India is inches away from a gold bracelet as two of our pros – Raghav Bansal and the lawyer-turned poker pro Ashish Ahuja are within the striking distance of winning the first WSOP gold bracelet for India at this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP). Both players have entered the coveted final day of the Event #42: $600 Mixed NL Hold’em/PL Omaha Deepstack 8-Handed where there are just eight players left with Adam Lamphere holding chip lead with a massive stack of 17,200,000 in chips.
195 survivors had returned for Day 2 and among them were four Indians, namely Raghav Bansal, Ashish Ahuja, Kartik Ved and Yudhishter Jaswal. Unfortunately for Ved and Jaswal, they could not make it to the final day and exited the event on Day 2 itself. Ved was the first Indian to be eliminated (164th for $1,357), which was his 5th cash at this year’s WSOP. Jaswal, who had started the day as shortest stack among the four Indians, was the next Indian player to exit in 132nd place for $1,357. Indian players Romit Advani (223rd for $1,198) and Nishant Sharma (299th for $961) exited on Day 1.
Seasoned pro Raghav Bansal, who entered Day 2 with the 15th largest stack of 723,000 chips, is third in chips with 9,300,000 on final day among the final 8 players, while Ashish Ahuja is 6th with 6,975,000 chips. The Final Table of 8 players was set on Day 2 after gruelling 12 hours of play when Simon Samokovski was eliminated in 9th place for $16,603 by Adam Lamphere.
With two talented poker players Bansal and Ahuja being among the final 8, India is in strong position to get its first bracelet at this year’s WSOP. Currently ranked 4th in India All Time Money List with a $981,269 in total live earnings, Bansal has what it takes to win the massive-field tournaments and will be looking to stack up and eventually win the bracelet for India. The player already holds several international and domestic titles, along with already two cashes from the ongoing WSOP series.
As for Ahuja, he is the rising star from the Indian poker circuit with one DPT title and several FTs in live tournaments. The player already holds 4 cashes from this year’s WSOP with his best coming in the Event#34: $ 1K No Limit Hold’em – Double Stack (Event #34) where he finished 15th for $ 37,421. Holding a stack of 6,975,000 among the final 8 in this event, he is on his way to win his first WSOP bracelet. Great going by India and we wish both players good luck for the final table where each one is guaranteed $21,469, but all the players will be eyeing the bracelet and the top prize of $194,759.
Final Day Chip Counts:
- Adam Lamphere – 17,200,000
- Dan Matsuzuki – 14,000,000
- Raghav Bansal – 9,300,000
- Rainer Kempe – 8,000,000
- Aristeidis Moschonas – 7,325,000
- Ashish Ahuja – 6,975,000
- Stephen Ma – 6,325,000
- Daniel Moravec – 2,950,000
