Day 1 - IPC 5k Freezeout

A recording breaking field of players on Day 1 of the India Poker Championship, some truly awful bad beats and the young guns dominating the final table of the IPC 5k tournament feature in this report.

The 3rd edition of the India Poker Championship was expected to show increased numbers and while we were confident of a good turnout, the weather was giving us some cause for worry. It had been pouring away in Mumbai for almost a week non-stop and it seemed like there would be no end. So when Wednesday dawned bright and sunny, it felt like the Rain Gods decided to give us a break. As we were boarding our flight, we felt good and were looking forward to seeing some old faces and several new ones at the event.

Action is underway at one of the tables in the IPC 5k

The evening of Wednesday had us at the venue taking care of last minute details. It was good to catch up with Craig Wildman (Card room Manager) after a long time. If you remember June's report, Craig was unable to be a part of our 2nd edition due to visa issues. After sorting out the prep for the following day, we had a long and interesting chat about the Indian and world poker scene. Craig regaled us with some funny and shocking stories about his life as a pro traveling the circuit and some legendary old Vegas tales. After saying our goodbyes to him, we killed a bit of time at the roulette tables upstairs before finally calling it a night.

The day of the IPC 5k Freezeout dawned cloudy and just a tiny bit rainy. We were awakened by the strains of, "Kya paisa paisa karti hai kyon paise pe tu marti hai". After being suitably pissed for being woken up sooner than required, it struck me that this song has some serious Poker Zen. The essence of being a true champion at the felt is to stop yourself from thinking about the money... not too much anyway. There's no doubt about the fact that the money factor is important but a successful player manages to keep it in perspective and rises above such base (?!?) desires in pursuit of the win.

Day 1 of the IPC had a recording breaking field of 112 players for the 5k event and we're quite pleased at having bested our June number of 103. There were additional tables set up on the 2nd level and the total number of seats on offer was 114. There were a fair number of last minute dropouts else I think 120 players was a very real possibility. Anyway that is something to achieve for the next event. Unlike June's 5k event, the early action was a lot slower this time. In June we were down to 27 players within a 3 hour duration. This time however the eliminations were a lot slower and we were down to about 65 players at the 4 hour mark. There were quite awful beats which took place on some of the tables. Almost all of them ended with horrendous river cards that eliminated a player. AK v. AJ with the underdog rivering the J was seen more than a few times. There were 10 places paid out for the 5k event and when we lost the bubble boy a huge cheer went up as Craig made the announcement that we were now in the money. After losing #10, the final table reconvened with the player stacks looking like this:-

1. Seat 1 - Sandeep V - 118,000
2. Seat 2 - Shravan C - 69,000
3. Seat 3 - Rahul R - 29,000
4. Seat 4 - Raj T - 30,500
5. Seat 5 - Rahul G - 58,500
6. Seat 6 - Nikhil H - 17,000
7. Seat 7 - Sandeep N - 24,500
8. Seat 8 - Anil D - 5,000
9. Seat 9 - Nikhil M - 42,000

As is often seen at many a final table, the small stacks got wiped out pretty soon with Anil and Nikhil H taking 9th and 8th place respectively. They were followed by Rahul G (7th), Raj T (6th) and Sandeep N (5th). Sandeep V who started the final table with a monster stack went out in 4th place and we were then down to 3-way action. Eventually it was Nikhil M who prevailed and was crowned the IPC 5k winner. Shravan who was the 2nd big stack at the start of the final table took 2nd place with Rahul R ending up in 3rd. It was an epic 7 hour 20 minute marathon of a game and you could clearly see the fatigue showing on the faces of the Top 3 as they accepted their prizes and posed for pictures. 

Many congratulations to the big winner Nikhil and those who made it into the money. They bested a field of more than 100 players which is a tremendous achievement!

Our big winner of the IPC 5k Freezeout - Nikhil M

We could not have asked for a better start for the September edition of the Championship and look forward to welcoming many of the players from Thursday's game at the 10k game tonight. The weather seems like it will hold up and we expect a good turnout this evening. Will be back to post on Day 2 tomorrow at this time again. Till then if you wish to follow us online, then find our group on Facebook (India Poker Championship). We are also on Twitter under the handle - IndiaPokerChamp

Till tomorrow...