Heads-Up With Spartan Poker’s UVS Millionaire Lite Champion – Danny Desai

Ever since the nation was forced into lockdown to prevent the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), online poker has witnessed an unprecedented boom. Where big guarantee events were mostly reserved for the weekends, with Sundays being the busiest days of the week, it now seems like almost every day of the week is a Sunday!

Not only have the Sunday flagships been massively successful, but a new trend of newbies and recreational players winning these big-ticket tourneys also seems to have emerged. Starting with Mahima Walia Das and Saurabh Rohila, who won the Millionaire title last month, even the PokerBaazi EndBoss title was claimed by a recreational player from Pune, Abhishek Maheshwari.

The newest entry on this elite list is Spartan Poker’s UVS The Millionaire Lite champion – Danny Desai (cover image)! The 44-year old dominated the spotlight when playing under the moniker ‘danny123,’ he claimed the UVS The Millionaire Lite title for a career-best ₹12.92 Lakhs. Desai stormed his way into the exclusive Millionaire club after defeating the formidable Siddharth ‘Sidddhu’ Mundada in the heads-up play.

Born in Gujarat but raised in Mumbai, Desai holds a computer engineering degree and even completed a specialized course in computer hardware. In 2011, he established a business dealing with import and export of modular furniture in Mumbai.

However, his poker story is quite interesting. We have all been attracted to a movie-based trend at some point in our lives, the same happened to Desai when he watched Daniel Craig play poker in Casino Royale. Since then, Desai has been no stranger to Goan casinos and has also dabbled in live poker. He even attended the 2019 India Poker Championship (IPC) that took place onboard the Big Daddy Casino in Goa. Well, will we see Desai again on the live felts when things go back to normal? In his own words, “surely I will.”

As for his exploits online, this month itself, Desai won Spartan Poker’s SSS Destiny Junior title for ₹1.55 Lakhs and even placed fourth in Destiny ₹35 Lakhs GTD for over ₹2.79 Lakhs last month!

Obviously elated and short of words at the commendable feat, PokerGuru spoke to Desai to know about his poker journey so far, his run at The Millionaire, and his aspirations for the game. After the brief chat, it was avid that for him, poker is not just a form of rejuvenation, instead it’s a challenge that he likes to take on. Here are the excerpts.

*Note: The interview was taken over the telephone in Hindi and later translated in English and is therefore not verbatim.

Hi Danny! Congratulations on winning the UVS MIllionaire Lite on Spartan Poker! Before we get into the details, let’s start at the beginning. Can you tell us when and how were you first introduced to poker?

I had seen the movie Casino Royale, a Bond movie and was fascinated with the game. I have a friend Denish Desai who also plays poker, and we both saw the film together and wondered where we can find poker in India. We went to one of the Goa Casinos once in 2010-11, and there I played poker. Since then, I have been going to the casinos frequently, like once every 3-4 months, and used to play all kinds of casino games, including Teen Patti. Now also, Denish and I go regularly but only to play poker. Denish, in fact, has helped me improve a lot. I was a compulsory caller in the beginning, but then Denish explained a few things about poker, and since then, I have rectified my mistakes.

In Teen Patti, three aces remain the highest hand, which no one can lose on, but here every game has different nuts. So, I was very much in love with poker from the first day. I also went to Colombo to play a cash game festival in Bellagio. They give an excellent package, including flights and accommodation, so I go for that. We also play home games with friends here in Mumbai.

A bunch of us also went to play the IPC that took place at the Big Daddy in Goa last time. I played cash games there and a few tournaments. I played the Kick off event and the Main Event. Unfortunately, I couldn’t cash in any of the tourneys, but I was in profit in the cash games. The thing is, I like playing tournaments, but here in Mumbai, I play only live, and we don’t have any tournaments here. So the only chance we get to play tournaments is when we come to Goa.

Online, I have been active for the last four months on Spartan Poker, and I don’t have any other account. At first, I played a lot of cash games when I registered, but I did not do well and wasn’t enjoying them. It was very different from what we experience playing live. I played a lot on 100/200, 200/400 tables, but I made a big blunder and was playing Omaha. I had not played Omaha ever and thought it was very fast for me. I was not happy with Run it Twice too. Frankly, the way players play on those tables was very weird because it seemed like money does not matter to them. I was losing 15-20K in 5-10 mins. I even asked my friend if this was a fair game, but then he assured me that it’s completely legit and that they won’t do something special to me. So he suggested that I play tournaments. My main motto was to pass the time in this lockdown, and I was losing a lot, so then I started playing tournaments.

