The virtual felts showed a very different picture yesterday, with the ₹8 Crores GTD Adda52 Tournament of Champions (ATOC) commencing its inaugural run. Running from February 25 – March 8, the ATOC series features 92 events (including 18 trophy events). Nine ATOC events played out on Day 1, headlined by two ₹30 Lakhs GTD trophy events.

The day clearly belonged to the pros, and PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Ahuja emerged as the day`s top winner with almost ₹9 Lakhs in total winnings. His trailblazing run got him an entry into the elite “₹7 Crore-Club.”

Here`s a complete recap of the day`s highlights.

Spartan Poker

The biggest draw on Spartan Poker was the ₹3,850 entry buy-in ₹16 Lakhs GTD Trending Thursday. The 8 PM tourney fared better than its last week’s run as 533 entries (248 unique players, 97 re-entries, and 188 re-entries) ensured a guarantee-smashing ₹18.66 Lakhs prize pool. The tourney played down to a heads-up showdown between Abhishek ‘Quant00’ Reddy Rachur and PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish ‘Spewushhhiiiii’ Ahuja. Eventually, Rachur took down the event for a career-best ₹3.64 Lakhs, improving his recorded MTT scorecard to ₹43.41 Lakhs.

Ahuja collected ₹2.31 Lakhs for his runner-up finish. The Chandigarh-based pro might have missed out on the title but made amends by winning an ATOC Trophy. He championed the ATOC Gladiator for an impressive ₹6.67 Lakhs, banking almost ₹8.98 Lakhs for the day. Not only that, his two deep runs ensured him a formal entry in the exclusive “₹7 Crore Club.” It took him just 13 weeks to win his second Super Achiever badge.

The ₹7 Lakhs GTD Monster Stack had the surgeon-cum-poker player Anuj ‘Anuj16101’ Laddhad outlasting the competition to win his first online title of 2021 for a ₹1.79 Lakhs payday. He now has ₹1.13 Crores in lifetime earnings. Rakesh ‘rakeshguru’ Nizare finished runner-up for ₹1.19 Lakhs.

PokerStars India

PokerStars India’s Thursday flagship, the ₹10 Lakhs GTD Highroller, brought in 143 hopefuls. With each of them ponying up ₹7,700 to enter, the tourney ended up making good on its advertised guarantee. Overcoming the stiff competition was none other than the IOPC Jan 2021 Main Event – The Crown runner-up finisher, Avijit ‘SwangoRay’ Jaiswal, who pocketed ₹2.09 Lakhs for the win. Vinayak ‘koi.toh.rok.lo’ Bajaj finished runner-up for ₹1.57 Lakhs.

Jaiswal’s stats: Lifetime Earnings: ₹2.35 Crores (₹85.17 Lakhs Net Profits), Annual Earnings: ₹37.50 Lakhs (₹25.65 Lakhs Net Profits).

The final 23 players earned a share of the spoils and TLB points for Week #1 of the “Star of the Month” – March leaderboard race.

The ₹3 Lakhs GTD Battle Royale 6-Max was championed by Ryan ‘OTB_X_REDBACON’ Cardoso, who ran past 180 entrants to win ₹45,546. Varun ‘wardev’ Devayya (2nd for ₹37,395), Bharat ‘MojoJojo2193’ Vasan (3^rd for ₹40,199), and ‘zakki_khan’ (4^th for ₹37,613) banked the other top prizes, courtesy of a four-way FT deal.

PokerBaazi

PokerBaazi’s ₹15 Lakhs GTD The Summit recorded 220 entries (129 unique players and 91 re-entries), collecting a hefty ₹16.50 Lakhs prize pool. MTT crusher Sriharsha ‘ivey2’ Doddapaneni was the last player standing and won the Summit for the second time, adding ₹3.88 Lakhs to his burgeoning bankroll. The score pushed the two-time Millionaire champion to the #5 spot on the annual leaderboard standings while getting him past the ₹2 Crore-mark in lifetime earnings. Rahul ‘slowroller’ Melwani came in second for ₹2.72 Lakhs.

The ₹1.5 Lakhs GTD Holdem BOOST 6-Max saw Mohammad ‘chandlerbing’ Azhar outlasting the 187 entry-field to win ₹46,510. Rafiq ‘Mrkhan’ Khan finished runner-up for ₹32,594. Azhar also FT-ed the Summit, placing fourth for ₹1.30 Lakhs, collecting ₹1.76 Lakhs through the day.

