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Nasa bags PKO title in IOPC; 4 other wins declared

The Indian poker scene is currently witnessing a record shattering series, the India Online Poker Championship (IOPC), hosted by The Spartan Poker. The series has a total guarantee of INR 8.5+ Crores, a huge landmark moment in India’s poker history. The series began yesterday, 11^th January, and already declared its first five title wins. Among those winners, Abhinav Iyer took home the biggest event title -The Elite INR 30 Lakhs GTD, for INR 7,11,857 after striking a heads-up deal.

Another four events saw huge fields take part from across the country. The first event in IOPC was the NLHE INR 5L GTD. The second event hosted after that on the day was the NLHE INR 3L GTD. The third event for the day was again an INR 5L GTD NLHE and the fourth event was filled by The Elite. The last event of the day was the INR 8L GTD PKO and saw Akshay Nasa ship it.

IOPC #5 – 8L GTD PKO

This event saw the guarantee crushed by a fresh prize pool of INR 10,90,000 for a buy-in of INR 2,200. Akshay Nasa emerged victorious after firing seven bullets to bag the 1^st place cash prize of INR 1,97,290, beating 545 total entries (including 274 re-entries). He played almost seven and a half hours in the tournament and beat ‘flash’ in heads-up battle. Nasa is also in Vietnam right now, playing in the APT Vietnam Kickoff.

Nasa’s online and live record is phenomenal. Among his recent wins include the victory in Adda52’s Mega Suits for INR 7.2 Lakhs. He has accumulated plenty of cashes from past tournaments, live as well as online, and his record looks like a shipping yard, featuring some staggering titles won on various platforms. He has a few live cashes too. His major live win came in August last year when he finished runner-up in the APPT Manila National for $53,197. This welcome win will add another decent pay-check to this bankroll.

This was the second biggest event in IOPC yesterday and naturally attracted a lot of regs which ranked the top 72 paid places. Among them were recent Spartan 2.o.K winner Ankush Aryan aka ‘invinciblewolf’ (14^th – INR 11,990), Sahil Mahboobani aka ‘ImHighIshove’ (17^th – INR 10,355), Sahil Chutani aka ‘$lim$hady19’ (27^th – INR 6,812) and Siddharth Singhvi aka ‘PeterPunter’ (31^st – INR 5,450).

Other regs in the money include Rajesh Shukla aka ‘macchi_fry’ (37^th – INR 4,850), Rubin Labroo aka ‘kornkid’ (41^st – INR 4,850), Anirban Das aka ‘pokernoob’ (48^th – INR 4,360), Kanishka Samant aka ‘Wildflower’ (50^th – INR 4,360), Nadeem Basha aka ‘pokerbill’ (56^th – INR 4,087), Aditya Sushant aka ‘SuperuSer’ (58^th – INR 4,087), Shardul Parthasarathi aka ‘duuurrrrr’ (64^th – INR 3,815) and Ankit Wadhawan aka  ‘d00mtr00p3r’ (66^th – INR 3,815).

IOPC #1 – 5L GTD NLHE

This event was the first one for the day and attracted a huge field of 663 entries for a buy-in of INR 550. Ultimately, the prize pool created was INR 6,48,000. Top 90 places were paid in this with a minimum cash prize of INR 1,846. The player to emerge victorious and the first IOPC title winner was ‘imalucksac’.

He beat the well-known young grinder Nadeem Basha aka ‘pokerbill’ in heads-up to bag INR 1,15,668 as the 1^st place cash prize. Basha also took home a good amount of INR 83,268. The final hand saw the eventual champion ‘imalucksac’ go all-in pre-flop with Nines. Basha made the call with As Qh and the board came to 4c 7h 3h 3s 9s. ‘imalucksac’ shipped the event with a full house beating Basha’s 3-pair.

IOPC #2 – 3L GTD NLHE

The second event was also an NLHE but with a lesser buy-in of INR 440. The event drew 512 entries making the prize pool come to INR 3,85,600. Top 72 positions were paid from the prize pool and the player to top that was Sachin Nanda aka ‘vivid _sachin’. He took home INR 69,794 for his victory, beating ‘Immmortal killer’ in heads-up.

The event’s final hand also saw a pre-flop all-in by the eventual champion, Nanda. He was with Ah 7c and his opponent with 3d 3s, who later made the call. The board came to Js 9h Kh 2s 7h and Nanda instantly bagged the title with his higher pair of Sevens beating a pair of Threes.

We talked to Nanda after his win and he said, “It was a good turnout of players and the tournament gave good value for money at INR 440 entry-fee. The tournament’s structure was nice however I think deal on Final Table should be enabled. Overall I had good experience playing with a competitive field.”

IOPC #3 – 5L GTD NLHE

This event drew 398 entries for a buy-in of INR 880. The prize pool came to INR 5,45,600, surpassing the original guarantee. Top 54 places were paid, out of which, the champion was ‘avinkon’, taking home a wholesome INR 1,00,936 as 1^st place prize. He beat the well-known Nishant Sharma aka ‘FunkyouFTW1’ in heads-up to bag his title. Sharma, who made a record Indian finish at 2018 WSOP, took home INR 72,838 in the IOPC and is currently in Vietnam and has progressed to Day 2 of APT Kickoff Main Event.

All the events of the Day 1 of IOPC shattered their respective guarantees and this was expected, given the enormous glamour and prestige associated with the series. Stay tuned to GutshotMagazine.com for first IOPC updates and results as well as general poker news from around the world.

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