Coronavirus Lockdown: An Update From Poker Pros in Mumbai

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is growing direr with each passing day. The number of positive cases across the world is racing towards the 1 Million-mark even as the global death toll has climbed over 45,000. In India, the COVID-19 cases have more than doubled in the last four days, with the Health Ministry confirming over 1,900 positive cases so far.

Maharashtra is, in fact, the most affected out of all the 28 Indian states and eight Union Territories in the country. As of April 2, the western state had 335 confirmed cases. With 3.25 Lakh migrant laborers stuck in state-run shelters across Maharashtra, the situation is looking quite grim for this state in particular.

Over the past few days, we have reached out to poker pros settled all across the country to know how they have been spending their time during the 21-day nationwide lockdown that was imposed on March 24. We have already spoken to many players from the ‘Poker Capital of India’ – Goa and from the National Capital Region of Delhi. In today’s feature, we bring you an update from some of the pros who are self-isolating in Mumbai.

For this feature, we reached out to Nishant Sharma, Jasven Saigal, Zarvan Tumboli, and Spartan Poker’s The Millionaire Legends ₹2 Crores GTD winner from December 2019, Anish Patra. Let’s find out how these pro have been keeping busy….

Nishant Sharma

Nishant Sharma burst onto the live poker scene about two years back when he became the first Indian to crack the top 50 in the WSOP Main Event. After winning a free trip to Vegas via the 9stacks #LFGVegas contest, Sharma broke all previous records in the Main Event with his 34th place finish that earned him a payday of $230,475 (~₹1.57 Crores). Today, Sharma has nearly ₹3 Crores in live tournament winnings and an equally impressive ₹2.05 Crores in recorded online earnings.

Sharma is presently in Mumbai, spending time with his family. Talking about his daily grind, he said, “I’ve been playing more hours than usual due to the increase in cash game action and MTT GTD’s. To be frank, it’s getting harder to pick between cash games or MTTs during the peak hours. So mostly I’ve been grinding like 10-12 hours a day at least and take an off on Saturdays.”

While Sharma claims that his life has not changed much since the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown, he is still happy for the extra time he is getting to spend with his family, especially his father.

“Life is kind of still the same, but yeah, getting more time to spend with my family and especially dad.”

He did have some excellent advice for newbies looking to take up poker as a career. “This is a good time for a lot of recreational players who want to quit their job and pursue poker as a career as they can spend more time grinding and learning the game and then decide if they are ready to take a big step or not. Also, there is free one-month access on Run It Once, make good use of it. Cheers and see you on the tables.”

Jasven Saigal

One of the long-standing stalwarts of poker, Jasven Saigal, has several significant accomplishments like title wins in the IPC and APT to his name. The three-time DPT titleholder who lives in Mumbai came whiskers close to taking down the ₹20K PLO in the January 2020 Baazi Poker Tour (BPT), finishing runner-up instead. Saigal is just as active online, and now with the lockdown in place, he’s sticking to home and devoting more time to his daily grind.

“Yeah, I would say definitely don’t step out, spend time with your families, stay indoors, watch some movies, study, work on your game, play online poker, and hope for the best,” Saigal said. Though his routine hasn’t changed a lot, like many of us, he’s missing outings with friends and the excitement of live poker that has completely stopped right now.

“I’m playing well roughly about eight to ten hours a day. I guess I’ll continue doing the same things if the lockdown increases. If the time frame increases, I guess,” Saigal said, adding, “The only thing I really miss about not being able to step out is going socializing, meeting some friends when playing live games because I used to do quite a bit of that.”

An avid gym-goer, Saigal, is not letting the lockdown bog him down. “I work out, not in the gym anymore I just run up and down my building’s stairs, do some push-ups. Trying to stay as fit, watching my diet.” You can never learn enough of poker and Saigal has been making good use of the extra time at hand. “Studying a little more, since I have so much more time on hand and playing a lot of poker.”

Zarvan Tumboli

A seasoned pro, Zarvan Tumboli was in the news at the start of the year when he came incredibly close to shipping the ₹100K High Roller at the 2020 India Poker Championship (IPC) January edition, but eventually finished runner-up for ₹30.59 Lakhs.

Talking about how he is spending his time during the lockdown, Tumboli said, “I have been grinding every evening on various sites since the lockdown. I think no poker player can have specific working hours, though.”

Revealing the changes he has brought to his day-to-day life, he said, “Been working on my game and studying more than ever to be honest ever since I was back from Goa.”

He further added, “Working on my fitness also by sleeping those extra hours every day so I can work out in my dreams! LOL! hahaha! My family and I are big foodies, so cooking is kind of a hobby. This is the best time to ace my cooking skills and experiment a bit with some lip-smacking new recipes.”

Sharing his views on how the poker industry will be affected if the lockdown continues, he stated, “Nothing much should change from the poker aspect. We will have tournaments day in and day out. I will be spending more quality time with my family (which mostly is difficult), binge-watching a lot of Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. I am already planning a vacation after this lockdown! hahaha! A much-needed break. My wife and mum have put me on household duties, and that’s a lot of domestic workload I tell you.”

Stressing on the need to stay safe during such trying times, he said, “There is no solution other than practicing social distancing. The sooner people realize that, the better. The global numbers are getting scarier by the day, and the situation is getting worse. If we don’t act and be responsible now, this is not ending anytime soon. We are so privileged and blessed, but we still complain of a lack of groceries and stuff. My heart goes out to the poor, daily wage workers and those stranded without basic necessities. I plead everyone to donate and make a contribution during these trying times. These might be inconsequential sums for most of us in the industry, which will surely play a big role in helping the needy.

Anish Patra

The 27-year-old Anish Patra became the 33rd Millionaire winner on Spartan Poker when he took down the Millionaire Legends ₹2 Crores GTD on November 10 for ₹46.21 Lakhs. Incidentally, he also shipped Adda52’s Mega Suits ₹25 Lakhs GTD, for ₹4.88 Lakhs on the same day, taking his cumulative winnings to a life-changing ₹51.10 Lakhs! At present, his recorded online winnings stand tall at ₹1.73 Crores, which includes 11 titles.

While Patra is a stellar poker player, he has a full-time job as a Product Manager and only gets time on the weekends to play poker. “I have a full-time job, I put in most of my volume on the weekends and try to squeeze in a few hours through the week as well.”

Speaking along the same lines as the other poker pros, Patra, too hasn’t faced much of a change in his online grind routine. “Life seems to be more or less the same for most of us online poker players. If anything, there has only been increased activity on the online felts with tournament prize pools getting crushed. I wish I could tell you that I’ve done something on the fitness front, but I’ve only been binge-watching TV shows/movies.”

Nevertheless, he has been focusing on improving his gameplay during the lockdown, “I look at it as an opportunity to acquire new skills, put in more volume online, and most of all to spend some quality time with the family.”

Expounding on the situation the country is facing right now, Patra said, “These are extraordinary times that call for unconditional support from everyone to get through this. My heart goes out to all those who are suffering from this terrible pandemic. My advice would be to use this time to do the things that you’ve wanted to learn some new skills. It’s a great opportunity to brush on your poker skills. RIO has made it’s content available for free for a month, so that could be a good starting point.”

That’s all for our update from Mumbai. But do check back for more updates from other cities!