Heads-Up: India`s First WSOP Bracelet Winner Aditya Sushant Talks About His Trailblazing Summer & More

Aditya Sushant
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  • PG News July 18, 2017
  • 4 Minutes Read

The Chennai-based pro Aditya ‘Donkab0mber’ Sushant (cover image) has had a trailblazing poker career that dates back to 2010 when he hitched a bus ride to Goa from Chennai to participate in a poker tournament. As fate would have it, Sushant met his idol Aditya ‘intervention’ Agarwal at the series who later became his mentor. Sushant was one of the first young talents discovered by Agarwal and the rest as they say is history!

Sushant was one of the first Team PokerGuru pros and has an illustrious poker resume.

And now finally life has come full circle for this Poker superstar who brought home India`s first WSOP gold bracelet when he won Event 10: $1,000 Tag Team at WSOP 2017 along with his Tag Team partner and fellow countryman Nipun Java.

Perseverance and hard work pays off and Sushant is a shining example of this. Anyone who has met this young pro recently would notice his evidently fitter frame and enhanced focus on the tables, that goes on to show the preparation Sushant underwent to deliver these results.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) as we all know is a rich cornucopia of poker events that draws some of the best poker minds from all over the world and Sushant put up an excellent act besting some of the best to bring home the bracelet.

It`s hard to keep Sushant away from the action and just days after returning back from a long and grueling summer at the WSOP, he is all packed and ready to attend the Deltin Poker Tournament in Goa. He was the star performer at the last edition where he finished runners-up in the High Roller event for ₹23 Lakhs and just two days later claimed the ₹15K PLO event for another ₹4.76 Lakhs.

In this PokerGuru exclusive interview, he talks to us about his recent WSOP run, his mentor Aditya Agarwal and bracelet partner Nipun Java, future poker plans and shares some useful tips for aspiring poker players.

 

Hi Aditya and congratulations on bringing home India`s first WSOP bracelet. How does it feel?

Thank you, it obviously feels very amazing, it was both an honor and a privilege to have been the first one to get the bracelet for the country. I am overjoyed and very happy!

 

Please share the immediate thoughts and feelings after you sealed the bracelet?

I remember screaming out in joy right after the last hand. I ran up to the rail, gave a hug to Nipun (Java) and I was just overwhelmed with emotions. It was such an amazing moment.

Aditya Sushant
Aditya Sushant

How did you and Nipun end up playing the Tag Team together? Any funny stories/incidents you want to share?

So, the pairing with Nipun actually happened by chance. I wasn’t really playing anything and was looking for somebody to pair up with for the Tag Team event. I had already spoken with Nipun a day or two earlier but he said he was teaming up with couple of other people and on the day of the team’s event I was speaking to Adi (Team PokerStars pro Aditya Agarwal), Adi said that why don’t you try to talk to Nipun as he is busy with the colossus event. I spoke to Nipun again, he was like,“yea sure you can go ahead and register the team. It’s going to be you playing for now, you being the captain and I will come later.”

It was actually supposed to be three of us playing together – Nipun, myself and a friend of Nipun’s called Ryan. Ryan was deep in the colossus too and he was really fighting time to come. Every team member had to post the blinds at least once, basically play a round and he wasn’t able to do it so he officially ended up missing the same.

 

Please tell us about your second final table and your Main Event run. Any key takeaways?

The second final table of the series came in a bit late in the $1,500 event and nothing much to say about the first day or so. Oh yes, I had a couple of prop bets I made on side at the end of Day 1 where I had Martin Finger and another guy I believe Champie Douglas was on my table.

I first bet with Martin, I asked him what odds he will give me for winning this event and he gave me a 100:1 so I bet $100 with him. I was just feeling good and Champie who was on my right wanted to get in too and he said, “I will give you the same odds if you want”. So, I said ok I will bet 50 bucks with you. So, total I bet $150 for a shot at $15K, which was an extra shot of motivation for me in that particular event.

Day 2 started off pretty well for me. I chipped up good pretty early on and then faced a couple of setbacks and then the latter half of the day went my way again. I ended up bagging a good stack and I was top five in chips heading to final day. Day 3 was ok, I had some ups and downs then I started the unofficial final table third in chips. Lost three big hands on the final table and couldn’t really have done much differently so I think it’s just unlucky to finish eighth in the event. I felt like I was playing fairly well in that event.

