Kunal Patni Parts Ways With Adda52 as Site Looks to Dissolve Pro Team

India’s largest online poker site, Adda52, had been in the news a lot last year, but some of that was for the wrong reasons. The site was subjected to repeated boycotts by many factions of the poker community last year in protest over its archaic TDS policy. The collective might of the poker community forced the online site to revisit its policies, and things did change for the best after the site updated its TDS policy at the start of the year.

Since February this year, Adda52 has hosted its largest-ever online MTT series – the Adda52 Online Series (AOPS) – twice. While PokerGuru Ambassador Faiz Alam championed the first-ever AOPS Main Event Finale ₹2 Crores GTD on March 15, well-known pro and poker coach Sahil Agarwal achieved the feat on April 12. Both players locked in a jaw-dropping top prize worth ₹50 Lakhs each!

Amid all this activity comes the surprising news that one of Adda52’s most well-known Team Pros, Kunal Patni (cover image), has parted ways with the brand. An investment banker turned poker pro; Patni had joined the Adda52 Pro team in 2015. Now, five years later, he took to Facebook to announce his decision to separate from the online poker site about an hour ago.

“Guys just wanted to share some development. I have been fortunate enough to have been signed as one of the first Adda Pros when they started the program and continued being with them for 5 long years. However, all good things come to an end and it’s time now for us to part ways. It’s been an absolutely amazing journey for me, and I was blessed to have been with Adda for such a long time. Wish them all the very best for the future !!”

PokerGuru reached out to Patni to find out more about his departure from the Adda52 Pro Team. “I have been with Adda for 5 years now since the beginning of the Pro Program. I was fortunate enough to be selected to represent them as a pro when I was a totally unknown person in the poker world. To share the platform with the likes of (Amit) Jain / (Aditya Sushant) Sushi and Muskan (Sethi) was surreal and a dream come true for a newcomer to the poker world. Post that, I was also fortunate enough to share this wonderful platform with amazing people like Nikita (Luther)/ Madan (Kumar) / Tarun (Goyal) and Minnisha (Lamba). I have had a wonderful journey with Adda over the last 5 years and leave with nothing but fond memories (despite all the bashing I got as an Adda pro on TPG for no fault of mine. Hahhahaha),” said Patni.

Divulging the reason for his departure, Patni said, “Adda is, unfortunately, discontinuing their pro program and wanted me to continue with them in some other capacity like an advisor or something. However, I decided to focus on playing and improving my game further and had to decline after giving it a very serious thought. I really want to thank Adda, and it’s management for having faith in me over a period of 5 years. Hopefully, I did justice to what was expected from me. Time to move on with a heavy heart !!”

Patni has been a prominent part of the Adda52 Pro Team. While the team roster still features the likes of Bollywood actor Minissha Lamba, Nikita Luther, and Tarun Goyal, as Patni informs, since the Adda52 Pro Program is being discontinued, we could see similar departure announcements coming in from the other Adda52 pros soon.

Kunal Patni’s Association With Adda52

A prominent name in the domestic circuit, Patni’s poker resume boasts of multiple deep runs, both on the live and online felts. His personal-best live score came in January 2018, when he finished runner-up in the €1,500 No-Limit Hold ’em WPTDeepStacks in Berlin for $115,819.

During his time as an Adda52 team pro, Patni posted deep runs in numerous tournaments like the APPT Macau, PokerStars Live Manila Megastack 3, APT Manila, IPC, DPT and many more.

He has also started putting in more volume playing online MTT’s across all major sites off late. One of his recent accomplishments includes finishing runner-up in SSS The Elite High Roller on Spartan Poker last month for ₹12.25 Lakhs!

We wish Kunal all the best for all his future endeavors!