fundoopoker.com

24/05/2012

Date:

24th May 2012

Venue:

Casino Royale, Goa

1. 50K Main Event DAY 1A - Level 1 to Level 4

8.10pm Break Time of 10 minutes.

8.05pm Vimal Shoves with Air and Catches Lightning in a Bottle

In one of the most amusing hands of the night, Varun Vimal has sucked out in spectacular fashion against Aditya Sushant. It happened when Sushant raised to 450 from middle position with Pocket Kings and was re-popped by Vimal in the small blind to 1450. Sushant then four-bets to 3450 and Vimal makes the call.

The two players go to a flop of K♠ 3♣ 6♦ and Vimal is first to act, shoving the remainder of his stack right into Sushant’s set of Cowboys. Sushant makes a delighted call and is up against… 8♠ 5♣. The dealer then tables 7♠ and 9♣ to hand Vimal an early birthday present and he doubles through Sushant.

7.45pm Team Italy Sent Home

The only Italian player in the room, Francesco Albenetti, has just been busted by Martin Nilsen. On a flop of J♦ 9♦ 7♠ Albenetti bet 4200 with A♦ J♠ for top pair but had run into the flopped straight of Nilsen who moved all in with 10♣ 8♣. Albenetti makes the call but the Q♣ turn had him drawing dead and he is knocked out of the tournament.

7.30pm She’s the Single Lady

We’ve noticed these past few days that ladies in India haven’t quite caught the poker bug as those in other countries. We’re again reminded of that fact today as Niharika Bindra is the sole female player waving the flag for her gender in the Day 1A field.

Niharika Bindra

We caught a hand of hers that saw Prabhat Mukherjea start the action with a 375 raise. He is called in the lojack before Bindra three-bets from the button to 1000. Rohit Bhalla then four-bets from the small blind to 2600 before Mukherjea five-bets to 5475.

Bindra asks how much, but quickly loses interest and so too does Bhalla who says he folded Queens.

7.25pm Level 4: Blinds 100/200

7.15pm Ali Stings Like a Queen Bee

After a UTG limp from Rishi Mishra, Abbas Ali raised up the action to 575 from the lojack. He is called in both the blinds and Mishra joins them to see a flop of  6♦ 8♣ Q♠. Action is checked around the preflop aggressor and Ali c-bets 1500. The small blind and big blind fold but Mishra sticks with it and they go two-handed to a turn of 5♦

Mishra check-calls another bet, this of 3000 from his opponent and the dealer tables the 9♠ river. Mishra checks for a third time and Ali plays it cautiously with a check behind. He’s first to turn over A♥ Q♥ for top pair, top kicker and Mishra mucks his hand.

7.00pm Bobbe Busts

After taking a huge early hit to his stack, Bobbe Suri has finally succumbed to his short-stack struggle with doom. It came in a hand with 1400 already in the pot and a flop showing 2♠ 4♥ 4♠. Suri shoved with Q♥ J♥ hoping his opponent didn’t hit but he didn’t have enough to push his opponent off the pot and was looked up by a dominating A♦ Q♠. No miracle jack came on the turn K♠ or river 2♦ and Suri is our next player to go.

6.50pm More Notables

More players have made their way to the tables with the late registrations extended. Also seated in the room who we didn’t mention earlier are Phil Sanders, Ben Abrahams, Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal, Kunal Chandra, Aditya Sushant, Pulkit Kalia, Rohit Bhalla, Sailesh Lohia, Ramandeep Singh Gujral and Aditya “Mastermind” Agarwal.

Phil Sanders

6.45pm Mystery of First Bustout Solved

We had thought that no players had busted out yet but when organizers did a quick count at the break they realised that someone had gone broke. It must have been a quiet exit as no one seemed to know. But, no surprises, we then found out it was from our designated Table of Death where Niranjan N.S. was the one to bow out. So we’ve officially lost our first player from the tournament.

6.40pm Level 3: Blinds 75/150

6.30pm Break Time

Players are now on their first 10-minute break of the evening.

