded, and the highest-scoring team wins. This is perhaps the most innovative way of “sportifying” the game of poker and magnifying the mind’s sport skill factor while removing variance.

 

Meet Team India

Captain: Gaurav Gala

A renowned name in the domestic circuit, Gaurav Gala burst onto the live poker scene when he took down the ₹15K Bounty at the 2016 DPT August edition for ₹4.95 Lakhs. Over the years, he has established himself as a PLO specialist. Gala has picked up multiple scores in the international circuit that include deep runs in the WPT Barcelona Event #6 – €1,100 PLO (8th for €3,000 – ₹2.34 Lakhs) and The Big Wrap PLO €550 Warmup PLO (42nd for €1,326 – ₹1.03 Lakhs). He most recently final tabled the ₹20K PLO event at the Baazi Poker Tour (BPT) comeback series, where he finished ninth for ₹75,400.

Gaurav Gala
Gaurav Gala

Gala had also captained Team Pune Kings in the third season of the Match Indian Poker League (Match IPL) that took place in October last year. His team comprising of PokerGuru Ambassador Shuchi Chamaria, online pros Rubin Labroo and Akshay Nasa, alongside Tanmay Bagga and Akash Shekhar with Team Manager Amar Katharani, went on to win the trophy along with a jaw-dropping ₹1.35 Crores cash prize.

Gala even went on to lead Team India in the IFMP Nations Cup that took place in Ireland from March 22 this year. The team’s run ended in fifth place, while Team Ukraine walked away as the champions. Olga Iermolcheva from Team Ukraine won the ‘Player of the Tournament’ honor.

 

Aditya ‘Bitti’ Agarwal

Another well-known name, Aditya ‘Bitti’ Agarwal, is considered one of the stalwarts of the Indian poker industry. Owner of the Match IPL team Jaipur Jewels, he had notably won the ‘Player of the Tournament’ award in the inaugural season. Agarwal played a significant role in getting Team India pole position on Day 1 in the Nations Cup yesterday.

Aditya 'Bitti' Agarwal
Aditya ‘Bitti’ Agarwal

 

Rishab Jain

An online phenom, Rishab Jain, is known for his expertise in both cash games and tournaments. He had also represented India in the 2019 PPPoker World Championship (PPWC) Teams Event, along with Pulkit Totla and Kalyan Chakravarthy, earlier this year. He was also part of the Kolkata Creators Team in Season 1 of GPL India.

Rishab Jain
Rishab Jain

 

Tanmay Bagga

Tanmay Bagga was a part of the Match IPL winning team, Pune Kings, from Season 3. He had accompanied Gaurav Gala as part of Team India to Boyne Hill House in Meath near Dublin for the IFMP Nations Cup in March 2019. Bagga was among the standout performers at the event and placed third in the individual player rankings even though Team India took fifth place overall.

Tanmay Bagga
Tanmay Bagga

 

The other three players representing Team India – Krina Gala, Prateek Mishra, and Tarun Mundkar are relatively lesser-known players, with Mishar having gained some recognition through his online exploits.

While the norm for team selection entails that the winning team from Match IPL represents India in the Nations Cup, this has not been the case this time. Following the conclusion of Season 3, no further seasons have been hosted by the Match IPL. Winners of Season 3 represented India in the Nations Cup held in Ireland earlier this year.

There have been many questions raised on the selection process followed by the Federation for chosing Team India members for the Asian Nations Cup. The official response of the Indian Match Hold’em Sport Confederation on the issue, as posted on social media, has been, “The team that wins Match IPL goes on to represent the country at the next international event, which was in March earlier this year and represented by the Pune Kings. A few changes have been made after the federation and captain discussed the team selection to give us the best shot at a much improved performance and hopefully securing qualification to the Nations Cup Finals in Peru.”

Season 4 of Match IPL is scheduled to run from November 13 to 14.

 

Team India Headlines Day 1 of the Asian Nations Cup

A total of 9 teams are participating in the ongoing Asian Nations Cup:

  • India
  • Korea
  • Australia
  • Israel
  • Taiwan
  • Singapore
  • Philippines
  • Hongkong
  • Japan

 

Though not a lot of information was made available regarding the proceedings of Day 1, Team India emerged as the table topper at the end of the day’s play with 287 points. Team Korea (274 points) and Team Australia (262.5 points) rounded out the top three finishers.

Team India’s Aditya ‘Bitti’ Agarwal is presently leading the individual rankings, followed by ‘TINFUTRANJANO’ from Team Philippines and ‘DrRaymondKutFuChow’ from Team Hong Kong.

 

Team Standings At The End of Day 1

RankTeamChipsPoints
1India+22063287
2Korea+14769274
3Australia+50783262.5
4Israel+28789257.5
5Taiwan-27866253.5
6Singapore-35325241.5
7Philippines+29162237.5
8Hongkong-3637232
9Japan-78738204.5

The Asian Nations Cup will continue till November 8, four more sessions of play slated to be held today (November 6) and tomorrow (November 7). The closing ceremony and awards function will take place on November 7 and the teams will depart for the respective homelands by 12 PM on November 8.

Content & Images Courtesy: Indian Match Hold’em Sport Confederation

Edited on 06.11.2019 at 07:30 PM as per information received from IFMP.

Keep following PokerGuru for more updates on the Asian Nations Cup!

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