Heads-Up With Dhaval Mudgal On Completing One Year as MPL Poker Pro

Heads-Up With Dhaval Mudgal
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  • Attreyee Khasnabis May 13, 2022

A talented musician and professional MTT player, Dhaval Mudgal is one of the most prominent faces of Indian poker. Last July, the veteran pro added yet another accolade to his name by signing on with MPL Poker as the site’s first poker ambassador.

In a freewheeling interview with PokerGuru’s Saumya Paithankar, the first-ever WPT Vietnam Main Event champion, Mudgal, shared the highlights of his first year representing MPL Poker, his immediate poker plans, and the upcoming India Poker Festival, among other things. You can watch the interview below.

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Mudgal was all praises for MPL Poker, considering the work they have been doing to take poker mainstream. Indicating as much, he said, “It’s almost a full year since I have been an MPL Poker pro. I am very excited to be associated with a site as large as MPL. The same site also sponsors the Indian cricket team. Considering that we are trying hard for poker to be classified as a sport, taken more seriously, and not considered as taboo or gambling, we are very keen that these kinds of associations take place, and people can see that this is actually a mind sport. That’s why I feel that being associated with MPL is really exciting. I know they have great plans, which makes me even more excited.”

As for his most memorable experiences representing the site, his trip to the WSOP in Las Vegas last year topped the list as it was his first time representing MPL Poker at a live MTT series.

“Most of the year was spent in lockdown, so obviously, that was fairly limited because a lot of my travel, branding, and activation opportunities were lost. But the most exciting part was that we did manage to make it to Vegas during the World Series that happened last October. The cool part was that we couldn’t get there directly, so we had to take a two-week holiday in Mexico before we could get into Vegas. All of us. Because Indians weren’t allowed direct entry, but that was very nice because we hadn’t traveled anywhere for three years almost, and for once, the World Series was in the fall, so that was really great weather. Not hot like it usually is. So, that by far is one of the most exciting things we have got to do in the last couple of years.”

Speaking of his responsibilities as an MPL Poker pro, Mudgal revealed, “Many of the responsibilities lie with the promotion and things like that. But what actually happens is that when someone from the industry, whether it’s me or anybody else who represents other sites, when we get together with a company, what we end up doing is also providing a player perspective to the company. In a sense that I have been a player for many years, so I know the things that bother players. I can help structure tournaments. If a schedule is being created for a tournament series, I can give insight into that. These things become symbiotic in a way that both the company and the player can help each other.”

Being the second-largest online gaming company in the country, MPL certainly can take poker to new heights. Sharing his views on MPL Poker’s potential to take poker mainstream, Mudgal said, “I think the exciting bit is the scope that MPL has. It feels like MPL could really be something that can change poker in our country because of their vast scope with their other verticals and how well-known they already are. They are basically helping us attract a new, non-saturated market.”

The first-ever WPT Vietnam Main Event champion also talked about MPL Poker’s growing cash game traffic, bigger guaranteed MTTs, and the upcoming India Poker Festival.

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