Day 2 - IPC 10 Freezeout

The next day was the IPC 10k Freezeout which was expected to have a decent turnout. By the time the late entries got done, there were 100 players in the tournament! This was a record turnout across all tournaments held in Goa for a similar buy-in! The 10k tournament had an added buzz because we had a celebrity in the house in the form of Bollywood star Harman Baweja. Harman who was originally supposed to come only for the 25k Main Event the following evening had decided to show up a day earlier and get suitably warmed up by playing in tonight's 10k event. 

Players waiting for the 10k tournament to begin

The evening didn't start well for the previous evening’s 5k winner Ricky Chopra. He got knocked in the 2^nd level itself when his flopped straight get hammered by his opponent’s turned full house. Heartbreak for the genial Ricky who was hoping to make another deep run. Other prominent names to get get knocked out in the early stages – Rajesh Goyal (June 20k winner), Farukh Shaikh, Prabhat Saini (June 10k 2nd place) and Sameer Rattonsey (June 10k winner). It seemed that the star from the silver screen wanted to prove a point or two on the green felt as Harman Baweja started off the final table as the chipleader and here’s what the rest of table looked like:-

TD Craig Wildman making notes for his final table commentary

1. Harman Baweja – 161,000
2. Aditya Sushant – 27,000
3. Girish Ganganna – 32,000
4. Vishwanath Murugappan – 88,000
5. Kavish Kukreja – 61,000
6. Umesh – 45,000
7. Hrishikesh ‘Rosh’ Mundargi – 108,000
8. Akash Malik – 82,000
9. Avinash Rajpal – 78,000
10. Ali Haq – 66,000

The short stack at the table, Aditya is the first to go after his pocket 6s run into Rosh’s Cowboys. After taking a few hits and getting reduced to just one 1000 chip, it was soon Vishwanath’s turn to exit in 9^th place courtesy Akash Malik. Girish and Umesh are the next two to go in 8^th and 7^th taken out by Avinash and Rosh respectively. Our repeat final tablist from Day 1 Kavish made an impressive run again in a 100 player field to make it out in 6^th place. The big chipleader at the start of the final table, Harman also made his presence felt at the table by knocking out Ali in 5^th position. Down to 4-way action and each of these players would be taking home a minimum of one lac for their efforts. Rosh was the first to get eliminated when Harman (KK) hits the stone cold nuts on a flop of K 2 2! 

Avinash Rajpal (3rd), Akash Malik (1st) and Harman Baweja (2nd)

Harman continues his knockout run when his A K busts out Avinash’s 8 T. It then got down to headsup between Akash Malik and Harman Baweja. There were lots of hands which shifted the chip lead frequently between the two. Eventually both players get it in with Akash holding A 7 against Harman’s K Q. With no help on the board, Harman is knocked out in 2^nd and Akash Malik from Delhi is the winner of the IPC 10k Freezeout. We got to see some great poker from both players but eventually it was Akash who managed to get the better of Harman. A superb 3-figure turnout of players made this event an exciting one with a very hefty prizepool as well. Fingers crossed for the Main Event which will take place tomorrow. The Crew would be extremely happy if we cross 65 players coz that would make it a worthy field for a Championship battle. 

Till tomorrow...