With the first-ever WPT Online India (WPTOI)around the corner, we decided to look back and relive Rajnish Kumar’s story of winning the first-ever WPT India High Roller at the WPT India 2017 series that ran from 7th to 13th November 2017 at the champions den Deltin Royale in Goa. For Kumar from Patna, 2017 was a break-out year as he won not one but two prestigious high roller titles (75K DPT High Roller and 100K WPT India High Roller), collecting INR 68,85,600 for his massive wins.
The most prominent of the two high roller wins was the 100K WPT India High Roller victory as Kumar not only earned the distinction of becoming the first-ever WPT India High Roller champion but also claimed his best live score INR 36,38,000. A well-known name in the high stakes circuit, Kumar outlasted Rajesh Rajpopat (runner-up for INR 24,49,000) in heads-up to clinch his first WPT title.
Rajnish Kumar’s Incredible Final Table Journey!
It was undoubtedly a hard-earned win for Kumar as he had to put up a great fight to best a tough field of 148 entries in the high roller that saw some of the best players from across the country and had even some well-known international names like Bryan Huang and Daniel Weinman in the field.
A high stakes cash game player, Kumar’s final table journey was an extraordinary one. He began the 9-handed final table as the shortest stack with 193k chips and thereafter steadily built up his stack, eliminating Vaibhav Sharma, Phanindra Akkina, Girish Sampath, Amit Sur and Vinay SK to eventually enter the heads-up with Rajesh Rajpopat (runner-up for INR 24,49,000) as the massive chip leader.
In heads-up, Kumar was able to exert pressure on his opponent and ship the title with ease. On the final hand, Kumar moved all-in with his Qx Jx and Rajpopat called with pocket nines. Kumar hit a straight on the board Kx Qx 10x Ax 10x to ship it and became the first WPT India High Roller winner!
Bubble & ITM Players
While the money bubble tag in this high roller tourney fell on well-known pro Vikram Kumar, the event’s Day 1 chip leader Bharath Janardhan (10th for INR 385,000) bubbled the FT. Varun Iyer (11th for INR 3,85,000), Yudhishter Jaswal (12th for INR 3,50,000), Meherzad Munsaf (13th for 3,50,000), Vinay Deshlahra (14th for INR 3,15,000) and Sahil Agarwal (15th for INR 3,15,000) finished ITM.
Final Table Payouts (INR)
1. Rajnish Kumar – INR 36,38,000
2. Rajesh Rajpopat – INR 24,49,000
3. Vinay Sk – INR 14,69,000
4. Sumit Sapra – INR 11,54,000
5. Amit Sur – INR 8,75,000
6. Girish Sampath – INR 7,35,000
7. Phanindra Akkina – INR 5,95,000
8. Vaibhav Sharma – INR 5,25,000
9. Sanjay Taneja – INR 4,54,880
Get Ready for Exciting High Roller Events At Upcoming WPT Online India!
To the delight of WPT fans, the World Poker Tour is returning to India in November with the first-ever WPT Online India powered by Adda52.com. Running from 5th to 22nd November, the series boasts a whopping INR 13.5 Crores along with an additional 35 Lac in leaderboard prizes. The big news for the high roller lovers is that there are several exciting high roller events on the schedule, including the 30 Lac GTD WPT India Mini High Roller on 6th November, the 65 Lac GTD WPT India Super High Roller on 12th November and the 50 Lac GTD WPT India High Roller on 20th November.
So, it is time to get ready to #UnfoldGlory this November on India’s no. 1 poker site – Adda52.com!