Coronavirus Lockdown: An Update From Poker Pros in Pune

We are now four days away from the 21-day nation-wide lockdown coming to an end, but it is increasingly looking like the lockdown will get extended to prevent the further spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The lockdown may have prevented a complete outbreak in the country, but despite the stringent measures, the figures are looking grim. As of April 10, there are 6,771 confirmed cases in India, including 228 deaths.

Maharashtra is one of the worst-hit states in the country by far. The state has confirmed a total of 1,364 cases, including 97 deaths and 125 recoveries, as of April 9. More than two-thirds of the cases in the state have emerged from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Mumbai and Pune are among the 10 COVID-19 hotspots in the country identified by the Government of India.

The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Maharashtra was reported on March 9 in Pune, where a couple returning from Dubai tested positive. The next day, three more people in the city who had come in contact with the couple tested positive. All five of them were admitted to Naidu Hospital. On April 9, the state reported 229 more cases and 25 deaths. Out of the 25 deaths, 14 were recorded in Pune, nine in Mumbai, and one each in Malegaon and Ratnagiri.

Since March 29, we have been connecting with poker players all across the country to find out how they have been spending their time under lockdown. We have already featured updates from pros residing in Goa, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru.

For today’s feature, we contacted players located in another severely impacted city in Maharashtra – Pune. We spoke to prominent names like Siddarth Singhvi, PokerGuru Ambassador Ashutosh Balodhi, Neel Joshi, and Raj Talwar to find out more about their lockdown routine.

Siddarth Singhvi

Former WPT India champion, Siddarth Singhvi is a well-known name in the domestic circuit. Singhvi has ₹54.42 Lakhs in live tournament winnings, but over the past few weeks, he has dominated the virtual felts. On March 15, he joined the elite list of Millionaire champions when he became one of the top five finishers in Spartan Poker’s SSS The Millionaire X5 1 Million to Top 5. He also went on to finish eighth in Adda52’s AOPS Main Event Finale ₹2 Crore GTD for ₹3.50 Lakhs on the same day.

His career-best online score to-date came in Spartan Poker’s The Millionaire Legends ₹1.5 Crores GTD (runner-up for ₹25.76 Lakhs) on April 5. He also shipped Adda52’s AOPS Hitman ₹12.5 Lakhs GTD for ₹4.34 Lakhs on April 7. Presently, his recorded online earnings stand tall at ₹2.88 Crores, which includes 40 titles!

Going by his spectacular online poker resume, it’s understandable that Singhvi has been putting in more volume playing online during the lockdown, and he confirmed the fact when we reached out to him. “I play for 4-6 hrs on regular days and more on weekends.”

Working in the IT sector, the 21-day quarantine hasn’t changed much for him. However, he does appreciate the extra time that he is getting now to spend with his children. “I work for an IT firm and always had an option to WFH. So, things haven’t changed much. I continue to work from home, and based on my work schedule, I try to put in a couple of cash game sessions during the day and then play tournaments at night. It’s tough to take out time to study the game – Volume has always been my biggest teacher. Also, I am spending more time with my kids playing various indoor games and other activities as they need to be occupied/entertained as well during this lockdown.”

Talking about what he will be focusing on during the lockdown, Singhvi said, “Personally, for me, things haven’t changed much – I will continue to work from home. Poker wise, from April onwards, my plan was to play fewer tournaments and focus more on PLO cash games. But due to lockdown, there is a lot of action everywhere, so I will continue to dabble in all formats.”

He advised people to utilize the lockdown to spend time with family, “Stay fit and healthy, spend quality time with your family, and keep working on your game.”

Ashutosh Balodhi

PokerGuru Ambassador Ashutosh Balodhi is an emerging name in the domestic circuit. While his live career is still at a nascent stage with just two cashes to his name, he has a rather thriving online resume, with ₹1.07 Crores in recorded online earnings, and an impressive 48 titles.

The young player, who is presently enduring the lockdown in Pune, told us that since the first week of the 21-day quarantine, his routine hasn’t changed much. “As of the first week of lockdown, not much change in schedule. I usually start from 8 pm, and since a lot of value tournaments are added late night, the grind usually lasts till 4-6 am.”

Staying active during this lockdown period is essential, and Balodhi has been working hard to lead a healthier lifestyle. “I have made a lot of changes in my daily routine. Not much change in poker just following my usual routine as of now. Other than poker I have really turned my life around I am doing yoga two times a day, started cooking and made a goal of staying fit, mentally and physically. My goal first week was not to pay much attention to poker, poker can wait, I really wanted to change my lifestyle had a lot of unhealthy habits that I finally thought I can work on now that there no external distractions. My goal through this lockdown is to come out as a more responsible and healthier person. I have started cleaning my house, cooking my own healthy and nutritional meals – started meditation, started praying (I just take 10 mins after waking up and before going to sleep to thank the universe for everything I have got ), brings gratitude in life which I really feel is the key to happiness. After around 10 days, I can tell you that this has been the best period of my life, and I am thankful that this lockdown finally made me fix my internal issues. I was distracted by external problems till now, which after meditation and yoga, I realised most of them were just in my head, and life is as simple as you make it.”

Expressing how beneficial this lockdown has been for him, Balodhi stated, “I am already prepared for the worse because I am enjoying every moment of this lockdown. I am not really worried about extensions. It would be better for me personally if the lockdown extends, I can work more on personal wellbeing. Poker related it’s the golden time, values getting crushed everywhere, new players joining daily, so both professionally and personally, this lockdown is going really good for me.”

