Maiden victory for Rishabh Vekaria at the Deltin Poker Tournament Main Event
The last Deltin Poker Tournament of the year concluded on August 5 and emerging as the newest Main Event champion was India’s Rishabh Vekaria. Vekaria is a new face in India’s live poker scene making him quite the envy of all. For his first live tournament cash, he overcame the 448 entry field to win his maiden live title and collect a cool INR 3,000,000 (~US$ 42,300).
The DPT Main Event ran from August 2 to 5 at the Adda52 LIVE poker room aboard the Casino Deltin Royale in Goa. The four starting heats dragged in a large crowd of 448 entries making it the second biggest in DPT history. With the World Series of Poker and APPT Manila having just concluded and many players from India making the trip, a field this size was a welcome sight. At INR 35,000 (~US$ 500) per entry, the prize pool grew to INR 10,560,000 or INR 1.56 Crores (~US$ 149,000) to more than surpass the INR 1 Crore guarantee.
At Day 2, players began to dip into the money jar starting at 56th place. Among the notable players claiming a share were: Abhishek Goindi (16th), Vivek Rughani (35th), and Kunal Patni (55th). On the final day, Indian pro Paawan Bansal, led in the final 14 players and carried his stack to the final table where he fell in a respectable 7th place.
Other pros Tarun Goyal (4th) and Anup Palod (3rd) fell in succession leaving Ankur Sehgal and Vekaria to slug it out for the title. Prior to the final showdown, Vekaria railroaded several players to enter with more than a 2:1 chip advantage. It only took one hand to crown a winner. Vekaria’s pocket nines held against 
to take it down without barely a sweat.
Final table payouts
1st Rishabh Vekaria – ₹30,00,000
2nd Ankur Sehgal – ₹21,00,000
3rd Anup Palod – ₹13,80,000
4th Tarun Goyal – ₹9,30,000
5th Amit Tejura – ₹7,10,000
6th Samit Mehta – ₹5,80,000
7th Paawan Bansal – ₹5,00,000
8th Siddarth Singhvi – ₹4,00,000
9th Anmol Chawla – ₹3,00,000
Up next in India… WPT India
The next big event to be staged in India will be WPT India from October 15 to 21 at the Deltin Royale Casino in Goa. Through the years, the WPT has consistently attracted a large crowd. Last season, the tour saw a fantastic 697 entries sign up for the Main Event. This coming season should be just as popular. Main Event buy-in is INR 55,000 (~US$ 800).
