India Briefs: Kalyan Chakravarthy wins the Big Millions and Match IPL Season 2 coming on March 31

Checking in on the poker action in India, Adda52, the country’s online poker giant, recently concluded a highly successful inaugural tournament called the Big Millions. This was the biggest tournament held by the brand with a 1 crore (~US$153,800) guaranteed prize pool.

At the end of the month, action gets underway for Season 2 of the Match Indian Poker League (IPL). The competition is sure to be a heated one with 10 teams hunting down the 40 Lakh (~US$61,500) winner’s purse.

We’ve got those stories for you below.

Kalyan Chakravarthy wins the Big Millions

On March 4, Adda52’s Big Millions saw a massive attendance of Indian players flooding the virtual tournament arena. For just INR 11,000 (US$170), each one bought themselves a chance at the 1 crore guarantee – the biggest prize pool offered by the brand for a single tournament. However, when late registration wrapped up, things got even juicier. There were a total of 1,175 entries to drive the prize pool upwards to INR 1,17,50,0000 (~US180,700).

In addition to the prize pool, there were other factors that made the event very popular. It was a two-day tournament with the first round held online at Adda52. By the time it reached the Final 8, the game was then paused for the next round, the live game which was held on March 10. The final table-ists were flown to the Deltin Royale in Goa for the race to the title and the INR 28,50,550 (~US$43,800) first prize money. Winning the event was Kalyan Chakravarthy becoming the first player to be inducted into the Big Millions Hall of Fame.

This was an impressive achievement for Chakravarthy who scored big in Macau just last month. On February 7, Chakravarthy finished runner-up at the Doupai Cup Main Event at the Babylon Casino. He earned HK$99,600 (~US$76,600), his largest live tournament payout.

Final Table payouts

1st Kalyan “indiansharebroker” Chakravarthy – INR 28,50,550 (~US$43,800)
2nd Shashwat “shash26” Agarwal – INR 15,48,650
3rd Deepak “orionn7” Raina – INR 10,39,875
4th Harshil “assassinato” Dhingra – INR 7,46,125
5th Aditya “A_Sushant” Sushant – INR 4,70,000
6th Aarush “Stackattack7” A – 3,29,000
7th MIhir “mihirpav” Thakkar – 2,70,250
8th Abhinav “checkshove” Iyer – INR 2,11,500

Match IPL Season 2 on March 31

On November 2017, Match Indian Poker League was launched in Mumbai with 7 Indian poker teams hailing from various cities across the country going up to battle. This was the first time an event of this format had ever been introduced in India. The teams consisted of 10 players, with the objective of scoring a high number of points on the Match Poker App within a set number of hands. The Mumbai All Stars came out victorious, proudly winning the 1.25 crores (INR 12.5 million) on home turf.

With the event’s huge success, coming March 31, the second edition of Match IPL is set to run. This time it will take place in Kolkata. The roster has now grown to 10 teams:

Ahmedabad Hearts
Bangalore Royals
Delhi Aces
Jaipur Jewels
Kolkata Diamonds
Mumbai All Stars (defending champions)
Goa Lions (previously Goa Kings)
UP Indians (new)
Haryana Hawks (new)
Pune Kings (new)

Four teams will receive cash prizes with the winning team earning 40 lakhs (~US$61,500), the largest cut of the 1 crore pot. The winning team will also get the chance to represent their country at the Match Poker Asia Nations Cup scheduled for Bangkok in April.

Article by Triccia David