IPC Feb - 10/2/2011 - 5k Freezeout

The first event of the year is always an exciting one and with the IPC 5k kicking off proceedings for 2011 with its February event there was a lot of anticipation among players especially after the stupendous success of the last edition in December. The run up to the event though was not as smooth as we expected it to be… About a week or so prior to the event, there were some issues faced by our host venue Casino Royale with regards to some licensing matters. As a result of which the casino was shut down by the authorities for a day or so. While we weren’t immediately concerned, there was a twinge of wariness which crept in given how close this happened to our first event of 2011. 

As Indians we’re great believers in karma and good luck and this was not necessarily the most auspicious of signs to begin the year off with.

 Fortunately the matter was sorted and the poker room was back in action barely 48 hours after all this went down. There were a lot of queries from players especially those involved in the stock market as the stock of the company owning the casino took a bit of a pounding upon news of the casino operations being affected. A flurry of phone calls and emails were exchanged between us and the players as well as the card room and soon the matter was at rest. And so soon after the day was upon us and come the evening of the 10^th we looked forward to meeting the players. As is now typical of our Thursday tournaments, the card room was packed to capacity when we started with 100 seats being filled up. By the end of the Alternates round an hour later, the final count was 103. The start to the weekend was a good one after all and it was hoped that things would get only better as the tournament weekend progressed.

The action began fast and furious with eliminations taking place minutes into the tournament. Over the past many events done, the IPC tournaments have become better and smoother in operational terms and this was very evident from the way the tournament progressed with no hitches with regard to time. As the tournament clock hit the 5 hour mark, we were down to the final 2 tables.
There would be a 10-handed final and all places would not only make the money but also score points on the IPC Player of the Year leaderboard. About half an hour later, the final table took their seats to much fanfare and this is what the player list along with their chipstacks looked like:-

1.       Dhaval Mudgal – 47000
2.       Dheeraj Pulluru – 41000
3.       Srinivas Reddy – 35000
4.       Banotpal Chakraborty – 40000
5.       Aditya Sushant – 46000
6.       Mehernosh Captain – 35000
7.       Vikram Verma – 40000
8.       Praveen Tammana – 61000
9.       Prabeer  Nair – 123000
10.   Vitali Bezylava – 40000

As our tournament director Craig Wildman aptly put it, he had never seen a final table at any Indian tournament with so many closely matched stacks. Leading from the front with a superstack was, tournament regular and well known pro, Prabeer ‘Rotty’ Nair who was looking to make the moves and get people out in a hurry. His aggressive style did mean his stack taking a few swings. The only non-Indian at the table was the first to go. Vitali Bezylava played an aggressive and fearless game to get to the final table but could not get anything going and busted out in 10^th. His exit was followed by that of Dhaval Mudgal of Cardplayer India. Dhaval who had a good showing in the December Main Event was able to add some more points to his name in the POY race. Next to get busted were Srinivas Reddy and Praveen Tammana in 8^th and 7^th place respectively. Our 6^th place finisher was Mehernosh Captain who was followed out by Banotpal Chakraborty in 5^th place. Vikram Verma was the next to go in 4^th place and it was then time for the final 3 to battle it out for the title.

Seasoned pro Rotty Nair, IPC Champion Aditya Sushant and Hyderabad’s Dheeraj Pulluru were evenly matched in stacks when 3-way action began. Sushant, who was down to 100 chips right at the start of the tournament, had clawed his way back into the tournament making some superb plays and milking his big hands for all their worth. He did have more than his fair share of luck by getting lucky a few times on the river and holding on for his tournament life. However the rub of the green does need to go your way if you have to outlast big fields and Aditya had it in spades. He and Rotty repeatedly got into hands and chips were moving back and forth between the two given their aggressive styles of play. Eventually though Aditya managed to best Rotty and knock him out in 3^rd place. It was then headsup between Dheeraj and Aditya which didn’t last too long. With a substantial chiplead Sushant put Dheeraj all in right away into the headsup battle which Dheeraj called looking relatively at ease when the cards were flipped over:-

Aditya Sushant – 10 2

vs

Dheeraj Pulluru – K J

A King in the window looked to make both the stacks equal but it seems Aditya’s got the luck of the devil at exactly the right time he needs it. Sure enough his Doyle Brunson hits the deuce on the river to knock out Dheeraj and seal the win! It was a rollercoaster ride for the India Poker Champion (website link) who managed to ride out an early near-disaster to come back and taking down the title. A commendable 2^nd place finish for Dheeraj who played solid on the final table to score a healthy payday. As far as Aditya Sushant is concerned he seems in a hurry to close down the POY race as this win puts more distance between his and the rest of the field. Everyone is now playing catch-up to this Chennai native who becomes the first ever player to win two titles at the IPC and that too in back-to-back editions!

More excitement coming up tomorrow with the IPC 10k Freezeout.
Stay tuned...