This Week in Poker: June 24 – 30

This Week in Poker
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  • PG News June 30, 2015
  • 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

The past week, our Indian players have been swirled up in the various events of WSOP and the several other casinos that dot the world’s most famous strip! We bring you all those moments from the different WSOP events, the surprising and deserving winners. You will also read all about our Indian players and their exploits.

Till now, we have seen Team PokerStars pro Aditya Agarwal, Raghav Bansal, Adda52 Team Spades pro Kunal Patni, Apoorva Goel, Akash Malik, Amit Ajwani and Shashank Jain all cashing at various WSOP and other side events.

Last week, India came close to capturing the bracelet, when Raghav Bansal made an impressive run in Event 47 – $2,500 No Limit Hold’em and finally made a 9th place finish for $39,508.

Another highlight this week was the runner-up finish by Indian origin player Nipun Java in Event 46 – $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed.

In Event 57 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em, Aditya Agarwal, Kunal Patni, Jasven Saigal, Amit Jain were among those who did not survive Day 1. Amit Ajwani finished at 72nd place for $4,449, Raghav Bansal and Rajesh Goyal finished in 102nd and 109th place respectively for $2,516 each while Sharathchand Gunupati made a 166th place finish for $2,247.

Kunal Patni, Amit Jain and Jasven Saigal all participated in Event 59 – $1500 No Limit Hold’em, the last “$1,500” in this WSOP, Kunal Patni and Amit Jain busted early, while only Jasven Saigal has made it to the next day with 67,700 chips. Indian origin player Shankar Pillai is 7th in chips with 138,600. Vinny Pahuja (58,400), Anuj Agarwal (43,800) and Ravi Raghavan (33,400) all made it to Day 2.

In side events, Rajesh Goyal and Kunal Patni both cashed $532 from 49th place and $445 from 16th place respectively at the Rio Daily DeepStacks.

Amit Ajwani, Jasven Saigal and Raghav Bansal played the Hollywood Poker Open $2,500 Championship Event $500K GTD, but were eliminated before making the money.

With all the attention centered on Las Vegas, there has been little action on the virtual felts. We have Abhishek “abhi147” Rathod topping the cashes list this week, and he is our PokerGuru Star of the Week.

Just last to last week, Abhishek had taken the same title for an accumulated win of $5,545 on PokerStars. This week, Abhishek makes another two wins amounting to $4,865.12 in different tournaments. Read all the details about his wins and more in our Online Railbird Report section below.

Continuing with our news coverage, from India, we have Goa and Maharashtra, with their respective cases regarding casinos.

In international reports, you will get to read about three different stories, all about online poker in the US. The first two involve PokerStars and the situation in California, the second is about Bitcoin site founder Bryan Micon, who returns to face the illegal gaming charges by the authorities in Nevada.

 

Online Railbird Report

Abhishek “abhi147” Rathod is one of the few online players, who seems to be in high gear these past few weeks. He made €3,264.68 after a three-handed deal in the Winamax ‘After Work €20, €15K GTD’ tournament early today. He also made a 1st place finish for $1,211.55 in the Titan Poker ‘$5,000 GTD Pearl’ on Saturday.

Abhishek Rathod

With cumulative cashes of $4,865.12, Abhishek tops the cashes list to win the “PokerGuru Star of the Week” title.

There has been scant movement online and a few scores at PokerStars include Shyam “Shyam90000” Shahani who won $1,750.75 for 3rd place in PokerStars ‘The Hot $109 [Turbo], $10K GTD’ and Sahil ‘$lim$hady19’ Chuttani won $1,056.09 for 1st place in the PokerStars ‘$5.10 NL Hold’em [Hyper-Turbo], $5K GTD’.

 

2015 WSOP

Indian participation

The Indian players did not lose any opportunity to play events, both bracelet and side ones, to notch up the cashes.

The best score this week, belongs to Raghav Bansal in Event 47 – $2500 No Limit Hold’em where he made a 9th place finish for $39,508.

