This Week in Poker: November 18 – 24

This Week in Poker
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  • PG News November 24, 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

After months of hectic activity, there passed a slow week with no major outbreaks at the virtual or live felts. Among the few live tournaments that were held, the most prominent were the World Poker Tour (WPT) Montreal and Master Classic of Poker, which have found new winners. Next up we have the IPO 3 in Manila and the WPT National Korea, as well as the Asia Poker Tour (APT) Finale 2015.

Within a week, the domestic circuit will heat up with the IPC Dec edition hitting the floors on Sunday, Nov 29 at the Deltin Royale poker room in Goa. This time the series has been extended to a full eight days and as always, PokerGuru will be on site, bringing you all the action, as it happens.

The online action was sluggish and if last week, PokerStars announced their Christmas promotions, this week, 888poker has released a new promo “Gift Showers”.

In our online report, we have ‘dynamicnag’ as the weeks top scorer and he takes our “PokerGuru Star of the Week” title with two cashes, amounting to a total of $3,500. The action continues non-stop at Spartan Poker though, with the ‘Cash Bombs’ promo and the culmination of the PokerGuru Online League (PGOL), which crowned champions for its ‘High’ and ‘Low’ Leaderboards.

Besides the above, we also have snippets from Goa, where the govt has drafted rules that may ban locals from casinos. Then, there are also reports about an online bill from Pennsylvania, a two-time WSOP Circuit ring holder being indicted for fraud and the first tournament in Norway in a decade.

 

Online Railbird Report

dynamicnag’ was the most successful Indian on the virtual felts this past week. He made two scores, both at PokerStars where he finished 39th in the PokerStars ‘$1,050 Thursday Thrill [Progressive Super-Knockout], $450K GTD’ for $1,310.00 and 63rd in the PokerStars ‘$1,050 Super Tuesday, $450K GTD’ for $2,217.60. With total cashes over $3,500, he is our ‘PokerGuru Star of the Week’.

The few other scores this week include –

Sharad ‘keenyle’ Rao who won $2,730.84 for fifth place in the PokerStars ‘$11 Daily Double #1, $50K GTD’

Aditya ‘Adi Agarwal’ Agarwal made a fourth place finish in the PokerStars ‘$109 NL Hold’em [Turbo], $10K GTD’ for $1,636.25

Rohit ‘buzzzbeee85’ Mariwalla cashed $1,286.40 for fourth place in the PokerStars ‘$82 NL Hold’em [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo], $12K GTD’.

Online players have it great this festive season, with another new promo, this time from 888poker. The ‘Gift Showers’ bonanza has more than $700,000 in assured prizes and will last until Jan 4, 2016. There are a range of interesting tournaments, with free goodies and rewards, for both, new joinees and existing 888poker players.

This past week also saw Full Tilt become the first online operator to launch its own app on the Steam Platform. Expected to be launched by this year end, the app will be available for over 125 million gamers.

In domestic action, the PokerGuru Online League (PGOL) concluded on Sunday, with Vinay ‘vinstill’ B, as the Main Event High champion. Tournament regular – Sumit ‘boronyx’ Sapra won the Main Event Low title.

The Series had two leaderboards this time i.e. High and Low, with ₹2 Lakhs in prizes. mayavi‘ topped the high leaderboard for a payday of ₹80,000 and Psyclone‘ bagged the ₹20,000 top prize in the low leaderboard. fultufun‘ receives a special mention for making it at third place on both the leaderboards and collecting a total of ₹38,000 in prize money for his consistency.

 

Goa Govt Formulates Rules To Ban Locals In Casinos

Facing severe criticism, the Goa govt finally formulated a harsh set of rules to ban locals from frequenting casinos. The draft rules cover practically any Goan, below or above the age of 21 and if caught in a gaming area, such people will now be liable for prosecution. The draft provides for the creation of a separate gaming commissioner to ensure that the rules are followed. However, locals working in casinos will not be affected by these rules.

Read the complete story here.

Online Gaming Bill Passed In Pennsylvania

Despite stiff opposition from casino Tzar, Adelson Sheldon, the Pennsylvania House Gaming Oversight Committee passed a bill that was introduced by John Payne. The bill is set to legalize online poker and casino games in the state and will benefit land-based casino operators, who will then be eligible for online licenses. Most importantly, this bill does not have the ‘bad actor’ clause and carries a very reasonable tax structure, making it viable for operators.

Read the complete story here.

Thomas Travell, WSOPC Ring Winner Indicted For $31 Million Fraud

Well-known pro Thomas Travell was indicted by the United States Attorney’s Office Southern District of New York for a $31 Million fraud. The case was reported by feared attorney Preet Bharara, who had been the hand behind the Black Friday indictments.

Travell has been found cheating thousands of victims across the United States, by pretending to be an affiliate of authorized govt law enforcement agencies. Travell is a noted pro with two WSOP Circuit rings and $510K in lifetime earnings.

2015 Master Classics of Poker Main Event Won By Jussi Nevanlinna

Jussi Nevanlinna avenged his two-near misses at the Master Classics of Poker Main Event, by finally winning it this year for €300,000.

Jussi Nevanlinna
Jussi Nevanlinna

Indian player, Arsh Grover attended the series, but failed to cash in the Main Event.

Read the complete story here.

 

Jared Mahoney Claims WPT Montreal Title

Out of the 697 hopefuls that thronged the partypoker.net World Poker Tour Montreal, ultimately it was Jared Mahoney, who won the event for $433,410. The five-day event saw Darryl Fish make second place for $304,343.

Jared Mahoney
Jared Mahoney

Read the complete story here.

 

Poker Tournament In Norway After Decade

Norway held its first poker tournament, the Norwegian Poker Championships after a ban that had lasted for almost ten years. The tournament was hosted in Oslo and saw record numbers pre-registering for the event. Up to now, Norwegian players had to travel abroad to fulfill their appetite for poker. The event was made possible due to a change in the govt in 2013, which partially lifted the ban, enough to allow tournaments.

Read the complete story here.

And that ends this week’s report. Log on same time next week, for all the top stories from the world of poker!
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