According to a press release from the organisers, the next edition of the India Poker Championship is slated to take place from 03-07 June at the Deltin Royale Poker Room in Panjim, Goa. The biggest change with regard to the upcoming edition is the change of tournament start times. All scheduled tournaments will now begin at 4:00pm every evening.
“We have been planning to have early start times for a while now. It’s the norm in most tournaments across the world and we’d like to incorporate that at the IPC as well,” said IPC co-Director Peter Abraham. This change will allow players to be done with the tournament action a little after midnight on each evening.
The other thing of note that players need to keep in mind is booking their flight tickets well in advance as Goa’s Dabolim airport is presently undergoing repairs on its runways. As a result of this, all flights in and out of Goa will be restricted between 4:00 am to 1:00 pm till 20th June according to reports.
After its triumphant return to the Goa poker landscape in January which had huge numbers, the April event proved to be an even bigger success with records broken in 4 out of 5 tournaments. Falling just short of January’s 289 field, Abhishek Panda outlasted a 283 player field in the 5k Warm Up to take home first place prize of INR 2,85,000. The first record to tumble was the turnout in the 10k Kickoff and what a tumble it was! For the first time in Indian poker history, the field size crossed over the 300 mark with 308 players being the final count for this event. Bangalore’s Sujith Sachinanand overcame this huge field to win the event and score a payday of INR 5,26,000 (after a three-way deal). Then it was time for the 30k Big Game and the numbers once again did not disappoint with another record broken when 236 players took part in this event. Mumbai’s Kanishka Samant emerged as the winner in this event winning first place prize of INR 11,50,000 (after 3-handed deal). The final event on Sunday was the 10k Super Knockout which again drew a record number of 179 players and saw first timer Kunal Kubba taking home the trophy and prize of INR 2,05,400.
The 5 day schedule begins on 03 June with the 6k Mega Satellite where players can take a shot at winning a seat package comprising of all event buyins for the next 4 days. That’s a package worth INR 55,000 in total. To sweeten the deal further, the organisers have guaranteed 5 packages minimum will be given away. There will be unlimited re-entries allowed for the first 4 levels of this tournament i.e. a player must lose his entire stack in order make a re-entry. The 5k Warm Up event on 04 June and the 10k Kickoff on 05 June are freezeout tournaments i.e. no rebuys or re-entries. Minimum guaranteed prizepools for these events are INR 5,00,000 and INR 10,00,000. The highlight event of the weekend is the two day 30k Big Game (Main Event) which will start on Saturday, 06 June and play will end after 14 levels of play. The Big Game also carries a guarantee of INR 20,00,000. The remaining survivors will return on 07 June where they will play down to the winner. 07 June will also see the final side event, the 10k Super Knockout, taking place at 6:00 pm on Sunday evening.
As has become a tradition since its return this year, the IPC will host a Players Party on Wednesday evening right after the conclusion of the 6k Mega Satellite. The party is proving to be a big hit with the attendees as players old and new get a chance to mingle with each other and have a good time before the serious grind over the next few days begins.
For more information on the tournament, visit the IPC website at www.indiapokerchampionship.com