This Week in Poker: April 5 – 11

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  • PG News April 11, 2017
  • 8 mins Read

In the PokerGuru feature ‘This Week in Poker’ we bring to you the weekly roundup 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

Hectic action and fabulous performances highlight the past week. Records were made and names that will always be recalled by the past week will be Maurice Hawkins, who claimed his historic 10th World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit gold ring at Council Bluffs and Daniel Weinman took down the World Poker Tour (WPT) Tournament of Champions.

But, above all India will recall the name of Raghav Bansal who scored an amazing second place finish at the PokerStars Championship Macau HK$103K High Roller for probably the highest tournament cash by an Indian of HK$216,000 (INR 2.16 Crores) in a field that had some of the biggest names in international poker. For this alone, Bansal sweeps away our PokerGuru Star of the Week” title!

The series has concluded and others to cash were Sumit Sapra made HK$58,000 for a seventh place at the HK$5,500 PokerStars Asia Open. Bansal also cashed this event.

Summer has just begun though and players will have a lot to look forward to on the live poker circuit with several new tournaments. Going west, there will be the next stop of the WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Cherokee from April 12 to 24; running in tandem will be an international stop at Cannes from April 17 to 24.

Next month will be as busy with the PokerStars Championship Sochi in Russia running from May 20 to 31. Team PokerStars Pro Aditya Agarwal is confirmed to be attending.

It promises to be an equally busy time online, especially with the PokerStars SCOOP (April 30) that has a massive $55 Million in guarantees.

Other news in this week’s round-up includes PokerStars abruptly ending its Sports Team of Pros, a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) defeating a Chinese poker team, Poker Central tying up with NBC, and the status of two casinos in USA.

Tournament reports are in from the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker (SHRP) Showdown, where a bevy of names made headlines and the WSOP Rozvadov Main Event.

Online a number of regulars continued to grind and the one to make the largest score was Sriharsha ‘indiandurr’ Doddapaneni who made $6,976.63 for a third place in the PokerStars ‘$10K Payday [Phase 2/2], $100K GTD’.

Online Railbird Report

Even though most of the seasoned players were busy at the PokerStars Championship Macau and later the WSOP Rozvadov, the virtual felts continued to ring with other players.

Notable scores this week include –

Sriharsha ‘indiandurr’ Doddapaneni won $6,976.63 for 3rd place in the PokerStars ‘$10K Payday [Phase 2/2], $100K GTD’

Sriharsha Doddapaneni

‘Gr33nApples’ won $3,597.02 for 1st place in the Party Poker ‘Heavyweight: The Weigh-in II – $10K GTD PKO’

Shravan ‘shravanc13’ Chhabria won $3,402.20 for 5th place in the PokerStars ‘Big $109, $50K GTD’

Arsh ‘BigggTymeR’ Grover won $2,232.59 for 1st place in the PokerStars ‘Big $82, $8K GTD’

‘$$sangahi$$’ won $1,426.10 for 4th place in the PokerStars ‘Hot $33, $20K GTD’

Abhineet ‘abhineetjain’ Jain won $1,380.96 for 1st place in the PokerStars ‘Bounty Builder $7.50, $20K GTD’

Gaurav ‘Gaurav10258’ Ayya won $1,351.59 for 8th place in the PokerStars ‘Bounty Builder $109, $100K GTD’

Piyush ‘Piyush16’ Gupta won $1,099.76 for 2nd place in the PokerStars ’Hot $22, $6K GTD’

PokerStars Ends Sports Pro Team

In a sudden move, PokerStars disbanded its Sports Pro Team that had legends such as Neymar Jr. Cristiano Ronaldo, two Olympic medal winners and more. The only one retained is Fatima de Melo.

Read the complete story here.

Artificial Intelligence ‘Lengpudashi’ Triumphs Over Team Dragon

A new AI ‘Lengpudashi’ AI was developed from the earlier ‘Libratus’ by the Carnegie Mellon institute. Lengpudashi has defeated Team Dragon hands down. The team had six Chinese pros led by venture capitalist and WSOP bracelet winner Alan Du.

Read the complete story here.

Poker Central, NBC Sports Group Tie-Up

The latest media tie-up occurred between Poker Central and the NBC Sports Group. Broadcasting will begin with the 2017 Super High Roller Bowl.

Read the complete story here.

