Actor-Poker Player Ujjwal Rana Wins Renault Duster Car in the Tournament Leaderboard Challenge on Spartan Poker

Winning the monthly tournament leaderboard on Spartan Poker is no mean feat and here is a player who has topped it not just once, but thrice within the past six months, thus winning himself a brand new Renault ‘Duster’ car, thanks to the site’s promotional offer.

We are speaking of Ujjwal Rana (cover image), also known as ‘fultufun’ online, a well-known actor, producer and model, who was last seen in the film BHK Bhalla@Halla.Kom, besides at numerous brand advertisements and television serials.

Ujjwal got to know poker eight years ago and began playing mostly online. In November, he created a record of sorts, when he finished third at both, the high and low leaderboards of the PokerGuru Online League (PGOL). Foraying into live action, he final tabled the India Poker Championship (IPC) Main Event in December 2015 at eighth place for ₹2.4 Lakhs, besides a similar eighth place in the Deltin Poker Tournament Main Event in January, 2016 for ₹3.06 Lakhs.

In this quick exchange, Ujjwal answers our questions about his six month-long journey that got him tackling the leaderboard contest and winning the Duster. He tells us about the competition he faced while doing so, his future plans for poker and more.

Please tell us about your journey of playing online and live poker.

One of my friends introduced me to poker in late 2008 and then I started playing poker online on Merge Network site called PDC poker I wondered how the same players topped the leaderboard each month. I started watching their game and tried learning the game and then I found out that it’s a game of skill. I also started playing and soon I found success by achieving top position on the leaderboard. I was giving my full time to poker, playing almost every tourney be it during the day or night and then I realized that maybe I am addicted to poker. Just to prove myself wrong I left poker completely for three years although getting very good result and money. Then last year I came across IPC and Spartan Poker, I realized poker is growing in India as well and here also there are people who play the game professionally. I loved the software and started playing online at Spartan Poker.

From Dec 2015, I started playing live tournaments, such as the Dec IPC Main Event, I was one of the finalist and scored 8th place and in Feb, I was the bubble boy just before the money I got busted. In my first DPT Main Event by Adda52.com I was on the final table, I scored the 8th position again. Poker Baazi tour Main Event I was in the prize pool and scored 24th position.

I believe I should grab the title now, which will give me confidence to explore more poker tournaments in other Asian countries.

Take us through your run through the monthly TLBs.

I broke my arm and was advised to take bed rest for a month and half of that time, I thought of claiming the Duster and I could give time to it. I played the whole month and a player called ‘spectre’ gave me tough competition and I lost the month just by 400 to 500 points. Then I realized I was missing small buy-in games, that was in the month of April and then next two months nobody could even come close to me, as I maintaining my lead of more than 1500 points, that’s for May and June and current month. Again player ‘spectre’ starting chasing me in neck to neck competition, but I finished first, result of getting record MLB points over 14,000.

You sealed the deal five months before the promotional period. How does it feel to win the car?

I was happy playing at Spartan Poker and when they announced the car for tournament players, honestly saying, I was very happy and felt sure that they had announced it for me.

Winning a leaderboard is a very different game all together and it requires consistency, not just one game but collectively all the games; your performance has to be good and it’s not an easy task and demands a lot of time too, but I had done it before so I was sure I could achieve it and here we are, with, me having a brand new Duster car all thanks to Spartan Poker.

It really feels great when your hard work pays off, not the IPC Main Event title, but I could win this car means a lot to me and it will keep me going to achieve my poker goals in future.

Who do you think are your strongest competitors in the leaderboard competitions?

As I earlier mentioned only ‘SPECTRE’ a player BHANU PRAKASH gave me some competition in the current month.

What are your future goals in Poker?

I want to play more live tournaments in India and then try my hand in Asian tourneys after having some experience, would love to go for tougher field and every poker players’ dream the WSOP.

What is your take on Spartan Poker and any comment about the various promotions?

Spartan Poker provides very good promotions for cash players for time to time and honestly that’s for favour of players which is excellent and I am delighted they also provide promotions for the tournaments players also. Hope to see some awesome promotions for tourney players in the future too.

As as he drives off into the sunset in his new car, we would like to congratulate Ujjwal Rana on his fantastic achievement. You too can take a shot at fame and big cash by playing at Spartan Poker!