What happens in Vegas, doesn’t stay in Vegas: Anuj Gupta back from the WSOP

This is one time when what happened in Vegas isn’t staying there as Anuj Gupta, Founder Chairman of Adda52.com comes back after playing at the WSOP and gives us a load of it. Gupta during a month long trip to the USA in June also played out a satellite at the ongoing WSOP and met some of the biggest names in Poker. We spoke to Gupta, co-founder of India’s largest online poker company and the revolutionary behind the poker boom in the country on how the experience was in the hub of the game.

Q1. Anuj, thanks for talking to OPN? Pls tell our readers about your recent trip to Las Vegas?

AG– I was in Las Vegas two times from 14th-16th June and then from 25th-27th June. While the city never fails to disappoint you but this time around my main agenda was different. I was there to play at the WSOP and meet some international players.

Q2. So did you play and how did it go?

AG: I didn’t trust my gaming skill to straight off play a scheduled event thus tried my hand at a satellite first. I played the morning $75 buy-in Mega satellite on 15th June but it was a bad beat start for me and I crashed out with my  went down to . It was disheartening but I was overwhelmed by the way the whole tournament was organised. Vegas is known for everything happening ‘larger than life’ but this was completely different. A whole convention area was cordoned off for the WSOP and the whole place was buzzing with some serious poker. I wish I had made it through and got to play an event and thus spend more time there. I did get my WSOP player card which will always remain with me as a souvenir.

Q3. Did you get to meet any poker players?

AG– I tried to get in touch with some players from the Indian contingent but sadly couldn’t meet up. I did catch a glimpse of Joe Cada, one of the former Main Event Winners and also saw JC Tran since they had just wounded up the final table of some event(which Cada won) that time. But I didn’t meet any players since the playing area is strictly cordoned off and no one can enter without their players badge.

Q4. What did you take away from them in terms of tournament organisation?

AG- The WSOP was larger than any tournament I had ever seen. I have been to Macau, Manila, Colombo and Goa where poker tournaments are organised on a big scale. But the WSOP was something else. Everything was so meticulously planned and laid out. The systems were easy to understand from player registration to tournament schedule and structure etc. WSOP surely has a lot to teach us in terms of tournament planning.

Also, apart from the tournament, what was also noticeable was the number of poker learning corners they had created. In all nooks of the convention hall, there were some areas where poker videos were being played continuously and players could view these and learn how to play the game. There were also some ‘Poker Learning‘ sections where poker players were coming to teach poker to amateurs. This I thought was a very good initiative.

Q5. Deviating away from your personal experience, would you like to share any WSOP plans that Adda52 has?

AG- Yes, Adda52 will soon be coming up with something big for WSOP 2015. We are planning to sponsor an entire Indian contingent to WSOP from Adda52’s side in terms of boarding, lodging, travel etc and have our Indian talent showcase their poker skill. It is all in the best interest of Indian poker that our poker players get the international poker experience at WSOP.

Q6. That’s a great idea. Have you thought of any specific players?

AG– No, for now we haven’t. But we are going to keep a tab on players performances, both on our site as well as offline. We will start working on this plan from year end when we will start finalising the players and discuss the plan with several key poker players of India.

Anuj, thanks for talking with OPN and all the best for all the future plans.

For all those who are new to the world of online poker in India, can try to register at Adda52.com through our links and get the best deals.