Heads-Up With the Unstoppable Dhruvin Kothari On His Blistering Run at the IOPC

Spartan Poker’s signature India Online Poker Championship (IOPC) has left behind a trail of millionaires these past two weeks, but the most prominent of them all so far and that too by some margin is a 35-year-old CA from Bhavnagar, Dhruvin Kothari (cover image).

For someone who calls himself a fish, Kothari`s poker graph from February paints a very different picture. While most would consider winning an IOPC title a significant achievement, Kothari has managed to take down two titles and both of them in flagship events. If that was not enough, these wins came only days apart from each other. His breakout run started with the Millionaire Legends title that he clinched for ₹36.77 Lakhs on February 3. Just four days later, he was seen championing the IOPC Super High Roller for ₹25.18 Lakhs, booking an astronomical ₹60 Lakhs profit in total.

With still a day of action yet to unfold at the series, the unstoppable Kothari is eyeing an even bigger prize, having made Day 2 in the IOPC #98 Millionaire Main Event with two stacks of 228,833 and 150,684, respectively.

Speaking to me on the back of his trailblazing run, Kothari spills the beans on his initiation in the game and his poker career so far, while also sharing useful insights Here are excerpts of the conversation.

Hi Dhruvin! Thanks for speaking to me, and congratulations on taking down two flagship IOPC titles! Before we dive deep, let’s talk a little about your poker life. When and how did you discover this game?

I discovered poker back in 2013 at one of my cousin’s place. I used to play there during Diwali nights for fun, and then I came to know about PokerStars.com. I started playing and just fell in love with the game. I used to play high stakes cash games on PokerStars, but then it closed down.

I used to play recreationally and not as a reg. Even today, I play around 10-12 hours a week, and if there is a big event, then I play that. I almost never play live, and it’s just once in a year that I play live in Goa.

Tell me a little about yourself.

I am 35, was born in Bhavnagar in Gujarat, I did my studies there and moved to Ahmedabad for my graduation. I am a Chartered Accountant and an MBA, and I started my business in 2007. I head a Chartered Accountant firm, we are based in five cities in Gujarat. We have offices in Surat, Rajkot, Baroda, Bhavnagar, and Ahmedabad. We also have an office in New York and Atlanta. We are into financial practices like debt syndication, private equity placements, mergers, and acquisitions, and we are into outsourcing mid-scale levels.

There are around 25 Chartered Accountants in my firm, and we are three partners – myself, my brother, and one of my friends. Business-wise, we are among the top 10 CA firms in Gujarat. My father is in business as well. We are a very close family.

Can you describe for me your poker graph from 2013 to the present?

2013 to about mid-2018, the graph was just going down. I think I must have lost around ₹25-₹30 Lakhs in those years. Then I got introduced to Pulkit Totla through someone, and he maintains my accounts basically, so he gave me a lot of tips. During this period, PokerStars India came, and it didn’t have the high stakes games, so I started playing on Spartan Poker. And anyway, I live in Ahmedabad, and PokerStars anyway can’t be accessed from Gujarat after the ruling, so I had no choice but to play on Spartan Poker. I can’t play on any other site other than Spartan, as it’s the only website that can be accessed in Gujarat.

During this time, Spartan was hosting a big promotion called Big Win in September 2018. Apart from the rakeback and all, I won around ₹50 Lakhs. And they organized a bigger Big Win the very next month in October where I was the only one in India who earned 5 Lakh points and won the Jaguar. My rakeback was around ₹1 Crore in that month. In those two months, I won around ₹2 Crores, so that covered my past losses. After that, I again was down a bit till about a month ago, which has been great. I have been doing good in cash games and with the two IOPC titles where I made almost ₹61-₹62 Lakhs. So overall, it has been good.

Primarily, you were a high stakes cash game player, have you now transitioned into tournaments? If so, what were the key adjustments you made?

Actually, I still play cash games. Tournaments require long hours, whereas, in cash games, you have the option of sitting out and getting back whenever you want. For me to get more extended periods to play is difficult, and actually, the big tournaments used to happen on PokerStars.com, but on Indian sites, there aren’t big buy-in events. Like the biggest events that happen are the ₹1 Lakh buy-in, and that too happens only twice a year on Spartan. On other sites, the biggest buy-ins are close to ₹25,000.

