Heads-Up: In Conversation with PGOL High Roller Champion Ankur Dewani

Ankur Dewani
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  • PG News April 11, 2016
  • 4 Minutes Read

Ankur “ankur” Dewani (cover image) is fresh off winning the PokerGuru Online League (PGOL) Season IV High Roller on Spartan Poker for over ₹3 Lakhs, beating an entry-field of 98. It was the first event he played in the series and the win got him fired to play more events. Dewani finally finished in 16th place on the PGOL Leaderboard.

The 31-year old Dewani has been romancing poker since 2001 and is one of those few, who have crossed the felts to indulge in the business side of the game. Not surprising considering, he comes with a post-graduate degree in finance.

Besides playing, Dewani launched his own poker venture, Poker Planet and has also done a stint with Delta Corp, before joining PokerStars as Country Manager (India).

PokerGuru caught up with Dewani post his win on Saturday and here he tells us all about his poker journey, his personal choice of site (he believes Spartan Poker has really become popular) and his experience at the PGOL High Roller, which he won, while partying with friends!

Check out the complete interview below:

 

Hi Ankur, thanks for talking to us. Tell us a little about yourself.

I am 31-years-old and have a Masters in Finance from IE, Spain. I started working when I was 18 & studying in NZ. I have worked in Finance for eight years, but things became too monotonous for my liking.

However,I continued to pursue Finance further & went to study Post Grad in Spain. Got my Masters in Finance in 2007 post which I joined an M&A role in London.

In Jan 2008 markets crashed, economies slowed down & Finance wasn’t looking that great, had always thought of doing something of my own & enjoyed gaming since childhood, so decided to work on a business plan & came back to India with the thought of starting an online gaming site. But I wasn’t sure where to start & couldn’t sit idle, so freelanced in the spare time & consulted several businesses on strategy, financial modeling & forecasting etc. In the process met someone with similar plans for gaming & we started to work together on an online gaming site. But due to uncertain regulations we started a free to play casual gaming website, Bettoss.com in 2008. We ran this for about 16 months but plans didn’t work out as expected & finance ran out so we shut down in 2009 & moved on.

Since then have had the opportunity to be a part of some very cool “early for their time” companies. Started Poker Planet with a few like-minded & equally passionate Pokerpreneurs in 2009-10. Then worked with Delta Corp from 2011-2014 & then eventually had this awesome opportunity of working with PokerStars.

 

When and how did you begin playing poker?

I’ve always had an affinity towards gaming & gambling. I use to play Rummy with my grand dad as a kid & would sit next to my parents during Diwali Teen Patti sessions.

I also loved video games, MMOG (Counter Strike). My parents say I was five when they bought me my first Nintendo & I finished Mario in two days. So when I was first exposed to Poker, right after school in 2001, I was instantly into it. Obviously coming from the Teen Patti player mindset, at first poker seemed very different & a little difficult. But I loved it because it was way more intelligent, competitive & the ability to bluff just sounded so cool :).

Initially we were just a few of us that picked up the game. We used to play ₹500 Freezeout tournaments (we didn’t know what cash games were). We would play once a week & about 3-4 tournaments a night. Over time all of us left India to study/work & the exposure & interest in Poker only grew. The game was so much bigger & known everywhere else. Post 2003/4 the general awareness of Poker boomed because of the Moneymaker Effect, televised Poker & Zynga, which only boosted my interest for the game.

 

Which format do you like more – live or online and why?

I think both have their own share of my love. Online is great because it’s convenient, prize pools are amazing &it’s a different kind of skill involved.

But… I’m a little old school like that, I think live is the truest & purest form of the game & for me personally the rush, the jitters the excitement & all that goes with the live aspect will always be dearer.

 

Which online sites do you play most frequently on?

I used to play on PokerStars & Full Tilt until 2014. But due to contractual obligations I can no longer do so 🙁

Now I play on 888.com & from our Indian list it’s always Spartan 🙂

 

Do share your views on Spartan Poker and the PGOL series.

