India’s Zarvan Tumboli started playing poker at the age of 16 and has been one of the most consistent winners on India’s poker circuit. Yesterday was a big day in his career, as Tumboli won his first-ever international title at the Opening 300K Guaranteed event at Asian Poker Tour (APT) Macau 2017. He defeated 139 entries on his way to victory, banking an impressive HK$74,300 (~INR 6.14 Lacs) in the first place prize money. 
The opening event had a slow start with the first entry flight attracting only 49 runners while the second entry flight attracting another 90 entries, taking the final field to 139 .The last day of the event saw 36 survivors returning to battle for the title along with the start-of-the-day chip lead Japan’s Ryota Hisayama who continued his good run, managed to maintain his chip lead for the most part of the day and eventually finished runner-up in the event. He had a tough fight with India’s Tumboli but he lost the battle in heads-up and settled for 2nd place prize HK$43,500.
Tumboli entered final table fifth in chips but gradually build up his game. He showed a great character and managed to eliminate Yuan Hang Zhong in 3rd place to begin the heads-up play with 2:1 chip advantage. Tumboli asked Hisayama for a deal which was declined and the big heads-up battle began between the two. While Hisayama had a good start and managed to take down several pots, it was Tumboli who came back strongly and eventually managed to defeat Hisayama to win his first APT Macau title. Before this event, Tumboli took down the India Poker Championship (IPC) 10K Kickoff event in 2015.
The final hand of the tournament saw Hisayama going all-in with his Qd-10s and Tumboli made the call with Kd-6c. The board ran Qh-4s-4c-Kc-10h, giving Tamboli the pot and title. Hisayama fought well but took second place, winning a consolation HK$43,500 in prize money for his remarkable efforts.