I have read in an interview you did earlier that you like to be considered a fish and play recreationally. Do you still stand by this thought?

I am still a fish, and I still consider myself to be a recreational player. I don’t put any study and just go by my instinct. I know players are very good at the high stakes tables. There are a lot of stables that have come up.

But one thing I also found was there is a lot of colluding happening on these high stakes cash tables which is not good. I have also reduced my volume due to this reason.

In the same interview, you said that your entire family barring your wife is against you playing poker. Has that changed, or are they still in the dark that you play poker?

They know about everything, but they don’t like it. If I am making money, they don’t mind it, but otherwise, they are not OK with it. There is no point in taking any steps towards changing their perception as I know it won’t work. That’s why I play for limited hours and only start playing at night when everyone is sleeping. Or if I am in the office and have a couple of hours free, then I play it.

You have been killing it online of late. In 2018, you won the Mercedes on Spartan Poker, and now this IOPC, you have hit the jackpot twice. What and who do you attribute your success to?

Luck. That’s all. I can only say that I have been lucky. I tried to keep myself a lot more patient in these two events. There are a lot of extremely good players out there, and I know I am far behind them.

You fired 6 bullets on Millionaire Legends Day 1B. Was it a strategy to bag big?

All Indian tournaments allow multiple re-entries, and my strategy is that you can use 5-6 or even 10 bullets to try to make a good stack, so that’s what I do. That’s why during Day 1B of Millionaire Legends, I fired six bullets. I won a few pots at the last level of the re-entry period, or else I would have fired seven bullets.

Post the re-entry period gets over, my style changes entirely, and then I try to save my tournament life till the longest and try to make as deep run as possible. I become very tight and only play my premium hands or use my positions.

The two events I won were very different from each other. In the Super High Roller event, the players were super aggressive, but in the Millionaire Legends, when the last two tables were left, the players were extremely tight. So I used different strategies in both. In Super High Roller, the players were opening any range of hands, so I became tight, and in Legends, I was the chip leader throughout. So I used that to my advantage. In SHR, I was always at the bottom of the stacks.

Please tell us about the Super High Roller final table and the 3-way deal. Who was the toughest player on the final table?

In the SHR final table, I was card dead for almost two hours. I was only able to use my positions to survive the longest. Then two players got eliminated on the final table, and Yennefer, who had a massive chip lead, was open-shoving almost every second hand. Then on one hand, I finally got Ace Jack, and he open-shoved from UTG with Ace Nine, and I snap-called. I won that hand. Immediately after that, I got Ace-King, and I opened. The guy who eliminated fourth shoved with King-Queen and I called and took down the pot. I was then able to increase it further, and I was the one who proposed the deal.

We looked at the numbers, I agreed, but one player didn’t agree. After two hands, he agreed to the deal.

One thing I would like to point out is that the deal process on Spartan is not appropriate. There is no moderator who, in my opinion, should be there in these big-ticket events. In both events, we made a deal, and in both, the same thing happened as Spartan only gives you one number and doesn’t give the chance to bargain. I have even suggested Spartan to get a moderator. On PokerStars, on a Sunday Million Warm-up event, I made a five-way deal, which took 10 minutes, and that’s the way it should be. Players should be able to discuss the deal and bargain. I think Spartan only shows ICM numbers, and you get only 30 seconds to decide.

Any plans for the prize money?

No plans. My business gives me much more than what poker can give me. I will keep playing recreationally because I love the game, and I can’t keep myself away from it for more than a month.

Who are the players you look up to in the circuit?

I don’t know anyone. I have never met any poker player. I went to Goa thrice to play events and met some, but I don’t really know any poker player personally. I have heard about Jagdeep Singh, but I have never met anyone apart from Pulkit. And Pulkit doesn’t play himself, he just arranges games, and I only know him. Internationally I have seen Daniel Negreanu’s videos.

What would you suggest to players looking to get better in the game?

I have heard some bad things about people committing suicides, so I would like to suggest everyone be cautious if you are playing this game. This game is very addictive, so always ensure that you are disciplined and follow bankroll management. This game can be brutal, so people should be careful. See, the good players will always win in the long run, but for the rest, people should put the study and work on the game.

For me, my business supports my bankroll so I can handle downswings, but for people who only earn through poker, it’s imperative, and this game can kill you quickly. In a matter of days, you can lose everything, so that’s my only advice.