Raghav Bansal
Raghav Bansal

Even as others chose side events, Aditya Agarwal and Apoorva Goel, both opted to play Event 55 – $1,500 Draftkings 50/50 No-Limit Hold’em and Apoorva cashed for $1,000 at 411th place.

In Event 57 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em, Aditya Agarwal, Kunal Patni, Jasven Saigal, Amit Jain were the ones to bust early. Amit Ajwani made a 72nd place finish for $4,449. The others to cash were Raghav Bansal and Rajesh Goyal in 102nd and 109th place respectively for $2,516 each, and Sharathchand Gunupati at 166th place for $2,247.

In Event 59 – $1,500 No Limit Hold’em, the last “$1,500” in this WSOP, Kunal Patni and Amit Jain busted early, while Jasven Saigal with 67,700 chips made it to Day 2, which is due to resume in a few hours.

Jasven posted this update on FB after Day 1, “Bagged 67700 in the wsop 1500 nlh. Day 2 tomorrow. ‪#‎TEAMTHRILL ‪#‎TEAMINDIA”

Indian origin players Vinny Pahuja (58,400), Anuj Agarwal (43,800) and Ravi Raghavan (33,400) will be joining Jasven on Day 2 today.

Side Events

At the Rio Daily DeepStacks, there were a number of Indian cashes. Rajesh Goyal claimed $532 for a 49th place finish in the $235 tournament on June 26.

The next day, Kunal Patni cashed $445 for a 16th place finish in the $185 event.

Amit Ajwani, Jasven Saigal and Raghav Bansal played the Hollywood Poker Open, $2,500 Championship Event, but all three were unable to survive Day 2.

 

Event Reports 43 to 60

70-year old Jon Andlovec won the inaugural Event 43 – $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold’em for $262,220. He dedicated the win to his daughter. This was a first-ever poker tournament for players above 65.

The exclusive Chip Reese Trophy was claimed by pro Mike Gorodinsky, who also collected his second bracelet in Event 44 – $50,000 Poker Players Championship, along with the prize money of $1,270,086.

A young Sri Lankan native Upeshka Desilva overcame 1655 entries to fulfill his dream and gain 1st bracelet and the prizemoney of $424,577 in Event 45 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold`em

Event 46 – $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed saw two Indian origin players at the final four-handed play. Nipun Java was leading in chips, but finally finished 2nd for $270,509.

Nipun Java
Nipun Java

A Belarus resident Vasili Firsau gained the first bracelet for his country with the first place money of $437,575.

Despite a difficult rail supporting his opponent, Matt O’Donnell won Event 47 – $2500 No Limit Hold’em and collected his first bracelet and the winning prize of $551,94.

Eli Elezera had the lead on the second last day and he rode it till the end to win Event 48- $1500 Seven Card Stud, beating 237 players to collect $112,591.

A not so young, South Korea native, Young Ji claimed the 1st place win for $231,102 in Event 49 – $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better, proving that will is all that matters.

Engineering graduate Ben Yu proved that perseverance pays in Event 50 – $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship, when he claimed his first gold bracelet for $291,546.

In Event 51 – $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed, Justin Liberto vaulted past a tough chip disadvantage at heads up play and gained his first WSOP gold along with the top prize of $640,711.

Hollywood writer Carol Fuchs emerged the champion in Event 52 – $1,500 Dealers Choice, an amateur poker player she won her first bracelet and collected $127,735 for the win.

Another lady, Jacquelyn Scott took down Event 53 – $10,000/$1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship for $153,876, beating 795 entries.

Alexander Peterson was another who displayed great persistence to overcome a short stack and won Event 54 – $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship. Peterson denied Jason Mercier another bracelet, even as he collected $927,655 for the win.

Brandon Whittmeyer defeated Derek Gomez to win Event 55 – $1,500 Draftkings 50/50 No-Limit Hold’em for $200,618.

