Ashish Nailwal claims first series trophy; Akshay Gupta, Vivekk Dube, & Aditya Kulkarni win events; Nikhil Arora leads 46 survivors of Mini Main Event Day 1A

The Asian Poker Tour 2021 season has officially begun! After a bustling night on PokerBaazi.com, the first winners of the inaugural APT Online Series India 2021 emerged. Taking it to the limit were Akshay “darulerofall Gupta, Vivekk “Vivek25” Dube, Aditya “adit11” Kulkarni, and Ashish “Notoriouskonvict” Nailwal. For the latter Nailwal, he shipped the Kickoff Event to become the first trophy winner of the inaugural series. Congratulations to all the winners! Recaps of these events can be found below. 

If you are in India, then you are in luck. The APT Online Series India 2021 is exclusive to players in India. It runs from January 15 to 26 with over a million dollars guaranteed across 48 tournaments. Three featured events to set your sights on are the MAIN EVENT, CHAMPIONSHIPS EVENT, and the MINI MAIN EVENT. The Mini Main kicked off last night with 46 players surviving Day 1A and Nikhil “blastupinside” Arora sitting up top. 

More games and trophies to be won including APT championship rings and the tour’s renowned Player of the Series title. After four events completed, Vivek25 leads followed by Notoriouskonvict, and dilbaghsingh ranked 3rd. Same ranking on the Daily Leaderboard. Results are posted at the bottom of the page and via this link. The weekend will see ten events light up the felt. More points and cash up for grabs. Make sure to check out the schedule for all the details. 

APT Online Series India schedule 

EVENT RECAPS

APT #1: Kickoff Event – ASHISH “Notoriouskonvict” NAILWAL – ₹ 2.35 lakhs (~US$ 3,200)

Huge victory Ashish “Notoriouskonvict” Nailwal who overcame a deficit at heads up against hot running Ashish “imgabru” Kumar to win the Kickoff Event. This was Nailwal’s first APT triumph which not only came with a cool ₹ 2.35 lakhs first prize but also with the first APT trophy of the series. 

Date: January 15
Buy in: ₹ 2,200 (~US$ 30) 
Guarantee: ₹ 10 lakhs (~US$ 13,700)
Unique: 340 
Re-entries: 281 
Prize pool: ₹ 12.42 lakhs (~US$ 17,000)
ITM: 72 places
Running time: 7 hours and 17 minutes

The opening event drew 340 players with 281 re-entering for 621 entries in total. Four hours in, the bubble burst when short stacked Pranav “pranavpoker” Khandalkar burned out on the small blind. (Hand below) 

It took another two hours before the final table was formed. Arjanveer “holdbaby” Singh (9th) missed his spot at the finals when his K J top pair fell to Sandy “Ziigmund” Lamba‘s 8 5 flush on a board 10 6 4 K Q. At a separate table, Ashish “imgabru” Kumar knocked out M Keerthi “pokerkid08” Kumar (8th) to carry in the second largest stack to the final table. 

Final table action kicked off with Sanket “blackcod” Arora as chip leader which he maintained even after doubling up three players. At six handed, Ashish “Notoriouskonvict” Nailwal went on a rush railing Ytio678 (6th) then Ziigmund (5th) to take command for the first time. However, his stay up top was brief. imgabru claimed a big pot against Notoriouskonvict then finished off akdolos (4th) to take the lead. 

At three handed, Notoriouskonvict dominated while blackcod was slowly being drained until imgabru siphoned off the rest. imgabru had chip advantage at heads up which he widened to 5:1 however closing it out was a difficult task. Notoriouskonvict doubled up with Q Q over J A then took the lead shortly after. From there, the final hand was felted. imgabru shoved with 3 Q, Notoriouskonvickt had 9 K, the board came 8 8 A 10 K

Final table payouts

1st Ashish “Notoriouskonvict” Nailwal – ₹ 2.35 lakhs
2nd Ashish “imgabru” Kumar – ₹ 1.65 lakhs
3rd Sanket “blackcod” Arora – ₹ 1.06 lakhs
4th akdolos – ₹ 78.37K
5th Sandy “Ziigmund” Lamba – ₹ 58.75K
6th Ytio678 – ₹ 47.07K
7th Aastik “Aastikbhatia” Bhatia – ₹ 39.25K
8th M Keerthi “pokerkid08” Kumar – ₹  31.3K

Featured: MINI MAIN EVENT 

The featured MINI MAIN EVENT₹ 50 lakhs (~US$ 68,350) GTD brought in a hungry crowd of 337 total entrants to Day 1A. This was the first of three starting days scheduled. After 27 levels of play, 46 remained led by Nikhil “blastupinside” Arora with 3.17L equivalent to 21 buy in stacks. He is the player to measure up to for players entering the next heat. 

