Spartan Poker Qualifiers Make Big Bucks at IPC August Edition

Spartan Poker
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  • PG News August 24, 2015
  • 4 Minutes Read

Confidence and skill alone are not enough to make it to big-ticket events. A hefty bankroll is vital to pay for those wallet-pinching buy-ins. And this is where many players, especially young and aspiring ones are often held back.

The answer to this, of course are Satellites! The all-time greatest example of this is none other than Chris Moneymaker, who qualified for the WSOP Main Event on a $39 satellite and went on to turn it around into a $2.5 Million payday.

Closer home and in recent times, satellites at SpartanPoker.com have seen qualifiers enjoy resounding success at the immensely popular IPC series.

Ever since its return this January, the IPC has grown in stature and success, but the August edition overtook all previous ones, in numbers, of both, players and payouts.

Title sponsors – Spartan Poker hosted a two-month long satellite series and for the first time ever in the country, 46 qualifiers won seats to the Aug IPC edition worth a whopping ₹15.29 Lakhs!

What’s more, amongst the array of winners, both new and old, Spartan qualifiers made an impact at the series, returning with bursting wallets, after accessing an opportunity to play with India’s best in Goa!

Rajeev Kanjani, Anudeep Srinivas, Prabhakar Che, Rishabh Chawla, Maria Kirloskar, Kartik Ved and Mayank Jaggi are names that stand out for having made the most of the online qualifiers on Spartan Poker to reach the IPC August Edition and convert it into a successful payday.

Of these, Anudeep Srinivas claimed the best mileage in terms of glory, when he too rode in on a Spartan qualifier, to take down the final event of the series – 8K Greed for ₹3.85 lakhs.

Anudeep Srinivas after his win at IPC August Edition
Anudeep Srinivas after his win at IPC August Edition

The biggest star of the IPC Aug weekend, however, was none other than IPC Co-Director Rajeev Kanjani. Mumbai-based serial entrepreneur Kanjani is a man who dons multiple hats. He not only runs a successful HR Consultancy firm, specializing in overseas recruitment to the Middle-East, but also has interests in the Deltin Royale Poker Room, IPC and Gutshot Magazine, besides being a part of Spartan Poker.

Besides this full portfolio, Kanjani also juggles a poker-playing career with equal ease. And at IPC August edition, Kanjani proved that luck does favor the brave, as he converted an investment of ₹8,000 on the Spartan satellites, into seats worth ₹90,000, eventually making a windfall ₹14.67 Lakhs in Goa.

Rajeev Kanjani
Rajeev Kanjani

Kanjani final tabled the two biggest events at the series. He first made a 4th place finish in the first-ever 60K Highroller for ₹6.77 Lakhs. He followed this up with an even better 3rd place finish in the Main Event for ₹7.90 Lakhs! In all, Kanjani made a smashing return of ₹14.67 Lakhs on his investment of just ₹8,000 on Spartan Poker.

Kanjani was ecstatic as he told PokerGuru, “It was SWEET. I would have played both the events in any case but spending only 8k to enter tourneys worth 90K and winning over 14L is UNREAL. Spartan Poker offered satellites everyday for 2 months, which is huge boost for players, who want to strike it big for a small amount and of course playing in the IPC is the only place every Indian Poker players thinks to shine. Finally, I am eagerly waiting for the satellites to start for the IPC October edition and am sure that Spartan won’t disappoint.”

Prabhakar Che was another player, who made it to Goa this Aug through the Spartan satellites and he attributes these for helping him concentrate more on his game. The Bengaluru player converted ₹4,000 into seats worth ₹55,000 that got him ₹1,03,000 in IPC cashes.

Prabhakar Che
Prabhakar Che

Prabhakar’s first payday came in the 10K Weekend Kickoff, where he made a 30th place finish for ₹15,000. He then made another deep run in the Main Event, missing the final table by whiskers, finishing 11th for ₹88,000.

“First of all I need to thank Spartan, PokerGuru and IPC crew for the online satellites. It really helped me play all the events at IPC Aug event,” Prabhakar said.

“Playing satties for the big event of IPC in home comfort is the main advantage because in live satellites, you are more likely to come across pressure and tough decisions. But online you can think peacefully while making decisions and the satellite buy-in`s were also reasonable, with ₹1100 for the 30K Main Event. I think this made the satellites so popular attracting more players,” he added.

Prabhakar went on to emphasize the importance of the satellites, stating that, “With the pressure of the tournament buy-ins reduced, my confidence to play the events was definitely high. Actually I spent only around ₹4,000 to win seats worth ₹55,000 for IPC August. The deep runs in the 10K and 30K Main Event were the icing on the cake J

And about Suggestion, in coming satellites you can include to and fro flight tickets worth ₹ in the full package satellite…” he cheekily concluded.

The differences that these satellites made were also experienced by Rishabh Chawla, a well-known name in the Indian poker circuit. Originally from Delhi, Chawla has been highly active in the Bengaluru pocker circuit recently and is one of those, who won buy ins to the entire IPC series on Spartan Poker. He min-cashed the Highroller event at 15th place for a tidy sum of ₹1 Lakh.

Rishabh Chawla
Rishabh Chawla

Chawla had an interesting comparison to make, when he stated that the Spartan qualifiers were the Indian counterpart to the popular PokerStars Spin n Gos, where even a small investment could develop into a huge jackpot. He also was all praises for the excellent structure of the IPC Aug events.

Chawla said that, “It’s always nice to put some distance between your buy in and cash out – thanks to Spartan for helping with the buy in, and to the IPC for helping with the cash out with a great high roller structure that afforded opportunities to play some non-showdown poker. In a parallel world, the IPC satellites are Spartan’s own version of the Spin And Go!”

Women were not far behind this time and it was wonderful to see Maria Kirloskar in the usually male-dominated arena, making ₹44,000 for a 11th place finish in the 10K Weekend Kickoff event.

Maria Kirloskar
Maria Kirloskar

The ever smiling Kirloskar makes for an excellent ambassador of this sport, as she happily recalled, “I was thrilled to win an IPC 10k Satellite seat on Spartan Poker and then to cash 11th place in that tournament in Goa was the icing on the cake! Thanks Spartan Poker and fantastic job to the IPC folks! Look forward to playing more poker online and live!”

Kartik Ved, an upcoming talent too, vouched for his experience at the IPC Aug and the importance of the Spartan satellites that got him to Goa. Though Ved made a modest ₹9,000 for a 20th place in the opening 5K Warm-Up event, his will be a name to watch out for in the coming days.

Kartik spoke about the experience and said, “If it wasn’t for Spartan satellites, making it for all IPC events would have been tough, I even got a chance to take a shot at the High Roller. Cashing the 5k felt good as I had already won the satty for it and was hoping to FT (final table) it. Spartan has the best user interface compared to any other Indian platform without a doubt.”

The satellites also netted player Mayank Jaggi ₹65,000 for a 13th place finish in the Main Event.

Mayank Jaggi
Mayank Jaggi

Though the IPC August edition is done, Spartan Poker has once again tied up with the IPC for the upcoming October edition and we can be sure of more satellites and many more BIG winners emerging from the Spartan arena in the days to come!

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