Sharing how the lockdown has gone for him overall, Balodhi had some great advice to give, “The best advice I can give is to look at the positive side and stop stressing out. I am a perfect example of this. I was in a state of panic when the Modi government announced the 21-day lockdown period. I wanted to go home on 25th (March), had my flights booked but couldn’t go even on 24th (March) as there were no cabs available here. I was going through a rough phase in life already. I was battling depression and anxiety, and this left me in a helpless situation. I didn’t want to stay alone during these times. I was afraid if I’ll be able to pull through this alone and I was worried about supplies and everything that can go wrong. Finally, after understanding the situation and how it is affecting the country, I realised how privileged I am to be in such a good side of this situation. I have a great family here to take care of if things go really south. I have really understanding parents and luckily, they’re in a state to guide me and support me if needed. This lockdown didn’t affect my livelihood at all, if anything, it is the best time to play poker. I just sat and thought all these things through the first two days, and I realized how ungrateful I was in life. If I feel stressed out staying at home at my comfort and doing what I love without worrying about anything much, that’s why I have started praying as a thank you to the universe daily for giving me such a good and easy life. I figured it takes 21 days to start or stop a habit, I finally thought this is my time”.

“I picked up new hobbies like yoga, meditation, cooking, and left all the bad ones, like smoking and eating unhealthily. My advice to all would be first, stop panicking about staying at home. It’s not a punishment. Home is the most comfortable place you can be. Appreciate all the good things in life it’s not as easy for the majority of the population as it is for us. This is the best time to work on yourself and pick up new habits. Everyone should do yoga. I have been only doing it for a week now, and I can really feel my mind and body being in sync, and I feel very calm and peaceful. I can only imagine its benefits over a long period of time.”

“Everyone wants time away from their busy life to re-think about themselves. Movies have glorified it as a soul searching trip to a hill station or something. If you are gonna wait for that you’ll keep waiting. The time is here, and now. There are no external distractions now. Finally, we all can work on our internal issues, make peace with ourselves, and come out stronger and better from this lockdown.”

Neel Joshi

Another up-and-coming name in the industry, Neel Joshi, burst onto the live poker scene with his blistering ninth-place finish in the ₫6,600,000 No Limit Hold ’em – Mix Max Freezeout at the 2019 WPT Vietnam. Since then, he has accumulated ₹25.77 Lakhs in total live tournament earnings. However, he has a much more extensive online career, with ₹1.79 Crore in recorded online scores and 17 titles.

Joshi is among the poker players currently in Pune, and he too, like the others, has been spending much of his time grinding online. “I’m here in Pune and am currently in lockdown at home here. With a lot of people at home, the online numbers are soaring, most guarantees are getting crushed. Typically I play around 12 hours a day.”

A gym rat, Joshi has been missing his workouts. “I used to go to the gym regularly, but with the lockdown, that option’s out of the window. I have been trying to get myself to do some work out in the living room, and so far, I have done it a grand total of zero times. Because of the demanding poker schedule, coupled with additional chores like doing the dishes, etc., don’t have any additional time for new recreation.”

Expounding his view on the COVID-19 situation, Joshi said, “A common problem with people trying to take up a new hobby, rekindle an old one, or learn a new art form/language/skill is the lack of time. Now – we have a lot of time, a lot of online resources. As poker players, this doesn’t really affect our schedule to that extent, nor does it affect our ability to earn. The latter is a privilege and one which is easily overlooked. I would urge each and every one of you to do your part by donating any amount to this cause. This unfortunate situation has led to a lot of people staying at home with their families. Spend some quality time with them. Also, take on a couple of extra house chores. Helps with the positive vibes, and maybe some good karma will help with the run good?”

Raj Talwar

The India Poker Championship’s (IPC) revival in September last year immortalized Raj Talwar, who trounced a record-breaking field of 777 entries in the ₹35K Main Event to win a career-best ₹49.25 Lakhs! Surprisingly, this was Talwar’s first-ever live title. To-date he has accrued ₹66.58 Lakhs in live tournament cashes.

Talwar, too, has been enjoying spending time with his family during the lockdown. “I am based out of Pune, and as we all know, due to this pandemic, we have got enough time to spend with our loved ones and also grind online. I give 5-6 hours for online poker as I try not to get exhausted due to the current situation, which itself is playing on people’s minds.”

Being a man who needs to travel often for work, the quarantine wasn’t easy for Talwar to deal with. “At the starting of the curfew, it wasn’t easy to stay at home as I keep myself occupied with a lot of work which involved traveling. Not to forget, I was pushing myself into fitness for a couple of months, so obviously that has to be done from home now. Apart from that, just enjoying and watching a lot of series online, which basically is to kill time.”

Revealing what he plans to do if the lockdown continues, Talwar said, “Well I am already prepared for a longer lockdown period as I watch a lot of news and honestly just keeping and working on good mental health is my only focus which involves good food, sleep, and exercise.”

“I would recommend everyone to stay home and spend time with their loved ones. This is the time to focus on mental and physical health. For players grinding online, there should be an ample number of breaks and focus on good sleep as the virus can attack bodies with a low immune system in a more aggressive manner. I hope we all get out of this state of emergency and get to chill and play live poker as well. Till then, stay safe and stay home,” said Talwar signing off.

That’s all for our update from Pune. But do stay connected for more updates from other cities!