Finally, the biggest extravaganza of the year 2018 – WPT India is here! The event kicks off tomorrow at India’s luxurious floating casino – Deltin Royale, Goa and continues all the way till 19th November.
Kicking off tomorrow with the 20K Kickoff NLH event, the poker fiesta features a total of 8 exciting events with buy-ins ranging from INR 7K to INR 100K for the High Roller tournament. The showstopper will be once again the INR 55K Main Event, which will run from 16th November to 19th November 2018.
Last year, the Main Event drew a record-breaking field with 527 entries, which included some top poker international pros. It was Vikash Mantri who topped the huge field to take down the Main Event title for a top prize of over INR 60 Lac. This year, the event is expected to see even a bigger field with a mix of pros, regulars and new faces as WPT India’s return has already created quite a buzz in the poker circuit.
The second biggest highlight of WPT India will be the 100K High Roller, a two-day re-entry event for high roller lovers running from 18th to 19th November. That is not all, there will be several other exciting events on the schedule, including the 35K Superstack NLH running from 14th to 15th November and the 25K Big Bounty NLH for the bounty lovers, which is scheduled to take place from 15th to 16th November.
The 17th November brings the 7K SHIP IT NLH event, which will be followed by a brand new ‘Shootout NLH’ event on 18th November. Finally, the series will conclude on 19th November with a 20K Turbo.
Business Head of Poker at Deltin Royale, Manish Adnani said, “We are all set for the second edition of WPT India. We expect the field size to be marginally bigger with a 20% increase in participation.”
Talking about the changes that have been made to the schedule, he said , “The Omaha event has been replaced with a 6-Max Shootout, which will add new flavour to the robust schedule.”
#WPTIndia starts on November 16. Make sure to read Danny McDonagh’s latest blog to see how this year’s event is a perfect way to close #WPTAsiaSwing. https://t.co/iRMzMJU42n pic.twitter.com/yvNQ2fCILw
— World Poker Tour (@WPT) November 7, 2018
Over the last month, we have talked to a lot of poker players and they all seem to be excited about the big event. Going forward, we also caught-up with WPT India 2017 winners and they are really looking forward to it. Here are the excerpts of the chat we had with some of the last year’s WPT India winners:
The last year’s WPT India 20K Kickoff champion – Kanishka Samant said, “I am really excited and always take pride to be hosting WPT on Indian shores annually”.
Talking about the participation in WPT India this year, the player said, “Well, it is very difficult to get a booking in Goa around the WPT dates, being a testimony to the turnout, which is going be at least 30% more than last year..it goes to show the WPT excitement is infectious.”
Sharing his excitement, the last year’s Super Stack winner – Sandeep Tulsyan said, “I am very excited. It was a great event last year. This year, I expect more participation and bigger prize money. Last year, I won the Super Stack, this year, I am eyeing to win the main event.”
Encouraging new players to participate in the big event, he said, “It is a must participation for all the budding new players.. They should not miss the biggest poker event in India.”
The last year’s WPT India Bounty Event champion – Sameer Tavanandi said, “After the success of WPT 2017, I m looking forward to WPT India 2018. I think, it will have a good participation and I would love to win a tournament again in WPT India 2018.”
Talking about his plans and preparations, he said, “I have been playing more tournaments than the last time I played in WPT. So hopefully, my game has improved. In WPT, I m really looking forward to the 55K Main event. Last year, it had the highest number of players ever to play in a tournament held in India. I am hoping, it crosses that number.”
Talking about his favourite players to win WPT India 2018 Main Event, he said, “There are lot of great players like Danish Shaikh, Amit Jain, Aditya Sushant, Aditya Agarwal to name a few. They all have huge experience when it comes to poker tournaments. So, naming a favourites is difficult. They all have a good chance of winning the Main event 2018.”
Rahul Melwani, the last year’s Turbo Event champ said, “WPT experience was great, far better than any other live tournament series in India. I think, 2018 numbers should even be better than last time. The hype is definitely big and the number of poker players has grown significantly in a year”.
We also caught-up with other players who did not win any WPT India event last year but seemed quite excited for the WPT India starting tomorrow. Here are the excerpts of the chat with them:
The recent WPT Vietnam Main Event champion – Dhaval Mudgal said, “Honestly, it is always great fun to be back in Goa and I will be in attendance at WPT India. It’s like a poker summer camp for Indian players. As always, the Tax situation sucks but I still hope to see big numbers and hope I can add to the trophy cabinet again”
Talking about his favourite players to win the WPT India Main Event, he said, “My favourites to win the WPT India ME are Aditya Sushant, Sriharsha Doddapaneni, Ashish Munot and Me”.
Popular pro and Adda52 Crazy Leaderboard1 winner – Shravan Chhabria, who has won a ton of tournaments on adda52.com, said, “I will be attending WPT India and I’m expecting a really huge turn-out. With all the young guns expected, it’s going to be very competitive and a lot of fun.”
The recent Mega Suits winner – Mukunda Dasharathy said, “I am a regular at the GOA tournaments. I am really excited to participate in the WPT India 2018 in Goa. I am planning to play the Superstack, Big Bounty and the Main Event. I have a lot of good friends playing the WPT India Main Event and I hope they all do well, top of this list are Vidwath Shetty and Aditya Sushant.”
Sharing his excitement for the event, last night’s Adda52 Millions winner and Adda52 Team Pro – Tarun Goyal said, “I continuously strive towards improving my game. I didn’t really get much time to prepare specifically for WPT, but I am pretty excited for this WPT as I haven’t played a live tourney since a long time. It would be good fun 3-4 days for me. So, I am really looking forward to it!”
So, the excitement can clearly be seen for WPT India starting tomorrow. Both players as well as the organizers are eager for the series to kick off and you can follow all major updates right here!