Kevin MacPhee finally added the bracelet to his portfolio in Event 56 – $5,000 Turbo No-Limit Hold’em. MacPhee beat 454 players taking home $490,800 for the win.

26 survivors led by Stephen Graner with 1,869,000 chips, are left for Day 3 of Event 57 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em. His nearest contender, Paul Nunes has almost half his stack with 936,000 chips.

Phil Ivey made a royal entry with Event 58 – $111,111 High Roller for ONE DROP and an equally royal exit, when he busted on the first day itself. Jonathan Duhamel bagged his second bracelet in the event, along with the prize of $3,989,985 out of the prize pool of $14,249,925.

The final hand saw Bill Klein with , against Duhamel’s . The two stood up and shook hands as the dealer spread a flop of . Klein got top pair. The turn was and Duhamel was just one card away from victory. The on the river simply confirmed that Duhamel was champion.

Jonathan Duhamel
Jonathan Duhamel

Dan Coleman was another who was seen in this event and he made it all the way to the final table, but finished 3rd for $1,544,121. Phil Hellmuth made a 6th place finish, pocketing $696,821.

Event 59 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em is currently underway, with 2,155 entries and a prize pool of $2,909,250. Kevin Killeen is leading the surviving 309 players into Day 2 with 177,900 chips.

Only 67 players remain of the 166 entries in the first ever, Event 60 – $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha. James Park is the chip lead with a stack of 465,700 chips. Registrations will remain open on Day 2 as well.

 

Kevin Stammen Wins Hollywood Poker Open $2,500 Championship Event

684 players came in for the Hollywood Poker Open $2,500 Championship Event, $500K GTD.

Kevin Stammen was the ultimate champion, collecting the trophy and the prize money of prize of $347,052.

Kevin Stammen
Kevin Stammen

Read the complete story here.

 

Indian News Round-Up

Women Workers No-No In Casinos Says Congress

Political parties continue the mayhem in Goa, using casinos as a pawn. The latest is from the opposition Congress, which has suddenly taken umbrage to women working in casinos. Citing security, the women’s wing leader of Congress has demanded that all women should stop working in casinos, till adequate security is provided.

Read the complete story here.

 

High Court Two Week Directive To Maharashtra

Jay Sayta set the ball rolling with his PIL against the Maharashtra govt for not implementing the buried Casino Act. Taking cognizance of it, the High Court has now given the State govt two weeks to implement it or file a response to the PIL. If implemented, the Law would allow Casinos to operate in the state, albiet at payment of fees and with licenses.

Read the complete story here.

 

International News

PokerStars Retaliates In California

PokerStars is back in the news. In the first report, the site has begun its own retaliation campaign against the Veijas Indians, who had launched an offensive radio ad series directed towards the site and its parent company Amaya.

PokerStars has now floated a website california4ipoker.com, which seeks to educate the state public about the benefits of online poker and raise awareness about all regulations. PokerStars has ensured the support of several other allies, in order to increase its strength and public appeal in the state.

Read the complete story here.

 

Two Contradictory Online Poker Bills Introduced

Obfuscating the already murky issue of online poker in the US, now comes report of two separate bills being introduced. While one seeks to legalize online poker across the country, with states being given individual power to allow or disallow the game, the other bill seeks to completely eradicate the game from the US virtual horizons, with rumors stating that it has been prompted by an anti-PokerStars casino owner.

Read the complete story here.

 

SealsWithClubs Founder Returns to Face Charges

Bryan Micon, founder of the bitcoin using site SealsWithClubs has returned to the US after hiding out in Antigua for three months. Micon’s offices had been raided for illegal gaming in Feb and he had been arrested. Now, Micon has put in a “guilty” plea which will dramatically reduce his penalties and sentence if any. He has said that he is ready to co-operate with the authorities.

Read the complete story here.

That ends this edition of our weekly recap, but we will be back again same time next week with all the top headlines from the world of Poker.

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