Top 10 in chips  

Nikhil “blastupinside” Arora – 3.17L
Siddharth “schemer” Karia – 2.56L
Nishant “stockfull” Pandey – 2.42L
Akshay “powershell” Asawa – 2.3L
Ikka5 – 2.24L 
Parth “VINAY7690” Aggarwal – 2.15L
Gaurav “gaug17” Sood – 1.8L
Armaan “Armaan007” Kochhar – 1.78L
bozo – 1.64L 
Nitin “philhermouth” Arora – 1.6L

Buy in / re-entry stack: 15K
Chips in play: 50.55L
Average stack: 1.10L

Min Main Event info

Buy in: ₹ 5,500 (~US$ 75)
Guarantee: ₹ 50 lakhs (~US$ 68,350)
Day 1A: 337 entries 
Day 2 qualifiers: 46 players

Day 1A: 46 advanced out of 337 entries
Day 1B: Saturday, January 16
Day 1C: Sunday, January 17
Day 2: Tuesday, January 19

APT#2: Turbo Event – AKSHAY “darulerofall” GUPTA – ₹ 1.57 lakhs (~US$ 2,150)

The Turbo Event clocked in at just over five hours when the 540 entry field was knocked down to one happy player. The last man standing was Akshay “darulerofall” Gupta, capturing his first ever APT win and the ₹ 1.57 lakhs (~US$ 2,150) first prize. 

Date: January 15
Buy in: ₹ 1,650 (~US$ 22.60) 
Guarantee: ₹ 7 lakhs (~US$ 9,600)
Uniques: 279
Re-entries: 261 
Prize pool: ₹ 8.1 lakhs (~US$ 11,000)
ITM: 63 places
Running time: 5 hours and 14 minutes

Picking up the action at the final table, Niraj “ooltus” Yadav entered as the overwhelming chip leader with nearly double his closest competitor however it was Akshay “darulerofall” Gupta who eventually outshined. 

After alwaysriver (8th) tumbled to Aditya “KesarDa” Kesharwani , darulerofall  K A delivered a double bust to Ajoy “ajoy94” Bala 7 K and Chirag “Olandir” Bhardwaj 8 A on a board 2 K 6 2 A, then later railed Ykm1994 in 5th place. KesarDa claimed his second final table victim in Himanshu “pokerbrat7” Arora but minutes later lost it all to darulerofall with A 6 missing the board against 7 7. This gave darulerofall the lead. Three minutes into heads up, darulerofall eliminated ooltus with A K dominating J 3

Final table payouts

1st Akshay “darulerofall” Gupta – ₹ 1.57 lakhs
2nd Niraj “ooltus” Yadav – ₹ 1.1 lakhs
3rd Aditya “KesarDa” Kesharwani – ₹ 70.96K
4th Himanshu “pokerbrat7” Arora – ₹ 52.49K
5th Ykm1994 – ₹ 39.37K
6th Chirag “Olandir” Bhardwaj – ₹ 31.59K
7th Ajoy “ajoy94” Bala – ₹ 26.33K
8th alwaysriver – ₹ 20.98K

APT #4: 5 Card PLO Event – VIVEKK “Vivek25” DUBE – ₹ 1.06 lakhs (~US$ 1,450)

5 Card PLO has been gaining tremendous popularity that it has carved itself a spot in the APT lineup. Of the 401 that entered, it was Vivekk “Vivek25” Dube who emerged victorious for his first APT win and ₹ 1.06 lakhs (~US$ 1,450). 

Date: January 15
Buy in: ₹ 1,375 (~US$ 18.80) 
Guarantee: ₹ 3 lakhs (~US$ 4,100)
Uniques: 158
Re-entries: 243 
Prize pool: ₹ 5.05 lakhs (~US$ 6,900)
ITM: 45 places
Running time: 4 hours and 14 minutes

Leading up to Vivek25’s win was a long five handed match that lasted nearly an hour. dilbaghsingh ended it by booting skbhai on a higher two pair. dilbaghsingh proceeded to do the same to bencb789 then Vivek25 emptied out manucena94 to bring about heads up. Vivek25 was ahead 5:1, dilbaghsingh shaved it down impressively to a 2:1 gap, however it still wasn’t enough. Vivek25 held on and shipped it with a 7 A 3 5 J straight against 6 A K 8 Q on a board 7 6 J 4 9

