Day 2 - IPC 10k Freezeout

Day 2 of the India Poker Championship started off with about 66 registrations. Late registrations were accepted till the first hour of the tournament. By the end of that hour, there were a total of 74 players who took part in the 10k Freezeout.

As in our previous editions, there were 'repeat offenders' from the final of the 5k tournament who eventually made it to the final table of the 10k event. Aside from winning the big one at the end of the night, a good poker player will always take heart and pride in his consistent performances at the felt. And a couple of these players had every right to be proud of their consistent play which got them into the money. Here is what the final table of the IPC 10k Freezeout looked like:-

1. Seat 1 - Sandeep N - 51,000
2. Seat 2 - Yogesh - 34,000
3. Seat 3 - Susmit P - 39,000
4. Seat 4 - Anil D - 4,000
5. Seat 5 - Shreyabha P - 64,000
6. Seat 6 - Nikhil M - 88,000
7. Seat 7 - Sailesh L - 33,000
8. Seat 8 - Rishi - 7,000
9. Seat 9 - Paras K - 51,000

The final table began with chipleader Nikhil M from Delhi holding the big stack and the first of our back-to-back final tablists, Anil holding a tiny stack of 4000 chips. It seemed like Anil would ending up busting first once again on his second final table of the evening. However it was Susmit from Mumbai who made a push and ending up losing the hand bustng out in 9th place. A good performance from Susmit who has proved to be a consistent money-finisher in many of the tournaments he has taken part in. The other short stack at the table Rishi then got eliminated in 8th place which meant that Anil would end up going 2 better than the previous night when he was knocked out in 7th place. The next two players to go were Paras and Yogesh in 6th and 5th place respectively. Yogesh was hanging to his car keys and chip stack for the longest time battling away for his tournament life. It then came down to 4-way action which had our other back-to-back final tablist from last night, Sandeep N wanting to make sure he would take home the big prize of the night. He shoved with 6 6 and was called Nikhil's A 6 which spike an A on the flop and ended up knocking out Sandeep. A rock solid performance from Sandeep ensured that he ended one better by busting out in 4th place.

When it was down to the final 3 players, it was Nikhil who had about 50% of the total chips in play. Shreyabha was in 2nd position with Sailesh having the short stack. Hands were traded back and forth with Nikhil using his stack and position to stamp his authority on the final table. Chips continued to move around the table but the stack remained more or less the same till a big pot won by Sailesh through Nikhil ended up making all three stacks virtually identical. Shreyabha was bleeding chips and decided to make a stand but was done in by Nikhil and then it was time for headsup. Headsup play lasted for about 45 minutes before Sailesh's KJ of clubs busted out Nikhil's hand ensuring that he would be the new IPC 10k Champion. Apparently Sailesh had already put in a 24 hour session at the cash tables before entering the tournament so his achievement is even more commendable given the physical and mental strain the IPC tournament puts the player through.

Shreyabha (3rd), Sailesh (1st) and Nikhil (2nd)

It was a wonderful end to an evening filled with a lot of action and excitement. A big congratulations to our winner and all our final tablists who made the money. 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...