IPC Feb - 12/2/2011 - The 20k Big Game

And the highlights of the weekend is here... tonight is the 20k Big Game! And as the name suggests this will be the biggest game of the weekend not just in terms of the buy-in but also the prizepool. When we had the 25k Main Event in December last year, our expectations were to cross the 70 player mark. That would be a clear indication that the scene, and therefore the IPC, had grown progressively. Eventually we had 87 runners in that tournament and that made us a touch wary as we weren't sure if this number was an anomaly brought about by it being peak season time in Goa. So while preparing for the Feb event, we kept the same number of 70 in our minds as an indicator. If we hit or crossed 70, it would reconfirm that we and the scene had indeed grown.

So we were justifiably pleased that when the Alternates hour came to an end, there were 77 players who would play for the title of the 20k Big Game. The deepstack nature of this tournament means that players tend to take it nice and easy in the initial rounds as there are lots of chips to play. Others like India Champion Aditya Sushant believe aggression is the key from the get-go. While it has helped him in the past, this time around his flush draw did not get better against his opponent's flopped 2 pair. And just like that dream of making another big score on the weekend was gone... As the game went on, one began to see the more regular faces still remaining in the mix. People like Anil 'The Machine' Gulati, Bobbe Suri, online poker phenom Aditya 'Intervention' Agarwal and others. And so it came to be at the final table as well that many of these names made another appearance there. Here's the final table with the respective chipcounts:-

1. Amit Raheja - 144,000
2. Minica Chhabria - 118,000
3. Rahul Melwani - 99,000
4. Bobbe Suri - 83,000
5. Amit Jain - 72,000
6. Abhishek Goindi - 71,000
7. Aditya 'Intervention' Agarwal - 67,000
8. Shreyabha Pandey - 46,000
9. Gaurav Mehra - 38,000
10. Anil Gulati - 32,000

Of course since only the top 10% of the field would there would be only 8 payouts which means 2 players will walk away from this final table without anything. And the unfortunate 2 were one-time chipleader Amit Raheja and Anil Gulati. Raheja who had a commanding chiplead at the start of the final table was unable to capitalize on his big stack and as is the case sometimes, all it takes is a few hands for things to go badly wrong. The Machine on the other hand played his usual brand of tight solid poker but wasn't able to convert it into a final table money finish. What was interesting and heartening to see was a girl finally making it to the final table and that too in the big game. Mumbai’s Minica Chhabria was second in chips and looking to be the first woman to take down an IPC title. Since this tournament was only paying out 8 players, the unfortunate bubble boy was local pro Anil ‘The Machine’ Gulati whose solid tournament play was unable to see him to the money this time. 

In the end it was an all-Mumbai 3-way for the title with Amit Jain, Bobbe Suri and Gaurav Mehra gunning for the 20k title. When he entered 3 way action, Bobbe Suri Suri was on the short stack but in a matter of hands he gained the lead, lost it and then gained it back again! Gaurav Mehra would then get eliminated to make it headsup between Amit Jain and Bobbe Suri. Jain, primarily a cash player, was playing his first big tourney and looking to make a big score but it would be a repeat final tablist Bobbe who would prevail and take down the IPC 20k Freezeout title. The deepstack event was a long and exhausting one with the game winding up at just past 8am. Tomorrow is the final tournament of the weekend and expected to be a little more chilled out than the previous games.