I think Spartan has quickly become a great platform for all Poker enthusiasts. Be it regulars that are looking for a good mix of cash games & tournaments, or new folks wanting to learn the game.

In the last few months especially, the addition of the new promos & giveaways has definitely seen great interest.

Similarly, the PGOL has always been a great platform for players to come & mix it up with a wide variety of player types. It would be great to one day see 000’s of players coming together to create huge prize pools in India as well, & I’m sure Spartan/PGOL will be an integral part of that journey.

 

This was the first event you played in at the series – now that you have won it, will we see you playing more events? Are you gunning for the Leaderboard prizes?

Absolutely, in fact the 1st thing I did after winning the HR was to come back home, spot all the tourneys on in the next two days & start planning my schedule around it. In fact I have a social commitment tonight, but I’m pretty sure my mobile will be getting most of my attention.

Amazingly I was fifth on the Leaderboard right after the win, but have already dropped to seventh after a few other tourneys today. But I fully intended on putting up a good fight.

As I’m typing this, I’ve reached the final table on Samoh’s daily county event, getting all the last minute practice I can 🙂

 

Tell us about your tournament journey – early, middle stages and end stages (final table).

I was at a friend’s house & wasn’t really sure what tourneys would be on. I was just surfing through & noticed the HR had begun, so I bought in appx 45 min into the tourney.

By the time I was in the blinds were 40/80 & there were about 62 of 75. Got into a few hands early on & got a double up quickly, but then I lost a decent amount as well.

I tightened up once blinds past 50/100 & started playing only in the right spots where I either had a good starting hand, position or just a good read. Luckily I had accumulated a decent stack early on & I kept using it to my advantage to get further.

My plan is always to try & work backwards from the eventual goal. If I know the total chips in play are about 8L, my goal is to try & accumulate at least 1-1.3L chips going in. I also keep a close eye on the leaderboard & like to know who’s ahead & by how much. The plan worked out yesterday (Friday) & I was on the final table as one of the big stacks. From there execution is pretty straight forward, waited for others to make mistakes or pick up on weak bets.

I don’t think I got out of line much or bluffed too much, plus it doesn’t hurt to get good cards sometimes 🙂

 

Any hand or opponent/s that stand out in particular?

Difficult to recall, but I think there was 1 hand with an aggressive opponent, & I had JJ in early position.It’s one of the most annoying hands to play with, but I decided since he was aggressive anyway it’s best to just call.

I limped pre & called a 3x raise. Flop was 3 cards under 10 & I checked it back to him, this is where it’s tricky to just call or raise, I decided to min raise to see where we stand & get some info. But was prepared for an all in call, as expected he shoved I called & he had AK & turn was rag & river gave J.

That was a big hand with a big stack that I didn’t expect with JJ, but I guess sometimes you have to just go with it.

 

Any other interesting incidents you can share from that night.

We were at a friend’s house, doing the usual Fri night chilling scene & out of curiosity I popped up Spartan to see what’s on. Another friend of mine Jay (jaymavs) who also plays was with us, was excited about the event too.He was still making up his mind when I bought it 45 min late, but finally decided to play as well & bought in during the one hour break.

At this point all our friends continued having a good time, drinking & just chatting whilst the two of us got into our own shells & were fully into the tourney.

At one point we got up during the break & gave updates to our friends on our promising journey so far 🙂

Obviously at this point we were just hopeful & didn’t know how it would turn out, so made some fun “WhatIfs”, like if me & him won 1st & 2nd, we would take the 5:25am flight to Goa to celebrate.

Unfortunately Jay got out in 12th, but still played very well & cashed Rs.36k. Soon enough I was on the final table & the word spread in the house. Finally when I was heads up, the party literally stalled & all my friends were behind me watching intensely awaiting the outcome, I’m glad I didn’t disappoint 🙂

 

Any parting words?

You can imagine it’s been a great night & felt amazing. Hoping to play the rest of PGOL & put up a good score.

As for Poker, I’m as passionate about is today as I was when I first played the game. It’s never failed to surprise me & has taught me something new every now & then & I fully appreciate it.

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