Ankit Kapoor has been running hot this year and there seems to no stopping for the emerging poker star from Delhi. He started off on a good note this year, finishing third in the 15K Deep Dive Event and winning the 35K Main Event at the DPT February 2019 edition. Keeping his momentum going, he then shipped a PLO Turbo event in March 2019 at the TIPS & KENTA, Rozvado. Now he is back in the news, this time for winning Adda52’s inaugural 1 Crore GTD Mighty One that ran from 4th– 7th July.
Considered a new kid on the block, Kapoor has been working hard on his game and it is showing in his results. He has built a very impressive resume with several big wins and deep runs to his name in a fairly short period of time. Though he is known for his exploits on the live felts, he has started killing it on the virtual felts. Just last night, he outlasted a massive field of over 3,500 entries in Adda52’s Mighty One to claim his best online score of INR 20 Lac and he will now be looking forward to defending his Main Event title at the Deltin Poker Tournament (DPT), which kicks off on 31st July.
A banker-turned-poker professional who prefers Pot Limit Omaha over No Limit Hold’em games, Kapoor, on his way to The Mighty One win, outlasted some solid regs at the FT, including the Mega Suits winner Apratim Sharma (4th for INR 5,57,000) and Varun Meena (5th for INR 4,20,000).
Top 282 players were paid out in the tournament with min-cashes starting from INR 8K and some of them to finish deep in the event included Pranav Bang (9th for INR 1,10,000), Sahib Thakur (10th for INR 77,000),Vikram Ved Batra (13th for INR 77,000) and Anuj Manocha (18th for INR 40,000).
Post his grand victory, we caught-up with Kapoor to know about his big win, experience, his future plans and a lot more. Here are the excerpts of the online chat we had with the eventual winner:
OPN: Hi Kapoor, congratulations on winning The Mighty One! How are you feeling to win the the tournament? Was it your biggest score till date in an online MTT?
Kapoor: Thanks! It feels great winning such a big tournament and being able to outlast the field consisting of some of the strongest names in the circuit. It is indeed my biggest score till date in an online MTT and I’m still letting the feeling sink in.
OPN: Your thought on The Mighty One? How was your experience playing the super value event?
Kapoor: It’s a tournament with immense value. For a buy-in as low as Rs. 2500, a massive prize pool of 1 Crore was guaranteed and the tournament happened to have a significant overlay. It gives all players a chance to test and hone their skills and moonshoot for the coveted title.
OPN: More than 3,500 competed in the event, please tell us what was the journey like, from start to finish?
Kapoor: Since Day 1 had multiple flights with re-entires, I wanted to play more aggressively in order to gain more chips and have a shot at the uptop on Day #2. I wasn’t reluctant at all to enter into flips. Ironically, I just happened to have only a single flip on Day 1 – an opponent had raised 5x from mid position and this bigger-than-usual open generally denotes a super premium hand. I was dealt AK and I knew I’m up against QQ/JJ or an even better hand, I still went for the flip for around half my stack, which I happened to lose. I just happened to be on the right side of the coolers twice (nuts vs second nuts) and thus amassed a big stack to start Day 2 as a top 20 stack amongst the 300 odd survivors.
I started Day#2 well and was just sticking to the very fundamentals which are – player profiling, betting patterns, position, board texture, pot and stack sizes and pot odds.
I happened to be on the wrong side of a cooler (set of 4s under set of 5s) but a flush on the board saved my tournament life when the action slowed down. Then, I happened to make a wrong call with 99s against QQs which I lost, and it was followed by losing a flip with 66 <A-8.
At this stage with 60 people left, I was literally left with One Big Blind. But as they, “all you need is a chip and a chair!” I happened to hang on to my tournament life with all of my 60%+ hands holding up and was literally the last rank till the time 20 odd entries were left.
I finally entered the middle of the pack with final 2 tables left to go and given the deep structure, had enough chips to execute post flop play. I just stuck to the fundamentals and entered the Heads up play with a 4:1 chip lead. In the final hand, I won a flip with A9 vs 55, and a 9 on the flop made me clinch the elusive title!
OPN: Any special plans on how you intend to spend your winning prize?
Kapoor: I’d consider this as an addition to my bankroll and given the boost, I’d look forward to playing more online and live MTTs, probably also in the Asian and European circuit. I keenly kook forward to the upcoming DPT edition, which is merely a few weeks from now.
OPN: You participated in DPT February 2019 series and went on to win its Main Event. What was the experience like? What are your plans and preparations for the next DPT starting on 31st July 2019?
Kapoor: It’s always a great experience playing at the Deltin Royale in Goa. The field is really tough as most of the top players come out to play, who have achieved national and international acclaim.
I would like to stick to the fundamentals I mentioned earlier and I believe getting one’s fundamentals in order is at least 70-80% of the game. I would try to avoid any complacency which sinks in after any win. I have spent around 1000 hours on the felts this year so far and poker is a game where you are learning everyday and I would like to carry my experiences and learnings and bring my A-game at the tables.
OPN: Finally, any tips or suggestions for new players attending the upcoming edition of DPT in Goa?
Kapoor: I would suggest having the solid fundamentals in place which should form the core of your game. It’s important to try and play your best game without worrying about the outcome.I would also recommend a series of articles which I very recently stumbled upon –
http://www.indiauncut.com/iublog/categories/category/range-rover/. It’s written from a player’s perspective in an extremely lucid manner and touch bases upon the fundamentals required for a solid game.
.