What to expect at the Tournament this time round?

The exciting thing about the IPC for its second edition from 3^rd - 5^th June 2010 is the introduction of Minimum Guaranteed Prize-pools (MGP). If there’s one thing that excites a tournament player, it is the thought of outlasting a big field and therefore scoring a big payday. In the past, people have kept enquiring what kind of a field size they can expect at the India Poker Championship events. This of course can only be accurately answered on the day of the tournament itself. We figured there ought to be a way to provide a clearer number than say a broad range.

And thus the idea of the Guaranteed Prize-pools was born. Now each tournament definitely has a number associated with it and remember, this number is the minimum amount that is being played for. For the IPC 5k Freezeout on 3^rd June, the MGP is INR 330,000. The IPC 10k Freezeout on 4^th June will feature a minimum pool of INR 675,000 and finally the big game, the IPC 20k Freezeout on 5^th June will feature a INR 900,000 prizepool. Of course all prize-pools mentioned are expected to increase given the tremendous player response we’ve received thus far.

The second edition of the IPC is taking place in one of the most popular casinos of Goa – Casino Royale. With the casino running 24x7, players can now get a game whenever they want. The IPC satellites are also running everyday for those interested in winning a seat into the bigger games at a fraction of the cost! A luxurious setting like the Royale, fantastic catering from China Garden, premium beverages and of course world-class tournament poker events make the India Poker Championship the place to be for any poker enthusiast!

For more information, do visit our website at www.indiapokerchampionship.com

What makes IPC different?

As promoters and marketers of this event, our primary goal is to ensure that players enjoy themselves at our events. From the get go, our focus has been on ensuring player satisfaction by doing all the small things right!

So what does make us different from the other operators out there? Let me explain through an example… I have mentioned in earlier posts about our Tournament Director Craig Wildman who does a fantastic job running our tournaments. I believe the reason Craig is a great TD is because he is first a poker player and then a TD which helps him understand both perspectives – the management of the game itself and the people playing the game. The same holds good for us as well. We have been playing the game for almost 8 years now and have been organizing games for about half that time. As players we knew the kind of experience that we personally were looking for. We would often be disillusioned with the games run in our city as there was always some thing or the other that we found lacking. This led to us skipping a lot of games. Not to sound like an excessive nitpicker, but elements like rake and blind structures are vital components for us in game selection.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to player experience. We want to make sure that anyone who takes part in the India Poker Championship walks away with one thought – “I had such a good time that I will return to take part in the next edition of the IPC”. We have received some very encouraging and positive feedback from our players which makes us believe we are on the right track. If we can do this consistently, I believe we will be the best tournament poker event in the country.

For more information on the Championship, do visit our website at www.indiapokerchampionship.com

The IPC website is up and running!

We are very excited to announce that our website is now LIVE! So head to www.indiapokerchampionship.com and take a look. You will find all the information about the tournament and the registration link for the event as well.

There is also some useful information in terms of how to play poker, the history of the game and the basic rules that are implemented in most tourneys across the world including ours.
Some travel information is also included for those of you who are coming in from different parts of the country. We've also got a news feed for poker news from around the world and every so often we will feature some interesting videos in the Video Watch section.

So come on down and check out the website HERE

Guaranteed Prizepools at the India Poker Championship!

June is going to be an exciting month for poker players across the country. With our March edition going off as successfully as it did, there has been a marked increase in the interest levels of the people who are keen on playing in the India Poker Championship.

We received lots feedback about the last event and we'd like to thank all those enthusiastic players who contributed. You know who you are! :) There was plenty of positive feedback and it was awesome to hear that players really enjoyed some quality poker action. We also incorporated some suggestions with regard to the blind structure and we feel the new structure in June will improve the overall player experience.
But while all of this was good, we wanted to take this one step further. So the question in our minds was - What will motivate a player to come to the India Poker Championship? And the short answer was - Money! And plenty of it!

So we are delighted to introduce Guarantee tournaments at the June edition of the India Poker Championship. That's right! Come June, each tournament will have a Minimum Guaranteed Prize-pool (MGP) which players will do battle for. One of the most common questions we are asked is what the player turnout and prizepool will be. This is relatively unclear till the day of the tourney but atleast now, a player will know the minimum he will definitely be playing for. Here's how the breakup looks like:-

The June edition of the India Poker Championship is going to be H.U.G.E! We are now hosting the Championship at one of most popular casinos in Goa - Casino Royale. This Class 7 luxury passenger vessel draws players from across the country. Besides an awesome venue, there is now the added attraction of Minimum Guaranteed Prize-pools which is music to any poker player's ears. So what are you waiting for?!!

To register for the India Poker Championship, click H-E-R-E

IPC March 2010 - Day 3

After an entertaining and exciting final table last night, we finally woke up to Day 3 of the India Poker Championship on Saturday. This would be the final tournament of the inaugural IPC event. The buy-in for tonight's tourney would be 20k.

