A S

by A S

2014 Review & 2015 Ponderings

January 3, 2015 in News

Happy new year everybody!

Been a while since I blogged. I had a swingy 2014. Think I started out good, hit a rough patch, had a great Aug/Sep, then what was probably my biggest downswing online for almost 3 months and finally managed to close the year strong. I had a lot of close calls online last year with some close misses. I also managed some good wins. I won the big 109 and big 162 in a span of 3 days. I final tabled the 5M Sunday Million and finished an agonising 9th. That one’s gonna haunt me for a while. I made a couple of ICM blunders which definitely cost me a good bit of equity. I’m sure I’ll have many more chances in the future so I’m just gonna stay upbeat and trod on.

Live was a mixed bag. I played the PCA in Jan and bricked everything. I was in Vegas for 1 and a half months or so. It was my 1st time playing the WSOP and even though I was in the red at the end, I had a blast. It was a great experience and one I’ll definitely remember forever. I’m hoping to do it again this year although I’m probably gonna take a different approach this time. I did well live in Ind. I shipped the THOS event in Mar and ft’d 2 Tilt events in December. I feel like I played the best I have in ages at the Tilt series and I’m gonna try and maintain that same level of focus everytime I play live in 2015.

I have been trying my hand at mixed games of late. I really enjoy playing them and although I’m still learning, I feel I’ve got a decent grasp of them already. I have played a few tournies with good success over a small sample size. I’ve also been putting in some cash sessions. There’s not a lot of traffic for these games at low-mid stakes especially for horse. 8 game has more tables running but there’s a lot of good regs who regularly play these games and open sit different stakes as well. I want to become very good at all the games. Mixed games get spread a lot in Vegas around the WSOP. I didn’t play last year but I’m hoping to this year.

I’ve started 2015 on a good note. I took 2nd in the Wed 320, 1 of my favourite tournaments in the weekly schedule. It’s become much reggier than it used to be but this one was super soft since most regs were away for New Year’s. I’ve got some goals/resolutions in my head for 2k15. My history with goals/resolutions isn’t the greatest but I’m hoping I can change that this year. Most of them are lifestyle related. Those of you who know me well know I have some very big life leaks. My main goal right now is WSOP 2015 and everything from here on will be part of my ‘Road to Vegas.’ I need to constantly keep reminding myself that which in turn will ensure I stick to my resolutions.

Au revoir

by A S

Grindhouse

September 20, 2013 in News

Aye yo

Been a while since I blogged and after getting my leg or hand twisted a little whichever way you look at it (metaphorically speaking of course because this guy gotz no shot vs me), I’ve decided to serve up some reading pleasure.

As the title of the blog suggests, I’m located in a big ass nice n’ neat grindhouse grinding away at the pokerz. Took a flight and came to aami Kolkata the 1st week of this month to make some $$ but for all intents and purposes, I’m here on a mission to blow what’s left of my bankroll before I try and scrape together some dough to head back home. It’s that time of the year. WCOOP season when the sun is shining nice and bright and birds are chirpin. Not for me however. I get to watch on as everybody and his mother seems to be winning penthouses and ferraris everyday. I got dem box seats to this show cept these tickets dont come cheap.
Sahil or antilog as he is known in some circles decided to take the plunge as well. He’s prolly busy snoring away right now as I’m typing this. I’m too lazy to move my broke ass off of this couch and go check though cause hey #BROKELIVING. Hash tags are so cool. Why couldn’t I have thought about something as innocuous as hash tags and made billions of it instead of working my butt 12 hrs a day and not even getting dem peanuts in return? I’m just kidding. #LIVINDALIFE.