Adda52

It was an electrifying Thursday on Adda52 with as many as nine ATOC tourneys (including two trophy events) playing out on the site. Headlining the action were two trophy events, both featuring a ₹30 Lakhs prize pool guarantee.

The more expensive of the two, the ₹15,000 entry buy-in ATOC Gladiator took off at 9.30 PM. By the time the late registrations got over, the tourney had registered 215 entries, falling ₹97,500 short of the advertised guarantee. PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish ‘rocky3705’ Ahuja added an ATOC Trophy to his list of achievements after topping the event for an impressive ₹6.67 Lakhs. He chopped the top prize with Young Gun Kanchan ‘thandicoke’ Sharma (runner-up for ₹6.37 Lakhs).

Ahuja came close to winning a second title yesterday with a runner-up finish in Spartan Poker’s Trending Thursday for ₹2.31 Lakhs.

The ₹30 Lakhs GTD ATOC Thursday Feature got walloped for an overlay deficit of ₹3.90 Lakhs as only 522 entrants signed up to play. Starting at 8 PM, the ₹5,500 entry buy-in tourney went on until 4:50 AM on Friday morning. Young Gun Gaurav ‘gauravarod’ Sood came out on top after defeating another Young Gun Anmol ‘anzzzzz’ Mehta (runner-up for ₹4.20 Lakhs) in heads-up play. Sood added an ATOC Trophy to his cabinet and a fat ₹7.20 Lakhs payday to his ₹7+ Crore lifetime tally.

The top-ranked player of 2020, Sood, posted an eight-place (FT bubble) finish in PokerBaazi’s The Summit for ₹51,810. The Thursday winnings have pushed Sood to #6 in the annual leaderboard rankings with ₹75.40 Lakhs (~₹28 Lakhs Net Profits) in recorded earnings in 2021.

The ATOC Thursday Feature runner-up, Anmol Mehta, FT-ed the ATOC Gladiator as well, placing sixth for ₹1.28 Lakhs. He raked in ₹5.48 Lakhs overall, pushing his lifetime tally to ₹3.57 Crores.

The other Thursday winners were:

ATOC Thursday Feature ₹30 Lakhs GTD – Adda52

Buy-in – ₹5,500

Entries – 261

Re-entries – 261

Prize Pool – ₹30,00,000

Places Paid – 55

One of two ATOC trophy events running on Adda52, the ₹30 Lakhs GTD ATOC Thursday Feature, logged in 522 entries, overlaying a significant ₹3.90 Lakhs.

It was almost 5 AM on Friday morning by the time the final hand got dealt. Racing past the competition was the top-ranked player of 2020, Young Gun Gaurav ‘gauravarod’ Sood, who added ₹7.20 Lakhs to his scorecard. He now sits on a whopping ₹7.44+ Crores in lifetime earnings.

Young Gun Anmol ‘anzzzzz’ Mehta finished runner-up for ₹4.20 Lakhs. He FT-ed the other ATOC trophy event as well, placing sixth in the ATOC Gladiator for ₹1.28 Lakhs. Mehta’s total earnings for the day came in at ₹5.60 Lakhs.

Sanat ‘mehro2511’ Mehrotra (3^rd for ₹2.85 Lakhs), Prashanth ‘ekthatalli’ Sekar (4^th for ₹2.25 Lakhs), and Sumit ‘hammer_head’ Sapra (6^th for ₹1.05 Lakhs) also FT-ed the tourney.

Final Table Results

1. Gaurav ‘gauravarod’ Sood – ₹7,20,000
2. Anmol ‘anzzzzz’ Mehta – ₹4,20,000
3. Sanat ‘mehro2511’ Mehrotra – ₹2,85,000
4. Prashanth ‘ekthatalli’ Sekar – ₹2,25,000
5. uniquepersonality – ₹1,50,000
6. Sumit ‘hammer_head’ Sapra – ₹1,05,000
7. filmyjuwari – ₹75,000
8. rtuteja – ₹60,000

ATOC Gladiator ₹30 Lakhs GTD – Adda52

Buy-in – ₹15,000

Entries – 109

Re-entries – 106

Prize Pool – ₹30,00,000

Places Paid – 24

The other ATOC trophy event, the ₹30 Lakhs GTD ATOC Gladiator, ran from 9:30 PM to 5:04 AM. Sporting a steep ₹15,000 entry buy-in, it did relatively well to register 215 entrants, falling a manageable ₹97,500 short of its listed guarantee.

PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish ‘rocky3705’ Ahuja proved to be the last player standing and won ₹6.67 Lakhs. He had a formidable heads-up opponent in female poker icon, Young Gun Kanchan ‘thandicoke’ Sharma, who cashed ₹6.37 Lakhs – courtesy of a heads-up deal.

Ahuja’s fiery performance last night saw him posting another runner-up finish in Spartan Poker’s Trending Thursday for ₹2.31 Lakhs. The two scores ensured Ahuja his second Super Achiever batch, with the Chandigarh-based pro crossing ₹7 Crores in lifetime earnings.

Kanchan Sharma, who has placed fourth in the Maverick on Wednesday for ₹1.12 Lakhs, banked an equally impressive ₹6.37 Lakhs for her second-place finish, improving her lifetime tally to ₹2.26 Crores.

The stacked FT featured the likes of Sunday’s Full House Finale ₹1 Crore GTD third-place finisher Manish ‘poketacesaa’ Gandhi (4^th for ₹2.58 lakhs), MTT reg Vishnu ‘Violator’ Khandelwal (5^th for ₹1.80 Lakhs), and Young Gun Anmol ‘anzzzzz’ Mehta (6^th for ₹1.27 Lakhs).

Final Table Results

1. Ashish ‘rocky3705’ Ahuja – ₹6,66,596*
2. Kanchan ‘thandicoke’ Sharma – ₹6,36,904*
3. borntrouble – ₹3,60,000
4. Manish ‘poketacesaa’ Gandhi – ₹2,58,000
5. Vishnu ‘Violator’ Khandelwal – ₹1,80,000
6. Anmol ‘anzzzzz’ Mehta – ₹1,27,500

*denotes heads-up deal

Trending Thursday ₹16 Lakhs GTD – Spartan Poker

Buy-in – ₹3,850

Entries – 248

Re-entries – 97

Re-buys – 188

Prize Pool – ₹18,65,500

Places Paid – 47

The featured tourney of the day on Spartan Poker, the ₹16 Lakhs GTD Trending Thursday, registered 538 entries, collecting a guarantee-smashing ₹18.65 Lakhs prize pool.

Abhishek ‘Quant00’ Reddy Rachur shipped the tourney to collect a winner’s paycheque worth ₹3.64 Lakhs. PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish ‘Spewushhhiiiii’ Ahuja booked the runner-up payday worth ₹2.31 Lakhs.

The lawyer-turned-poker pro, Ahuja, crossed yet another career milestone yesterday by entering the prestigious ‘₹7 Crores Club.’ The PokerGuru Staking team member, the #3 ranked player of 2020, has ₹7.01 Crores in recorded online winnings. He is presently ranked #21 on the 2021 standings, with ₹48.27 Lakhs in recorded earnings (₹1.61 Lakhs in profit).

The star-studded final table featured Shravan ‘D.Trump04’ Chhabria (3rd for ₹1.70 Lakhs), Siddhanth ‘PluRibu$’ Kripalani (5th for ₹1.10 Lakhs), and Haider ‘Callmebabe’ Madraswala (7th for ₹61,935).

Final Table Results

1. Abhishek ‘Quant00’ Reddy Rachur – ₹3,63,585
2. Ashish ‘Spewushhhiiiii’ Ahuja – ₹2,30,949
3. Shravan ‘D.Trump04’ Chhabria – ₹1,70,115
4. The Sightseer – ₹1,40,099
5. Siddhanth ‘PluRibu$’ Kripalani – ₹1,10,438
6. Wadaplayah – ₹84,321
7. Haider ‘Callmebabe’ Madraswala – ₹61,935
8. KING77BABA – ₹45,518

The Summit ₹15 Lakhs GTD – PokerBaazi

Buy-in – ₹8,250

Entries – 129

Re-entries – 91

Prize Pool – ₹16,50,000

Places Paid – 27

Like always, Thursday marked the return of PokerBaazi’s The Summit. Putting up a ₹15 Lakhs prize pool guarantee, the tourney brought in 220 hopefuls to collect a guarantee-crushing ₹16.50 Lakhs prize pool.

It took over eight hours of non-stop play before the two-time Millionaire champion, Spartan Poker’s IOPC #97 – Super High Roller winner Sriharsha ‘ivey2’ Doddapaneni, championed the tourney to collect ₹3.88 Lakhs.

Doddapaneni, who pulled off a smashing run at the IOPC January series, currently sits on ₹2.02 Crores in lifetime earnings.