We followed the same routine of the past few days and headed to the casino at about 6pm. We expected a dip in the numbers for the game tonight for two reasons - A) the buy-in had gone up and that would deter a lot of people from playing and B) it was a dry day for 3 days starting today. We hoped however that people would take a shot in the satellites prior and try to get their seats into the main event. The satellites have been quite the hit with our players and we are sure that going ahead this will be an integral part of our events. When we got to the jetty, there were about 10-12 people waiting for the feeder boat to take them to the main ship. Seeing the lesser number of players at the jetty confirmed our suspicions about the reduced number of participants for the final event. Day 1 and Day 2 of the IPC had garnered 60 and 58 players respectively and we were hoping that at least 35-40 players would show up for the 20k game under the circumstances.

The IPC Winner's Medallion

Eventually 16 players started playing the satellite and it was then that our Tournament Director Craig Wildeman approached the IPC directors with an idea to generate some more excitement and buzz as well as up the number of entries. Craig wanted to run a Single Hand Satellite for an entry into the main event. So players are dealt just the 1 hand and the best hand takes it all. In case of a tie, another hand would be dealt to the tied players to determine a winner. There were a total of 3 seats that were given away through this satellite and it was exciting for everyone, players and spectators both gathering around and shouting out what cards they wanted the dealer to deal. It was a nice little 5 minute buzz for everyone.

Finally we got down to business. There were a total of 27 entrants in the IPC 20k Freezeout. However as the game started Craig mentioned that a few players had called in to say they were getting delayed due to the Hindu carnival, Shigmotsav which was causing some traffic issues, thereby delaying them from coming to the venue on time. Eventually there would be a total of 37 players who would do battle to be the IPC 20k champion. The action was tight to begin with although once again we lost a player within the first 2 hands of the tourney. As the action went on, we had a quick chat with Craig about the blind levels. Over the past couple of days, we received feedback that the blinds levels took at harsh jump after 500-1000 and while it is obvious that this point will be reached at some point in any tournament, we decided to tweak things a bit. We believed increasing the time levels would compensate for the jump in levels and as suggested by Craig, the clock would be increased to 25 minute from the existing 20 minutes once action went into the 1000-2000 level and beyond. After Craig's announcement regarding the change in structure we saw many players nod approvingly at the incorporated change. 


The action then began to increase rapidly and players started to drop out like flies. At the end of the 4th hour of play, we were down to the final table. Phil S, our 10k Tourney winner from the previous night narrowly missed out on making the final table. However it was a back-to-back final table appearance for Keshav S who had played some solid poker to get to the final table. This tournament had 5 payout positions as a result of the reduced number of participants from the previous night. We finally got down to the money when we lost our bubble boy, Rohit. The rejoicing was short-lived as the focus now was to secure the big bucks and the IPC Winner's Medallion. 


Half the table namely Bharat, Kehsav and SV were the the big stacks with only a few blinds separating them and similarly the remaining 3 short-stacked players were Ricky, Tarun and Rohit. Soon enough the inevitable happened and the big stacks got heavier and then it was 3 way action between Bharat, Keshav and SV with Keshav who was on the short stack. Hands got traded back and forth before Keshav's AK gets brutalized by SV's call with a Q9 and he hits two pairs Q and 9 to get knocked out in 3rd place. Keshav's performance like Nikhil Jain (our 5k champ) is quite noteworthy as both gentlemen made back-to-back final tables and had a healthy pay-day for their efforts. 


Heads-up battle lasted for no more than 15 hands. Halfway through those hands SV got crippled by a bad beat when his top pair on the flop got beat by Bharat's one card flush which hit on the river! SV tried valiantly to make a comeback by winning a few pots but luck wasn't on his side when his QQ was called by Bharat's A4 and the board threw up a an A on the flop and eventually opened out a straight for Bharat. And with that hands, loud cheers went up as Bharat.S became the winner of the inaugural IPC 20k Freezeout tournament. Along with a very healthy share of the pool, Bharat was also given an IPC Winner's Medallion, a bottle of French champagne, a DVD of Rounders and an IPC coffee mug. Many congratulations to our IPC 20k winner Bharat S along with runners-up positions for SV and Keshav Sethia.

Close-up of the IPC Winner's Medallion

The team headed to the hotel room to have a few drinks and reflect on what has been quite a successful event for us. While we had hoped for slightly higher numbers, we can't complain about how well things turned out. If there was one thing which disappointed us, it was the attitude of registered players who were no-shows and did not communicate the same to us. Perhaps a lot of them are still unconvinced about the authenticity of the championship and the genuine intent of the IPC organisers to make it the poker tournament event for India and indeed the Indian sub-continent. 


We do hope that those who did make the effort and came all the way to Goa from across the country had an enjoyable and exciting poker experience. It is because of these players who will spread the word that tournaments like ours will grow exponentially and cause India to be the next place on the world poker map to boom. On a personal front, while I didn't get to play any cards, I have enjoyed myself thoroughly by writing these accounts for the readers of this blog as well as updating our followers on Facebook and Twitter.     


Till the next edition...

IPC March 2010 - Day 2

Another day another tournament!