Yea so as you might have inferred by now from the cheerio mood I’m in, we haven’t really been having the “days of our lives” results wise. We got an “intervntion” in our midst. Just no divine intervention yet. We even hung up a horseshoe in our grind room couple days ago. No kidding. A literal real horseshoe. I shipped a $2 turbo yesterday or maybe day before. Hard to keep track of time around here. So the horseshoe is definitely working its charm! 9th in the Big 55, f2t in Hot 33, f3t in Bigger 162, multiple other runs in Big 55, 109, etc. Add to these a couple of runs in the Coops cashing for some change after having played at least 20 of them. And my crowning moment so far is having shipped a $2 fruggin turbo. Oh how I love this horseshoe.
The other 2 “heroes” have been going hard at it too. I don’t wanna take all the limelight for myself. Sahil’s ft’d a miniftops to finish a glorious 9th. Ft’d Hot 33 and finished 5th. Adi the 54 turbo ko and finished like 5th or whatever, ft bubbled a few and had a bunch of deep runs too. Between the 3 of us, we’re prolly stuck like a nice sprawling house in Cuffe Parade or something. Who am I kidding here? With the $ where its at now and where it’s headed, it prolly wouldn’t even fetch an apt for rent in Thane. There should be a min age requirement on RBI governors. 60 and over just like all our politicians.

It’s not been all poker though. While I did come here dreaming of the finest champagne, I’ve not done too bad on that front. Lotsa beer always available and that’s a mighty fine substitute. No sun and sands as such but I gotta blame that on this city. Gets bright way too early and dark way too early as well. Managed to squeeze in a couple of nights out. Went to this hip joint called Peter Cat in what is prolly the poshest part of the city. Had some really nice steak, fries, the works. I must say I had envisioned this picture of Kolkata in my head b4 I came here and most of what Ive seen so far has turned out to be nothing like it. It’s just one big cramped up, noisy, dusty, traffic congested dump of a city for the most part. Sounds like I’m describing your city? Well everybody except Sahil. He’s from Bhuvaneshwar however that’s spelt and that’s just one big village. I guess Kolkata would be apt for a “Welcome to India” marketing campaign.
I kid. Kolkata is a pretty nice place. Nice weather. Prettier chicks than Chennai I guess. Haven’t had time to do too much bird watching. It has a real old world feel to it. Many places have prolly never been done up since like the 1800s I would guess when Subash Chandra Bose led the charge from here. I kinda wish I could hang back a bit longer after Coop just to witness the spectacle that is Durga Puja. I just found out there’s an ARR concert happening here on 1st or 2nd next month. Might try and squeeze that in. Settle for a much cheaper choice of entertainment before I set sail for home.

For u guys who love the cheap seats, be on the lookout for the show must go on. The rust might just come off the horseshoe. Also, Mr. Intervntion plans to play the 5.2k Wcoop Main fyi so keep ur Sunday the 29th free and make sure to sit back and relax. Hope u’ve had a pleasant 5 minutes and try and enjoy the show!

Ta-ta.
“A”

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5Otla5157c[/url]

by A S

Futurama

June 5, 2013 in News, Featured

Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached – Swami Vivekananda.

Some would believe I have achieved my goal. But I can’t and don’t intend on stopping now.

“I’m glad ’cause it feeds me the fuel that I need for the fire
To burn and it’s burning and I have returned” – Emin3m

Where to start? My thoughts are all absolutely muddled right now. It’s so hard to put into words an experience like this. Something that is potentially life changing. If I had to articulate my emotions, I would have to say that I’m surprisingly quite underwhelmed by it all. People would automatically assume that winning “big money” would naturally send the person into hysterics. On the contrary, I’ve had a surprising sense of innate serenity that came with it. Maybe, and I’m hoping, it’s just the calm before I take the world by storm 😎

Poker’s changed me a lot as a person is what I’m coming to say. There’s those times you tend to become very contemplative and ponder about all things life related and this is that time for me. Looking at how far I’ve come, I’ve certainly undergone a drastic metamorphosis. Whether I’ve overall changed for the better or worse, I’m yet to decide. Poker, over time, tends to make most people who play it regularly a lot more introspective, emotionally numb, detached and distant, frivolous with money, lonely and addicted. These qualities result not as a matter of choice but out of compulsion. A compulsion to be able to survive the swings of this game that we have all come to love. Poker has also made me very lazy. Even the smallest of tasks seem like chores sometimes. It seems like a long, long time ago when I used to love just going outside all the time whether to play sports till I came back home tired to death or whether to just hang with friends and chat about anything and everything till the stars came out in the sky signalling to us that maybe, just maybe it was time to call it a day.

