This Week in Poker: October 28 – November 3

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

Over the past few weeks, ‘live action’ seems to be the mantra and this spills over onto the last months of this year. On one hand, the European Poker Tour (EPT) 12 Malta concluded last week, but the upcoming week promises further excitement with the 2015 Asia Championship of Poker, which is now into its 5^th day of its 17-day sojourn at the PokerStars LIVE poker room in Macau. From the Indian batch, Kunal Patni and Meherzad Munsaf are already in Macau, but are yet to find any scores. Many more other Indian players are set to join them soon, including Team PokerStars Pro Aditya Agarwal, Anup P and Bobbe Suri among others.

This month, players will also have numerous international tournaments to look forward to, such as the 2015 World Poker Tour (WPT) National-Georgia, 2015 L.A. Poker Open, 2015 Aria High Roller XVII-XVIII among others. And on the domestic front, it will be the IPC Dec edition at the Deltin Royale, Goa, with daily double satellites on at Spartan Poker, for those seeking a piece of live tournament action.

Online too, it’s been a busy season with the PokerStars Spin & Go tournaments rewarding six players with the life-changing $1 Million prize, all within one week. These included “ifipushud325“, “handbt1“, “barrakuuda4“, “prophethicks“, “wrawras” and “Samara Lúcio“. The Spin & Go`s have been kind to one of our Indian players as well, who won $300,000 on Wednesday, Oct 28. The Indian player who won the $300,000 jackpot is our “PokerGuru Star of the Week”, but in a first-of-its-kind such incident, he has requested anonymity and that his name be withheld.

In this week’s report, we also bring you the highlights about new changes at PokerStars, tournament reports, the upcoming WSOP Main Event final table and a new development that may lead to legalized “Rummy Cafes” in Maharashtra.

Online Railbird Report

On personal request, our “PokerGuru Star of the Week” remains anonymous. The player wins this title for making $300,000 at the PokerStars Spin n Go tournaments.

Barring the above, there have been few scores at the online felts and all of these have occurred at PokerStars.

Of the most significant scores made, are from Team PokerStars Pro Aditya ‘Adi Agarwal’ Agarwal, who has cashed in three different events.

– Aditya ‘Adi Agarwal’ Agarwal made a 1^st place for $6,624.00 in the PokerStars ‘$215 NL Hold’em [Turbo, Re-Entry], $15K GTD’. He then made two – 3^rd place finishes. One for $1,512.00 in the PokerStars ‘$109 NL Hold’em [Turbo, Re-Entry], $8K GTD’ and another for $1,430.00 in the PokerStars ‘$109 NL Hold’em [Turbo], $10K GTD’. In all, Agarwal made $8,566 this week.

– Armaan ‘Armaan007’ Kochhar made a 2^nd place for $1,620.00 in the PokerStars ‘$27 NL Hold’em [Turbo, Knockout], $12K GTD – Guarantee Boost’!

– Tanmay ‘Tanmay’ Sahay won $1,106.55 for 6^th place in PokerStars ‘The Hot $33 [Turbo], $25K GTD’.

– Akash ‘Buddhaluv’ Sanghvi finished in 3^rd place for $1,024.29 in the PokerStars ‘$82 NL Hold’em [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo], $6K GTD’.

– Sumit ‘Silwal_7’ Silwal made a 1^st place for $1,678.08 in the PokerStars ‘$13.50 NL Hold’em [Turbo, Knockout], $10K GTD’.

The online action on the domestic front however, continues non-stop at Spartan Poker. Vidwath ‘Ph03NiX’Shetty is the latest winner at Spartan Poker. ‘Ph03NiX’ not only complied with all terms set by the Spartan Bankroll Challenge – PLO (SBC PLO), but overcame 23 other contestants to win the race in the month long challenge. Besides the SBC PLO, this week will see the culmination of Team Spartan Pro Sangeeth ‘Samoh’ Mohan’s Spartan Pro Hunt.

Lined up is further action ahead with the Spartan Poker Cash Game Bonanza Week, from Nov 1 to 8. There is a total of ₹1,65,000 in prizes up for grabs for players. Moreover, these prizes will be for three different categories, with prizes for PLO, NLH cash games, as well as a leaderboard for micro stakes.

PokerStars Announces Further Changes in VIP Program, Policies and Marketing Strategy

PokerStars has announced numerous further changes to its site policies and services. The announcement came on Sunday, Nov 1 at the PokerStars blog, by Eric Hollreiser, VP, Corporate Communications, Amaya.

