In what is becomingly an increasingly popular series, the Indian Poker Championship has seen a good turnout of players this time around, with a closely fought High Roller and Main Event, forming the focal points of the action. Given the recent closure of a tournament series at the Stars Poker Room in Indiranagar for legal reasons, the organisers here could have been forgiven for being a little nervy, but thankfully things went smoothly throughout the series. Despite the hurdles such as this one occasionally arising, poker continues to flourish in India, with the IPC being a shining example of that fact.
High Roller
125 players stumped up the buy in for the High Roller event, which represented a healthy showing, given that the Main Event attracted just under 200. The buy in for this event was INR60,000 (USD$900) and as the tournament moved through it’s middle phase, the eventual winner was not one of the big stacks, he was busily grinding out a relatively short one for most of the way, which makes his victory an impressive feat. After all, playing a big stack isn’t tough, it’s the medium stack that can be awkward. Sangeeth Mohan was the man who eventually took down the title, and will be glad to add another tournament win to his career accomplishments, having had a dry patch since 2013. He is a member of Spartan team pro, and has had coaching from the great Indian player, Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal. He won INR 14.10 Lakhs ($20,527), and later described his long awaited victory as “surreal.”
Sangeeth Mohan (Photo PokerGuru)
Main Event
The total field size swelled to 196 in this exciting event, and with a INR30,000 (USD$450) buy in, there was a very nice prize pool on offer for those who bought in. It took a total of 19 hours to whittle that field down to just one, and like Mohan in the High Roller, the winner didn’t simply steamroller the field – he had to work for the win. After playing tournament poker for almost 5 years, Mukesh Surana was elated to claim his first ever live victory. The man who eventually finished second certainly had a familiar name, but he was not the famous Aditya Agarwal, also known as “Intervention” he was a friend who happened to have the same name. Aditya “Bitti” Agarwal took home INR 8 Lakhs ($11,644) for his runner up finish after a deal was struck, with Surana claiming INR 11,7 Lakhs ($17,028) for 1st place.
Mukesh Surana (Photo PokerGuru)
While congratulations are in order for the champions of our two headline events here, Riyaz S is also worthy of a special mention, having finished 3rd in the High Roller, and 8th in the Main Event, completing impressive back to back final table finishes.
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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