Poker players lead a special life. Often working by night and sleeping by day, our lifestyles mirror that led by owls. I’m not comparing just the sleep cycles but also the fact that we tend to hone very specific skills to an extent which make us eerily predatory just like the owl. The similarities are strikingly similar. A funny paradox though is that while poker is so individualistic and self serving, at the same time, so many prefer to be in “packs.” And one thing that always stands out is how most poker players are always so willing to freely share amongst themselves what they’ve taken ages to learn themselves.

Until a few weeks ago, I often wondered if what I do is worth it. Has it been worth it? What have I achieved so far? Is my life fulfilling in any way? Am I serving any purpose? Are poker players after all just a bunch of isolated, greedy, selfish group of people only driven by money to the point of nothing else? Is materialism all we’re after? I’m still unsure about a lot but I do know that no matter what the facts may be, the truth of the matter is that there are a lot of things a lot worse out there. And with the bad definitely comes the good. I cannot deny the facts glaring at me. I have made a reasonably good living so far by any standards. I have made some great friends along the way and while some of them may go for blood if at the same table, are undoubtedly some of the nicest guys away from it. While always having been analytical and logical, poker has helped me put my talents to good use and constantly give me an opportunity to be ever alert and attentive, always thinking about what my next move should be. Poker’s taught me to strive to always make the “correct” and most optimal decision and not let the result or outcome affect you.

Speaking of goals, I’m a little unsure of what I want to do. People have been asking me what I aim to do and to be honest, I really don’t know. My life hasn’t changed in the least so far except in perception. I do know I want to travel, travel to different places. Places I’ve never visited. Observe beautiful things. I definitely intend on buying a new phone and a better setup for myself, 2 things that have been pending for a long while. A PS 3 has long been on my wish list too but I think I will exercise my patience and wait for the PS 4 to release having waited so long already. I definitely want to use this as a springboard to jump to further success and keep knocking down more milestones. I guess one solid goal for me would be shooting for the WSOP next year. Another one would be wanting to become a better overall player. While my cash game has definitely improved, it hasn’t by the degree I would have liked. This can only happen with me putting in more time into it. While I will continue to focus almost exclusively on MTTs, I definitely want to put in a lot more time into playing cash games as well.

In conclusion, to all the people who might be asking if it’s all worth it, I say yes, it certainly can be. As is often said, it “depends.” It depends on what you are looking for. It depends on perspective. It depends on realism. Poker can definitely be a career but anybody looking to pursue this must look at all the angles and prepare themselves. Just like Newton’s 3rd law says, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The harder you push, the more you will be rewarded with. Success will come to all those willing to work hard enough and stick at their pursuit of their goals. This actually reminds me that poker also teaches you the invaluable quality of patience. Patience is a virtue very highly valued in this field. Make sure you are patient, no matter how tough the going may get. Have faith in yourself and always strive to improve and become better. Remember, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. You just gotta go deep enough and push hard to find it 😉

P.S. Forgot to add in all the rambling that I’ve decided to go to Macau to play the APPT. My 1st time going there. Should be an awesome experience. I will try and blog during the APPT and if not, will do a write up after it. Peace out.

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZhQOvvV45w[/url]

by A S

November update and MTT musings

December 3, 2012 in News

[IMG]http://i47.tinypic.com/30xboft.jpg[/IMG]

My November MTT graph.Thought this might be as good a time as any to put up a blog update after reading Vinay’s latest blog update. This is not to discourage any MTTers or potential MTTers. I just thought I’d give a picture about the darker side of MTTs since not all’s rosy after all. I’ve been following the local community here and on P5’s and some, more than others seem to be doing really well of late. Good on them and I wish everybody can get streaks like that going. Speaking of streaks, that’s exactly what MTTs are based on for the most part. Money from online MTTs comes in streaks. Many ppl who think they know about MTT variance are probably still largely unaware. I can’t claim to be fully aware about MTT variance but I’ve got a lot better idea now than I did a year ago.

