The Great Indian Misconception -The Diary of a Bad Reg

Posted by Sangeeth Mohan on 2013-11-20 at 12:00 AM

“Reg” or regular is a poker term often used by online and live players alike to identify a player who frequents a particular poker room or stake. (He is a reg at the wynn, he is a 200nl reg). Technically a reg is someone who understands the game and is tough to play against. It’s very common for players to add an adjective to Reg . For ex: Good Reg and Bad Reg.
A good reg is what I mentioned above. This blog is about the Bad Reg.

Rewind to 2011 Feb:

This was when I luckboxed haaard on an online site in India and made some money to go to Goa to play my first tournament series the IPC. At that time IPC was the best tournament series to play. I still remember playing my first ever live tournament clearly. I sat on seat 1 on table 1 and had no clue what was going on. All the Indian “Regs” on my table (with shades and funky headphones) keep eyeballing you for no reason and make ridiculous 4x opens and think they are baller. I played uber nit (Which by the way is still considered the best strategy in tournament poker in India by a lot of people) and made 2 final tables in that series. I got my instant status upgradation. (Noone to Semi baller).

Intervntion:

I always have believed and spoken about the fact that if I am anything in poker its because of Intervntion. Easily the most trust worthy and helpful person I have ever met in my life. Not only as a poker player, he is just a fabulous guy. When he started coaching me I knew nothing about this game. (I only thought I knew a lot like a lot of Indian Regs). He had the patience and knowledge to guide be step by step to teach me whatever I know today. He is a great coach and taught me a lot but if I had to improve I had to do a lot of learning myself too, which I dint.
Mid 2011:

With Adi’s help I had any more final tables and even my first win at the PGT main event in September 2011. Of course with that came the instant status upgradation. (Semi baller to Baller).

End of 2011:

The RunGood of a life time.
APT Goa and APPT Macau. I had a dream Nov- Dec with most of my big cashes coming in and I instantly became the next big thing in Indian Poker. Articles written about me everywhere, interviews, Player of the year etc etc.
Reality Check: I still remember a few hands from APT and APPT I played which I don’t discuss with people because they are so bad. Ofcourse I had the fundamentals right, but that was it. I had no idea what was going on with those tournaments. Looking back , I can’t believe I won those tournaments with that skill set.

2012-2013:

I continued to build on the number of cashes and final tables but was I any good? I don’t think so.
Present Day:
Poker in India has grown tremendously over the last few years and with growth people are more aware of poker. We can identify good and bad plays and think we are insta baller. No we are not. We are average at best. Please don’t let your tournament cashes fool you into believing that you are a good player. If you think you have had considerable success in tournaments look at the number of tournaments you have played. If your success is mostly in live tournaments in India, rethink. Indian tournaments are softer than first deposit freerolls on stars. It is no reflection of your poker skill.

My results had blinded me for a bit and I did not really analyze my game or it dint bother me, coz hey I was winning everytime I put it in. why would I?
But it was later I realized that I am actually a Bad reg at best. Of course I know funky terms and words like “Flop texture” “Top of the range” “Range merge”. Etc, but that’s all I do. I don’t play this game well and I haven’t put enough effort like a lot of very good players. But the realization that I was a bad reg made me lose any arrogance if I had any, and made me wonder what can make me a better player?
You can watch videos and read books till forever and still suck at poker. What I realized is you need Heart. You need the heart to improve your game. U need the heart to work on it. You need heart to put in volume, to evaluate your game, to identify your leaks etc etc. If you NEED to improve you will, if you WANT to u wont.

The next time a bad player is on the final table of a huge event you say “Oh god, he is sooo bad”. Rethink. Are you good enough to make that comment?

With love,
The Bad Reg.

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Sangeeth Mohan

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