Coronavirus Lockdown: An Update From Poker Pros Across the Country (Part 2)

Since late March, the PokerGuru Editorial team has been keeping you up-to-date with how poker players across the country have been handling the lockdown brought on to prevent the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from spreading. In the last month or so, my colleagues and I have brought you updates from poker players under lockdown in various parts of the country like Goa, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Chennai, and Bengaluru. In our previous feature, dated April 17, we had connected with players residing in Coimbatore, Arunachal Pradesh, Surat, Tanuku, and Ahmedabad.

A lot has changed since that last update and unfortunately not for the better. The global number of confirmed cases has increased by 331,160 (as of April 21), and stands at 2.4 Million, with the death toll touching 171,240. India, too, has witnessed a spike of 4,823 new COVID-19 cases in less than a week, taking the total tally to 18,658 cases, with 592 deaths.

The virus was first discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. India witnessed an outbreak of the COVID-19 in late January 2020 when three Indian students traveled to the southern state of Kerala from Wuhan. All three of them tested positive for COVID-19, confirming a local contagion. At the same time, several other cases were detected in other parts of the country, most of which were linked to people with a travel history to affected countries. By late March, the country had over 1,000 confirmed cases and over twenty deaths; 90 people had recovered. Nearly a month later, the numbers are now rapidly heading towards the 20,000-mark.

As has been the case worldwide, with ‘social distancing’ protocols in place, businesses and industries (barring the essential services) have been shut down, including casinos. The nationwide lockdown was first announced on March 25 and was expected to culminate on April 14 after 21 days. On the day the quarantine was scheduled to be lifted, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an extension till May 3. Given the fact that the number of confirmed cases is still on the rise, there is a genuine possibility that the quarantine will be extended beyond May 3 in many parts of the country.

For our final feature in the Lockdown series, we bring you an update from many of our PokerGuru Ambassadors Naresh Veeravalli, Ankit Wadhawan, Faiz Alam, Tathagatha Sengupta and the prominent poker pro Raman Gujral.

Well-known reg Gujral spoke to us from Mohali, Punjab, which happens to be one of the most affected areas in that region, with 62 confirmed cases and two deaths.

Veeravalli is a well-known live cash game player and is an important addition to this list, as he gave us a realistic idea of how live poker players have been impacted since the casinos have been shut down.

Wadhawan connected with us from Gurgaon, Haryana, a north-western state that has been moderately affected with 254 cases and three deaths.

Rounding up this feature are Alam and Sengupta, who are both self-isolating with their families in Kolkata, West Bengal. The ‘City of Joy’ has registered 49 positive cases to date, including two deaths amid rising concerns that the state government has been under-reporting the figures.

So, let’s find out how these pros have been spending their time during the lockdown.

Raman Gujral

Easily one of the most recognizable faces in the domestic circuit, Raman Gujral has been a part of the industry for as long as we can remember. A former PokerBaazi MoneyMaker champion, Gujral has recorded lifetime online winnings of ₹1.85 Crores though his actual winnings are likely much more.

Unlike many other pros, Gujral has been only playing poker on Sundays. “I have been playing only on Sundays…8 hours a week.”

Giving precedence to family, he has been spending a lot of time with his daughter. “Started coaching my daughter in cricket indoors…have been throwing beamers at her in our living room to get her to duck or defend.”

This former stock trader has been keenly following the volatile stock market. “Have been trading in the stock market…a highly volatile environment makes for good trading opportunities.”

He also feels that if the lockdown gets extended further, it will not make much of a difference to him. “Nothing changes if lockdown is extended. I feel for my dogs who can’t understand why we can’t go for a drive.”

Gujral had a word of caution to share about the severity of the COVID-19 virus and its fatality rate. “Don’t take this virus lightly. I hear some people saying that the fatality rate is pretty low — but as we see in Italy, Spain, etc., once the number of cases goes high enough to put a strain on the country’s medical infrastructure, the fatality rate will go closer to 10%. Eat healthy and exercise to strengthen your immune system,” were his parting words of advice.

Naresh Veeravalli

A prominent name in the live cash game circuit, PokerGuru Ambassador Naresh Veeravalli, has more than proved his prowess in online MTT’s these last few weeks. With over ₹1.36 Crores in recorded online MTT cashes, Veeravalli has picked up several big scores since the lockdown, including shipping Adda52’s AOPS Godfather ₹30 Lakhs GTD for a career-best ₹10.30 Lakhs on April 2 and the Millions AF ₹20 Lakhs GTD for ₹7.52 Lakhs on March 29.