A friend of mine who knows Uhhmee, an MTT reg quoted him as saying “Even the best of MTT players lose 240 days in a year.” I would peg it at a higher number than that. The key in MTTs is to try and capitalize every time you go deep. Avoid mistakes and give it absolute focus. Even if you’re multi tabling, anything you’re deep in should be centre focus on ur screen. This helps ensure you play optimally. Do not interpret this as saying that you should nit it up late stages in an MTT. Rather try and play every spot perfectly, without fear and no matter the result, come away from it patting yourself for having played perfectly. It is a lot easier to be results oriented in MTTs more than cash games because of the insane variance. Always remind yourself variance can only be “short term” and “long term”, you will make money regardless if you’re +ev in them. This is something I have to constantly keep telling myself during a downswing because it’s very important to maintain a steady composure at all times, and play level headed not letting bad results or even good results for that matter affect or change your game.

Constantly work on your game I would advise. There’s a plethora of information out there. Forums, training videos, you name it. Talking strat with good players helps a lot too. I rly like what Adi’s doing with the PGMP and I hope to see India take the online world by storm in the yrs to come. Lot of you guys seem very serious and dedicated to the game which is a good sign.

Having a good BRM system in place always helps. You don’t have to be overly nitty with your BRM but play as comfortably as you can. Dollars are always gonna be available and don’t think of your $300 acc balance as your last resort. Take occasional shots when you’re doing well. Mixing MTTs with some cash or some SNGs helps a lot as it helps reduce the overall variance and can help keep a steady stream coming in to offset the MTT variance you will encounter oh so often.

Coming back to myself, I feel variance hit me bad for the most part last month. I will admit I did play bad at times but after doing an honest evaluation, I do feel it was mainly just running bad for the most part, esp in key parts in the tournies I did go deep in. I had a good 1 and a half months prior to this though so can’t feel too depressed. This month could be potentially big. The FTOPS started yesterday and I’m gonna look to play a few good events within my means. Hopefully, can ship a big one. *Fingers crossed* APT’s starting today as well. I’m gonna take a look at their numbers for today’s event and take a call on whether I wanna go play in Goa. Otherwise, definitely looking forward to going for PGT’s finale on 13th. I still have a shot at finishing in the top 10 of the leaderboard too. Hope I can get at least one good finish there to try and ensure I do. The PGT POY as has been stressed a lot of times already is unbelievable value and a very tough act to follow for anybody else. The numbers will definitely be incredible too and I can’t wait to play. Gonna try and make this a biggie both online and live and try and end the year on a nice high.

GL to all of u for the month. I hope most of you aren’t planning on missing out on PGT’s last event.

Blog saver-

[URL=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSnkWzZ7ZAA”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSnkWzZ7ZAA[/URL]

by A S

Been way too long…

February 15, 2012 in News

Sup guys. Sorry for the lack of blogs. Think its been over 2 months since I last blogged. As most of u must be knowing by now, I ended up leaving Team PokerGuru in Dec. Havnt blogged since then.. There wasnt really any reason. I just wanted to try playing on my own once I got out of make up after a long stretch. I was part of Team PG for a yr and am still proud to be the 1st guy. I still keep in touch with all my buddies and am happy to see all of them (Samoh, Amit, KC) doing extremely well. U guys make me proud. Samohh’s recent accomplishments are hard to keep track of :p, Amit’s been doing well in cash plus came 2nd in the 5k PG rebuy and KC was in Goa for 2 tournies and just shipped the 50k High Roller’s. Adi of course always does well. What sickos!

Coming to myself, I came to Goa on the 1st of this month after an almost 3 month layoff. Very happy to say that this trip has been amazing so far bout tournies and cash wise. I started off by shipping the 10k IPC Weekend Kickoff for 1.55L. Felt really good to win another live tourney and I was really in the zone throughout the tourney. So was obv very satisfied. I also ft bubbled the IPC Main and came 3rd in the just concluded 5k PGT Rebuy. I got coolered and super unlucky in the later stages of the IPC Main. Finally went out with KK vs 88 bvb for a sizeable pot. THe PGT 5k rebuy was a pretty sick final table with Inter and Amit making it to the final table too. Was a tough ft overall as well. Finally it came down to a sick 3 handed situation with Adi, Amit and myself remaining. 5b shipped A6 vs Amit who had JJ very conveniently. Binked an A on the flop but he 2 outered me on the river. Std resuckament. Pot was for more than 2/3rd chips in play I think. Cant complain though as I thought I played pretty well overall and esp on the ft. Congrats to Adi who won it and Amit too. Was a pretty awesome hu between the 2 lasting 1 1/2 hrs.

