Recap provided by PokerGuru.in.
Adda52
The much-awaited World Poker Tour (WPT) Online India made a smashing opening on Adda52 yesterday with a whopping 3,546 entries coming in across nine side events – all of them boisterously striding past their listed guarantee.
Headlining the day’s action were two ₹30 Lakhs GTD tourneys. The first of them, the WPT Kickoff, began at 8 PM. The ₹5,500 entry buy-in event dragged in 686 contenders (350 unique and 336 re-entries) to collect a guarantee-smashing ₹38.38 Lakhs. Racing past the sea of talented competitors were former Millionaire champions Ayush ‘lazyman’ Garg and Alok ‘apb1989’ Birewar, who crossed swords in the heads-up showdown. By the time the dust settled at 5 AM, Garg had won himself his first-ever WPT Online title and his third-best score of the year worth ₹8.57 Lakhs.
Garg, who had placed runner-up in The Ballers last Friday for ₹3.43 Lakhs, now has ₹3.18 Crores in online winnings to his name.
Runner-up Birewar pocketed a ₹4.97 Lakhs paycheque to improve his online scorecard to ₹2.17 Crores, even as Abhimanyu ‘Pirateboob’ Rao (3rd for ₹3.36 Lakhs) rounded out the podium finishers.
The list of other FT scorers includes Vishnu ‘violator’ Khandelwal (4th for ₹2.40 Lakhs), Mohit ‘monuguru’ Gupta (5th for ₹1.71 Lakhs), Siddarth ‘badtameez_donk’ Singhvi (6th for ₹1.20 Lakhs), Kamal ‘ksn123’ Naruka (7th for ₹94,325) and Ashumi ‘Ashumi’ Parekh (8th for ₹68,600).
The other big attraction was the WPT Big Game that, like the Kickoff, put up a ₹30 Lakhs prize pool guarantee but at a steeper entry buy-in of ₹15,000. Starting at 9.30 PM, the tourney disbursed ₹45.43 Lakhs in prize money to the top 35 places from a starting field of 280 entries. It took almost eight hours for the tourney to play down to a winner, with seasoned MTT pro Raghav ‘balugawhale’ Bansal powering his way through the reg-laden field to bank the single-biggest score of the day!
Raghav Bansal
The MTT specialist who sits with over ₹3.06 Crores in recorded earnings was in unbeatable form, as he cranked out a near seven-figure score of ₹9.67 Lakhs after outlasting PokerGuru Ambassador Mithun ‘Themiths’ Mahesh in the heads-up finale.
As for Mahesh, this was his second near-miss on consecutive days. On Wednesday, he placed runner-up in PokerBaazi’s ₹10 Lakhs GTD The Pride for ₹1.65 Lakhs. Nonetheless, a runner-up score at the WPT Big Game saw him add a hefty ₹5.76 Lakhs to his bankroll.
PokerGuru Ambassador Laksh Pal ‘BoomTilt23’ Singh was another member of the PokerGuru Staking team to make a deep run, finishing third for ₹4.34 Lakhs. Guneet ‘guntz’ Kwatra (4th for ₹3.21 Lakhs), Pranay ‘setmeup’ Chawla (5th for ₹2.17 Lakhs), and Bharat ‘rungooserun’ Vasan (6th for ₹1.51 Lakhs) also posted FT scores in the WPT Big Game.
Earlier in the day, the ₹5 Lakhs WPT Classic saw ‘noelpais’ top the 393-strong field for ₹1.12 Lakhs after a heads-up deal with ‘BenjaminSisko’ (runner-up for ₹1 Lakhs).
There are nine WPT Online India tourneys on the tap today, with the ₹30 Lakhs GTD WPT India Mini Highroller and the ₹15 Lakhs GTD WPT India PLO Championship being the day`s headliners!
WPT Big Game ₹30 Lakhs GTD – Adda52
Buy-in – ₹15,000
Entries – 155
Re-entries – 125
Prize Pool – ₹45,43,560
Places Paid – 35
One of the two headline tourneys on the opening day of the WPT Online India series, the ₹30 Lakhs GTD WPT Big Game, ran from 9:30 PM to 5:20 AM. Sporting a steep ₹15,000 entry buy-in, the tourney did well to wrangle in 280 entries that helped generate a whopping ₹45.43 Lakhs prize pool.
