This Week in Poker: December 21 – 27

  • Profile picture
  • PG News December 27, 2016
  • 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:

A peaceful calm has settled on poker world with the season of Christmas and New Year; ensuring players a break from the hustle and bustle of the felts, both live and online with fewer tournaments and a slowdown in action.

The momentum will resume with the Aussie Millions (January 11 to 30, 2017) in Melbourne, where Jason Sommerville will be twitching developments live. There will also be the Asian Poker Tour (APT) 2017 Kickoff event, which will run simultaneously from January 11 to 19 in Manila.

It was a huge week for Indian poker, however, with the announcement of the Poker Sports League (PSL) which assures to elevate poker to newer heights in the country. It promises to be a treat for poker fans and players; the latter who will have INR 3.36 up for grabs in prizes!

The above news came at the same time that the Maharashtra state government turned down the proposal for casinos. It was almost a similar negative time for Goa casinos, with political parties accusing the ruling BJP of allowing them in all rivers.

On the international front, several news reports rocked poker world, including David Baazov withdrawing his bid to acquire Amaya, Phil Ivey ordered to return $10.1 million to the Borgata casino and Guy Templer appointed as the new CEO at the Rational Group. Other newsworthy reports include the Trump Taj Mahal being put up for sale and the closure of Poker Central’s TV channel, as 2016 ends.

One player ending the year on a high note is Young Gun Eka ‘Goforitjam’ Vedantham, who claims his fifth ‘PokerGuru Star of the Week’ title within the last three months. This time, Eka makes about $15K from multiple scores.

Online, the past week was a relatively quiet time, though players had a holiday bonanza with the PokerStars Monday Millions $2M GTD yesterday, even as the Spin & Gos crowned a new millionaire in ‘korpieworm’.

Virtual action will now pick up in January 2017, with the 888poker Super XL Series. Both 888poker and PokerStars also launched new games for players in the $1M Special edition BLAST and the Full-Tilt-inspired ‘The Deal’ respectively.

Online Railbird Report

A few regulars continued their routine online and it was the merriest Christmas for youngster Eka ‘Goforitjam’ Vedantham who made almost $15K through multiple scores and claims the year’s last ‘PokerGuru Star of the Week’ title, also his fifth in the last three months.

Eka Vedantham

Eka won $9,474.36 for a runner-up place in the PokerStars ‘$320 Saturday KO, $100K GTD’ and another $2,490.12 for third place in the PokerStars ‘Hot $162, $15K GTD’. He also made $1,561.61 for a fourth place in the PokerStars ‘$109 Saturday KO [Early Edition], $25K GTD’, as well as $1,397.13 for a sixth place in the PokerStars ‘Bounty Builder $55, $65K GTD’.

Second on the cashes list was another Young Gun – Sharad ‘keenyle’ Rao who made $10,164.17 in a single score, where he won the PokerStars‘$44 Sunday Marathon, $60K GTD’.

Other notable scores include –

– Shravan ‘shravanc’ Chhabria won $6,475.92 for 1st place in the PokerStars ‘$109 Battle Royale [Late Edition, Progressive KO], $60K GTD’

– Aditya ‘Adi Agarwal’ Agarwal won $4,787.79 for 1st place in the PokerStars ‘Hot $162, $15K GTD’

– Sriharsha ‘indiandurr’ Doddapaneni won $3,925.31 for 1st place in the PokerStars ‘Big $33, $20K GTD’

– Anmol ‘anmols’ A Srivats won $1,771.59 for 1st place in the PokerStars ‘Hot $27, $7.5K GTD’ and another $1,198.73 for 3rd place in the PokerStars ‘Hot $27, $10K GTD’

– Abhishek ‘abhi147’ Rathod won $2,320.00 for 2nd place in the 888poker ‘The $12,000 Monsoon’

PokerStars Millions

PokerStars concluded the year with a special 2M GTD Monday Million yesterday. Over 110 Indian players were seen in action at the event, but a deep run eluded the team.The latest millionaire to emerge at the site’s ever-popular Spin & Gos was ‘korpieworm’.