The other notable FT finishers included Game Changer 2.0 champion Shagun ‘sogani22’ Jain (3rd for ₹1.75 Lakhs), Mohammad ‘chandlerbing’ Azhar (4^th for ₹1.30 Lakhs), IOPC-The Crown ME champion PokerGuru Ambassador Laksh ‘boomtlt23’ Pal Singh (5th for ₹97,350), Shashank ‘Iverson003’ Shekhar (6^th for ₹77,880), and Sanket ‘blackcod’ Arora (7^th for ₹64,680).

Final Table Results

1. Sriharsha ‘ivey2’ Doddapaneni – ₹3,88,245
2. Rahul ‘slowroller’ Melwani – ₹2,72,415
3. Shagun ‘sogani22’ Jain – ₹1,75,230
4. Mohammad ‘chandlerbing’ Azhar – ₹1,29,690
5. Laksh ‘boomtlt23’ Pal Singh – ₹97,350
6. Shashank ‘Iverson003’ Shekhar – ₹77,880
7. Sanket ‘blackcod’ Arora – ₹64,680

Highroller ₹10 Lakhs GTD – PokerStars India

Buy-in – ₹7,700

Entries – 89

Re-entries – 54

Prize Pool – ₹10,01,000

Places Paid – 23

PokerStars India’s ₹10 Lakhs GTD Highroller just about managed to surpass its advertised guarantee on the back of 143 entries.

Avijit ‘SwangoRay’ Jaiswal won the tourney for ₹2.08 Lakhs after besting Vinayak ‘koi.toh.rok.lo’ Bajaj (runner-up for ₹1.57 Lakhs) in heads-up play.

A prolific online reg, Jaiswal recently picked up a career-best ₹29.92 Lakhs in Spartan Poker’s ₹3.5 Crores GTD IOPC#117 – The Crown. He currently has ₹2.35 Crores in online earnings.

Vishnu ‘violator2018’ Khandelwal (3rd for ₹1.18 Lakhs), Sreekanth ‘LaganaHiToHai’ Narayan (4th for ₹89,561), Sagar ‘sagarpupull’ Choudhury (5th for ₹67,572), Vaibhav ‘GTO_LIFE_GG’ Sharma (7th for ₹38,464) and Guruprasad ‘fishcalling1’ Gupta (9th for ₹24,688) were among the notables to final table the event.

Final Table Results

1. Avijit ‘SwangoRay’ Jaiswal – ₹2,08,538
2. Vinayak ‘koi.toh.rok.lo’ Bajaj – ₹1,57,336
3. Vishnu ‘violator2018’ Khandelwal – ₹1,18,707
4. Sreekanth ‘LaganaHiToHai’ Narayan – ₹89,561
5. Sagar ‘sagarpupull’ Choudhury – ₹67,572
6. GudThimma – ₹50,981
7. Vaibhav ‘GTO_LIFE_GG’ Sharma – ₹38,464
8. spacecadetIN – ₹29,020
9. Guruprasad ‘fishcalling1’ Gupta – ₹24,688

Monster Stack ₹7 Lakhs GTD – Spartan Poker

Buy-in – ₹2,200

Entries – 234

Re-entries – 70

Re-buys – 143

Prize Pool – ₹8,94,000

Places Paid – 39

Spartan Poker’s ₹7 Lakhs GTD Monster Stack was taken down by up-and-coming player Anuj ‘Anuj16101’ Laddhad for ₹1.79 Lakhs. Rakesh ‘rakeshguru’ Nizare came in second for ₹1.19 Lakhs. Laddhad now has ₹1.13 Crores in lifetime winnings.

The event wrangled in 447 entries, generating a prize pool worth ₹8.94 Lakhs.

Vineet ‘The Mentalist’ Kumar (3rd for ₹87,165), Manas ‘Conclusion1100’ Nayak (4th for ₹70,358), Meet ‘gogobhai’ Jariwala (6th for ₹41,750), and Rubin ‘icantwin’ Labroo (7th for ₹30,664) FT-ed the tourney.

Final Table Results

1. Anuj ‘Anuj16101’ Laddhad – ₹1,79,247
2. Rakesh ‘rakeshguru’ Nizare – ₹1,19,170
3. Vineet ‘The Mentalist’ Kumar – ₹87,165
4. Manas ‘Conclusion1100’ Nayak – ₹70,358
5. Lucky_AnX – ₹55,160
6. Meet ‘gogobhai’ Jariwala – ₹41,750
7. Rubin ‘icantwin’ Labroo – ₹30,664
8. nirmal512 – ₹22,529

This report was updated at 4 PM on 26.2.2021.

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