Talking about his grind routine, Veeravalli said, “I’m dedicating the same hours as before nothing changed in that front.”

He also talked about the changes he has brought to his daily routine. “Daily routine has changed a lot…lot more time since nowhere to go..so ample time to study the game. Also watching some shows on tv that I was unable to watch before.”

Discussing how the lockdown has affected his life, Veeravalli said, “The major change would be live poker for me as I travel a lot to play live cash, which I enjoy a lot, so that’s taken a hit. Personally, meeting friends and going out on Saturdays is something I’ll miss.”

He shared some valuable advice as well. “I would strongly advise everyone to stay home and be strict about it as we are dealing with a new unknown deadly virus. At this, all we do impacts our future as well, so being cautious at this time is really necessary. Also, I urge everyone to get into a home fitness routine to get the laziness off.”

Faiz Alam

PokerGuru Ambassador Faiz Alam had just recently shifted base to Kolkata from Mumbai before the shutdown was imposed. Going through a prolonged downswing, Alam finally caught that big break last month when he took down the AOPS ₹2 Crores GTD Main Event on Adda52 for a personal-best ₹50 Lakhs. The massive score just before the lockdown got Alam finally in the green.

Ever since then, he’s been staying at home and devoting most of his time to do what he loves the most – play poker! “I spend around 8-12 hours daily on poker – playing as well as working on the game. To be honest, there hasn’t been much change in my daily routine. The weekly family outing has stopped, but that’s not a necessity.”

We asked him if he was trying out something new during the time off, and he said, “Naah, no new hobbies for me. I had started on being fit by jogging daily which I still continue. Had started evening cricket in a ground nearby where I live, but that has stopped as well.”

He didn’t sound very perturbed by the fact that the lockdown has been extended. “Not much would change even if the lockdown gets extended even further. Being a new dad, I wasn’t anyways going to venture out much for some time,” Alam said, adding, “My advice to people would be to try to get some good habits going with regards to fitness and daily routine, and to follow that even after the lockdown is lifted, and the Coronavirus threat is finally gone.”

Ankit Wadhawan

He plays as ‘b00mtr00p3r’ or ‘d00mtr00p3r’ across the major online sites and is as much as at ease in the humdrum of a live poker tournament as he is on the virtual felts. The Chandigarh-based pro is currently in Gurgaon. One of the more talented young pros on the circuit, PokerGuru Ambassador Ankit Wadhawan, has been making the most of the extra time available during the lockdown to play online. “I grind for almost 7-8 hours 5 days a week and take a couple of days off to chill,” Wadhawan shared, admitting that what he’s been missing the most since the lockdown began is going to the gym. “To be honest, there’s only one thing missing out in my routine, and that is the gym. I’ve been going for a run and trying to keep up with some activity or the other. I’ve been trying to study a bit more than usual, but that’s about it.”

He was quick to point out that there weren’t any drastic changes in his routine. “I feel the environment is a bit dull right now, which I’m sure will get better with due course of time. Also, since I had been grinding for a few months now, I had planned a trip to the hills post SSS that got canned, but it’s alright.”

Wadhawan agreed that the lockdown was a good thing for India. “I would request everyone to follow the lockdown sincerely. Stay indoors. Try to exercise, eat healthily, do something productive and maybe introspect. I feel this time can be used judiciously in working upon oneself.”

As for himself, social distancing did really shock him out of his skin. “It’s funny how I feel I’ve been practicing social distancing for a while now. The only times I have really gone out, in the past one year, have been for Poker tournaments, other than that I have just been grinding almost every day. I understand, it gets tough when you are asked not to go out but that’s the need of the hour. Personally, I feel that for poker players, it’s a good time to grind as there is a lot of action in the game, and the prize pools are bigger than before.”

Tathagata Sengupta

PokerGuru Ambassador Tathagata Sengupta is someone who has been keeping a low profile recently, but he has been very active playing the online MTT’s. Like Alam, Sengupta is in Kolkata and playing between 10 to 12 hours of poker daily. “I usually start at around 3 pm. Not any major changes though. Yes, I’m now also devoting 2-3 hours every day to studying.”

Sengupta sure knows how to mix serious play with some fun time and admitted that he’s been giving more time to help his family with household chores. “Due to lockdown, I’m more involved in household activities. Also, 40 minutes of yoga and one movie every day is a must for me!!”

We asked him about the lockdown getting extended, and he said, “As there is no major change in lifestyle, so no special plans. Yes, obviously, it’s a bit depressing at times, but we need to extend it to stop community transfer.”

And that’s all for the Lockdown series, folks! We’ll keep coming up with more updates, so keep following PokerGuru!