Poker Dream Challenge (Report)

The Poker Dream Challenge was organised by The Shark which took place on the 23rd of October 2010 at Casino Royale, Goa. There was excitement in the air and a buzz all around as the universal poker dream was to come true at this fantastic event- The chance to play at the World Series Of Poker Main Event was to be awarded.

A total of 44 players entered the tournament and while 2 players would be awarded an all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas to compete in the WSOP main event, third place was to get paid out in cash.

The words 'Shuffle up and deal' were announced by the tournament director, Craig Wildman and play was underway. By virtue of being a deep stack tournament the action was guarded at first and no prominent players moved too many chips around.

But soon players had decided to take their chances. Ankush Aggarwala from Calcutta was extremely active early on and showed a couple of bluffs to take down some big pots and move into the early chip lead. By the time of the break at the end of level 2, prominent players like Rajesh Goyal and YJ Kim had started to collect chips. Online phenom Aditya 'Intervention' Aggarwal also became active post level 2 and eliminated a couple of short stacks to move into a chip stack of prominence. But just a few hands later, 'Intervention' shoved all in with Jd 10d and was called by tournament organizer Pranav Bagai with 88's. The board ran out 7d 9d Kh Jc 10s giving Pranav a straight and sending 'Intervention' to the rail.

On another table, Dhaval Mudgal took down a big pot by doubling up on Quad 33's against the two pair of his opponent.

The prominent chip stacks in the room at this time were Leena Musafir, Phil Sanders, Pranav Bagai of The Shark, Card Player India editor Dhaval Mudgal and Goa pro Arjun Singh and with 26 players remaining the tension in the room was palpable.

Two big stacks squared off when Phil Sanders shoved all in on a board of 3c 6s 7s with 3s3d against YJ Kim's 4d5d. The turn brought the 2s and the river a gut wrenching 8s to give Phil a backdoor straight and the chip lead.

The players were battling it out and it was evident that the prize meant a lot to everybody in the room. The chance to be at the WSOP, to maybe being seated next to a top pro like Phil Ivey or Daniel Negreanu and then go on and win the big one was not something that comes by everyday, and every player in the room knew this.

Tounament regular Manjit Asrani soon busted out of the tourney when his AK was crushed by Ankush Aggarwala's set of 33's. Anil' The Machine Gulati was the next to go from the tournament as he shoved with 7s7d on a board of 5d 6s 7c. He was called by Arjun who held 9d8c and with no further help on the board exited the tournament in 18th place.

By the time the final table had been reached, a number of prominent faces like Rajesh Goyal, Avinash Rajpal and Phil Sanders had deep stacks and were looking to make a deep run in the tournament. Soon after the final table had commenced we had early eliminations in Arjun Singh and Pranav Bagai and the tourney was down to 7 players. On a board of Jd Td 2h, Phil Sanders shoves with top pair and is insta called by Rajesh Goyal holding a set of ten's. The board remains clear and we are down to 6. After a lot of pushing and pulling, Avinash Rajpal was eliminated in the money bubble in 4th position and we were down to the final 3.

When Arjun Pasricha pushed all in with his pocket 77's and Lawrence Sanjay annoucned call with KJ off, we were off to the races. The flop delivered the precious king for Lawrence and Arjun Pasrticha was eliminated in 3rd place. Rajesh Goyal and Lawrence Sanjay were declared winners of the 'Poker Dream Challenge'!