6.25pm Table of Death

With the late comers shuffling in, Table 9 has just become the one for us to keep a watchful eye on. Reigning APT Asian Series Goa champion Sangeeth Mohan is there and is joined by none other than Abhishek Goindi, Jasven Saigal, the always chatty Vipan Sharma, as well as high-stakes cash game regular Pranav Bhatija.

With more players joining the fray, we are now up to a field of 61 players.

6.10pm Mukherjee Gets Going

From UTG Niranjan NS min-raised to 200 preflop and was called by lojack Arindam Mukherjee and both the button and big blind players. They go to a flop of  4♣ Q♠ J♠. It’s checked around to Mukherjee who bets strong for 1700. Niranjan is the only player to make the call and they see a turn 7♦.

At this point Niranjan takes the lead for a 2200 bet and Mukherjee smooth calls. The river is the 3♣ and, when Niranjan checks, Mukherjee moves all in and his opponent gives up the hand.

5.55pm Byraju’s Steal Goes Awry

Rahul Byraju was on the button in this five-way pot that saw two limpers before Amit Varma made it 500 to go from the hijack. He is called around the table and with 2650 already in the pot they see a flop of  5♣ K♠ 8♣.

Rahul Byraju

It’s checked to Varma who continuation bets 1600. Aditya Sanghi makes the call in the cutoff before Byraju raises it up to 4175. YJ Kim then tanks for an eon at UTG but eventually mucks, leaving the others, including Varma, to do the same. However, Sanghi isn’t going anywhere and announces he is all in. No sooner than the words are out of his mouth, Byraju insta-mucks and Sanghi scoops a healthy pot.


5.45pm First Level Down

Blinds are going up to 50/100. Currently there are 43 players in the room and we are yet to have a player bust out.


5.35pm Adiani Sniffs Out Barve Bluff

With four players in the pot and a flop showing A♣ 5♥ 2♣ action gets checked around to bring the turn 2♠. Last night’s High Rollers champion, Harshad Barve, is in the big blind and takes a 450 stab at the pot. It forces the fold from Sangeeth Mohan and the next player to his left but Anil Adiani makes the call in the cutoff.

On the river 6♦ Barve muscles up with a more serious 1200 bet. Adiani tanks for a short while before calling. Barve mucks and, though he doesn’t have to show, Adiani flips over 3♥ 3♠ to give the table fair warning that he can’t be pushed off a pot easily.


5.15pm Bobbe on the Brink

We’re only 15 minutes into play and we’ve already had our first all in situation which Bobbe Suri will surely like to forget. Catching the action on a flop of J♠ Q♣ 10♥, Suri leads out for 1800 from the big blind. YJ Kim is in UTG+1 and makes the call and so too does Amit Varma in the cutoff. Rahul Byraju gives up his hand in the small blind and the three players see a turn 6♦.

Bobbe Suri

At this point Suri opts for protecting his hand with an all in power move. It’s around 12,000 and YJ Kim looks interested but takes his time. He then shoves as well before Varma instantly mucks face up showing J♦ 10♣ for two pair.

Suri opens up K♣ K♦ for an overpair and straight draw but he needs some help against the flopped bottom straight of Kim with 9♦ 8♦. When the river sends out a blank  5♦, Kim lets out a “Yes! I got you” and, when the count is made, Suri is left with just 800 remaining in chips of his initial 15,000 starting stack.


5.00pm Cards are in the Air

And after the delay we are finally underway for the Main Event. As usual, poker players are notoriously slow to shuffle in on time but already seated at the tables are last year’s champion Sangeeth Mohan, Amit Varma, Bobbe Suri, Amit Jain, Rahul Byraju, Kristian Faering and Tuesday’s Fundoo Poker Head Hunter event champion Anil Adiani.


4.50pm Airport Dramas

The INR 50,000 buy-in APT Asian Series Goa Main Event was scheduled to start at 4pm local time today but the call came in last night that the airport here was going to be closed until 4pm for the next two days to repair the runway. No worries though as organisers decided to delay the start by one-hour to give those players flying in today a better chance to join the action. Registrations have also been extended from the end of the first break after Level 2 until the end of the dinner break after Level 6.

Day 1B is slated for the same treatment while the runway patching crew go about their business but, for now, play is about to begin for Day 1A. Stay tuned, friends!