The last twelve months have been tough especially for live poker players as there has been no major live tournament series in Goa since the lockdown announced in March 2020. However, the long wait is finally over as Deltin Royale and Adda52 have taken the initiative of hosting the first live series of 2021 – DPT Xpress. Touted to be “India’s Most Buzzing Poker Tournament,” DPT Xpress will become the country’s first live poker series to be organised since the enforcement of a COVID-19 lockdown.
The upcoming poker festival runs from March 11 to 14 at the champions den ‘Deltin Royale’ in Goa and promises a world-class live tournament experience with four exciting events, namely the 5K Burn ‘N’ Turn (RE/A) on 11th March, the 10K Bounty (RE) on March 12, and the 15K Main Event on March 13 -14. The series will finally culminate with a 10K Deepstack Turbo (RE) on March 14. Ahead of the first live poker festival of the year, we decided to look back and relive top moments from its inaugural edition hosted in September 2018 at the picturesque Deltin Denzong in Gangtok, Sikkim.
Being the first-of-its-kind, the inaugural DPT Xpress received a huge response from players coming out in big numbers to participate in every event of the series. The biggest highlight of the series was the 15K Main Event and it was the well-known pro-Bhola Sharma who shipped it and became the first champion of the event. Let us look back and relive the top moments and highlights of the series!
Burn N Turn Winner – Vivek Anand Baskey
The inaugural DPTX edition was hosted from September 27-30 in the year 2018. It kicked off with 5K buy-in Burn N Turn event on 27th September, which drew a field of 122 entries. In the end, it was Jharkhand’s Vivek Anand Baskey who emerged as the winner to take down the title for INR 1.55 Lac. Sakwik Gupta finished runner-up to Baskey and walked away with INR 1.06 Lac for his efforts.
The top 12 places were paid out in this particular live tournament with a min-cash of INR 12K. The players who made it to the final table included Vivek Anand Baskey (1st for INR 1,55,000), Satwik Gupta (2nd for INR 1,06,500), Cyrus Sidhwa (3rd for INR 71,000), Ankit Takle (4th for INR 56,000), Nima Dawa Sherpa (5th for INR 44,500), Karan Sawhney (6th for INR 38,500), Vishal Gupta (7th for INR 32,500), Rajiv Sachdeva (8th for INR 26,500), and Harihar Venkata (9th for INR 20,500).
10K Bounty Winner – Prashant Malik
The second event of the first DPTX was 10K Bounty. The fast-paced had 5K+5K buy-in, with 5K going into the prize pool and the remaining 5K going into the bounty prize. The winner to emerge in this event was Gurgaon’s Prashant Malik who outlasted 48 entries to bag the top prize of INR 90K.
The top 6 players were paid out and they included the eventual winner Prashant Malik (1st for INR 90,000), Rajiv Gupta (2nd for INR 53,000), Manish Lakhotia (3rd for INR 31,000), Karan Sawhney (4th for INR 24,000), Shivam Shukla (5th for INR 20,000) and Ritesh Tripathi (6th for INR 14,000).
15K Main Event Winner – Bhola Sharma
The highlight of the series was 15K buy-in Main Event and it found a champion in local pro-Bhola Sharma, who outlasted a strong field of 67 entries (53 unique entries and 14 re-entries) to claim the title. Sharma earned INR 3.40 Lac, while his heads-up mate Pema Ladakhi settled for INR 1.95 lac.
The top 9 players were paid and they were Bhola Sharma (1st for INR 3,40,000), Pena Ladakhi (2nd for INR 1,95,000), Manjit Jajoo (3rd for INR 1,20,000), Deepak Raina – (4th for INR 86,000), Vikash Shah (5th for INR 65,000), Srinivas Balasubramanian (6th for INR 50,000), Mahipal Vala (7th for INR 44,850), Cyrus Sidhwa (8th for INR 39,000), and Jason Pereira (9th for INR 35,000).
Teams Event Winners – Prashant Malik & Deepak Raina
The last event of the series was players’ choice where they were given the option to choose from various formats i.e. Teams event, Heads-up, or a Satellite event for WPT India ME. The players finally opted for the INR 5K + INR 5K buy-in Teams Event and nine 2-player teams entered the special event. In the end, it was Team Gurgaon Blasters comprising of INR 10K Bounty winner Prashant Malik and Deepak Raina, who took down the event to claim the first-place prize money of INR 60,000. Team Shiva Squad (Manish Lakhotia and Rishab Dalmia) finished runner-up for a prize of INR 30K.
Want to join the list of DPT Xpress winners? Get ready for the first DPT X of 2021 starting 11th March!