Heads-Up With PokerStars India’s ‘Star of the Month’ – October – Shailesh Patel

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  • Attreyee Khasnabis November 7, 2020
  • 5 Minutes Read

A little over a month ago, PokerStars India launched a mega leaderboard race – “Star of the Month.” On November 4, Shailesh Patel (cover image) became the first player to claim the bragging rights of becoming the “Star of the Month” – October!

Let us first quickly recap the details of the promotion to bring you up to speed. PokerStars India’s brand-new “Star of the Month” leaderboard race commenced on October 5. As part of the promotion, players have to collect TLB points through two qualifying tournaments daily. All ITM finishers in the two tourneys win points towards the weekly leaderboard. Each week, the top 25 players on the leaderboard qualify for the Finale – hosted in the first week of the subsequent month. The Finale winner is named the Star of the Month and wins MTT tickets worth ₹1.15 Lakhs, with the runner-up receiving ₹35,000 in MTT tickets. For more details, visit the “Star of the Month” page.

The 23-year-old Shailesh Patel, who began playing poker only last year, came out on top in the first ‘Star of the Month’ Finale on November 4, winning ₹1.15 Lakhs in MTT tickets and a PokerStars India goodie bag. A much-welcome booster before the festive season Diwali Rush 2020 starts on the site.

A resident of Narsinghpur, Madhya Pradesh, Shailesh, has an interesting poker story. He was drawn to poker after watching a YouTube video of Mario Sorensson winning a poker game and all because he liked the latter’s hairstyle!! But soon, his attention diverted from Sorensson’s hair to the game he was playing, and before he knew it, he was hooked.

Shailesh has a B.Sc. degree in Geology from one of Indore’s top science colleges, Holkar Science College, and is currently preparing for higher studies. We caught up with him to find out about his poker journey, how much winning the ‘Star of the Month’ Finale means to him, among other things. Here are the excerpts.

Hi Shailesh! Congrats on becoming the PokerStars India “Star of the Month!” Why don’t you start off by telling us how you first came across poker?

I saw a video of poker player Mario Sorensson playing the PokerStars Championship Barcelona Main Event. The video was on YouTube. I really liked his hairstyle (laughs). Then, I noticed the game that they were playing on a table in front of them. It was the final table. So, everything was hyped up in that video. I liked that video, and it piqued my interest to find out more about the game.

I saw the January broadcast of the PSPC in August. I tried to understand the game and searched more about this game online. I also searched what avenues are available in India with regards to playing poker. From PokerStars’ international site, I reached PokerStars India. After that, I started out by playing freerolls. That’s how my poker journey started.

 

So, you started out by playing freerolls on PokerStars India. Tell me a little more about your poker journey.

Yes, I started playing poker in August last year. Back then, PokerStars India had just launched a Micro Millions series. First up, my strategy was straightforward – whenever I got big cards, I went “All In.” It wasn’t a satisfactory method. But the freeroll of the Micro Millions Main Event helped me get a ticket for the Main Event.

Again, the Main Event did not yield any good results for me. So, I used to deposit sums of ₹100. It was very disheartening when I lost in the game. I used to play ₹10 Sit & Go games.

I also played the morning ₹30 buy-in tourney at 7:30 AM. I used to play that game first thing after waking up. After that, I’d go to college. So, that’s how I started playing. I also watched prime time tourney’s and final tables, where people were winning ₹3 Lakhs to ₹4 Lakhs daily. I wondered how they were doing it. From there came to know about their ambassador and streamer Sharad Rao and started watching his live streams.

 

How did you start out playing poker? Was it with cash games or tournaments?

I started out playing cash games and Sit & Go’s. I started playing the ₹0.5/₹1.0 cash and ₹10 SnG`s every day. So, first love was cash games. Then I saw that there was a lot more money in tourneys than cash. The ₹50 buy-in (₹2K GTD) tourneys can pay up to ₹400-₹500. From there, I started playing micro tourneys along with cash games.

 

Let’s talk about your progress in the game. How did you hone your skills?

I learnt a lot from Sharad Rao’s live streams. I learned from the PokerStars School Youtube channel and other Youtube videos. What are the ranges, how to play the game, what are the positions, etc.? Before that, I didn’t even know what the different positions were. I learned all this by watching videos. From there, I got to know about superstars like Daniel Negreanu and many others. I watched their videos, old and new. How they were playing the game.

Now I primarily watch Twitch streams and HH reviews on Youtube. Also, I never miss any videos from Raise Your Edge and Jonathan Little. I also read articles on PokerGuru and PokerStars School, here and there.

Once you got into playing poker, what was your grind schedule like? Did you play regularly, or were you taking breaks?

In the beginning, I would deposit ₹100 to ₹200 in my account. If I lost everything, then I would reflect on my losses for a few days. Freerolls were available every day at 8 PM. So, I would play the freeroll games. If I had good luck with the freerolls, I would also play some cash games.