Maximum of the changes are in its VIP programs, with players of different levels being affected, and a new currency system being introduced.

The site will also make additional changes to its Third-Party Software policies and plans on making huge investments in global marketing campaigns to attract more new players.

Read the complete story here.

2015 WSOP November Nine Final Table

It’s that time of the year again, when the momentous final table of the WSOP Main Event will culminate with the November Nine. The final match will resume on Sunday, Nov 8 at 8:30 pm ET, where the nine players will be whittled down to four. On Monday, Nov. 9 at 8 pm ET, the match is expected to reach heads up play, with the ultimate champion crowned on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 9 pm ET.

The venue, inside the cavernous Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio, is expected to sport a carnival-like atmosphere, with each players bringing along dozens of family and friends, besides fans of the sport.

This year, ESPN’s prime-time television broadcast will expand from two days to three days, for the very first time. Coverage will start on Sunday, November 8th at 5:30 pm PST.

ESPN has covered the highlights of the Main Event, leading to the November Nine in 15 episodes that have already been aired.

The already famous November Nine of 2015 include Joe McKeehan (63,100,100), Zvi Atern (29,800,000), Neil Blumenfield (22,000,100), Pierre Neuville (21,075,100), Max Steinberg (20,200,000), Thomas Cannuli (12,250,100), Josh Beckley (11,800,000), Patrick Chan (6,225,100) and Frederico Butteroni (6,200,000).

Of these, only Max Steinberg has won a bracelet before, in a $1,000 NLH event in 2012.

ACOP 2015 Recap, APPT Season 10 Schedule Announced

The final stop of the APPT Season 9, the 2015 ACOP began on Oct 30 and will end on Nov 15. To date three side events are over with new champions, however, there has been a no-show from any of our Indian players present.

Event 1 – Rebuy Championship was won by Poland’s Piotr Kania for HK $167,700.

China’s Wei Zhao claimed the title in Event 2 – Deepstack for HK $422,400 and his first Spadie.

Event 3 – PLO again saw a Chinese player, Leon Li-Ta Hsu win the title, collecting HK $207,400 as top prize.

The HK $100,000 Main Event running from Nov 9 to 14, will once again be the highlight of the series and is expected to draw a large Indian contingent. Asian circuit regular and India’s first Spadie winner, Kunal Patni is already in Macau, as is Meherzad Munsaf, who recently scored a fourth place finish in the Indian poker Championship (IPC) Oct Main Event.

Team PokerStars Pro Aditya Agarwal, Anup P and Bobbe Suri are some of the other Indian players confirmed to be joining in, among many others.

Even as the 2015 ACOP plays out, the schedule for Season 10 of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) was announced. The new tour will have 11 stops that include Macau, Seoul, Manila and Melbourne. The series will begin with the Macau Millions on Jan 8, 2016 and will conclude on Dec 4, 2016.

Read the complete story here.

EPT 12 Malta – Niall Farrell Wins Main Event, Byron Kaverman Ships High Roller

The action also blazed in the western part of the globe with the 2015 European Poker Tour (EPT) Season 12 Malta. The Main Event concluded after six days of play and 651 entries creating a prize pool of €3,157,350.

British player Niall Farrell was the ultimate champion, collecting the trophy and the winning purse of €534,300!

Read the complete story here.

The €10,300 High Roller was another highlight event and this one saw pro Byron Kaverman, who is ruling the No. 1 spot on the GPI rankings for five weeks now, claim the title, along with the top prize of €430,800.

A notable finish was made by Indian-origin player Mukul Pahuja, who made 2^nd place for €290,100, after 90 minutes of valiant heads up play in the event.

Read the complete story here.

Ben Cade Captures WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic Title

Meanwhile, the WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic saw its 36,000 Main Event conclude this weekend.

Ben Cade was the last man standing after beating 134 other contestants and took home the title, as well as the top prize of R1,382,000 (approx. $100,000).

Nipun Java, noted Indian-origin player made a 4^th place finish in the event for R355,510 (approx $25,724.31).

Read the complete story here.

Maharasthra May Soon Have Legal “Rummy Cafes”

A new report has emerged, which may mean a fresh lease of life for rummy lovers in Maharashtra. According to the Hindustan Times, a Pune resident Milind Limaye has been fighting for legalized “Rummy Cafes” hosting tournaments across the state, since the past 7 years.

The Bombay High Court has finally asked the state govt to issue such licenses and the matter is now pending with the Home Department, which is seeking Judicial advice on the same.

Read the complete story here.