The 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) has crossed its halfway mark, concluding over 56 live bracelet and 12 online bracelet events. Team India has performed remarkably well, with Santhosh Suvarna winning Event #55: $250,000 Super High Roller for a career-high $5,415,152 and his second WSOP bracelet, highlighting India’s success. Four other Indians have also made final table finishes at the ongoing series, making Team India’s strong presence felt.
Day 29 of the World Series of Poker 2024 was memorable for Team India. Ankit Ahuja finished the deepest among the four Indians who made Day 3 in Event #54: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold’em, while Kunal Patni bagged the 13th largest stack among 105 survivors for Day 3 of Event #60: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em. Here’s a quick recap of Indian performances across various tournaments!
Ankit Ahuja Headlines Team India’s Scorecard in Event #54: $1,500 Millionaire Maker
Team India made a strong statement in Event #54: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold’em, one of the highly anticipated events of the series. Only 45 players remain out of the initial 10,939-entry field (across three starting flights) in this event. All remaining players for Day 4 are assured at least $30,300 but they all have their eyes on the first-place prize of $1,250,125 and the coveted gold WSOP bracelet.
USA’s Martin Mathis and Austria’s Max Neugebauer lead the remaining players into Day 4, both holding 13,025,000 (52 blinds). Neugebauer, who already has one WSOP bracelet from the €10,000 WSOP Europe Main Event in Rozvadov last year, is aiming for his second bracelet and first on American soil. Day 4 is set to play out tomorrow, June 26, at 11 a.m. local time. Play resumes at Level 32 with blinds at 125,000/250,000 with a 250,000 big blind ante.
This event saw the largest Indian contingent, with 19 advancing to Day 2. After intense play, only 315 players made it to Day 3, including four Indians. Leading the Indian charge was two-time GPI India POY winner Ankit Ahuja with an impressive 1.51M chips (60 BBs), followed by Navkiran Singh, CEO of Baazi Games, with 755K chips (30 BBs), Sanat Mehrotra with 720K chips (28 BBs), and Kunal Punjwani with 360K chips (14 BBs). Unsurprisingly, Ahuja ran deepest among the Indians, finishing in 50th place for $30,300 – his highest score and overall fourth score of the series.
Kunal Punjwani, who secured a seventh-place finish in the 2019 WSOP Event 82: $1,500 NLHE Double Stack, finished 86th for $14,890. Sanat Mehrotra (135th for $10,890 – his biggest WSOP cash) and Baazi Games CEO Navkiran Singh (231st for $8,200 – his first WSOP 2024 cash) also cashed on Day 3.
Day 2 action saw ten Indian players cashing in this event, including Kunal Patni (481st – $5,080), WSOP bracelet winner Kartik Ved (570th – $4,600), Ankit Wadhawan (972nd – $3,150), and Anju Abrol (1,025th – $3,150). Other Indians to cash were Deepankur Gupta (1,236th), Paawan Bansal (1,287th), Zarvan Tumboli (1,333rd), Anshul Kulshrestha (1,430th), WSOP bracelet winner Aditya Sushant (1,515th), and WSOP Circuit ring winner Ashish Ahuja (1,534th), each earning $3,000.
India’s Kunal Patni Bags 13th Largest Stack to Advance to Day 3 in Event #60: $3K NLHE
In Event #60: $3K NLHE, Day 2 saw 539 hopefuls return, and the field reached 1,773 entries after late registration closed following the first two levels of play. As the dust settled, only 105 players remained in contention for the coveted gold bracelet and a $676,990 first-place prize. Israel’s Tzur Levy bagged the day-end chip lead with 2,450,000 chips, followed by Jonathan Fhima (2,180,000), Jong Kim (1,600,000) and Noel Rodriguez (1,490,000).
Of the seven Indian hopefuls who entered Day 2, Mumbai pro Kunal Patni was the sole Indian to advance to Day 3. The Natural8 India’s Executive Director bagged the 13th largest stack of 1,215,000 chips, keeping India’s hopes for a second bracelet alive.
WSOP bracelet winner Abhinav Iyer and Yasheel Doddanavar also made significant impacts, with Iyer exiting in 109th place for $7,146 and Doddanavar finishing 125th for the same payout.
Munjal Leads Indians Into Day 2 of Event #62: $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship
Day 29 of the World Series of Poker also saw significant action in Event #62: $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship. Day 1 of the inaugural event drew an impressive 5,126 entrants, surpassing last year’s turnout and building a $2,606,100 prize pool. After 17 levels of play, the field was whittled down to 767 survivors, with Japan’s Hideki Sahashi leading the way with 1.174M chips. Close behind him was Martin Kabrhel with 1.049M chips.
From India, three players secured their spots in Day 2, with Avneesh Munjal (358K) leading the charge. Sriharsha Doddapaneni (128K) and Anshul Kulshrestha (91K) were the other two Indians to advance.
Keep following PokerProNews for the latest udpates and results from the ongoing World Series of Poker 2024!
Image Credit: WSOP
