Top 5 Blogs of 2019

With the year-end fast approaching, it’s as good a time as ever to recap some of the most informative and popular content on PokerGuru – poker blogs!

Being a poker news media site, it’s our prerogative to provide readers with the latest news of the domestic and international poker circuit. However, over the years, PokerGuru has also extended its platform for players to share their experiences. Since the live poker staking stable AceJack got rebranded to PokerGuru Staking in January, our growing team of PokerGuru Ambassadors has played an active role in blogging about their poker experiences. I am sure most of you have have read blogs from them sharing their excitement on shipping a big guarantee tournament or read about them talking about their upswings and downswings or even discuss how their poker training was progressing.

The blogs shared by PokerGuru Ambassadors even influenced other members, including industry operators, to chip in with their experiences. While there was a multitude of exciting and thought-provoking blogs that were published on PokerGuru all year round, we have narrowed down our list to the top five poker blogs of 2019 based on the number of views each blog received.

So, without further ado, here are the top five poker blogs of 2019!

My Poker Journey So Far – Motto For Now is Work Hard by Ratul Steves

A rising star at PokerGuru Staking, Ratul Steves, is an online phenom. Even though the Chennai-based player is yet to register a live score, he more than makes up for it with his enviable online scorecard. In his very first PokerGuru blog, Steves talks about his poker journey and joining the poker staking stable, AceJack (now PokerGuru Staking), in 2016.

In his blog, Steves addresses a very pertinent question that poker players are often asked – why do you play poker professionally? Needless to say, Steves has a very fitting response.

“I have been asked by many of my friends – why play poker professionally? I’m sure that is a common question in our field. My answer to that is simple, I enjoy the sport and see an immense scope in playing it professionally. Some other advantages are that I can play it from the comfort of home (well, sometimes), and since I like traveling, this career option works out in my favor.”

Read the complete blog right here.

Grind. Grow. Repeat. by Mithun Mahesh

PokerGuru Ambassador Mithun Mahesh is one of the most popular bloggers on PokerGuru with a growing legion of followers. A fan of behavioral psychology and neurosciences, Mahesh’s blogs provide insightful perspectives on the mind sport. While all his blogs were very popular, the one that got the best response has him talking about the importance of poker players to maintain a strict grinding routine.

Mahesh wrote in-depth about his grinding session and post grinding session routine. But perhaps the most important part of the blog was his views on physical and mental fitness.

“Unfortunately, physical and mental fitness is the most neglected area in our poker community, but undoubtedly it is the most significant one since we have decided to spend the rest of our life on a gaming chair. I work-out at least 5 days a week mostly in the noon, a mix of strength and cardio exercises at a moderate intensity essentially with a proper diet which won’t dumb you down. I practice “mindfulness meditation” post-work-out, which helps improve in-game awareness and avoid mental fatigue during long grinds. I was able to reduce my massive caffeine intake and other stimulants following these practices.”

Read the complete blog right here.

Downswings & Mindset by Laksh Pal Singh

Another well-known PokerGuru Ambassador, Laksh Pal Singh, wrote about one of the most relatable subjects in poker – downswings. All players go through them, and it’s not always a one-time thing. Downswings can happen multiple times throughout a poker player’s career. Players must have a well-adjusted mindset to cope in times like these.

Singh’s blog focusses on the factors that lead to a negative mindset, the consequences it can have, and how it can be dealt with.

Singh opens his blog by mentioning the significance of having a proper mindset, “A good mindset is key in poker, and as professionals, we often find ourselves in situations of negative mindsets. I personally have been going through this phase, and I’m happy to be able to talk to you guys about it.”

Read the complete blog right here.

First Month under the tutelage of Adi… by Faiz Alam

Faiz Alam is an accomplished poker pro both in the live and online versions of the game. In his blog, the PokerGuru Ambassador speaks about his tutelage under one of the finest Indian poker pros around – Aditya Agarwal.

The blog was written about a month into Alam’s mentorship under Agarwal, and the former described how his tutoring sessions had helped him gain more confidence in his gameplay.

Alam wrote, “More sessions followed, and I could feel my confidence growing with every session. I could see that whatever Adi was saying in the sessions was leading to a big improvement in my overall gameplay.”

Read the complete blog right here.

Changing Destinies One Step at a Time by Karan Gandhi

Karan Gandhi, the co-founder of one of the fastest growing online poker sites in India, Poker Dangal, blogs about the site’s largest-ever tournament to-date – the Destiny Changer ₹25 Lakhs GTD. The event was the first time that the site awarded a whopping ₹10 Lakhs to the winner.

Gandhi goes on to share how the tournament was initially meant to be named ‘Journey to a Million,’ but later, the phrase was instead used as the tag line for the event.

Explaining the vision of the company behind hosting bigger guarantee events, Gandhi wrote, “The aim was to start hosting bigger guarantee tournaments, and we were waiting for a few software changes as well, which we got done recently. We received a lot of player feedback, and once these changes were incorporated, we thought about hosting a bigger guarantee event. The idea was always to give the maximum value. Hence we decided to do this and keep the up top very heavy. We tried to put a lot of effort into designing the structure of the event and even the satellite schedule, and it has been successful so far. You keep learning every day though.”

Read the complete blog right here.

Besides these top five blogs, many other gems got left out but are definitely worth the read.

Some other suggested blogs include:

The Aftermath of Bootcamp – My Biggest Score in Domestic Sites by Ratul Steves

Here Steves writes about how he championed PokerBaazi’s ₹1 Crores GTD Value Bomb for a career-best ₹16.20 Lakhs.

Recapping my recent DPT run and preparing for EPT Sochi Next by Jayjit Ray

The reclusive Ray opens up about his run at the 2019 Deltin Poker Tournament (DPT) February edition, especially his eighth-place exit in the Adda52 ₹65K High Roller, while also discussing his preparations for the upcoming European Poker Tour (EPT) Sochi series.

The Icebreaker & My Recent DPT Xpress Run by Anant Purohit

Here the first-time blogger talks about his poker journey, as well as claiming his first-ever live title in the ₹15K Main Event at the 2019 Deltin Poker Tournament (DPT) Xpress June edition.

Blogging my way to the felts! by Nikunj Doshi

Back in February, PokerGuru threw open the ‘PokerBaazi Game Changer Blog Contest’ wherein players were asked to post an original blog for a shot at winning tickets to The Game Changer 1.0. Nikunj Doshi was one of the winners of the contest and chose to blog about his introduction to poker and his first visit to a Goa casino. He shares the three biggest lessons he learnt from his trip to Goa, making for what is an excellent read for aspiring players.

As we near the end of 2019, we will bring you many more features documenting the best and most impactful developments of the year, so stay tuned!