This Week in Poker: February 28 – March 6

This Week in Poker
  • Profile picture
  • PG News March 8, 2018
  • 5 Minutes Read

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

It’s time for our weekly recap and this time we have a full house of tournament reports, several big announcements, business and legal developments, and several remarkable brand alliances.

Yet another hectic week online has clocked out and we are back with a recap from the virtual felts. The biggest name this week was Guruprasad ‘fish_calling’ Gupta who shipped ‘The MoneyMaker 4.0’ on PokerBaazi and that too in grand fashion and for this he is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week”.

Online players had several other reasons to rejoice. Another major online tournament, Big Millions on India’s largest poker site – Adda52 made a grand debut and turned out to be a BIG success. The event’s final table will be played out live at the Deltin Royale poker room on March 10.

Over to PokerStars, the Turbo Series wrapped up after its two Twin Turbos Main Event champions were found in ‘L1VeYRdrEamS’ and ‘PIPItapis!’. Anthony Spinella made news this week and for all the right reasons after making a second record by clinching the first-ever online WSOP Circuit ring.

APL Road Series Vol.1 Philippines’ Main Event was one of the major events this past week with local pro Lester Edoc taking top honors in the Main Event along with P1,478,800 in prize money. Three challengers from the Indian camp finished in the money, namely Rajesh Goyal (17th for P75,600 (~₹94,894)), Jayjit Ray (27th for P52,200 (~₹65,522)), and Agampal Dhupar (36th for P45,000 (~₹56,484)).

Headlining domestic news was the announcement of a second edition by Baadshah Gaming Live Tournament that is coming back in April at its home turf Casino Pride in Goa.

The week was filled with news of new brand alliances. India`s largest DFS website Dream11 has signed ace-cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its latest brand ambassador. Internationally, Winamax signed Leo Margets And João Vieira as brand ambassadors while Upswing Poker has roped in Andres Artinano as a coach.

In other international news, we bring you the news of Adam Pliska’s tenure as WPT CEO getting extended for four years, 2018 Super High Roller Bowl schedule getting released, TwoPlusTwo removing Winning Poker Network ads, and a four-way bidding war for William Hill Australia.

We have more in store with two stories from PokerStars. In the first, the online giant has decided to sponsor live events at Casino Barcelona followed by news of The Stars Group buying a majority share in Australia’s sports betting site CrownBet.

In other international tournament news, we bring you the highlights of the APL Road Series Philippines, WPT L.A. Poker Classic, WSOP Circuit Rio Las Vegas Main Event, partypoker Latin American Poker Championships Main Event, Winamax Poker Tour Paris High Roller, Mid-States Poker Tour Canterbury Park, WSOP Circuit Las Vegas High Roller and 2018 888poker LIVE Bucharest.

 

Online Railbird Report

It was certainly the BIGGEST week for online poker by far this year with several pinnacle events taking center stage and the most impressive score was made by Guruprasad ‘fish_calling’ Gupta who banked ₹30 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘The MoneyMaker 4.0’. No points for guessing, Gupta is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week”.

Guruprasad Gupta
Guruprasad Gupta

 

Other notable scores include –

Rohan ‘rohan142’ Soman won $13,842.17 for 3rd place in the PokerStars ‘Turbo Series 50: $55 NLHE [5-Stack], $100K GTD’

Raghav ‘Rossoneri23’ Bansal won $4,405.45 for 2nd place in the PokerStars ‘$215 Thursday Thrill [Early Edition, Progressive KO], $50K GTD’

Vaibhav ‘kill_619’ Sharma won $4,311 for 93rd place finish in the PokerStars ‘Turbo Series 72: $1,050 NLHE [Twin Turbos Main Event], $2.5 Million GTD’

Guneet ‘guntz’ Kwatra won ₹1.45 Lakhs for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Baazi Super Sunday (₹5 Lakhs GTD) (MonsterStack Hyper Turbo)’

Armaan ‘armaan007’ Kochhar won $1,276.86 for 4th place in the PokerStars ‘$82 NLHE [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo], $10K GTD’

Vikram ‘DetroitCheese’ Singh won €948.59 for 6th place in the PokerStars ‘Afternoon on Stars €50 [8-Max], €25,000 GDT on PokerStars ES-FR’

Prashant ‘rituprashant’ Jain Bhutoria won $555.78 for 499th place in the PokerStars ‘$215 Sunday Million with $1 million GTD’

‘Satya222’ won ₹35,000 for 1st place in the PokerBaazi ‘Baazi Super Sunday (₹1 Lakh GTD) (Turbo FreezeOut)’

‘Mario999’ won ₹22,000 for 1st place in the 9HighPoker ‘Megaton ₹50K GTD’

 

Turbo Series – PokerStars

The rebranded Turbo Series wrapped up on March 4 after crowning its two Twin Turbos Main Event champions. ‘L1VeYRdrEamS’ shipped the $1,050 NLHE [Twin Turbos Main Events] $2.5M GTD event for $396,217 and ‘PIPItapis!’ won the $55 NLHE [Twin Turbos Main Event], $1M GTD for $143,852.