I even put in some money kept aside for my studies into playing poker. So, it was not daily, but rather occasionally. As my interest in the game began to grow, I continued to learn more and more about the game. I played only sometimes because of a shortage of money, but I was learning and watching the game every day.

 

How did you hear about the ‘Star of the Month’ promotion on PokerStars India?

I learnt about it through PokerGuru’s Facebook post that was shared by Vivek P. I performed well in the first week of the promotion. The first two to three days were not satisfactory. So, I felt like I won’t be able to make it. But the weekend went good, and I qualified for the Finale in the first week itself. I used to keep track of my points. Once I got selected, it was all good.

 

Tell me about the Finale. I know you contacted PokerStars India after the tournament started. So, you were a little anxious. What happened?

There was a server update on that day. PokerStars India’s server was down from 3-3:30 PM. I tried logging in at 7 PM. I don’t know whether it was an internet connection issue or the site was down. So, I totally forgot about that. I started playing on other sites. There was a break at 9:25 PM. I thought that the server should have started working by then. I opened the PokerStars India client, and the table popped up where I was sitting out. Everybody else was also sitting out, and there was only one active player on the table. And he was winning all the hands. He had all the chips, and I was left with 6,000 chips from a starting stack of 10,000. So, I messaged Vivek sir, immediately, that everybody was sitting out and asked if the server was down. He said no, the server is working, you can play. I started playing after the first break. I doubled up in the next few hands, and from there, I started building my stack.

An interesting hand happened when we were on the FT bubble (10 players left), where I called A high on turn shove to win the chip lead. For the most part, I was the chip leader on the final table. I lost TT against KK when we were four-handed to become the shortest stack. But after stealing some pots, a double up, and good blind vs. blind play, I found myself heads-up against “SpidermanIndia” for the trophy with near-even stacks. The heads-up battle lasted for around 30 minutes. And I came out as a winner.

 

You won ₹1.15 Lakhs in MTT tickets. This must be a significant bankroll boost for you. In fact, you can now buy-in for all the Featured Events in the Diwali Rush Series. How do you plan to use these tickets?

Currently, the swings are very high in my profit graph. So, my strategy is to make the most out of those tickets. I’ll try to cash in as much as possible. Since now I have tickets, I can play freely. I’ll grind through the Diwali Rush Series and compete for its leaderboard. And surely I will have a massive score in the coming future.

 

What are your plans for November? Do you intend to defend your ‘Star of the Month’ title?

I will put all my efforts in that direction. It really feels so good knowing that I am the “STAR OF MONTH.” It’s a great initiative by PokerGuru and PokerStars India!

 

Can you share some notable highs and lows of your poker journey thus far?

I think, in December 2019, through a freeroll satellite on PokerStars India, I won a ticket to a Saturday primetime KO tournament. I made it to the final table. From there, I went on to win like ₹24,000. At that time, I was only playing micro tournaments and step satellites. So, this was a huge deal for me. But, the very next day, I played cash games and lost the whole amount in a day! I was very sad and cried too.

My younger brother, who also plays poker, motivated me. He told me the importance of that much money. And, more importantly of playing well. Then again, I was back to playing freerolls and micro tourneys after watching some videos on bankroll building and management on YouTube. I picked up a few good scores in the Winter Series in January too. After that, I changed my user id (screen name) because of some personal issues.

I never had a good time with nice scores as I always end up broke. I always had to deposit after some time. But the real breakthrough came in July when I final tabled the weekly HighRoller through a satellite ticket. I finished fourth for ₹1.51 Lakhs. Before that, I had just gone through a significant downswing, and my winnings were in the negative. After this score, I started playing much better. I have not deposited on the site since. Moreover, I have cashed in every 50 Lakhs GTD HERCULES tourney except for one. I had a few good scores in the INCOOP too.

How has your experience been playing on PokerStars India?

I have liked PokerStars India from the beginning. I started my poker journey from the site, and most of the volume is also there. PokerStars India has one of the most efficient user interfaces creating a superb user experience. I love their Progressive Knockout tournament. Tourney structure, schedule, payouts are also good. The new lobby and table theme are quite beautiful.

Vivek sir’s support is also very encouraging. So, whenever you message him, he is available. You will get his reply in 30 minutes. He has always been very supportive.

 

What are your top three poker moments?

I’ll say, becoming ‘Star of the Month’ will remain on top for a long time. I have been feeling proud ever since I won. Finishing fourth in the HighRoller (July) for my biggest ever score was also quite incredible. The third was the first day of the INCOOP when I chopped the top prize for ₹1.3 lakhs in THE CLASSIC, and the very next day went on to win the AFTERNOON ON STARS.

 

Does your family know that you play poker?

My parents know. They don’t know everything about the game. They just know that I play this game, and it involves cards and is totally legal in our country. They are very supportive, and they let me sleep till 11 AM.

I do tell them when I get big scores. My mother is always thrilled to hear about my big scores. And she is eagerly waiting for this article ever since I won.

 

Have you ever played live poker?

No, I have not played live poker for the time being.

And with that, Shailesh signs off!

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