Heads-Up With Vivek Rughani Who Won His First Godfather Last Night On Adda52

Yesterday saw India’s largest poker site – adda52.com hosting its flagship online poker tournament – Godfather, which features INR 20 Lac GTD prizepool at INR 5500 buy-in along with an entry ticket to the 10 Lac Europe SNG. The popular tourney that started at 8 PM drew a total of 403 entries, which took the total prizepool to a massive INR 20,01,500, which was shared by the top 27 players.

While the tournament saw several top pros battling it out for the top prize, it was India’s emerging star – Vivek Rughani who bested the field to win his first Godfather for the top prize of INR 5,23,900. Along with the top prize, Rughani also received a ticket to the 10 Lac Europe SNG Finale, where the winners of 9 Godfather tournaments will compete for the 10 Lac Package to Europe.

Hailing from Ahmedabad city, Vivek Rughani, who plays under his online name ‘Ikkvr’ on Adda52.com, is the gutsy young pro from India’s poker landscape. Rughani travels to various parts of the world to take part in prestigious poker events such as the Asian Poker Tour (APT) in Macau, PokerStars Festival Rozvadov and European Poker Tour (EPT) Sochi. He was also a part of the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) where he grabbed big headlines for his 88th place finish in the Main Event. While the player has notched up several scores on adda52.com, it was his first Godfather win.

We caught up with Rughani to know about his Godfather win, his toughest competitors in the tournament, his suggestions for upcoming poker players and a lot more. Here are the excerpts:

OPN: Hi Rughani, a big congratulation on winning Godfather 4.0! How does it feel to win it?

 Rughani: Thanks a lot! It was my first Godfather win and it feels great as this is my best month online so far in my career.

OPN: How was the field? And how was your overall experience?

Rughani: The field was as usual pretty soft overall with a mix of some regulars.

OPN: Please share your final table journey. Who were your toughest competitors on FT?

Rughani: Started the ft with middle of the pack and it went smooth till 3 way, which happened pretty quickly. Then, I had to adjust as ‘ninjago’ was tight and ‘ripphil’ played well, plus was aggressive.

OPN: You faced ‘ninjago’ in heads-up. Please tell us a little about your heads-up game.

Rughani: Well, the heads-up battle didn’t last long. My heads-up mate – ‘ninjago’ played pretty tight throughout, so having a 3:1 lead to start made it a little more easier.

OPN: What are you views on online poker in India today?

Rughani: Online poker is booming in terms of MTTs and should do well for a while.

OPN: Finally, any words of advice for upcoming poker players?

Rughani: Stop believing in the fairytale of winning big in a session or a tournament. It is about showing up every single time and putting  the volume. You win in the long run not by having a few perfect sessions. I had my worst live series in Manila and after returning, it turned into the best online month in next 10 days, so it’s all about showing up and putting the volume.

A lot of pros took part in this tournament. Some notables who finished in the money included the likes of the Ace Race II leaderboard topper – gmtesting, sa_jal, vinayb, and buntai to name a few.

Final Table Payouts (INR):