Read the complete story here.

888poker Super XL Series Begins Jan 19, 2017

Fast action will resume at 888poker from January 19 with the Super XL Series that will run until January 30, with a massive $5,000,000 in prizes. Satellites to the event are already on.

Read the complete story here.

888poker Launches $1 Million Special Edition BLAST Sit & Go

The site also launched a special $1 million edition of the BLAST, which started yesterday. Buy-in will be a lowly $5 with a jackpot almost 20,000 times multiplied.

Read the complete story here.

Full Tilt Inspired Promo ‘The Deal’ At PokerStars

PokerStars took inspiration from Full Tilt and launched “The Deal” a VIP points-based side game that caters to recreational players.

Read the complete story here.

India Gets Poker Sports League

In an exciting development, a new Poker Sports League (PSL) was launched by Amit Burman, entrepreneur and Vice Chairman of Dabur group, and partners including Adda52.com. The league based on the western GPL and India’s cricketing IPL has INR 3.3 crores in prizes and will have 12 teams with nine players each. Players will be selected from various cities across India. The event is to be publicly showcased giving players a chance to display their skills to fans.

Read the complete story here.

GSM Alleges Govt Allowing Casinos in All Goa Rivers

Casinos continued to be the target of political parties in Goa and now, the Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) has claimed that the BJP government is intending to allow casinos in all rivers of the state by making amendments to the law.

Read the complete story here.

Offshore Casinos Plan Turned Down By Maharashtra Govt

In a disappointing news, the Maharashtra government has negated the proposal to host offshore casinos in the state. The move came after the government decided to stick to its policy of clamping down on such activities that saw strict action against dance bars.

Read the complete story here.

David Baazov Withdraws $6.7 Billion Bid For Amaya

After having strongly pursued the private takeover of Amaya, the company that he founded, David Baazov has now withdrawn his bid. The ex-CEO of Amaya stated that the $6.7 billion deal was proving to be too costly for him and his investors.

David Baazov

Read the complete story here.

Court Orders Phil Ivey to Return $10.1 Million to Borgata

Phil Ivey faced another setback in his case against the Borgata casino. An US federal judge has now ordered Ivey to return more than $10.1 million to the casino. It was reported that Ivey and his legal team were considering an appeal.

Phil Ivey

Read the complete story here.

Guy Templer New Rational Group CEO

Corporate shifts at the Rational Group saw Guy Templer move up the ladder to take the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO). Templar was earlier Chief Strategy Officer and will now look into expansion of products, besides other duties.

Guy Templer

Read the complete story here.

Poker Central’s TV Channel Ends With 2016

With Cory Katz, the millionaire funder of Poker Central’s dedicated TV channel backing out, it will now shut down as 2016 ends. The company however, stated that all its other content would still be available through web-based apps.

Read the complete story here.

Trump Taj Mahal to be Sold

Atlantic City’s landmark casino, the Trump Taj Mahal is once again on the seller’s block. Bought two years ago by Steve Icahn, the property continues to face major union issues and negative policies by the state government.

Read the complete story here.

That wraps up this edition of our weekly report. We wish you a great New Year 2017 and will continue to bring you all the latest developments from poker-world as usual, so do stay tuned on PokerGuru for all the latest updates!

Related Articles:

1. Guy Templer Appointed Chief Operating Officer of Rational Group

2. India Gets ‘Poker Sports League’; INR 3.3 Crores in Prize Money

2. Maharashtra Govt Vetoes Offshore Casinos

4. Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) Alleges Govt Allowing Casinos in All Goa Rivers

5. Phil Ivey Ordered to Return Over $10.1 Million to Borgata

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

Top Online Poker Rooms

Top
PokerGuru