Finally, the moment you all have been waiting for is here! The country’s first live poker series of 2021 ‘DPT Xpress’ to be held in Goa is just two days away. The popular live poker series is happening after a year ever since the COVID-19 disrupted what promised to be a massive year for live poker.
Running from March 11 to 14 at the Deltin Royale in Goa, the series promises a world-class live tournament experience. It kicks off with a 5K Burn ‘N’ Turn (RE/A) followed by a 10K Bounty (RE) on March 12. The series culminates with a 10K Deepstack Turbo (RE) on March 14. The biggest highlight of the series will be its 15K Main Event running from March 13 to 14. The main feature of the series is that you can go with a small budget and grind through the entire series with just INR 40K.
Ahead of the first live poker festival of 2021, we decided to look back and relive the top moments from its 2nd edition hosted in March 2019 at the picturesque Deltin Denzong in Gangtok, Sikkim. Aimed at giving mid to low-stakes players a chance at experiencing world-class live tournament poker, the 2nd edition of the series was quite successful in bringing out some new faces and attracting a few tournament regs. The biggest highlight was its 15K Main Event and it was Ankit Jajodia who earned the bragging rights of becoming the second champion of the Main Event. Let us look back and relive the top moments and highlights from the second edition of the super-value series.
5K Burn N Turn Winner – Debashis Bal
The second edition of the series got off to a great start. The series opener, the 5K Burn N Turn event, pulled in 130 entries and eclipsed the previous turnout of 122 entries for the event. While several familiar faces were seen in the competition including Ankit Jajodia, Burn N Turn champion Vivek Anand Baskey, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Karan Sawhney, and Manjit Jajoo, outlasting the field to take down the title was Debashis Bal who collected a handsome paycheque of INR 1.60 Lac.
The top 11 places were paid out in the tournament, with Shivam Shukla taking on the unfortunate tag of the tournament bubble. Yuvraj Choudhary (11th for INR 14,000) was the first player to finish in the money, while Ankit Jajodia bubbled the final table and finished 10th for a payout of INR 18,000. The inaugural DPT Xpress Main Event champion Bhola Sharma finished 9th for INR 23,000.
Final Table Results (INR)
- Debashis Bal – 1,60,000
- Abhishek Mazumder – 1,10,238
- Shekhar Agarwal – 75,000
- Vikramjeet Singh Pandher – 57,000
- Sanchit Pande – 48,000
- Cyrus Pesi Sidhwa – 48,000
- Anant Purohit – 34,900
- Sahil Parakh – 28,000
- Bhola Sharma – 23,000
10K Bounty Winner – Sandip Jhawar
The fast-paced event drew 47 entries falling just one short of the previous turnout of 48 entries for the event. After 16 levels of gruelling play, Sandip Jhawar championed the tournament to bag his first-ever live title along with INR 85,000. Jhawar entered the final table with the third-biggest stack and steadily worked his way to the top. After bringing about the eliminations of Sahil Parakh, and Nikhil R, Jhawar squared off against Jasdeep Nagpal who finished runner-up for INR 50,000.
The race to finish in the money was really competitive. Only the top six places were paid out in the tournament with Karan Sawhney (6th for INR 13,370) being the first player to finish in the money.
Final Table Results (INR)
- Sandip Jhawar – 85,000
- Jasdeep Nagpal – 50,000
- Nikhil Arora – 30,000
- Nikhil R – 20,000
- Kiran Bhujel – 18,000
- Karan Sawhney – 13,370
15K Main Event – Ankit Jajodia
The Main Event was the biggest highlight of the series and outlasting the stiff competition from the 64-strong entry field to capture his first-ever live title was Ankit Jajodia from Shimla who walked away with INR 3.25 Lac. Known mostly for his exploits on the online felts, Jajodia entered the Main Event final table with the third-largest stack and eliminated Anish Kumar on his way to the top. Eventually, he clashed with Sajjan Barnwal who fought hard but ended up as runner-up for 1.85 Lac.
Radhika Shankar was the only female to make it to the Main Event FT and finished 7th for INR 41,000. Bhola Sharma‘s dream of consecutive Main Event title wins ended in 9th place for INR 33,840.
Final Table Results (INR)
1.Ankit Jajodia – 3,25,000
2.Sajjan Barnwal – 1,85,000
3.Anish Kumar – 1,15,000
4.Abhishek Sharma – 80,000
5.Jasdeep Nagpal – 62,000
6.Anish Suri – 50,000
7.Radhika Shankar – 41,000
8.Sanchit Pandey – 38,000
9.Bhola Sharma – 33,840
Tag Team Event – Aayush Aggarwal and Rishab Dalmia
The last event of the series ‘10K Tag Team event’ took less than 12 hours to wrap up and it was taken down by team Aayush Aggarwal and Rishab Dalmia who banked INR 81,300 for their win. A total of 17 teams registered for the tournament. Aggarwal and Dalmia eliminated the teams of Rishav Gupta and Sandip Jhawar, Pawan Jaiswal and Anish Kumar, and eventual runner-ups Rajat Singh and Amit Gaikwad to bag the title and trophy. Team Pawan Jaiswal & Anish Kumar finished 3rd for INR 30,000.
Final Table Results (INR)
- Team Aayush Aggarwal & Rishab Dalmia – 81,300
- Team Rajat Singh & Amit Gaikwad – 52,000
- Team Pawan Jaiswal & Anish Kumar – 30,000