Prasit Chowdhury wins WPT Prime India Main Event for IN₹ 8.66M (~US$ 105,800); up next WPT Prime events in Slovakia and Vietnam

 

India’s Prasit Chowdhury emerged as the first World Poker Tour (WPT) Prime India Main Event champion and took home the largest live tournament first prize in WPT India history of ₹86.60 Lakhs (~US$ 105,800). Chowdhury also won the coveted  $10,400 seat into the WPT World Championship in Las Vegas this December.

With no prior live stats in Hendon Mob, this may well be Chowdhury’s first ever live tournament cash. Chowdhury bested a WPT India record-breaking field of 857 entries, topping some of the best in the country. Among the attendees was WSOP bracelet holder Abhinav Iyer who was a favorite at the final table and reached 5th place. Down the rung were Ladies Event champion Kanchan Sharma (27th) and WSOP bracelet winner Aditya Sushant (36th).

Other notables in the field but missed the money were WSOP bracelet holder Kartik Ved, Nikita Luther 2019 WPT Main Event champion Ashish Munot, pros Kunal Patni, Sumit Sapra, Manish Lakhotia, Dhaval Mudgal, and Jasven Saigal.  

The thrilling five day showdown kicked off on April 13 onboard the floating Casino Deltin Royale in Goa and ran through April 17. With a buy in of IN₹ 65,000 (~US$ 800), the prize pool soared to IN₹ 50,648,700 ($618,830) with 107 earning a cut. Read up on the detailed action via the WPT Live Updates.

Winner’s story

Chowdhury dominated the field from day one, leading the pack on Day 1C and entering Day 2 as the overall chip leader. He kept this intact to reach the nine-player final table ahead with 41 BB. Running second was Amit Tejura with 39 BB whom he eventually faced at heads up, and Iyer in third rank with 38 BB.

The early rounds were troublesome for Chowdhury, dropping to as low as 12 BB.  He recovered on a double up through Iyer with over . Down to three-handed, small blind Chowdhury three-bet shoved his 26 BB (average stack) with , initial raiser button Kiran Bondu called with . The board dropped for a game-changer trips to Chowdhury. Down to 4 bb, the stunned Bondu soon busted to bring about heads up. Chowdhury was ahead 54 bb to Tejura‘s 31 bb.

After an hour of play, the dramatic final hand was dealt. Tejura , Chowdhury , a King found the river .

Dates: April 13 to 17
Buy in: IN₹ 65,000 (~US$ 800)
Prize pool: IN₹ 50,648,700 ($618,830)
ITM: 107 places

Place	Player	Prize in IN₹
1	Prasit Chowdhury	8,660,000
2	Amit Tejura	5,775,000
3	Kiran Bondu	4,250,000
4	Siddharth Jolly	3,180,000
5	Abhinav Iyer	2,400,000
6	Sudheer Chowdary	1,825,000
7	Jaydeep Singh	1,405,000
8	Jaydeep Dawer	1,096,700
9	Soham Pal	860,000

Up next: WPT Prime Slovakia and WPT Prime Vietnam

The WPT continues to expand its reach with its next Prime stop in Bratislava, Slovakia This will be the brand’s first ever visit to the country. WPT Prime Slovakia runs from May 3 to 15 at the Card Casino Bratislava. Over €1.26M is guaranteed. The largest is the Main Event which takes place May 11 to 15 featuring a €500,000 guarantee. Buy in is €1,100. 

Immediately following that event, the brand returns to Hanoi for WPT Prime Vietnam at the Crown Poker Club. Last year, WPT launched its Prime series at this location. It drew a WPT Vietnam record turnout of 777 entries for a prize pool of around US$ 738K. India’s Zarvan Tumboli shipped it.

The upcoming event runs from May 16 to 29 featuring 38 trophy events and VN₫ 28.5 Billion (~US$ 1,212.200) in guaranteed prize pools. The Main Event will be the largest ever seen of VN₫ 12 Billion (~US$ 510,000) setting a new standard for other festivals to follow. Buy in is VN₫ 25,000,000 (~US$ 1,065).