"2,000 Players in Three Years" Says Defending Champion Vikash Mantri
Last year, Vikash Mantri took down the very first WPT India for just over $90,000 after topping a field of 527 players. He's now in the field and says it's great to be back. However, he says that the pressure of being defending champion is definitely intense.
"There's a lot of pressure on me," he told us during one of the short break sin the Main Event. "Everyone is asking me whether I'm going to be able to defend the title. I can't say no, obviously, but I don't feel comfortable when I'm asked this. This field is full of the best players in India!"
| Place | Name | Country | Prize in Rupees | Prize in USD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vikash Mantri | India | ₹ 6,030,000 | $92,539 |
| 2 | Arjun Arora | India | ₹ 3,947,000 | $60,572 |
| 3 | Manish Lakhotia | India | ₹ 2,520,000 | $38,673 |
| 4 | Gaurav Chauhan | India | ₹ 1,920,000 | $29,465 |
| 5 | Anil Adiani | India | ₹ 1,480,000 | $22,712 |
| 6 | Pavan Jain | India | ₹ 1,151,000 | $17,663 |
| 7 | Kiran Kumar | India | ₹ 932,000 | $14,303 |
| 8 | Sunny Vijaywari | India | ₹ 713,000 | $10,942 |
With the WPT India Main Event field set to comfortably beat last year's mark, we asked Mantri what the atmosphere at the tables is like 12 months on.
"I think last year there was a lot of excitement because it was the first one, and it was one of the biggest fields ever in a live tournament in India. The anticipation for this event is good and it's good to ahve WPT India back.
"I think we'll have a very good turnout; we'll beat last year's by 20% at least. I've spoken about it before, but with the way that poker is brewing in India, within three years we should have more than 2,000 players here in WPT India."