Once again a late night and less sleep leaves us a wee bit bleary eyed the following day as we decided to hang back at the hotel and try to relax before the evening ahead. The original plan was to head to South Goa and get some lunch at one of our favourite restaurants in Goa - Martin's Corner. I guess we will have to do this tomorrow now.

We reached the jetty on time this evening but Murpy's Law came into play once again with the feeder boats getting delayed for the player pickups. Almost 30 players were waiting at the jetty anxious to get onboard and register themselves for the BPC 1250 Superturbo satellite for seats into the IPC 10k tournament later this evening. At the venue players quickly registered themselves for the Single Table SnG satellites. One seat per 8 players would be awarded. Finally 4 tables were filled up with 32 players and eventually 4 players won their seat at a fraction of the cost into the IPC 10k tourney.

It was then time for the tourney to begin. Many players were playing at the cash tables to kill time before the main game of the evening was to begin. Finally 55 players started the in the 10k tourney. With a few late entrants the tournament was closed with a final field of 58 players. The action till about halfway thru was SUPER tight!! No one was making any major moves and there was limited action with small pots being played across most tables. Slowly the eliminations began to go up and about 9 levels in we were down to half the field. There was a lot of intense poker action with players battling each other for chips and table domination. We were updating periodically on the action LIVE from the venue onto Twitter and Facebook. There was some quite crazy hands and multi-way all-ins too.

Finally we got down to the final table with varying stacks. The short stack on the table was Phil Sanders who at one point in the tournament was down to ONE chip. But he managed to build his stack a bit and held on to make it to the final table. The other name of interest on the final table was Nikhil Jain who was the winner of the 5k tournament the previous evening. Nikhil who was also down to barely 1000 chips at one point battled hi way back and was at 2nd chip position on the final table. The action on the final table lasted for about an hour with the price of poker getting more and more expensive. Once we were down to the final 7 who were to be paid we had faster eliminations and Nikhil Jain added to his winnings from last night by cashing out in 6th place. It then came down to headsup and it was Phil Sanders who literally came back with a chip and a chair and bested Keshav Sethia in a tournament that lasted 6 hours and 15 minutes. Beating out 57 players, Phil took home a very healthy share of the prizepool along with an IPC Winner's Medallion, a bottle of French champagne, a DVD of Rounders and an IPC coffee mug. Many congratulations to our IPC 10k winner Phil Sanders along with runners-up positions for Keshav Sethia and Arjjun Singh.

Back now at the hotel finishing up this blog post. The clock's just hit 6:30am and I hope to get in a good rest before we begin the action and coverage of the final day of the India Poker Championship. The response has been quite good from the participants and we look forward to having a similar field tomorrow (or tonight as it were) as well.
Catch you on the flip side!

IPC March 2010 – Day 1

The previous night left us a little worse for wear and we barely got enough sleep as the phone was ringing from morning itself with many players calling to enquire about the evening’s event. By the time we took care of that and some other last minute things, it was time for a late lunch at the local pizzeria. Appetites satiated we headed to our hotel to get ready and then head for the venue.

It seems like sometimes nothing seems to go right no matter how much you try and prepare for it. Our driver got lost and landed up at a completely different hotel so we were late getting to the venue. We finally got in about 20 minutes late but Craig and his team had quite efficiently sorted out the players who had come to play for the freeroll satellite for a free seat into the IPC 5k Freezeout tournament later in the evening. There were 27 players who would battle in a superturbo satellite to try and win a free seat into the 5k tourney later this evening.

Once the satellite got done, we mingled with the players and got to know some of them a little more. There was a good amount of excitement from them regarding the tournament and several players displayed a keenness and enthusiasm about the game which we found quite heartening. A short while later, a few words were spoken by one of the IPC directors and then we were off!
There were a total of 60 players who finally registered at the venue. About 1/3rd of these were locals who had heard of the game happening in the weeks before and decided to come and play in our tournament. A total of 7 positions would be paid out for this field of players. The game finally ended a little over 5 hours after it started and we were left with our winner Nikhil Jain from Gurgaon who bested the other 59 contestants and emerged victorious. Besides a healthy cash prize, the winner also received an IPC Winner's Medallion and a bottle of French champagne. Our 2nd place finisher was Jasper Noronha from Mumbai who played aggressively right till the end. Our 3rd place finisher was Deepak Raina from Delhi whose solid play impressed us as much as his stonecold poker face! Besides the prizepool, each of the top 3 finishers received a certificate and a bag of goodies containing an IPC mug and a DVD of Rounders.

Once the game got done a bunch of us sat around and had a long and interesting chat about the game itself and some of the key hands that went down in the tournament. It was a very chilled out time and as organizers we had a good time interacting with our players and understanding their background. Many of the players were really appreciative of the way the tournament was run and a large part of that lies squarely with Craig and his wonderfully efficient team.

I am now back in the hotel room after another long night and the clock has just struck 5 am. Two nights in a row where we’ve stayed up till really late. We are extremely tired but there is a sense of happiness and even pride at the way things got done and it is this feeling this will help us sleep like babies tonight.

Tomorrow being the start of the weekend, we expect our numbers to go up and hopefully we will run another solid event which will be enjoyed and appreciated by our players.
Till tomorrow…