Casinos Flourishing in New York

New York is all set to get a new gaming hub with the Point Place Casino. The new center is being put up by the Oneida Nation Tribals at a cost of $50 million in Madison County.

Read the complete story here.

California Casino Raided

The Bicycle Casino in California was raided by the Federal authorities on suspicions of money laundering. The 33-year old casino has a history of raids and was once caught for a $12 million scam.

Read the complete story here.

PokerStars Championship Macau

Raghav Bansal shone at the recently concluded PokerStars Championship Macau, when he made a second place finish at the HK$103K High Roller for a huge payday of HK$2.61 million (INR 2.16 Crores).

Bansal achieved the feat amidst stalwarts such as Nick Petrangelo, Dan Smith, John Juanda and Steve O’Dwyer. The event was however won by a newbie Sosia Jiang for HK$3.87 Million.

Raghav Bansal

Read the complete story here.

Even, the Main Event was won by a new name Elliot Smith, who went home richer by HK$2,877,500, after a heads-up deal.

Elliot Smith

Read the complete story here.

Two players Vladimir Shabalin and Xixiang Luo made history by claiming two titles each. Shabalin won the HK$5,500 PokerStars Asia Open for HK$291,000 and the HK$16,500 NL Hold’em for $414,400.

Vladimir Shabalin

Read the complete story here.

Xixiang Luo claimed the HK$3,300 NL Hold’em Turbo title for HK$80,500, as well as the HK$41,600 NL Hold’em Hyper Turbo for HK$310,000.

Xixiang Luo

Xixiang Luo

Read the complete story here.

Other Indian cashes included Sumit Sapra who made a seventh place at the HK$5,500 PokerStars Asia Open for HK$58,000. Raghav Bansal also cashed the event at 49th place for HK$9,600.

Sumit Sapra

Sumit Sapra

Read the complete story here.

Ryan Riess Wins WPT SHRP Finale

It was vindication for Ryan Riess, after his 2013 WSOP Main Event win. The pro proved himself by taking down the WPT SHRP $10K Finale for $716,088.

Ryan Riess

Ryan Riess

Read the complete story here.

Tony Sinishtaj, Jason Mercier and Nipun Java Among Winners in WPT SHRP Showdown

The pros were out in big numbers at the WPT SHRP Showdown, but Tony Sinishtaj pipped them all at the Main Event, which he won for $661,283.

One pro doing well was Jason Mercier, who won the $25,000 High Roller for $794,000.

Indian-origin Nipun Java was also busy as he claimed the $360 NLH side-event title for $17,949.

Tony Sinishtaj, Jason Mercier and Nipun Java

Read the complete story here.

Daniel Weinman Wins WPT Tournament of Champions

Daniel Weinman emerged the victor at the WPT Tournament of Champions, taking home cash of $381,500, plus amazing goodies including an Audi luxury car, and lots more.

Daniel Weinman

Daniel Weinman

Read the complete story here.

Marcin Chmielewski Wins WSOP Circuit Rozvadov

The WSOP International Circuit stop at Rozvadov crowned Marcin Chmielewski its latest champion. The Polish player won a cash prize of €183,350 and the WSOP ring.

Marcin Chmielewski

Read the complete story here.

Maurice Hawkins Wins 10th WSOP Circuit Ring

Maurice Hawkins collected his 10th ring at the WSOP Circuit Council Bluffs Main Event for $97,561 and is now the only player to have as many. He also made the records for winning four WSOP Circuit Main Events.

Maurice Hawkins

Maurice Hawkins

Read the complete story here.

That is all for this edition of our weekly round-up and we will update you on all the developments, same time next week, so do remember to log on.

Written by: Shyamala Gauri

Related Articles:

1. PokerStars Championship Macau 2017: Raghav Bansal Makes Spectacular 2nd Place Finish at HK$103K High Roller For INR 2.16 Crores; Sosia Jiang Takes Home The Title

2. PokerStars Championship Macau 2017: Elliot Smith Is Main Event Champion, Banks HK$2,877,000

3. Maurice Hawkins Makes History With 10th WSOP Circuit Ring & 4th WSOP Circuit Main Event Title

4. PokerStars Drops Sports Stars as Brand Ambassadors

5. WPT SHRP Showdown: Tony Sinishtaj Wins Main Event For $661K; Jason Mercier Ships High Roller For $794K & Nipun Java Takes Down Side Event For $18K

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