Seasoned MTT pro Raghav ‘balugawhale’ Bansal proved once again why he is considered one of the best in the business by taking down the WPT Big Game for ₹9.67 Lakhs. He had a formidable heads-up opponent in PokerGuru Ambassador Mithun ‘Themiths’ Mahesh, but ultimately bested the latter to clinch his first-ever WPT Online title!
Bansal currently sits on ₹3 Crores in recorded online earnings, of which ₹2.37 Crores he has accumulated in 2020.
Mahesh banked ₹5.76 Lakhs for his second-place finish, improving his online scorecard to ₹1.40 Crores. Mahesh’s stablemate, PokerGuru Ambassador Laksh Pal ‘BoomTilt23’ Singh, finished third for ₹4.34 Lakhs.
Guneet ‘guntz’ Kwatra (4th for ₹3.21 Lakhs), Pranay ‘setmeup’ Chawla (5th for ₹2.17 Lakhs), and Bharat ‘rungooserun’ Vasan (6th for ₹1.51 Lakhs) were the other notables who FT-ed the tourney!
Final Table Results
- Raghav ‘balugawhale’ Bansal – ₹9,67,680
- Mithun ‘Themiths’ Mahesh – ₹5,67,450
- Laksh Pal ‘BoomTilt23’ Singh – ₹4,34,700
- Guneet ‘guntz’ Kwatra – ₹3,21,300
- Pranay ‘setmeup’ Chawla – ₹2,17,350
- Bharat ‘rungooserun’ Vasan – ₹1,51,200
WPT Kickoff ₹30 Lakhs GTD – Adda52
Buy-in – ₹5,500
Entries – 350
Re-entries – 336
Prize Pool – ₹38,38,170
Places Paid – 83
What can best be described as the first flagship tourney at the inaugural WPT Online India series, the ₹30 Lakhs GTD WPT Kickoff, commenced at 8 PM on Thursday night. The ₹5,500 entry buy-in event logged in 686 entries by the time late registrations were closed, collecting a guarantee-smashing ₹38.38 Lakhs.
It was 5:04 AM on Friday morning by the time the final hand got dealt, and the familiar Ayush ‘lazyman’ Garg was the last player standing in the tourney. Garg has been hitting those massive scores with impressive consistency over the past few months and even won his Millionaire title in Spartan Poker’s ₹1 Crore GTD The Millionaire on August 30 for ₹12.60 Lakhs. Adding to his tally of achievements, Garg took down the WPT Kickoff after beating former WPT India champion Alok ‘APB1989’ Birewar in the heads-up finale. Garg is now ₹8.57 Lakhs richer, improving his MTT record to ₹3.27 Crores.
Birewar, who fell just one place shy of winning his career-second WPT title, secured ₹4.97 Lakhs for his runner-up finish. He now has a lifetime online tally of ₹2.17 Crores.
The final table featured many known names of the domestic circuit, including the likes of Abhimanyu ‘Pirateboob’ Rao (3rd for ₹3.36 Lakhs), Vishnu ‘violator’ Khandelwal (4th for ₹2.40 Lakhs), Mohit ‘monuguru’ Gupta (5th for ₹1.71 Lakhs), Siddarth ‘badtameez_donk’ Singhvi (6th for ₹1.20 Lakhs), Kamal ‘ksn123’ Naruka (7th for ₹94,325) and Ashumi ‘Ashumi’ Parekh (8th for ₹68,600).
Final Table Results
- Ayush ‘lazyman’ Garg – ₹8,57,500
- Alok ‘APB1989’ Birewar – ₹4,97,350
- Abhimanyu ‘Pirateboob’ Rao – ₹3,36,140
- Vishnu ‘violator’ Khandelwal – ₹2,40,100
- Mohit ‘monuguru’ Gupta – ₹1,71,500
- Siddarth ‘badtameez_donk’ Singhvi – ₹1,20,050
- Kamal ‘ksn123’ Naruka – ₹94,325
- Ashumi ‘Ashumi’ Parekh – ₹68,600