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