Final table payouts

1st Vivekk “Vivek25” Dube – ₹ 1.06 lakhs
2nd dilbaghsingh – ₹ 74.24K
3rd manucena94 – ₹ 47.72K
4th bencb789 – ₹ 35.35K
5th skbhai – ₹ 26.51K
6th Ritwik “Ritwikkhanna” Khanna – ₹ 21.21K 

APT #5: Hyper Event (4 Max) – ADITYA “adit11” KULKARNI – ₹ 97.34K (~US$ 1,330)

The last event offered on opening day was the 4 Max Hyper Event with 261 signing up and an added 240 in re-entries. Action was incredibly fast, completing in just under three and a half hours. Another APT newcomer won it, Aditya “adit11” Kulkarni after defeating Tailwagang “Meverick” Jamir in just one heads up hand. Kulkarni pocketed ₹ 97.34K (~US$ 1,330). 

Date: January 15
Buy in: ₹ 1,100 (~US$ 15) 
Guarantee: ₹ 5 lakhs (~US$ 6,800)
Uniques: 261
Re-entries: 240
Prize pool: ₹ 5.01 lakhs (~US$ 6,848)
ITM: 63 places
Running time: 3 hours and 28 minutes

The final four matchup had Tailwagang “Meverick” Jamir leading most of the way, even racking up over 2/3 of the chips in play at three handed. However, Meverick couldn’t put out Aditya “adit11” Kulkarni’s fire, instead, the latter doubled up with J 9 outdrawing A 2 then grabbed the lead after winning a follow up pot. This sent Meverick down to the shortest stack. Meverick made up some of the lost chips by crippling Akshay “fsociety” Dhingra with J K top pair over A Q that missed the board J 10 5 6 9. Adit11 took the rest of fsociety’s chips then immediately did the same to Meverick. On the first heads up hand it was all in with adit11 5 5 full house over Meverick A 6 straight on a final board 8 7 5 8 4

Final table payouts

1st Aditya “adit11” Kulkarni – ₹ 97.34K (~US$ 1,330)
2nd Tailwagang “Meverick” Jamir – ₹ 68.24K
3rd Akshay “fsociety” Dhingra – ₹ 43.89K
4th Kritagya_17 – ₹ 32.46K

APT Player of the Series and Daily Leaderboard update

The APT Online Series India 2021 offers 48 tournaments across 12 days. Players that cash at any of the events automatically earn points towards the APT Player of the Series Leaderboard and Daily Leaderboard. For the APT POS race, ₹ 28 lakhs (~US$ 38,300) in real cash bonus will be awarded to the top 25 players. The winner receives the motherlode APT Player of the Series Trophy, custom APT Player of the Series Ring, luxury watch, and ₹ 5.5 lakhs (~US$ 7,520) in real cash bonus. Trophies will also be given to 2nd and 3rd placers. Listed are the top 10 race leaders after 4 completed events. 

For the complete list, click here. 

As for the Daily Leaderboard, ₹ 2 lakhs (~US$ 2,700) is guaranteed per day distributed among the top ten players in points. Congratulations to the winners. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Main Event 

Buy in: ₹ 11,000  (~US$ 150)
Guarantee: ₹ 2 crore (~US$ 273,400) 

Day 1A: Wednesday, January 20
Day 1B: Thursday, January 21
Day 1C: Friday, January 22
Day 1D: Sunday, January 24
Day 2: Tuesday, January 26

Championship Event

Date: Thursday, January 21
Buy in: ₹ 22,000 (~US$ 300)
Guarantee: ₹ 40 lakhs (~US$ 54,700)

PLO High Roller 

Date: Tuesday, January 19
Buy in: ₹ 11,000 (~US$ 150) 
Guarantee: ₹ 25 lakhs (~US$ 34,200) 

Super High Roller 

Date: Friday, January 22
Buy in: ₹ 55,000 (~US$ 745)
Guarantee: ₹ 80 lakhs (~US$ 109,400) 

Trophy bearing events 

Sunday Major x2 ₹ 5,500 (~US$ 75) buy in / ₹ 30 lakhs (~US$ 41,000) GTD
Monday Major x2 ₹ 5,500 (~US$ 75) buy in / ₹ 30 lakhs (~US$ 41,000) GTD
Tuesday Major ₹ 5,500 (~US$ 75) buy in / ₹ 25 lakhs (~US$ 34,180) GTD
Wednesday Major ₹ 5,500 (~US$ 75) buy in / ₹ 20 lakhs (~US$ 27,300) GTD