2023 was a roller-coaster ride for India’s poker landscape. We saw a mix of triumphs and hurdles primarily caused by GST issues. The implementation of a new 28% GST caused the absence of all prestigious live events like WPT, IPC, DPT and BPT. In response to the hurdles in India’s live poker scene, many players redirected their focus to international poker events where they shone brightly.
Top Live Scores by Indians in 2023
There were several Indians who made their mark on the international stage but one name that stood out was Santhosh Suvarna. The Dubai-based casino operator put up big time results throughout the year. The renowned high stakes poker pro clinched top five live scores from India, propelling him to the 2nd spot on India’s All-Time Money List with a staggering $6,658,584 in live tournament cashes.
In 2023, Suvarna won two prestigious live poker titles and posted several final table finishes. His biggest score was a staggering $1.77 Million (INR 14.76 Crores), which he earned in October for placing third in the $125K NLH Main Event at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Monte Carlo.
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Suvarna earned his first title of the year in May 2023 when he won the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Cyprus $25K NLH GG Super Millions Live, earning $700,000 (INR 5.83 Crores). November saw him clinching a historic bracelet victory in WSOPE Event €50,000 NLH Diamond High Roller for €650,000 (INR 5.80 Crores). The victory marked his first bracelet and made him the first Indian player to achieve this feat in Europe.
Here is a quick look at Suvarna’s top five scores of the last year!
>>Third in Triton Poker Monte Carlo $125K NLH Main Event for $1.77M (INR 14.76 Crores) in October
>>Won Triton Poker Cyprus $25K NLH GG Super Millions Live for $700K (INR 5.83 Crores) in May
>>Won WSOPE €50K NLH Diamond High Roller for €650K (INR 5.80 Crores in November
>>Fourth in Triton Poker Vietnam $75K NLH for $628K (INR 5.23 Crores) in March
>> Fourth in Triton Cyprus $40K NLH for $457.5K ( INR 3.81 Crores) in May
While it was Suvarna who notched up top five scores from India in 2023, there were several other pro players who shone brightly, including Anirban Das, Ankit Ahuja, and Vishal Ojha. Das finished 16th for $430,200 (INR 3.53 Crores) at the 2023 WSOP Main Event in July and became the first Indian to achieve this feat in the WSOP event. Ahuja’s scorecard was highlighted by his victory in the 2023 EPT Cyprus Eureka Main Event in October, where he earned a career best $362,365 (INR 3.01 Crores).
Speaking of Ojha, he grabbed headlines for winning the 2023 USOP Hanoi VN₫ 12 Billion GTD Main Event in September. The victory earned him a career-best VN₫ 4.952 Billion (INR 1.71 Crores).
Online Poker India – Top Five Scores In 2023
2023 was also marked by a mix of some significant achievements and GST challenges for India’s online poker industry. Despite a new 28% GST challenge causing a little slowdown in the online poker scene, we saw some massive guaranteed tournaments and ground-breaking victories of Indian poker players.
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While we saw several players win big, topping the charts was the young talent Aayush Arya, who made the country proud by winning his first WSOP bracelet in September 2023. He took down the WSOP Online Event #22: N8D 400 COLOSSUS on Natural8 India, earning a career-best INR 2.76 Crores in top prize.
With the landmark victory, Arya joined the elite club of Indian bracelet winners, who include the likes of Nipun Java, Aditya Sushant, Nikita Luther, Abhinav Iyer, Kartik Ved, and Santhosh Suvarna.
The second biggest online score of the year belonged to Sreekanth Narayan and Arun Mutgi. The latter won the INR 10 Crore GTD G.O.A.T. 2.0 title on PokerBaazi in October. He secured INR 1.5 Crore, following a heads-up deal with Narayan who also walked away with the same payout.
Another eight-figure score of the year went to Adda52 Game ambassador Arun Sriram who grabbed the headlines for winning a massive INR 1 Crore prize in PokerBaazi’s EndBoss 6.0 in September 2023.
Gadadhar Behera rose to prominence with his EndBoss 7.0 in December. He pocketed a staggering INR 1 Crore in top prize. He was the last Indian player to bag an eight-figure online score in 2023.
