Thank you LORD!

Posted by Sangeeth Mohan on 2016-03-04 at 12:00 AM

And we BINK. Exactly 5 years ago in Feb’11 when I first went to Goa for a live tournament it was the IPC which gave me the platform to get spotted and picked by the PokerGuru team. Fast forwards 5 years and here we are. It took me 5 years to win an IPC trophy. I came painfully close a few times but I am really happy and extremely thankful to God that I finally have the monkey off my back.

This IPC as always was huge and I got off to great starts in all the events I played. I started the 10k kick off on a very soft table and chipped up very quick. Before even boarding flight to Goa, I had decided to play the game Adi taught me back in 2011. I knew exactly what to do with stack sizes and ranges. I decided to go with it coz I was playing a very fundamentally strong pre-flop game which was the key in structures like these. After the first 4-5 levels you pretty much don’t have an opportunity to play post flop. In the 10k Kick off, I busted 14th or 13th when I reshoved 13bigs with 88’s into Sahil’s TT when he opened Cut off. In the Bounty event, I micro bubbled when I lost AK to AK but ended up with 7 bounties.

My First table of the 60k High roller was a joke. I had Clawin, Zarvan, Apoorv Goel, Shravan Chhabria, Sharad Rao, and Paawan Bansal with me. We were on Table 10 which broke only for the Final Table (Because of table placement). We knew we had to play with each other at least for another 10 hrs till we re-draw for day 2.

I started the day off with a Cold 4 bet. Paawan opened button, and Sharad (as usual) 3 bets and there we go. Our first perfect Cold 4-bet spot and hand. The beautiful 57ss. I cold 4 bet and Sharad calls. I c-bet QJ5cc, he calls. Turn comes 5d. I bet again he calls. River is Td. I made a sizing error on this street for sure. I bet a little too big. He said he wasn’t gonna call any bet, however, I still feel it is my job to size to right every time
After this, thanks to a very tough table, it was always small pots here and there. Nothing major or worth mentioning. We opened a bunch and C-bet took down a few pots, 3 bet a few etc etc.
I ended day 1 with 50k ish which was at the bottom half of the pack.
Day 2 I started on a slightly better table. Kanishk Bansal, Antilog, Sumit Asrani were the few I knew from before. I think the reason I won this tournament is because of the way I played my stack on this table. I think I played my stack which was between 10 and 20 bbs almost to near perfection.
Couple of hands I remember, I shoved 10BB from the button with Q9ss and Antilog tank calls with K8o and we bink to double. Sick call by him.
I remember being the shortest on the bubble and chipped up during the bubble. The final table bubble burst when a short stack opened and I ripped AKo, got called by AQ and held.

The final table was a mixed bag. Sushi the monster stack was 2 seats to my left, after him was Sapra and Sumit Asrani was very short. I had 224k at 5k-12k and I was may be 3rd in chips.

The first hand I played on the FT was when I reshoved 18bb with AKss to a mid position open and he folded. On my next BB, the same player limps mid position and I check my option with 77. I spoke to a few players who said I should probably be shoving 20bb to this limp. However, I had too little information about this player at that point in time. Anyways, the flop comes a magic A73r. We check call a 25k bet. Turn was 4s . Putting a Backdoor spade draw out there. We check and the villain Overbet shoves like 260k and we snap. He had A8o and drawing dead.

This was a crucial double and paved my way to top 4 with ease. 4 handed play took a long time as Sushi lost the chiplead in between and there were chips flying around. Finally, Mayank shoved from the SB with K6hh and we wake with good’ol Aces in the BB and hold. 3 Handed play lasted under a level and I got it in with AK against Riyaz’s AQ and we hold to set up the HU play. I had a slight Chip lead and we made a deal with 1.6L and the trophy to play for.

Heads up , although deepish dint last long. I remember Roshan the tournament director asking us if we were playing poker or table tennis. We switched chip lead almost every hand. Here are a few imp hands.
Hand 1. Sushi opens and we call Q6cc. We check call A43cc. We check call Qs Turn. We check call Qh river (He bet BIG) and lost to Q7.
Hand 2. Sushi opens we call 56dd. We Check call 5J2ss. We check call 9c turn. We check fold to a shove on the 2d river.
Hand 3: We open K8ss. We bet on 854dd, Suchi calls. We chck back on 5s Turn. We call sushis bet on 2c river and we were good.
Hand 4: Sushi opens and we 3 bet with AA. Sushi calls. Flop J89r. We check. Sushi bets, we shove, he calls and hold against JTo.
I am not mentioning the sizing because I dont remember it exactly and PokerGuru has a detailed coverage with it anyways.
This was the final hand and bink bink. IPC 60k Highroller. Check.
I want to thank a few people in this blog.
First up, Adi Agarwal and Rohit Bhalla. Adi for teaching me this game and giving me the confidence. Bhalla for the great support and confidence he showed in me through out the event. I would also like to thank everyone who supported me in the poker room, the Spartan Staff, The IPC staff, The Media Crew and everyone who made this very very special for me.

A special mention to my dear friend and brother Aditya Sushant. The level of grace and maturity which he exhibits is highly commendable and I would urge all up and coming players to learn from him. As I always say, he is the best in the country after Adi.

Also a quick announcement about the PGOL series. We have decided to postpone the PGOL series considering the player feedback we received during IPC.

Also, March Madness – Anniversary Celebrations are on on Spartan Poker and someone’s going to Vegas. Log in and check out the promo for yourself.

May the Flop be with you.
Samoh.