Article by Khurshid Ahmad
Online Poker News frequently has the opportunity to break the story on promising players who are the future stars of Indian poker. I firmly believe this is the case with Eugene ‘peushup’ Peushup, a sharp-minded MTT player from New Delhi who now lives in Gurgaon. With over 34 poker titles to his name within a little under three years of his poker journey, he is one of the brightest poker talents our country has produced in recent years and is definitely a player to watch out for in the future.
Poker Journey, Setbacks & Notable Moments
A post graduate in computer science with more than 25 years of experience in the IT industry from an employee to now an entrepreneur running his own IT firm,Peushup was intrigued by poker in 2018 and decided to learn the game. The more he learned, the more attached he felt to the mind sport. Having realized that there is certainly a logic and skill attached to the game, he then registered on Adda52.com to give it a shot and was lucky initially to have shipped the Godfather for INR 5+ Lac.
“In my endeavor to learn new skills every year as part of my resolution for New Year in 2018, I was intrigued by the name and the game ‘Poker’ and decided to try my hands on it. I started by learning the hand rankings and other rules of the game and registered on Adda52. I feel that I was lucky initially to have shipped the Godfather in the same year in May 2018, winning approx. 5 + Lakh.”
A Roller Coaster Ride In 2019
While plenty went right in 2018 for Peushup, he tasted the bitter outcome of the game and lost 70% of his amount within the very next year. However, he stayed undeterred and put in a lot of time, energy and hard work, which really helped him to elevate his game and regain his confidence.
“Within the next one year (2019), I tasted the bitter outcome of the game where I lost almost 70% of the amount owing to my over- confidence and bad play. I then decided to read, research and study in depth about the game. It was then in July 2019, I won my first live event – DPT 15K Bounty event, and regained my confidence to stay around. To be honest, I never realized how the game turned into a passion where I completely absorbed myself in the learning to be able to achieve my goals.”
Hard Work & Family Support Paying Off
It is not just the hard work but a constant family support and encouragement is needed too to progress in the game. Unlike most players, Peushup’s family has been encouraging and supporting him through the thick and thin of his poker journey. “The last 6 months have been truly amazing where I have reaped benefits of all the hard work by winning multiple tournaments. I must admit that at one point of time I was almost about to be thrown out of my house for spending so much time on the game (just kidding). Thanks to my family for encouraging and supporting me all this while!”
An Emotional Bond With Adda52
While Peushup has won big on almost all major poker platforms in the country, he shares an emotional bond with Adda52.com. The reason being, almost his 90% of volume is on Adda52.com and also it is the site where he has notched up most of his notable scores. This year in particular has been really big for him on the site as he has already won more than a half dozen of tourneys here.
“Adda52 has been my favorite platform and 90% of my volume is here. It’s an emotional bond as I started and learned about poker on Adda52 and so it will always have a special place in my heart.”
WPT Online India 2020 Experience, Journey & Standout Moments!
WPT is the world’s prestigious poker brand and the year almost feels incomplete without a WPT tournament series in India. While you may have missed those amazing sights and sounds of the live experience, the brand more than made up with an online series on Adda52 – ‘WPT Online India’.
Featuring a massive INR 13.5 Crore guaranteed prizepool and an additional 35 Lac in leaderboard prizes, the series had a whopping 31 WPT Trophies up for grabs. As expected, the series received an overwhelming response, attracting an impressive 60,434 entries across its 154 events to collect a prize pool of INR 15,15,24,396. While there were hundreds of elite grinders taking to virtual tables to unfold glory and win themselves that prestigious WPT trophy, a handful of them managed to achieve their goals. One of these players was Peushup who outlasted a 476-entry field in the 15 Lac GTD WPT Bounty Classic PKO to win his first WPT Trophy and an impressive INR 4.88 Lac in top prize.
The WPT Online India was a memorable series for Peushup as he not only won a trophy event at the series but also finished runner-up to WSOP bracelet winner Abinav Iyer in the 50 Lac GTD WPT India High Roller to bank INR 10.46 Lac, which happens to be his best score both live and online.
Talking about what enticed him to play the inaugural WPT Online India, he said, “It was always on my wishlist to win a WPT title and trophy. This was more to prove myself than anyone else that I am damn serious about the game and it is a skill-based game and not dependent on luck. So if you research, read and strategize well, you will be able to perform much better than other players.”
Sharing his overall experience, he said, “My overall experience has been phenomenal in WPT. The format of the tournaments was great and it was truly fantastic to find most popular Indian poker players participating here, including my favorites Raghav Bansal, Sriharsha D. & Pratibh Saluja.”
Overall, it was a great series for Peushup as he not only won the WPT Bounty Classic PKO and finished runner-up in the WPT India High Roller but also made a few deep finishes across the other big ticket tournaments at the mega series. Talking about his standout moments from the series, he said, “Playing WPT India High Roller and being in heads up with the WSOP bracelet winner Abhinav Iyer and a message from Sumit Sapra to congratulate me were two standout moments for me.”
Talking about his WPT Bounty Classic PKO win, he said,“I think specifically for this event, I was quite confident as I played quite a few bounty events and had won the DPT 15K Bounty live event in 2019. I had great strategy in place and had good experience on how people play bounty tourney.”
He also added, “Staying focused for long hours was not easy as I don’t play as regularly as the other pros do. The final table was nerve-wrecking for sure. I will cherish the final heads-up battle with Kamal Naruka as the game lasted for a long duration. Kamal Naruka is brilliant (one of the best in the game) and for me to win this game, it felt that I required at least 10 Red Bulls. I had already lost one heads up with Kamal earlier this year, however, I was delighted to have finally won.”
Wrapping Up Interview With A Great Piece of Advice
Peushup wrapped his interview on a good note with some great piece of advice for the young kids on the block, saying “Don’t take the game for granted. You can not be intuitive or be lucky as that will not help you in the long run. Researching and studying concepts/strategies is the key. Sometimes, folding big hands when you are put on a spot for your tournament life may be the right thing to do that takes you a long way. Remember, staying alive in tournaments is everything.”
He asked players to avoid playing lousy, saying “ You may have heaps of money, however, don’t just play poorly/lousy because you can afford it. I firmly believe in the quote shared by a legendary poker player, Doyle Brunson – “A man with money is no match against a man on a mission. ”
We look forward to more big things out of Peushup in the future and wish this super talented MTT player many more victories, both online and live, as well as an eventful career as an entrepreneur!
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