For Indian MTT players, the flagship Adda52 Online Poker Series (AOPS) has become one of the most sought-after online poker tournament series. One of the biggest reasons why the marquee poker fiesta has been so successful is the fact that it offers players of all stakes a shot at glory and stardom with buy-ins starting from as low as INR 350. Five editions have been hosted so far and all have wrapped-up successfully, drawing in huge turnout and generating massive prizepool across most of the tournaments. Most recently, the mega online festival concluded its special edition that had a whopping INR 22 Crore in guaranteed prizepool and an impressive 35 in Leaderboard prizes. The series enjoyed an eventful run, pulling in 93,735 entries and giving away 23.75 Crores in prizes.
Concluding the online series in style this past Sunday was the 3 Crore GTD AOPS Main Event that pulled in a total of 2673 entries across its nine flights and it was eventually shipped by Nitish Gupta aka ‘inveigle’ from Kolkata who walked away with his career-best score of INR 50 Lac in top prize.
Fresh from his win in the AOPS Main Event on Adda52, Gupta is no stranger to the poker scene. A live cash game enthusiast, he is not only passionate about the sport but highly disciplined while playing the game. His runs on adda52.com seem to be fairly recent but he has been doing pretty well and has already made deep finishes in the two previous AOPS Main Events and Full House tournaments. This Sunday, he surpassed all his past online scores by winning the AOPS Main Event to join an elite club of the event’s champions in ‘blunt420’ (won first AOPS ME), Faiz Alam (won second AOPS ME), Sahil Agarwal (won third AOPS ME) & Raghavender Goel (won fourth AOPS ME).
Holding an impressive live poker resume with one major title and as many as 8 FT finishes, Gupta can be classified as someone with exceptional poker skills. He picked up the game in college days through Zynga poker and immediately fell in love with the sport. While he prefers live poker, he has been enjoying online poker the most especially after the lockdown and his deep finishes across several marquee events over the past few months prove that he is as good online as he is live. We caught-up with him to know about his AOPS Main Event win, how he dealt with the competition in the tourney, the strategy he followed, how the FT went for him, and more. Here are the excerpts:
OPN: Hi Mr. Nitish! Thanks for speaking with us and congratulations for winning the 3 Crore GTD AOPS Main Event for INR 50 Lac on Adda52! How are you feeling to win your career-best score?
Gupta: Thanks! It’s indeed an amazing feeling to ship the biggest tournament of the AOPS.
OPN: It was a massive field full of big names. 2673 players participated in the multi-day event, how did you deal with the competition and what the journey was like, making it to the final table?
Gupta: Was just to focus on the players on my table and give my best and this eventually paid out.
OPN: How did the final table go for you? Did you adopt a different strategy going into the final table?
Gupta: Well, it was very smooth. I ran hot to get chip lead early at final table when I doubled up AA vs 88 (aggtarun). From there on, it was pretty smooth for me.
OPN: Who do you think were the toughest opponents at the final table?
Gupta: All were good. Tarun Goyal (aggtarun) was the best amongst them. He was the only one applying some pressure and luckily for me I had immediate position on him which obviously helped a lot.
OPN: You finally clashed with a solid reg in Ashish Garg in heads-up. Please share your heads-up experience.
Gupta: I sucked out for a big pot when it was 4-handed which gave me a big chip lead into heads-up and it made things pretty easier for me.
OPN: Any special plans on how you intend to spend your prize money?
Gupta: Will play cash games on Adda & donate a % of it for those who really need the money more than me.
OPN: The AOPS on adda52.com has been growing every edition in terms of turnout and prizepool. What are your thoughts on the flagship series and its growing value for players in the country?
Gupta: Well, it’s amazing that they are trying to give their best in terms of guarantees, but they should also do something for TDS , it sucks to pay 30%.
OPN: Your runs on Adda52 seem to be fairly recent but you have been doing really well as you have cashed all marquee events over the last few months including two previous AOPS Main Events and Full House tournaments. Your take on this?
Gupta: Well, the structure is such that it helps the pros & exploits the fishes. I mean when you have 6-7 starting days, you would have to be terrible to not make Day 2 & run deep.
OPN: How and when did you come across this beautiful game of poker?
Gupta: In college through Zynga poker.
OPN: Tell us about your grinding regime. How often do you play online? And which variant of poker do you prefer playing – online or live?
Gupta: After lockdown, I am playing mostly PLO cash games online. I definitely enjoy playing live cash games the most.
OPN: What are your poker goals for the rest of 2020?
Gupta: Just keep on trying to work on my game & try and keep on playing as high as I can.
OPN: Finally, any tips or suggestions for newcomers?
Gupta: . Try and master control over your emotions. Train your mind to take more logical decisions.