 

Highlight Sunday Event Winners –

 

Adda52 Big Millions 1 Crore GTD

India’s largest poker site – Adda52.com raised the curtains at its biggest tournament ever i.e. Big Millions this past Sunday and the mega event attracted a huge field of 1,175 entries (750 unique entries + 425 re-entries).

The event was paused once the eight-handed final table was formed and the remaining finalists will now reconvene to play LIVE at the Deltin Royale poker room on March 10. Leading the way with an overwhelming chip lead is ‘Indiansharebroker’ (7,605,563) followed by ‘assasinato’ (2,460,787) and India`s first WSOP bracelet winner Aditya ‘A_Sushant’ Sushant (2,158,574).

Read the complete report here.

 

Anthony Spinella Re-Creates History After Clinching Debut Online WSOP Circuit Ring

This past week, Anthony Spinella re-wrote history after taking down the WSOP.com ONLINE Ring Event: $365 No-Limit Hold’em for $35,817. The re-entry event attracted 420 entries generating a prize pool of $137,760. Spinella’s feat is rare as he also holds the distinction of winning the very-first World Series of Poker (WSOP) online bracelet in 2015.

Anthony Spinella
Anthony Spinella

Read the complete report here.

 

Schedule For Baadshah Gaming Live Tournament April Edition Announced

Goa will be at the center of live poker action again next month as Baadshah Gaming has announced the complete schedule of the second edition of its Live Tournament series! The rake-free series will again be hosted at the Baadshah Gaming Live poker room aboard the floating Casino Pride from April 19 – 23.

 

Dream11 Signs M.S. Dhoni as Brand Ambassador

This week, online fantasy sports platform Dream11 announced the signing of two-time Cricket World Cup-winning wicket-keeper captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its latest brand ambassador. As a brand ambassador, Dhoni will be the face of Dream11’s multi-channel marketing campaigns and brand engagement activities. In the past, cricket expert Harsha Bhogle has also appeared in Dream 11 advertisements.

M S Dhoni
M S Dhoni

Read the complete report here.

 

Leo Margets & João Vieira Signed by Winamax as Brand Ambassadors

French online poker market leader Winamax took another step forward in preparation for the long pending shared liquidity deal by signing Spain’s Leo Margets as well as Portugal’s João Vieira as its latest ambassadors. The duo will represent the brand online, and at various live tournaments.

Leo Margets and Joao Vieira
Leo Margets and Joao Vieira

 

Adam Pliska’s Tenure as WPT CEO Extended For Additional 4 Years

CEO of the World Poker Tour (WPT), Adam Pliska was granted a four-year extension to continue in his role and will helm World Poker Tour through at least 2022. Pliska joined WPT in 2003 as general counsel and has served as its CEO since 2009. He has been responsible for the entire WPT portfolio, which includes live events, televised broadcasts, international expansion, and strategic partnerships.

Adam Pliska
Adam Pliska

Read the complete report here.

TwoPlusTwo Removes Winning Poker Network Ads

In a major move, TwoPlusTwo poker forum suspended all the advertising from the Winning Poker Network (WPN) due to the recent accusations of cheating, widespread use of bots, multi-accounting, collusion and the possible existence of ‘superusers’ on the network by Joey Ingram. The decision was made after TwoPlusTwo’s e-mail to WPN pertaining to player concerns went unanswered.

 

Upswing Poker Signs Andres Artinano as Coach

Popular online poker training website, Upswing Poker added a new topic to its offerings – Elite Cash Game Mastery and has brought onboard Andres ‘educa-p0ker’ Artinano as the coach. The topic will teach six-max cash game strategies, and how to maximize one’s performance for a subscription price of $999.

Andres Artinano
Andres Artinano

 

2018 Super High Roller Bowl Scheduled For May

One of poker world’s biggest and most anticipated events of the year – Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) has officially revealed the schedule for the fourth annual SHRB in the mecca of poker – Las Vegas, Nevada. The $300,000 buy-in event will play out from May 27 – 30 and will officially open the registrations on March 1. Being an open event, players may register for the tournament with a $30,00 non-refundable deposit.

Read the complete report here.

PokerStars to Sponsor Live Events at Casino Barcelona

PokerStars announced that it will sponsor live events at Casino Barcelona and will host the Campeonato España de Poker (CEP) live tour along with awarding a Platinum Pass. Players now have the opportunity to win their seats to CEP Events and Casino Barcelona Events via online satellites on PokerStars. PokerStars will also be involved in other live events at Casino Barcelona, including the EPT Barcelona offering more $30,000 value Platinum Passes as value-added prizes.

Read the complete report here.

The Stars Group Buys Majority Share in CrownBet

Toronto-based The Stars Group, which owns and operates PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, announced that it had acquired 62.5% of Australia’s online sports betting company CrownBet Holdings Pty Limited for an all-cash deal of $117.7 million (AU$$150 million). CrownBet founder, Matthew Tripp, will continue in his role as the company`s CEO.