Main event was very disappointing, busted in the last level of day one. Didn’t have much to go my way, I was running pretty bad. Just hand after hands facing tough situation and spots. Couldn’t really get much going and just saw my stack dwindle away little by little. Just busted flush over flush last hand. So, pretty disappointed with the Main Event this year, planning on running and do much better next year.

 

You mentioned Aditya Agarwal in your bracelet acceptance speech. Please elaborate as to how did Agarwal helped you in your poker journey.

Adi (Aditya Agarwal) has helped shape my poker journey so far, he was my first mentor and he has helped me both shape and define my poker journey so I will be forever grateful to him for that. He has played a major role and he really got me going specially when it comes to online poker.

 

Please tell us your views on your bracelet partner Nipun Java and his hot run.

Nipun is just an overall great guy, he’s a very hard worker and I have known him for a few years now, he’s constantly grinding. Like he said himself, he is a big value hunter.

India's first bracelet winners Aditya Sushant and Nipun Java
India’s first bracelet winners Aditya Sushant and Nipun Java

So, he is always playing all kinds of buy-ins, just grinding throughout the year and going from stop to stop you know. He plays live and online and most importantly has results in everything. He’s been pretty consistent, so he already had a lot of results before the summer. He was definitely one of those who deserved whatever success he has had this summer and I am just very happy for him. He obviously ran too good (chuckles) to win two bracelets in one summer. It’s not easy but he’s put in the work, he’s put in the hours and volume and I am happy to see it all pay up for him.

 

Your views on largest contingent from India attending and making deep runs this year. Who were the star performers according to you?

No one in particular, I was obviously rooting for everyone like our entire contingent, I was rooting for everyone to do well. There were 2-3 of them who were likely to post some results but in general I was just hoping everyone to do well. That kind of ended up being the case this summer as I think everyone managed to get tons of results and scores so that was really good to see and it was very uplifting for everyone.

There was a lot of support for one another and that’s really great and moving forward I think it’s going to get only better. I think we are going to get a lot more results if we are on.

Like I said all the results that we have had in the summer is only going to help everybody grow more in confidence and next year we are going to see probably much more players in attendance at the World Series so there is a very good chance of getting even better results next year.

 

Please share your advice for upcoming poker talent in the country.

My advice to any upcoming poker talent or poker guys in the country would be that keep working hard. You are bound to have a lot of ups and downs when you are doing this full time but you have to remind yourself that this is a grind.

There are going to be some days where things will really work out for you but most of the time life is really going to feel shitty but you got to take both parts right and stay levelheaded and grounded.

Practice good bankroll management, good game selection. These things are becoming much more important as we move forward because people are getting better and better. Definitely you will need to put in a lot of time, a lot of hours. If you’re serious about it then you got to work hard and yes, I think it really works if somebody has strong fundamentals and core.

Keep all these things in mind. The results are bound to happen sooner or later. So, I will just say that don’t get ahead of yourself even if you have a couple of scores/results, don’t start taking too many shots. Just keep the end goal in mind and keep trudging on.

 

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

I have got a fair bit of travel plans for the rest of the year. I am planning to go to Goa for Deltin Poker Tournament (DPT) and then I might do Hope Cup, just for the Main Event maybe.

I am planning Manila for the PokerStars Festival there and then I guess Macau again for Red Dragon. I am on the fence about the EPT Barcelona, I will probably end up not doing it but there is a small chance I might go. There is a reasonable chance that I could do ACOP in Macau, which is in October. So, I think, I am going to keep myself pretty busy for the rest of the year.

 

Any parting words or message to your railbirds?

I would just like to say thank you to all the people who have supported me. I had a lot of support and I am grateful to each and every one. It means a lot to me and it really gave me strength and kept me going you know.

Sometimes, especially when for the World Series you are there for an extended period of time, you are going to have a lot of instances where things will not go your way and you are just looking for something to lift you up. All the messages and all the overwhelming love, support I had really just helped me through any tough periods that I faced and I am just really grateful. Thank you all!

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