The first weekend of December saw the 4th edition of the India Poker Championship (IPC) take place on board Casino Royale in Goa. The IPC has been growing quickly and is recognized as the biggest, most successful poker tournament in the country.The December edition of the Championship was expected to be even bigger than usual given certain additions made by the organizers to the event-The crowning of the India Poker Champion and the introduction of the IPC Player of the Year.
Day 1
The IPC 5k Freezeout eventually saw 110 players take part by the time late registrations had closed. Having taken player feedback into account, the organizers has increased the starting stack to 5000 as well introduced some additional blind levels to allow more play. The action as is typical of lower buy-in tournaments began fast and furious and there were plenty of all-ins and knockouts within the first couple of hours. By the time the final table was reached,the chip lead was with tournament veteran and well known local pro Anil ‘The Machine’ Gulati who was making his second IPC final table after the inaugural March event. It was not going to be easy as one former IPC winner and runner-up in the form of Sameer (June 10k winner) and Amit (Sep 20k 1st runner-up) were also in the hunt with very healthy stacks. Kavish had built himself to a substantial stack but in a space of two hands was eliminated by Sameer. The action though was driven by Ricky Chopra who knocked out Amey, Grenville and Ridhesh Sejpal. He also crippled Sameer hitting his 2 outer on the river. Sameer was eventually knocked out in 4th place while Santosh Govindaraj in 3rd was another Ricky Chopra victim. It was then time for headsup between Ricky and Anil. After many hands being traded and lots of flops being seen, Ricky laid a crippling blow to Anil’s stack when his trip 2s beat out Anil’s top pair on the flop. There were pre-mature celebrations but Craig Wildman, the IPC tournament director quickly clarified that Anil had the bigger stack before that hand and so headsup would continue. But the comeback dream was not to be as Ricky took down the IPC 5k Freezeout with a very commendable 2nd place finish for The Machine
Day 2
The next day was the IPC 10k Freezeout which was expected to have a decent turnout. By the time the late entries got done, there were 100 players in the tournament! This was a record turnout across all tournaments held in Goa for a similar buy-in! The 10k tournament had an added buzz because we had a celebrity in the house in the form of Bollywood star Harman Baweja. The previous evening’s champion Ricky Chopra gets knocked in the 2nd level itself when his flopped straight get hammered by his opponent’s turned full house. Other prominent names to get get knocked out in the early stages – Rajesh Goyal, Farukh Shaikh, Prabhat Saini and Sameer Rattonsey.
On the final table,the short stack, Aditya is the first to go after his pocket 6s run into Rosh’s Cowboys. After taking a few hits and getting reduced to just one 1000 chip, it was soon Vishwanath’s turn to exit in 9th place courtesy Akash Malik. Girish and Umesh are the next two to go in 8th and 7th taken out by Avinash and Rosh respectively. Our repeat final tablist from Day 1 Kavish made an impressive run again in a 100 player field to make it out in 6th place. The big chipleader at the start of the final table, Harman also made his presence felt at the table by knocking out Ali in 5th position. Down to 4-way action and each of these players would be taking home a minimum of one lac for their efforts. Rosh was the first to get eliminated when Harman (KK) hits the stone cold nuts on a flop of K 2 2! Harman continues his knockout run when his A K busts out Avinash’s 8 T. It then got down to headsup between Akash Malik and Harman Baweja. There were lots of hands which shifted the chip lead frequently between the two. Eventually both players get it in with Akash holding A 7 against Harman’s K Q. With no help on the board, Harman is knocked out in 2nd and Akash Malik from Delhi is the winner of the IPC 10k Freezeout.
Day 3
The 25k Freezeout had been dubbed the Main Event of the IPC.The Main Event would also see the winner being crowned as the first ever India Poker Champion! With 87 entries, this event saw one of the largest prizepools in Goa tournament history.The Main Event had a deepstack structure which was a major point of attraction for tournament players. It also helped that there was a Minimum Guaranteed Prizepool of INR 10,00,000 which of course was almost doubled as a result of the huge turnout. In the early levels a big hand took place between the 5k winner Ricky Chopra (A A) and the online phenom Aditya ‘Intervention’ Agarwal (K K). The board had an A and a K which of course meant all the money went in and Ricky’s bullets held with nothing further to help Intervention. Halfway into the tournament we saw eliminations of names like Lawrence Sanjay, Rajesh Goyal, Harman Baweja and Gaurav Law. A few levels later more knockouts in the form of Denny Tait, Anil Gulati and Sandeep Narayanan. Narayanan in fact was knocked out by Cardplayer India’s Dhaval Mudgal who had been fighting a quiet and determined battle right through. Shortly into the 14th Level with the tournament clock just under the 8 hour mark, tournament director Craig Wildman announced that we should forget the November 9 as we now had the India Poker Championship’s ‘December Nine’.