Cash games have been kind to me too. Had a really epic cash session and all my others have been fairly good too. I feel like I’m on top of my game right now and with the cards largely working out for me, I’m having a feeling of near invincibility most of the time. I’m picking my spots pretty well and with the image I’ve built, manage to get paid off a large amount of the time which is nice 🙂 In fact, I dont think I’ve had even 1 losing cash session so far.

The IPP starts tomorrow. I’m not really sure about what my plans are and if I plan on leaving anytime soon. I should be around for at least the next couple of days so will end up playing the IPP I guess. Hope the turnouts are decent though I’m not so optimistic right now. Guess that’s all for now folks. Sorry for the long break in blogging. I’ll try and blog more often from now on. Will try and update how it goes in the IPP if I end up playing it. Until next time..

Adios

by A S

Saturday Speedway win and other blah blah 😀

December 4, 2011 in News

FINALLY!

Managed to get a win and a decent score after so long. My 3rd biggest score online I think..its a funny thing actually…this tourney is only held every Saturday on Stars. Since its inception, I’ve always been kinda attracted to it. Its a turbo and has pretty good prize pools and prizes. In fact, just last Saturday, after I busted out of it, I was thinking about how I never manage to get anywhere in this tourney despite my preference for that. To that, I now say Hell Yea!! A W’s been kinda long due for me and to get a nice, juicy one just makes me sooo happy 😀

And now to recap what I’ve been upto since my last blog, I played the Aces Unlimited series first. Was playing good, even managed a 11th in the rebuy event where I got short stacked and got busted by Maddy. Had a zillion outs on the turn too but I guess it wasnt meant to be. Got real unlucky in the main event 2 where I had the nuts on the turn and got 4 outered on the river. Got slowrolled too tho I doubt villain realized he was(Dw, no hate Deepak!)

After Aces came the APT. The hype was pretty nice. Everyone seemed to be looking forward to it. Although, I was initially disappointed with the numbers, I guess it was to be expected due to timings and it being the 1st event. I did love how it was organised and the numbers did remain steady. The main event turnout was pretty sick..a shout out to my boy Samohhh btw for killing it in the main event. Total ownag3. He’s been making a lotta waves lately and the big fella even busted 10th in the APPT Macau main event in super brutal fashion which all of u must be knowing of by now. From wat I’ve heard, I prolly felt worse for him than he did for himself. Biggest bad beat that I personally know of. 1st was 2.5 Cr or something ridiculous. WP tho Sam, keep the heater on son!

I didnt have too great an APT stint though. Couple of deepish runs early on only to get short and busto. I did manage the awesome feat of winning all 3 of their mega satellites to the main event tho :p Oh and I did manage a 3rd in the 20k event which Tom Hall went on to win. That was pretty depressing too. Was really looking to take down another live event and was totally running over the tourney in the late stages and especially at the final table. Unfortunately, 3 handed, the blinds all of a sudden felt pretty steep and I shoved A3s on the button and got called by Tom’s 55 and lost. Congrats to Tom though. He played pretty well.

In other news, I’m not playing the IPC because I’ve been banned since its last edition by them for reasons I’m not sure I wanna cover..maybe later! Hence, sitting at home and playing online. But tell ya what..I couldn’t be any happier right now. GL to Samoh who’s in the last 15 of the main event(sicko). I’m gonna be heading Goa wards again – this time for THE PGT #2. Its gonna be pretty sick and a new 50k high rollers 6 max has been introduced. Super hyped as everyone is I’m pretty sure. All the guarantees are definitely gonna be broken and the prizes are gonna be sick sickk sickkk. See ya all there! Pz out peeps!

P.S. – Also a shout out to all the PokerGuru guys and others who went to Macau for the APPT…quite a few good, deep finishes. Well done guys!

by A S

Luck in Poker, My Story and Future Plans Part 2

August 8, 2011 in News

Continuing on, I stayed back a day after I won the main event. I got down to talking with Adi and he suggested if I was interested in being staked for tournaments including online. It seemed pretty enticing to me especially because my stint with ONLINE POKER had been rough and patchy until then and I hoped this was the break through I needed. So I agreed and asked him to confirm asap as I was eager to begin playing.

