Weekly Update: January 6 – 12
As we dive into our second weekly update of the 2025 Player of the Year (POY) race, the competition on PokerBaazi is heating up! Have you been grinding the tables? How many tournaments have you played? What’s your cash haul, how many final tables have you made, and how many victories have you scored? These are just a few factors in the dynamic seven-point scoring system that makes this POY leaderboard so thrilling.

The 2025 POY contest runs all year long, with the top 100 players vying for a share of the impressive 5 Crore (CR) prize pool. The leaderboard offers cash rewards and exclusive travel deals, making every point count!

Ayush Mehta ‘Shakespeare’ From Maharashtra Soars to #1
The battle for the top spot continues to evolve, with new faces challenging established players. Pune’s own Ayush Mehta, also known as ‘shakespeare’, has been on an absolute tear.

This 35-year-old engineer, who works in e-commerce sector, has made PokerBaazi his home since 2021. Specializing in low-to-mid stakes, Mehta made waves by jumping to the #1 spot on the POY leaderboard. During the week, he participated in 91 tournaments, securing 49 cashes and a massive 993 POY points, becoming “The POY Top Gun” of the week.

His remarkable climb pushed Bhanu Prakash KC, aka ‘Chennaino1’, down to second place. Bhanu earned 40 additional POY points with 47 cashes to his name.

Pankaj Kumar, known as ‘pwin1’, also made a strong push with 47 cashes, securing third place with 969 POY points.

The Rise of New Challengers
Aman Parakh, known as ‘Karmapoker’, has made an incredible leap, quickly rising through the ranks after posting cashes starting January 7. In just 25 tournaments, he notched 17 cashes, including a huge victory in The Summit for a staggering 6.52 LAC. He also finished 4th in the BSS SuperStack, adding another 3 LAC.

Parakh’s total weekly winnings of 12.49 LAC earned him the title of “Mega Crusher of the Week” and launched him into Rank #8 on the leaderboard.

The 2023 Masters Main Event finalist Mohit Goyal ‘mo3bet’ secured the week’s single-biggest score in Sunday’s BSS SuperStack, becoming our “Ace Shot of the Week.”

Playing his first tournament of 2025, 0Goyal fired two bullets in the BSS SuperStack, topping the 1,141-strong field (601 unique) in to secure 8.56 LAC.

Gujarat’s Parth Shah pulled off one of the most impressive climbs of the week. The “Poker Supernova” made an astonishing 950-rank jump into 6th place with a POY score of 944. Shah played 27 events, earning over 3.47 LAC, including three podium finishes:

  • 2nd in Monday’s Daily Morning SPRINT for 18,526
  • 3rd in Tuesday’s The Endeavour Lite for 1.41 LAC
  • 2nd in Saturday’s Blockbuster Lite for 1.18 LAC

The POY Top 10

Rank Player Name Tournaments Played ITM Finishes Weekly Winnings POY Score
1 (↑19) shakespeare Ayush Mehta 91 49 1.16 LAC 993 (+79)
2 (⬇1) Chennaino1 Bhanu Prakash KC 74 47 4.07 LAC 988 (+40)
3 (↑12) Pwin1 Pankaj Kumar 83 47 1.02 LAC 969 (+49)
4 (↑24) Msdhoni Rajneesh Thakur 60 38 1.63 LAC 947 (+43)
5 (↑242) M3ssy Chandan Rai 36 21 6.44 LAC 945 (+147)
6 (↑950) PapuLasith Parth Shah 27 18 3.47 LAC 944 (+332)
7 (⬇1) Ragemonster Nandan Pugalia 28 14 4.29 LAC 942 (+10)
8 Karmapoker Aman Parakh 25 17 12.49 LAC 941
9 (↑14) adi1108 Aditya Sharma 53 28 2.34 LAC 938 (+27)
10 (~~) Learnnwin Aayush Arya 15 12 2.79 LAC 938 (+11)

The 2025 POY Leaderboard takes the following factors into consideration:

  • Return on Investment (ROI): Your profits relative to buy-ins, adjusted for the log value of your average buy-in.
  • In the Money (ITM): The number of times you finish in the money, multiplied by the log value of your average buy-in.
  • Tournaments Played: The total number of tournaments you play in 2025.
  • Winnings: Total prize money won in tournaments throughout the year.
  • Final Tables: Number of times you make the final table, multiplied by the square root of participants in those tournaments.
  • 1st Rank: Number of tournament victories, multiplied by the square root of participants.
  • Biggest Score: Your highest single tournament score of the year.

That’s it from Week #2 of 2025. Stay tuned for more updates as the competition intensifies!

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