Monday Motivation – Ishaan Chugh, Winner of EndBoss 2021 For ₹71.48 Lakhs

Ishaan Chugh
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  • Namita Ghosh October 27, 2021

Have you met the new EndBoss yet? Introducing Ishaan Chugh! On Sunday, the 31-year-old trounced a 4,816-player field to win the 2021 edition of India’s biggest online tournament, the PokerBaazi-hosted ₹5 Crore GTD EndBoss. The Delhi-based player overcame the vast playing field, eventually cutting a three-way deal with Dhiraj Lakhotia and Divanshu Khurana to grab the lion’s share of the prize – a career-defining ₹71.48 Lakhs.

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“It’s nice! 70 Lakhs is what we split for. Its not a small amount, 1 Crore. So, I am very happy! Chugh said about winning the EndBoss.

Ishaan Chugh
Ishaan Chugh

 

A win of such magnitude is undoubtedly a happy occasion. Not just for Chugh but also for his family and friends. Sharing his family’s reaction to him becoming the lastest EndBoss champion, Chugh said, “I think they’re happy for me, they don’t want me to use this money to play more poker, which is what I do usually do, so I will probably invest it in the market.”

Chugh’s victory is even more impressive because he qualified for the event from a free ticket he received from PokerBaazi. He entered the final day with a healthy stack and didn’t let himself get intimidated by the enormity of the prize that lay in the line. “I didn’t think much of it, just tried to play my best game, one hand at a time, and not make mistakes. It was a fairly long tournament, so I wanted to make sure there was no fatigue. Things worked out, the cards fell my way, and I also avoided tough spots.”

Playing such a massive tournament and winning it is no mean feat. The most obvious question on most people`s minds would be the strategy he adopted to ship the event. Chugh kept it simple, explaining, “To ship a tournament of this magnitude, you need some luck towards the business end of the tournament. The strategy was to play hand-by-hand, not play strong cards preflop that get you into trouble post-flop. Fairly simple, then you have seen a lot of spots before you know what to do.”

Clearly, Chugh may be a relatively unknown name in the domestic poker circuit and plays poker recreationally, but he is no rookie in the game. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) alumni tells us he’s been playing poker since 2008 while he was back in India during the winter break. His brother introduced him to Zynga Poker, and soon, he started playing home poker games with friends in New Delhi like Kunal Malhotra, Umang Poddar and Vivek Jain. Chugh is used to long grinds, having played the Sunday Millions on PokerStars back in the day, and has run deep in the event on numerous occasions.

Inshan Chugh and Vivek Jain
Inshan Chugh and Vivek Jain

 

“Zynga happened first, then I got a $50 deposit on FTP, I rammed it up, I used to be a heads-up SNG expert. Then Black Friday happened in the U.S. So, everything shut down. Then I started my first company, so I quit for a few years. So, when I came back to India in 2016-17, then I started playing again.”

In fact, the computer science graduate from MIT loves gaming and is quite passionate about poker. “My undergrad thesis was on the impact of PLO, the mathematics of it. I think poker is a fascinating game; there’s a lot of psychology, it’s a lot of game theory, discipline as well, managing your emotions, bankroll,” he informs.

He also found himself in the circles of some of poker’s best through the game, including Indian-origin player Vivek Rajkumar, Tom Dwan, and Daniel “Jungleman” Cates. As an MIT student, Chugh was an intern at Goldman Sachs, and it was here when his manager, Jason Strasser, who was a good poker player, noticed his talent in the game. “I got to know some really good people both in India and abroad through poker, some of the top regs in poker. Jason introduced me to Tom Dwan, and through Jason, I also met Daniel Cates.”

Inshaan Chugh with Tom Dwan
Ishaan Chugh with Tom Dwan

 

These were not only the players he learned from but also looked up to them. “There are global players, like Tom Dwan, Daniel whom I discuss hands with. Tom Dwan is one of the sharpest people I have met in the industry. Cates taught me about range balancing which is very hard to execute. In India, Vivek Jain is a friend of mine, one of the top semi-pros. He takes the game very seriously. We discuss hands, strategy.” Kunal Malhotra is another long-time friend and poker buddy. We were playing home games back in the day in 2008 when it wasn’t even the culture.”

PokerHigh Brain Duel at Delhi
PokerHigh Brain Duel at Delhi

 

But for Chugh, Phil Ivey is the absolute G.O.A.T of poker, a player he really admires. Apart from discussing hands with friends, Chugh also regularly devotes time to studying poker. “Going through hand history, diligently, knowing what the theory says, balancing your range effectively – so all those things you have to be cognitive about when playing poker.”

The fact that poker involves making decisions amid uncertainty and how poker learnings can be applied to real-life really attracts Chugh. “It’s a great framework to think about decision making…a game that teaches you to be in charge of yourself, your emotions, have control of your mind…You can know your theory really well, but at the same time, not be able to execute it. I think that’s a big challenge for me as well!”

Chugh’s love for gaming is reflected in his current vocation as a researcher at the NCR Business School, focused on Artificial Intelligence and Design. “I’m a computer scientist. I love the subject. I am going to do a Ph.D. in it this year, so I am doing some research there. I think AI is the future. I think poker will be played by bots in the future!!”

Sharing his immediate poker plans, Chugh said he will continue to play big tournaments like the EndBoss, alongside his work.

Poker apart, Chugh is extremely fond of cinema, playing sports, and hanging out with friends. He also happens to have a world record in quizzing. “I was one of the first people to score the perfect score in the World Quizzing Championship!”

As the EndBoss of 2021, Chugh has this advice to others – Poker is a game at the end of the day. It’s not life or death, so treat it as such.”

A big shoutout to this talented young player who has indeed been able to leverage his growing game knowledge to earn himself the bragging rights of winning India’s biggest online tournament!

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