I then started playing online sometime in late December or early January I think. Since there was nobody else on the PG team then to guide me, I was pretty much on my own and my inexperience showed immediately as I sinked into a massive downswing right away. I started to get depressed about it as I wasn’t used to it. Just as it started to seem like there was no end, I won the 42k guarantee on Full Tilt in Feb for my biggest score at the time, effectively wiping out my downswing in one shot. I also won the IPC 5k event in Feb(Effectively the last live tourney success I had..Sigh!)

It was in the 1st week of June when I actually realized that I had been taking it easy with the online grind and hadn’t really been putting in any kind of effort. I started off well, immediately having some good results which kept me going and by the end of the month, I had had my best month in all with my biggest score to boot. The scene gradually changed too as since then, there’s been 4 of us putting in good, consistent volume and it’s been fun to grind when you know there are others doing the same. I had a good July too and now I’m starting to believe that I have a shot at doing this consistently and profitably.

I have slowly watched the PokerGuru team grow from what it was to what it is now..a team of 10 solid players..and each one being as close a friend as an associate. I’ve had a lot of good and fun times..a lotta good memories in the relatively short span of time that has passed. I’m sure there are many more to come in the near future and I’m looking forward to meeting everyone again for the PokerGuru Tour!

Reg my future plans, I think I’m just gonna be putting in a lot of volume online. I feel like it’s what I need to be doing right now and what I’m doing well right now. I have already reduced my visits to Goa and they are probably gonna become even less from now on which is an irony because there seem to be tournaments galore in Goa nowadays with at least 3-4 tournament series being held every month now. I also plan on focusing on cash games in the near future. I have largely overlooked on that part of my game for a while now and I know I’m good enough to do well in them over the long run. Of late, my cash game attempts in Goa haven’t gone so well but my sample size is small and I know where I went wrong and where I’m lacking so it’s just a question of when I actually decide to sit down and address the issue…probably not for a while though. My eventual goal is to play the WSOP next year and to be able to do so, I’m gonna have to come up with some consistent results for the upcoming months so that’s what I’m gonna be focusing on..

by A S

August so far

August 17, 2011 in News

The month started off bad as usual…I’m kinda surprised how each of the last 3 months have taken the same path. Down to begin with, then bink a couple of scores and slowly start to build up before ending the month on a decent high. Same with this month so far, though its been a bit slower. I got off to a bad start and now am slowly starting to gain some momentum.

I’ve had two 2nds, three 3rds and I’ve finished 5 times between 4th-10th. Looks mighty impressive but is actually just ok compared to last 2 months cause I’ve put in a lot of volume too. Plus I’m really pissed off that due to some reason or the other I haven’t been able to close out any of these tournies. Last 2 months, I barely had a problem doing it but something or the other has kept me from winning even 1 this month.

I had a few decent shots too. I must have been chip leader in a few of them for sure, some right from the beginning and the others towards the end. Unfortunately, either a crucial run bad or just plain bad luck has stopped me each time. Every time I kept final tabling one, I kept telling myself that I won’t **** this one up. Can’t really claim to have ****** any of them up as I’ve mainly just lost huge flips three handed and heads up and even a couple hands where I was the huge favourite. However, that’s poker and I’ll just have to deal with the variance especially in the turbos..hopefully I’ll win at least a couple before the month ends!

I’m also extremely pumped about the PGT starting 2nd September. I was fortunate enough to win a package on Stars for the main event on the last Sunday of July which is pretty nice. From the looks and sounds of it, The PGT is probably gonna set a lot of new records right in its very first edition. A lot of firsts of course – RAKE FREE, POKERSTARS, BLAH BLAH..you must have read and heard about it a lot by now. So make sure not to miss the very first edition. The numbers are definitely gonna be awesome and so are the prizepools and experience! Be There to witness it! 😀

by A S

Epic Sep so far – PGT, IPS and the online grind!