The first elimination of the final table was tournament regular Bobbe Suri. Bobbe who had a healthy stack entering the final table had one hand against Amit Jain whose pockets Jacks hit got a break on the river to hit trip against Bobbe’s K Q which had hit a K on the flop. This was a monster pot which left Bobbe severely shortstacked on just 2000 in chips. He did manage to quadruple up but got busted by Jan’s T T which sent Bobbe’s Q J off to the rails. In the mean while Sushant (Q 6) rivered a straight to eliminate Rahul Melwani (K J ) in 8th position. One of the biggest pots of the night took place between Prabeer (A K) who had Amit Jain (A Q) dominated preflop but could only shake his head when a Q hit the flop and then the turn to knock him out in 7th. It was then the turn of the initial chip leader Abhishek Goindi who shoved with A 6 and was quickly called by Aditya Sushant (K T)- once again, no love for Abhishek who exited in 6th as Aditya made top pair on the flop.
Through all this Card Player’s very own Dhaval Mudgal had been playing patiently looking for a spot to commit all his chips into the pot and did so when he looked down to see A 4 suited. Its Aditya once again who calls with A Q. No help for Dhaval on the board and he exits from the Main Event in 5th place. Aditya is on an absolute tear as he eliminates Pokerguru pro Jan Hlobil and Amit Jain in 4th and 3rd positions. After a few hands, not to mention a lot of drama, Aditya gets his chips in with a pair of 5s and Farukh decides to make the call for his tournament life with Jd 9d. The flop 8s 3d 5d giving Aditya trip 5s but Farukh is still in it with a flush draw and when the turn brings a 7 his chances improve with a gutshot possibility being added to the flush. A huge sweat for both players as the river drops a harmless 4 and Aditya Sushant is the new India Poker Champion! He played a very aggressive game and often times won the hand when he was behind. But modern poker is about aggression and Aditya was rewarded with Indian poker’s biggest prize for taking the risks that he did. A special mention for first runner-up Farukh who had been battling illness since he got into Goa even being hospitalized for a few hours on Day 1.
Day 4
The final event of the weekend was another 5k Freezeout. The organizers had mentioned there were requests in past events to add Sunday night to the tournament weekend for those folks who could stay back. Keeping that in mind and also to appeal to the smaller stakes player, the IPC 5k Freezeout was introduced for this December event. The action was very loosey-goosey as many players got their chips in with marginal hands. There were a few bad beats but most ended up paying the price with the loss of their tournament life. Eventually at the end of the late entries, there were 93 runners.
Several prominent names got knocked out before the end of the 4th level including the India Poker Champion Aditya Sushant, Arjjun Singh and Rajesh Goyal. Main Event runner-up Farukh Shaikh and Dhaval Mudgal too got eliminated a couple of levels later. As the tournament progressed the number of bad beats seemeed to go up.
After a series of deep runs, Aditya ‘Intervention’ Aggarwal finally made his first final table of the IPC, that too as overwhelming chipleader.. First elimination on the final table was Lawrence Sanjay who had quite the run coming into the final table knocking out several players. But his T T were no match for Dr. Ravi’s pair of Ladies. But the good doctor was unable to last long getting knocked out in 8th place. Intervention who’d taken a huge beat against Satish earlier was now once again staring at elimination from his nemesis who’d made the call. A King on the flop for Satish and Aditya goes out in 7th place. The man with the spiky hair, funky red shades and spicy name, Raghav ‘Chilly’ Singh was the next to go in 6th place knocked out by Sachit. Rocky Motwani then busts out Satish in 5th place and follows that up by eliminating Sachit in 4th.
3-way action then ensues between Rocky, Amith and Kavin. Kavin with pocket Jacks then eliminates Amith who was holding A T. Headsup between Kavin and Rocky goes on for a while with hands and smallish pots being traded. Rocky picks up a few pots in a row and then makes another push with A 3. Kavin calls to loud cheers from the Bombay contingent when they see a baord of 8 8 3.The turn throws up a 6 and it’s all over as the celebrations begin even as the river shows an inconsequential King. Kavish Shah is the IPC 5k winner and a commendable 2nd place for Goa local and tournament regular Rocky.
An exciting 4 days of tournament poker, the IPC created great excitement by starting their ‘Player of the Year’ standings and the title of ‘India Poker Champion’. We at Card Player India look forward to their next event, hoping this time to add a win to our bag!
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