Deltin Poker Tournament delivers India’s first live festival in nearly a year; Ramesh Rao Thotapalli wins the Main Event

More signs of live felt activity in Asia as the Deltin Poker Tournament (DPT) completed its first live series onboard the Deltin Royale in Goa, India in nearly a year. With Covid-19 cases still an issue at various locations around the country, it was uncertain as to the turnout. However, it seemed, poker players had been craving the moment as many grabbed at the chance to go mano a mano, resulting in record breaking attendance. Taken from the Pokerguru news site, Business Head of Poker at Deltin Royale, Manish J. Adnani expressed,

“The series’ numbers were surely past my expectations,… It was overwhelming to see this kind of participation, especially the 421 entries in the Main Event. Many players also made it for the event through satellites on Adda52. The team has worked relentlessly to deliver a great experience.”

The 2021 DPT Xpress live series ran from March 11 to 14 with four events served, headlined by the highly lucrative ₹ 15K buy in Main Event. Ramesh Rao Thotapalli came out victorious for his largest known live tournament cash of ₹ 12,04,000 (~US$ 16,600). Other event winners were Shrey Baj, Sandeep Ramesh, and Gautham Raju. All winners were first time champions. We’ve provided a brief rundown of the final table results down below.

₹ 15K Main Event – RAMESH RAO THOTAPALLI – ₹12,04,000 (~US$ 16,600)

The Main Event took place from March 13 to 14 with 421 thundering across two entry flights. The turnout crushed last year’s DPT Xpress Main Event attendance of 192 entries. In tandem, the prize pool was just as large, amounting to ₹ 58,05,590 (~US$ 80,000) of which 53 players earned a cut. Many of the country’s known pros were in attendance; among those advancing to Day 2 were Abhishek Goindi, Sangeeth Mohan, and Dhaval Mudgal who eventually found his way into the final table. Mudgal charged all the way up to 3rd place. Taking the gold was Ramesh Rao Thotapalli for ₹ 12,04,000. Thotapalli was the series’s largest earner.

Final Table Results

1st Ramesh Rao Thotapalli – ₹ 12,04,000

2nd Sameer Agarwal – ₹ 8,07,240

3rd Dhaval Mudgal – ₹ 5,32,660

4th Shivam Jain – ₹ 3,57,040

5th Mohak Kapoor – ₹ 2,74,600

6th Nikunj Doshi – ₹ 2,27,580

7th Anant Purohit – ₹ 1,91,000

8th Deepak Raina – ₹ 1,54,540

9th Avinash Sharma – ₹ 1,18,260

₹ 5K Burn N Turn – SHREY BAJ – ₹ 3,35,000 (~US$ 4,620)

The series opened with the ₹ 5K Burn N Turn tournament, and with 333 turning up, it was a sign of what numbers lay ahead. Like the Main Event, it broke its past record of 197 entries. 36 players gained a piece of the ₹ 14,93,040 (~US$ 20,570) prize pool with Shrey Baj claiming the lion’s share of ₹ 3,35,000. This was Baj’s first ever known live tournament cash.

Final Table payouts

1st Shrey Baj – ₹ 3,35,000

2nd Nikunj Doshi – ₹ 2,50,000

3rd Sachin Kinger – ₹ 1,55,000

4th KN Suresh – ₹ 1,02,000

5th Gaurav Jain – ₹ 65,000

6th Siddharth Ranshevre – ₹ 65,000

7th Abhishek – ₹ 54,530

8th Ritesh Khatwani – ₹ 44,770

9th Firoz Khan – ₹ 35,180

OTHER EVENTS

₹ 10K Bounty – SANDEEP RAMESH – ₹ 2,75,000 (~US$ 3,790)

Buy in: ₹ 10,000 (~US$ 138)

Entries: 239

Prize pool: ₹ 11,18,220 (~US$ 15,408)

ITM: 24 places

Final Table payouts

1st Sandeep Ramesh – ₹ 2,75,000

2nd Ashit Sharma – ₹ 1,90,000

3rd Archit Garg – ₹ 1,20,000

4th Abhishek Sharma – ₹ 74,000

5th Avinash Rajpal – ₹ 56,760

6th Nitin Hira – ₹ 45,000

7th Aayush Agarwal – ₹ 40, 000

8th Amit Tejura – ₹ 33,100

9th Ritesh Khatwani – ₹ 27,500

₹ 10K Deepstack Turbo – GAUTHAM RAJU – ₹ 4,30,000 (~US$ 5,925)

Buy in: ₹ 10,000 (~US$ 138)

Entries: 171

Prize pool: ₹ 16,42,241 (~US$ 22,630)

ITM: 21 places

Final Table payouts

1st Gautham Raju – ₹ 4,30,000

2nd Akash Singhal – ₹ 2,90,000

3rd Akshit Gupta – ₹ 1,70,000

4th Tanay Hargunaney – ₹ 1,05,000

5th Puneet Tandon – ₹ 80,000

6th Amarnath R – ₹ 65,600

7th Pawan Jaiswal – ₹ 59,641

8th Vishal Singh – ₹ 50,000

9th Milena Mezhuieva – ₹ 44,000