In Conversation With Shuchi Chamaria Who Clinched Her Biggest Online Score Last Week on PokerBaazi

Shuchi Chamaria
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  • Attreyee Khasnabis April 2, 2019
  • 6 Minutes Read

Hailing from a prominent industrialist family based in Kolkata, the foreign-educated Shuchi Chamaria (cover image) was keenly interested in her father’s tea-estate business before her marriage. Following her marriage to one of India’s most renowned poker pros, Aditya Agarwal in 2016, Shuchi took her first steps into the world of poker – a world she did not even know existed before she met Aditya. With over ₹30 Crores in lifetime winnings and a career spanning well over a decade, Aditya needs no introduction as his name is now practically synonymous with poker in India.

Being one half of a power couple is not easy, but Shuchi has proved time and again that she is an accomplished player in her own right. Under the mentorship of her husband, the original ‘PokerGuru’, Shuchi has honed her skills tremendously, proving that she is a force to be reckoned with on both the live and virtual felts.

Having travelled the world with Aditya to play poker, especially to exotic locations like Las Vegas, Macau, Australia and most recently The Bahamas, Shuchi has often enjoyed a ringside view some of the top talents at work. With her husband who is arguably one of the country’s finest poker pros at her side and their professional as well as social circle comprising primarily of world-class poker players, there is no doubt that such exposure has tremendously helped Shuchi’s career-graph.

Nonetheless, one of the biggest factors behind Shuchi’s success is her hard work and dedication. Though she is Aditya’s wife, she is well aware of her role as his mentee and understands that she needs to perform better than his other students to lead by example. A role she has successfully fulfilled given her several deep runs in the few live tournaments she has played, which includes a final table finish (4th for ₹3.25 Lakhs) in the ₹35K Main Event of the Baadshah Gaming Live Tournament in October last year.

Crediting Aditya as ‘best coach in the world’, Shuchi’s meteoric rise as a winning poker player is truly a testament to Aditya’s phenomenal skill as a poker coach. While Aditya has mentored numerous poker players and many among them have made a name for themselves not only in the domestic circuit but also globally, Shuchi is his first female student who has scaled great heights in a relatively short poker career.

Shuchi who is often acknowledged as the ‘First Lady of Indian Poker’, has more than earned the nomenclature evidenced by her slew of online scores which includes winning The Bout ₹10 Lakhs GTD for ₹2.20 Lakhs (March, 2019) on PokerBaazi and the Super Tuesday ₹4 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.18 Lakhs (August, 2018), along with Battle Royale ₹10 Lakhs GTD for ₹1.85 Lakhs (March, 2019) on PokerStars India.

A well-known regular on the virtual felts now, her most notable win came very recently in PokerBaazi’s The Summit ₹15 Lakhs GTD which she took down for a career-best score of ₹3.39 Lakhs on March 29. She topped a field of 126 entries and fought her way through some of the biggest names on the domestic circuit like India’s first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Aditya Sushant and online phenom Rubin Labroo on the final table to bank her biggest score till date.

In an exclusive chat with PokerGuru, Shuchi opened up about her coaching sessions with Aditya, the couple’s recent move to Goa, her recent trip to Ireland for the Nation’s Cup and their plans for the upcoming WSOP! Here are the excerpts.

 

Congratulations on winning The Summit on PokerBaazi. This has been your biggest online score to date. What was the experience like?

Thank you so much. I am thrilled to have my biggest score, and it goes to show that hard work does pay.

 

The competition on the final table must have been tough since there were quite a few well-known names in the running like Rubin Labroo and Aditya Sushant. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey through the event and what your strategy was on the final table against such formidable opponents?

The final table had tough competitors, but my AA ran into Sushi’s [Aditya Sushant] QQ and I got an early chip lead. The final three were all members of Team Pune Kings from MIPL [Match India Poker League] Season 3. Akash Shekhar, Rubin Labroo and I, we had a three-way all-in. Rubin busted with A9, and Akash got a 10:1 chip lead as my 55 were no good against his KK. But after grinding it out for another 2 hours, I finally won with A9 against his QJ.

 

You represented India in the recently concluded Nations Cup in Ireland. Tell us a little bit about your experience at the event?

My experience in Ireland was amazing. The event was held at the Boyne Hill House and although our team did not do well, I made some great friends. The overall experience was fantastic.

 

The story goes that you were introduced to poker by your husband, the poker icon – Aditya Agarwal. Can you tell us more about what led to your growing interest in the sport?

Adi [Aditya Agarwal] always told me that he became a professional poker player because of the World Series of Poker, and I understood why when I first visited Vegas three years ago. It is the main reason why I have become a poker player also.

Aditya Agarwal & Shuchi Chamaria
Aditya Agarwal & Shuchi Chamaria

 

You have been playing poker for quite some time now. You are one of the most accomplished female poker players in the country. What has the journey been like?

My poker journey has grown very organically. I still have a long way to go but I keep working hard on my game every day. Keep playing daily and try to better myself every day.

 

You have said in previous interviews that you get coached by your husband. How has that experience been like?

Getting coached by my husband is an incredible experience. My husband is the best coach in the world, and I am extremely lucky to be a part of his batch and I am sure all his students feel the same way.

 

Since you are not only a mentee but also his wife, is Aditya more tough or lenient with you?

He is definitely tougher on me because I am his wife. Because if I get something wrong, I don’t set a good example for his students. So, I definitely need to study harder than his other students do.

Shuchi Chamaria
Shuchi Chamaria

 

You have had several deep runs both on the domestic and international felts, along with a litany of online scores. What do you prefer more – online or live?

I love online and live poker both. They both have their own sort of thrill. In live poker – the reads, the table talk, the actual chips and cards – I love all that. When it comes to online, it’s just that you can play many more tables and it’s much faster. You play more of a mathematical game, so it’s different than live.

 

You moved from Kolkata to Goa last year. How has that worked out for you?

We recently moved from Kolkata to Goa and we are loving it here. It’s the perfect city to grind. It’s quiet and peaceful. We’ve got two puppies as well, after moving here. Life just couldn’t be better.

 

The WSOP is just two months away. What are your plans for this year’s series?

The WSOP is around the corner again. We are very excited. We already have our plane tickets and accommodation in place. This is the first year that I will be attempting to play the Main Event because the last three years that I had been there, I hadn’t played the Main Event. I am extremely pumped!

 

Are there any other poker series, international or domestic, that you and Aditya are looking forward to this year?

Adi and I just came back from The Bahamas where Adi played the PSPC [PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship] and PCA [PokerStars Caribbean Adventure]. So that was the big international trip for the year, before the World Series. Hopefully, after the World Series, we can attend some of the other big events that PokerStars is organizing around the world.

 

Do you have any advice or suggestions for emerging poker players, especially female poker players, who are looking to take up poker as a profession?

My advice to emerging poker players is that you must study. You must learn the math of the game. To female poker players, I would say – do not let your gender become a barrier because it does not matter. If you study and work hard on your game, you will beat the boys on the felts!

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