September 11, 2011 in News

What a hectic month this has been already!! I’ve been in Goa almost the whole of this month so far and lot of eventful things have happened. I came here for the 1st event of the PGT. My live run bad continued as I couldn’t cash in any of the events. Good news for the team was obviously Samohh shipping the main event in baller fashion. WP sam. Wasn’t really playing anything online initially..just a few here and there to keep me from being bored Otherwise, was just chilling with friends.

4 of us had 2-3 nights of decent grinding after the PGT and before the IPS. I managed to win the 55 6max turbo (Yay me!) while KC who also ft’d it came 5th, a first online for PG. We decided to stay back for the IPS and play some online as well. IPS got off to a fantastic start with Amit coming 2nd in the very 1st event – 5k with re-entries. The 2nd event – the 5k rebuy went awesome with all 4 us reaching the top 20 with me busting soon after and Samohh bubbling. KC and Amit ft’d it together though! Amit got unlucky to go out 1st. KC did manage to come 2nd though. WP guys.

Everyone busted yesterday’s main event relatively early and went off to play online later.I managed to hang in there initially and started picking up momentum in the mid-late stages. I was hovering around the top 3 stacks with 2 tables left I think. was having a few swings and finally lost 2 crucial pots close to the ft which essentially knocked me out of the tourney. I guess I could have played a bit different but I’m not unhappy with how I played and if I’d had a little better luck, I’m sure I would have provided some ft entertainment 😀
So I snap went back to the room for an online grind cause I didn’t want to take the chance of playing cash while I was a little tilted :p First thing I see when I enter is food and drinks strewn all over the place and everyone sitting with satiated bellies and their laptops in tow 😉

All of us had chances I think with stacks in a lot of tournies. The one of significance was the 75 Turbo though which Amit and I ft’d together. I’m starting to detect a pattern here I think lol. I was CL at the start of the ft while Amit was kinda short stacked. After the usual swings, when the dust had settled, it was down to 3 handed with both of us still in. Amit had a slight chip advantage while I was the shortest stack. I got pretty lucky when I doubled thru Amit with A7o vs JJ. I had to land the killer blow too when he had to shove QJs and I had AKo. I then went on to obviously finish 2nd to the @#$#%&$%#@$ luckbox who ran so insanely good, it was ridiculous.

To sum up, a great month so far for the team already. Personally – a nice start online and the usual live misery continues 🙁

by A S

Recent developments and current status

September 21, 2011 in News

As most of you might be knowing by now, Full Tilt which got shut down earlier this year for a variety of reasons has further just been exposed in recent developments for defrauding players out of 300M+ of funds primarily by Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Ray Bitar. 2 of them, most of us know very well…2 people who pretended to be touted saints but were just as bad as any other scheming criminal. I hope they all burn in hell for eternity for their actions and decisions especially Howard F’ing Lederer. I have about 2k in funds stuck on FTP I reckon.. gg that but my sympathy goes out to all players who have a lot more stuck there especially players to whom it really mattered a lot. I hope justice is eventually done in all manners possible.

In other news, I’ve been focusing more on my live cash game of late. I haven’t really grinded online this month and have been taking it easy. Since I’m still in Goa and don’t have much else to do, live cash games ftw!! I’m happy with how I’ve been playing in the cash games as I hadn’t really played too much this year and had been mainly focusing on MTTs. I’ve had some decent sessions so far and that obviously boosts one’s confidence level.

I intend on staying on in Goa for a while longer. The WGF is coming up this weekend and I’m planning on playing that. I’m also looking forward to playing at IPP just after. So it looks like I’m gonna be pretty occupied in the near future. Watch out for updates and news from the WGF and the IPP on where else but PokerGuru 😀

by A S

Luck in Poker, My Story and Future Plans Part 1

August 1, 2011 in News

This is gonna be a bit long so I’m warning you in advance – TL;DR.

No I’m not gonna talk about the luck aspect involved in the cards itself..everybody must know about that by now..everyone knows skill prevails over luck in the long run. No, I’m gonna talk about the luck aspect involved in the life aspect of poker mainly from my own life’s point of view.

