India Poker Open, May 2011 - Tourney Report
The highly anticipated first ever India Poker Open (IPO) took place from the 12th-15th May 2011 at the Clubs Card room aboard Casino Carnival, Goa. The response to a new tournament brand at a new poker room, being held on a weekend between two established poker tourney brands was very good. The IPO weekend action included a high stakes INR 100,000 buy-in NLHE freezeout event and the first ever Pot Limit Omaha tournament in India.
A common complaint regarding the poker tournament circuit in India is that players enter the final table averaging 10 - 15 big blinds, which leads to the final table becoming an "all-in" competition. To combat this complaint, the starting stacks and blind structures for IPO events were planned by the organizers in a way that ensured deep stacks and enough room for final table play.
Following action was witnessed at the India Poker Open four day poker tournament:
The first event of the India Poker Open weekend was the 5K re-buy held on Thursday. The event saw a decent response with a field of 51 players starting including tournament regulars such as Dhaval Mudgal, Sangeeth Samoh, Rahul Melwani, Lawrence Sanjay, Rakesh Agarwal, Pranav Bagai, amongst others. The tournament structure allowed re-buys upto the first hour and one add-on at the end of this ensuring fast & furious poker action including 37 re-buys and 35 add-ons. The total pizepool for the event was INR 562,500 with the first 9 places being paid. The eventual winner after almost 8 intense hours of action was Rakesh Agarwal, a regular tourney specialist at the Goa Poker Tournament Circuit.
Thursday May 12th: INR 5K No Limit Hold'em Re-buy
| Finish | Player Name | Prize (INR) |
| 1 | Rakesh Agarwal | 205,000 |
| 2 | Vedant Thadani | 117,500 |
| 3 | Lawrence Sanjay | 75,000 |
| 4 | Barat | 55,000 |
| 5 | Sangeeth Samoh | 40,000 |
| 6 | Niharika Bindra | 25,000 |
| 7 | Dhaval Mudgal | 20,000 |
| 8 | YogeshThakur | 15,000 |
| 9 | Rahul Melwani | 10,000 |
Friday May 13th: INR 10K No Limit Hold'em Freeze-out
Second day of the poker tournament weekend, saw intense action with a field of 54 players vying for the 10k freeze-out title. The event saw a mixture of regular tournament pros such as Rakesh Agarwal, Akash Malik, Rishabh Jhunjhunwala, Dhaval Mudgal and many new faces from around India. An excellent tournament structure saw the event last 8 hours 30 minutes and had a final prize pool of INR 486,000 for the top 6 finishers. Rakesh Agarwal made it back to back victories after winning the IPO 10K freeze-out and guaranteeing the organizers that he would never again miss an India Poker Open event.
| Finish | Player Name | Prize (INR) |
| 1 | Rakesh Agarwal | 175,000 |
| 2 | Vishnu | 110,000 |
| 3 | Padmashree | 70,000 |
| 4 | Pranav | 60,000 |
| 5 | Chintan | 50,000 |
| 6 | Joy | 21,000 |
Saturday May 14th: INR 100K No Limit Hold'em Freezeout
The awaited main event of the India Poker Open was held on the third day featuring a high stakes 100k free-out tournament. The event finally got underway with a field of 29 players and with a late registration at the end of the late registration period, the total field ended at 30 players. Total prize-pool was one of the largest in Indian poker tournament history with INR 27,00,000 and the event organizers, as promised kept the payouts top heavy with an INR 12,00,000 prize for the eventual winner. Rakesh Agarwal tried to top off his excellent weekend with another in the money finish, but was knocked out in 6th place. Nonetheless, this saw him win the "Player of the Series" trophy from the organizers. The final table saw an intense heads-up battle between PokerGuru Pro Mihail Stoykov and Card Player India Chief Editor Dhaval Mudgal. After the chip lead being exchanged on multiple occasions, Mihail won the title and retained his reputation for being one of the best high stake tourney players in India.
Mihail Stoykov with his winning hand & trophy after winning the
Main Event at the India Poker Open - May 2011
| Finish | Player Name | Prize (INR) |
| 1 | Mihail Stoykov | 1,200,000 |
| 2 | Dhaval Mudgal | 800,000 |
| 3 | Jasven Saigal | 500,000 |
| 4 | Vedant Thadani | 200,000 |
Sunday May 15th: INR 15k Pot Limit Omaha Freezeout
The final event of the weekend was an experimental, but first of a kind Pot limit Omaha tourney, which had PLO players in the country excited. Turnout was below average and there seemed to be limited interest in PLO tournaments in India at present. A field of 12 players started with a member of the organizing team from "The Shark", Pranav Bagai winning the event.
| Finish | Player Name | Prize (INR) |
| 1 | Pranav Bagai | 1,00,000 |
| 2 | Vedant Thadani | 62,000 |
Overall, players enjoyed the weekend and complimented the organizers from The Shark and IPRT on excellent structures set for all four days of the events. The organizers were extremely happy with the response and said in a statement "We see India as an emerging, but fast growing market and believe that within the next 12-24 months, India will become a regular stop on the Asian Poker Circuit with multiple international tourneys being held every year. The India Poker Open is the first step towards this direction and will be the Premier Indian Poker Tournament Brand."
The next "India Poker Open" is planned during August 2011 and details of the event will follow.