I won Destiny Jr., finished fourth in Destiny and now The Millionaire, so I am elated. I am doing reasonably well in tournaments, so I will continue playing them.

Please share your The Millionaire Lite journey with us. Can you share some standout hands from the tournament or elaborate on the tight spots that you were in?

So, I played all three flights. I bagged 12th or 13th biggest stack after Day 1A, which was around 115,000. There were no hiccups on Day 1A. I was doing pretty well. I played the next flight Day 1B the next day, too, and I had managed to get around 120,000, but I got a few bad beats and got down to 30,000. I recovered in the last few hands of the flight and bagged up around 90,000 chips. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to play with three stacks at one time on Day 2. I fired one bullet on Day 1C but got busted quickly and decided not to re-enter. I thought it’s better if I concentrated on these two stacks.

On Day 2, I decided to risk only one of the stacks and play aggressively. My aim was to at least come among the top 50. The stack I bagged on Day 1B, I busted that immediately on Day 2, and I thought that now this is it. Now I had only one stack, and I lost a few hands. It was a roller coaster ride, and I was short stacked a lot of times. I was also disappointed with myself, so I decided to save my tourney life and play tight. Luckily, I hit a few hands, and I became average in stack. I had thought to myself that one mistake and I am done. I really wanted to make it to the final table, and eventually, I did. I ran good at a few spots too.

It was a tough final table with a lot of experienced players like Arjanveer Singh Chadha, Sandeep Singh, etc. Any standout hands or adjustments you had to make to get the title?

I was third in chips when the final table began. The top three stacks were very close, so the difference was marginal. The final table had experienced players with different gameplays. One hand, I had ace-king, I opened pot size and the next player to act shoved. At this point, I knew if I lost the flip, I would become 6th or 7th in chips, and if I won, I would be the chip leader. So I decided to call, and he had pocket queens. A king appeared on the turn, and I won the massive pot. So in this hand, I busted the player who finished eighth, and there was no looking back for me.

When five were left, three were short-stacked, and Mundada started being very aggressive against everyone. I knew I had secured my place in top 3, so I backed down a bit. I was a silent spectator at that time and kept my ego aside. I made sure that I did not let my stack get affected. Soon, Mundada eliminated them, and we got heads-up.

Let’s talk about your heads-up rival Siddharth Mundada, who boasts of tons of experience in these big-ticket events. Tell us about your strategy during the heads-up play.

The heads-up lasted for only a few hands, and I won most of the hands as far as I can remember. I held a 2:1 chip advantage over him at one point, and then finally, I picked up pocket tens. He opened for around 25% of his stack, and I shoved. He called showing , but no ace on the board, and I won the hand and the event.

How has the Coronavirus pandemic affected your life both personally and professionally? Has this in any way given you more time for poker?

Yes, so currently, it’s all in lockdown. Nothing is working. Business is 0. So regularly, we do house chores, spend time with family, and do what everyone is doing these days. At night, I play poker daily. Since the lockdown, I play poker daily after 8 pm.

Do you plan to play poker regularly now?

I’ll be honest, when I used to see all these players being featured on poker media sites, I always wished to be featured in this. Now it feels good.

For the future, see, I am Gujarati guy, if I keep winning, I will continue playing surely. I will keep one amount for poker and give it an honest shot. With confidence and the right mindset, I really think I will do well. Even on the final table of this event, I wanted to just be the last player standing at any cost. I had a good mindset, and I was playing to win. I was nervous, but I decided that I will not lose this tournament due to a mistake that I made. If I lose genuinely, it’s ok, it’s part of the game, but I didn’t want to lose it after making a mistake.

Who are the poker players, both domestic and international, that you look up to?

Daniel Negreanu and Tom Dwan.

Have you ever put in any work on learning the game better, or do you have plans to do so?

To be honest, I don’t know about the odds and percentages. I play according to what I know. I have watched a lot of videos on YouTube, and I don’t even know, but those help me a lot. I have spent days watching videos on YouTube. I would surely like to study poker and research on these courses. I will surely study the game.

As you mentioned that you have played at the IPC. Once the live poker scene opens up again, will we see you at the poker tables in Goa or even at other venues?

For 3-4 months, I am sure Casinos are not going to open. Even if they do, I don’t think people are going to risk it. But yes, once they open, I surely will. There are some of my friends who regularly visit Europe to play in Casinos. They plan specifically for 20-30 days and go to play poker. I had not joined them yet, but maybe I will now.