I believe there’s lot more luck involved in poker than people actually realize..again not specifically to do with the fall of a card. Your being in the right place at the right time, choosing one decision over another, whether to put up most of your bankroll to play in that one particular tournament or cash game or whether not to, deciding whom to back, who’s action to take, etc etc…these actions might seem trivial at first but in reality decide the luck factor in a lot bigger way than the cards at times.

Not everybody who becomes famous or super rich can be assumed to be a great poker player. Your luck alone could result in you luckboxing a huge tournament and then having the bankroll to afford to make mistakes and improve. You might hav put up all of your bankroll on a crazy whim to play a super high stakes game and gone on a roll to set you well financially. There’s so many known instances of people almost ending up not playing that one tournament but eventually playing it and going on to win it.

I consider myself to be very lucky. I have certainly led a charmed life so far with things working out when they most needed to. After I lost most of my bankroll in November, 2010 in Goa, I managed to rebuild it back a bit before heading to take a shot at the IPC in Dec, 2010. I won a bit short stacking my way successfully at the cash tables, min cashed in the 10k event and that’s where my life really changed. It was luck, maybe a bit of fate that resulted in my meeting Aditya ‘Intervention’ Agarwal for the 1st time. I got introduced to him by a mutual friend. Since I didn’t have a room to stay, I tagged along after my min cash in the 10k event. This was the morning of the 25k event. I had this feeling..you all must have had it at some time where you feel, rather you just know that you can’t go wrong. I knew for certain that I was going to win the 25k main event that day and was even ready to put up most of my bankroll then to play it. However, I started talking to Adi while having breakfast. Naturally, as when 2 poker players meet, the discussion was mainly poker. He had heard about my cash in the 10k and got the impression I was a decent player. For some reason, partly because of some reasoning by my parents, I suddenly became hesitant to put up the entire buy in for the main event. So I told Adi about it and he snap took a piece of me and I also sold a piece to Sanjay Lawrence. Then, of course, I went on to win the main event that night, as a result becoming the 1st ever India Poker Champion 😀

To be contd..

by A S

Jul update and PokerGuru Tour!!!

July 16, 2011 in News

As most of u mite know, last month was kind to me..had a slow start but once I won my 1st tourney last month, I went on a heater of sorts and ended on a great note as well. Despite faltering a bit in the middle, I still managed to recover and finish it well.

This month, I got off to a bad start..wasnt playing so well, running bad in crucial spots, the usual run bad..both Sundays were the worst. Fortunately, got 2 wins under my belt 2 days or rather nights ago(Back 2 Back)…the 2nd time I’ve done it. I managed to win the 54 Turbo KO and the 11 Turbo…feeling pretty good right now..my game’s back at its peak and I’m feeling good bout my game. So hopefully, this month follows the same pattern as last and my upswing keeps continuing!!

As u may know, PokerGuru just recently announced the forthcoming launch of The PokerGuru Tour in association with PokerStars (Legit brag) in Sep..It’s gonna be really sickkk..the guarantees are awesome and there’s definitely gonna be huge turnouts. Also there are bounties on all the team pros in the main event so GL trying to knock us out :p There could be some surprises from the PokerStars end as well so keep ur fingers crossed 🙂 Stars are also gonna be having qualifiers and freerolls which is great.

This officially marks the beginning of a new era! One that all u guys are gonna be a part of…and which we shud all be proud of! Hoping to see most of u in Goa in Sep for the first edition of The PGT!!

Online Rankings

i Top Ranked Poker Players in India
Member Won
Member Won
Member Won
₹1,29,29,197
₹1,25,88,313
₹1,21,00,140
₹1,20,22,333
5.Vinay B Vinay B
₹1,15,16,843
6.M L M L
₹1,14,45,592
₹1,09,13,473
₹1,05,83,948
₹99,75,577
₹99,60,672
Member Profit
Member Profit
Member Profit
₹55,77,649
₹50,59,154
₹47,48,174
₹46,35,740
₹44,93,503
₹43,56,316
₹43,24,686
₹42,41,254
₹41,92,614
₹41,05,805
Member Points
Member Points
Member Points
43,040
36,048
28,827
4.N K N K
28,769
26,548
25,649
24,726
24,446
9.M L M L
23,604
23,352

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