And we are back with another Champion’s Speak interview. Gracing this edition is the winner of Spartan Poker’s Legend Poker Series ₹2.50 Crores GTD Main Event, Dhinesh Kumar! The 27-year-old stomped his way through a guarantee-crushing 2,549-player field in the LPS showstopper for a career-best ₹29.91 Lakhs – he carried another three stacks to the LPS Main Event finale, netting ₹30.74 Lakhs overall.

The MTT pro is a well-known name on the domestic circuit with numerous seven-figure scores under his belt. Kumar, who has previously spoken candidly about his downswings, revealed that 2022 (for the most part) had not been a great year for him. It was only in the last two weeks that things started to pick up, fetching him a windfall ₹50 Lakhs in just four days.

His dream run started with a third-place finish in Adda52’s Mighty Arjan (for ₹3 Lakhs) on December 8. He followed that up by finishing runner-up in PokerBaazi’s APT #40 Super HighRoller (for ₹14.40 Lakhs) on December 9. But all hell broke loose on Sunday (December 11) when Kumar shipped Spartan Poker’s LEGEND #114 Main Event for ₹30.74 Lakhs. Kumar made another two deep runs on Sunday, netting a jaw-dropping ₹32.28 Lakhs altogether! The breakout run pushed his online tally to ₹6.26 Crores in tracked winnings and ₹2.42 Crores in corresponding profits.

In a tete-a-tete with PokerGuru host Saumya Paithankar, Kumar talks about his latest win, live poker plans, PSL experiences, and much more.

Watch the complete interview below.

Here is a timeline of the interview highlights.

00:40 – Kumar was very excited about winning the LPS gold bracelet and shared his reactions to winning the Legend Poker Series Main Event for a career-best (₹30.74 Lakhs), which was also his first time winning the Main Event title.

1:35 – When asked what he wants to do with the prize money, Kumar revealed that he has two bankrolls. One is his poker bankroll, and the other is for savings which he uses during downswings.

2:40 – Kumar chopped the LPS Main Event three-way with Pradip Ghosh (2nd for ₹24.66 Lakhs) and Armaan Kochhar (3rd for ₹24.55 Lakhs). He explains why despite being the chip leader, he decided to go for the deal to offset the variance. While he would have won ₹42 Lakhs had he not struck the deal, if things had gone downhill, then he could have finished runner-up for about ₹27 Lakhs. Kumar did not want to take the ₹15 Lakhs swing, given that the stacks were relatively shallow, so he agreed to the deal.

3:53 – He discusses some standout hands he played on the LPS Main Event final table.

6:31 – A year ago, we caught up with Kumar when he won ₹1 Crore GTD WCS #40 – United. So, when we asked him how things have fared for him in the past 12 months, Kumar shared that 2022 had not been a great year for him up until the past two weeks. He raked in almost ₹50 Lakhs between December 9 to 11 and went on to explain how he wasn’t playing much from January to March. After that, he was playing on international sites like GGPoker and Americas Card Room and not grinding much on the domestic sites.

9:32 – Talking about his live poker experiences in 2022, Kumar said that live poker was safer to play. He plays one or two series a year, primarily to meet and catch up with his poker buddies. He also talked about his experiences in the Poker Sports League.

12:16 – Kumar shares his plans for the upcoming 2023 India Poker Championship.

13:11 – Kumar was a part of IPP for four years from 2019. Now that he is no longer part of a poker stable, Kumar talks about how his grind routine has changed over the years.

16:26 – Kumar discusses how poker has evolved in India over the years and gives tips for upcoming players who want to take the game up professionally.

19:24 – While discussing the importance of having a poker circle, Kumar reveals that he has an overseas coach. Though he states that he only takes a little advice from his coach as he usually knows what mistakes he makes on the felts. He says that while he doesn’t usually seek advice if he did, it would be from Danish Shaikh.

21:22 – Given Team India’s success in the Asian circuit this year, we asked Kumar if he has plans to tour the circuit next year. Kumar agreed that he, too, has been following Team India’s exploits and was amazed to see our players doing so well. While intrigued, he is yet to make concrete plans of playing outside India and revealed he doesn’t even have a passport!

23:03 – “The more volume you play, the more variance it reduces” is the vital poker lesson Kumar believes he has learned this year. Though he lamented that he is still unable to put in the kind of volume he would like.

26:25 – When asked if he has any poker or new year’s resolutions, he wrily said, “Honestly, I don make any resolutions because I can’t follow them.”

27:40 – He talks about how lucky he is to be living with his parents, who can help him with day-to-day activities, a benefit he admits many other poker players, who live away from their families, do not have.

28:23 – “If you are going to take up poker professionally, it is very important that you know all the ups and downs. The media always covers the wins because they need the hype. But there is always the downswing. I recently saw someone, who is one of the biggest winners on Spartan (Poker), but he went broke. So, they should know the ups and downs of poker,” were Kumar’s closing words for newcomers.