India Poker Championship: September Edition

The third edition of the India Poker Championship took place in Casino Royale, Goa between the 2^nd and 4^th of September 2010. The event saw 3 tournaments take place over the 3 days which were attended by players from all over the country who battled it out for the top prizes.

The first day was the 5k freeze out tournament which received a record number of 112 entries, the largest ever in a Goa tournament. The tournament kicked off after a slight delay at around 9 pm and once again due to the large field some tables had to be set up on the upstairs level. The action at first was slow as all the players decided to dig their heels in and wait for premium hands. But by the time the field had been reduced to about 80 odd players, the slightly misguided blind levels took their effect. A bingo competition started as due to average stacks being only about 10-15 big blinds, most players started pushing any hand with an Ace or high cards. By around 1.30 am, the action was down to about 55 players. Bad beats became the norm as an all in with an AK would get called by AJ and the ever stubborn 'J' would appear on the river. The notable stacks around this time belonged to Shravan, Rahul Grover and Sandeep V. As we moved closer to the money, which was to be paid out to the top 10 places, everybody in the Casino started watching the final two tables periodically in the midst of their cash games. A cheer went up as soon as Craig Wildman, the tournament director announced the elimination of the bubble boy.

The final table was dominated by young guns and all the usual suspects were conspicuous by their absence. The small stacks of Anil D (9th) and Nikhil H (8th) were disposed off fairly quickly and Rahul G (7^th), Raj T (6^th) and Sandeep N (5^th) followed suit. Sandeep V who had started the final table as big stack took 4^th place and it was down to the final 3 who decided to split the winnings. For posterity's sake, Nikhil M with the largest stack was declared the winner followed by Shravan C (2^nd) and Rahul R (3^rd).

The 2^nd day saw 74 players competing in the 10k freeze out tournament. The blind levels were well structured on this day and the 9 who made it to the final table did well to eliminate the competition. There were two repeats from Day 1 in Anil D and Sandeep N, and the short stacks of Anil D and Rishi did well to not be eliminated first. Paras and Yogesh were eliminated in 6^th and 5^th place respectively, and at this point the table was dominated by Nikhil M from Delhi. After Sandeep N got knocked out in 4^th place, Sailesh L turned his small stack into the winning stack by eliminating Shreyabha(3^rd ) and Nikhil M(2^nd).

The 3^rd and final day of the IPC event saw 51 players compete for a healthy main event prize pool.

Due to the higher blind levels and deeper stacks in this event, we only saw about 6 players eliminated 3 hours into the tournament. By the time the final table was formed we were well into 7 hours of the tournament. And it was quite a final table as the defending champion Rajesh G as well as Sameer R, the 10k champion from last year were both on the table.

Jasven S was the first person from the final table to get eliminated, catching one of the worst beats of the tournament. His all in with KK was called by Avi R with 7-8. Jasven watched in horror as a 7 on the flop was followed by another one on the river. The short stack of Girish followed him out of the tournament and Gaurav B had the misfortune of being the bubble boy as his AJ was beat by Sameer R's 10's.

As the celebrations for being in the money started around the table, Manjeet and Manish were eliminated in 6^th and 5^th place respectively. Star player Rajesh Goyal could not make it back to back

wins after being eliminated and the tournament was down to the last 3 players.

The short stacked Sameer R, looking for a quick double up pushed with 4-3 and found himself dominated by Avi R and his 10-4. Heads up play did not last too long between Amit V and Avi R and Amit's As8s was called by Avi's 9h6h. A third heart on the turn meant Amit was drawing dead and Avi R became the champion on the IPC main event.