Read the complete report here.

Bidding War For William Hill Australia

Following a crackdown on credit betting and potential tax increases, William Hill Australia stated that it is taking a “strategic review” of its business earlier this year and now a sale appears to be on papers for sure as according to Australian Financial Review, four major operators submitted bids to Citigroup ahead of the February 26 deadline. Although individual offers are sealed, Ladbrokes, bet365, Sportsbet and CrownBet have placed bids around the $200 million mark.

Read the complete report here.

APL Road Series Philippines

APL Road Series Vol.1 Philippines’ Main Event was one of the major events that concluded this past week and saw a field of 276 entries and once the last hand was dealt, local pro Lester Edoc took down the title pocketing P1,478,800 for his finish.

Lester Edoc

Lester Edoc

Among the six Indians in attendance,three finished in the money. Rajesh Goyal made the deepest run from the Indian camp finishing 17th for P75,600 (~₹94,894). Jayjit Ray finished 27th for P52,200 (~₹65,522), while Agampal Dhupar finished 36th for P45,000 (~₹56,484).

Rajesh Goyal
Rajesh Goyal

 

 

WPT L.A. Poker Classic

The longest running tournament series in LA – L.A. Poker Classic returned in style for its 25th anniversary edition last week with the Season XVI WPT L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 Championship at the Commerce Casino. The event attracted a strong field of 493 entries to create a mammoth $4,681,035 prize pool with the top 62 places reaching the money bus.

When the dust settled, it was Dennis Blieden who lifted the WPT Champions trophy and netted the million bucks top prize, which included a $15,000 entry into the WPT Tournament of Champions. Blieden also received a Commerce Casino Remington trophy, a Hublot Big Bang Steel watch, and a $5,000 JetSmarter membership.

Dennis Blieden
Dennis Blieden

Read the complete report here.

The highest buy-in event at the series i.e. L.A. Poker Classic Rockstar Energy – $25,000 High Roller event attracted a field of 50 runners with the top seven places getting paid. Upcoming poker talent Alex Foxen eventually shipped the event after out-dueling Nick Petrangelo heads-up to collect his biggest live cash of $424,625 along with a luxurious Hublot Classic Fusion Chronograph Titanium watch.

Alex Foxen
Alex Foxen

Read the complete report here.

Kevin Iacofano Wins WSOP Circuit Rio Las Vegas Main Event

The 2018 World Series of Poker Circuit Rio Las Vegas $1,675 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event registered a field of 887 entries smashing the advertised $1 million guarantee and created a $1,330,500 prize pool. A winner emerged in Kevin Iacofano who banked $259,463 and picked his first WSOPC gold ring after defeating Nikhil Gera heads-up!

Kevin Iacofano

Kevin Iacofano

Read the complete report here.

Amauri Grutka Wins partypoker Latin American Poker Championships Main Event

The partypoker Latin American Poker Championships $1,100 Main Event recently concluded at the Punta del Este in Uruguay and attracted a field of 1,137 entries crushing the $1 million guarantee. Brazilian Amauri Grutka emerged on top and received $200,000 for his finish after defeating Yi Lin heads-up.

Amauri Grutka
Amauri Grutka

 

 

Kalidou Sow Wins Winamax Poker Tour Paris High Roller

French poker player Kalidou Sow`s breakout year continues after he won his third big live tournament title after shipping the Winamax Poker Tour Paris High Roller taking home €100,000 in cash prize.

Kalidou Sow
Kalidou Sow

Read the complete report here.

 

Mark Collins Wins Mid-States Poker Tour Canterbury Park

The Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) wrapped up its first stop of Season 9 at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minnesota. The tournament saw a huge field of 491 runners who ponied up the $1,100 buy-in and the top 54 runners finished in the money. A champion was found in 44-year-old IT system administrator Mark Collins from Illinois who pocketed the first-place prize worth $102,076.

Mark Collins
Marc Collins

Read the complete report here.

 

Loni Harwood Wins WSOP Circuit Las Vegas High Roller

The WSOP Circuit Las Vegas $2,200 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino attracted a field of 130 entrants. It was Loni Harwood who topped the field to seal the $72,802 top prize and now boasts of five of the coveted WSOP Circuit rings along with the two WSOP gold bracelets.

Loni Harwood
Loni Harwood

Read the complete report here.

Andrei Racolta Takes Down 2018 888poker LIVE Bucharest

The 2018 888poker LIVE Festival Bucharest wrapped up this week after the €888 Main Event found its champion in Andrei Racolta who banked €71,042 for his efforts. Racolta defeated 888poker online qualifier Krzysztof Chmielowski heads-up. The event registered a total of 469 entries and the top 54 spots shared the €360,192 prize pool.

Andrei Racolta
Andrei Racolta

Read the complete report here.

 

And that is all for this edition of our weekly report. We will be here again next week, same time, so stay logged on to catch all the latest news from the world of poker.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Top Online Poker Rooms

Top
PokerGuru