This past Sunday saw the conclusion of the 7 + Crores GTD Adda52 Online Poker Series (AOPS) that turned out to be a smashing success with 27K+ entries and INR 9.5 Crores given away in total prizepool across its 60 tournaments. In its 11 days of an eventful run, the flagship series saw several big winners. While the well-respected pro and coach Sahil Agarwal won the biggest event of the series – 2 Crore GTD Main Event for a whopping INR 50 Lac, the Pune-based Siddarth Singhvi ended as the most consistent player of the series. Singhvi’s amazing run saw him conquer the 15 Lac AOPS Leaderboard and he was rewarded with 5 Lac prize for his consistency throughout the series.
While winning big events is always something we dream of, the true sign of a good poker player is consistency – be it big events or small ones. Constantly working hard on the game, making the right decisions and managing to maintain a positive and productive state of mind are a few qualities that define such a player. The pride and satisfaction that comes along with it is surely huge. While others may have run deep in several big events, everyone is admiring Singhvi’s incredible consistency on the felts. The veteran player has been consistently performing well in tournaments on all major Indian sites. His run at the AOPS was phenomenal as he not only scored a win in AOPS Hitman but also made 8 FT finishes. And it comes as no surprise that he has finally topped the Leaderboard, ending ahead of the lawyer-turned poker pro Ashish Ahuja who was very close but finished runner-up for 3 Lac prize. The young talent Dhaval Doshi did pretty well and finished third for 2 Lac prize.
It is not the first time that Singhvi has topped a leaderboard on adda52.com. In fact, he has been one of the most consistent players on the site and has already won the Ace Race 1 Leaderboard, apart from winning several big tournaments like Blaze, Judwaa, multiple Beast tourneys, Roll to Russia Finale, Whale 6-Max, The Roar, Adda52 Millions, Grand FT, Mega Suits, and Hitman to name a few. He also grabbed headlines for winning the ‘Play with Patrik Package’ in 2018 to play the coveted LIVE cash game with top Finnish pro – Patrik Antonius at the champions den- Deltin Royale, Goa.
Holding close to 3 Crores in online cashes, Singhvi is as good live as he is online and has already won two major live titles, namely WPT India Mega Stack Turbo and PokerStars Festival Manila Bubble Rush, apart from making plenty of deep finishes in various other prestigious tournaments. We caught-up with him to know about his AOPS Leaderboard win, his hot online run this year, his poker journey, achievements and dreams and a lot more. Here are the excerpts of the chat with him:
OPN: Hi Mr. Singhvi, thanks for speaking to us and congratulations on the AOPS Leaderboard win. You have been running hot on the virtual felts of late. Please tell us a little about your online run in 2020!
Singhvi: Luckily, variance is on the right side and I have been doing great this year. A couple of mistakes at some crucial point has costed me a ton as well but I am learning from those mistakes and the plan is to not repeat them again.
OPN: You have topped the latest AOPS Leaderboard on adda52.com. How does it feel?
Singhvi: It feels good to know I can still grind out a leaderboard series.
OPN: Please share a few highlights in your journey of winning the leaderboard. Did you have any strategy for topping this leaderboard?
Singhvi: I would say winning the AOPS HITMAN tournament and also my consistency over the last 10 days helped me win the AOPS leaderboard. Yes, I did have a max. late registration strategy for the low buy-in tourneys so that I get adequate rest, spend less time on the virtual felts and focus more on the important tourneys across various sites. It is mentally/physically draining to fight for a leaderboard.
OPN: Who do you think were your strongest competitors for the leaderboard?
Singhvi: I picked up the lead on 6th day and maintained it till the end. Ashish Ahuja aka ‘rocky3705’ was always close throughout the series and an equally deserving winner but somewhere during mid-Sunday grind I realized he did not get into Maint Event Day 2, that kind of sealed the deal.
OPN: AOPS has been growing every edition in terms of turnouts and prizepools. What are your thoughts on a series like this and its value for online players in the country?
Singhvi: It’s a great series with proper timings, awesome payouts and good structure (even for the low buy-in tourneys). With the current lockdown and leaderboard prizes coming into picture, the value increases even further.
OPN: Tell us a little about yourself and your poker journey. When did you decide to go pro and why?
Singhvi: I have a great passion and attitude towards the game – I love to play all variants of poker, have always kept learning and have also put in some insane volume over the years on various sites. My journey started when Pokerguru.in site was launched in 2010 and it was during that time I got to know that you can play poker with real money. They conducted freeroll tourneys for entry into tournaments held in Goa, I won some of those and tried my hand at tournament poker. By 2012-2013, the tournament scene had dried up in Goa and by that time I had already started putting in massive volume online on Pokerstars.com. However, the odd tournament timings coupled with increased work & family commitments prompted me to move to Indian sites, namely Adda52 and Spartan in 2015. The numbers and prize pools have exponentially increased on every site since then and I am happy to be a part of that growth. So yes, I have been in this industry for more than 10 years now but not sure if I have officially ever gone “Pro” as I continue to work for an IT firm.
OPN: You have been a regular player on adda52.com, playing tournaments and cash games as well. How has been your journey and experience with Adda52.
Singhvi: Adda52 is a great platform and has played a pivotal role in my growth as a poker player. It’s an online platform which always gave equal opportunity to everyone and I grabbed this opportunity to transform myself from a tournament player to a cash game player. I believe the speed and scale of growth of an online poker player is tremendous because his volume and learning is far bigger and faster.
OPN: At what point did you become a winning player and what process aided that development?
Singhvi: I started through freerolls and always had a planned approach. Also, games weren’t tough during those days, so I was just about good to stay afloat.
OPN: What according to you are the most important qualities to be a winning poker player?
Singhvi: There are lot of qualities required to be a winning player but for me the most important one – Be true to yourself!!
OPN: What are your most important achievements or memories throughout your development?
Singhvi: I would like to believe it’s yet to come. Playing a WSOP event is still a dream which seems to get extended for one more year now.
OPN: To end, any words of advice for the aspiring poker players looking to make a mark in poker?
Singhvi: Analyze/introspect your capabilities, behavioral tendencies and skill – then go for it by all means. If things work out for you- Great!! But if it doesn’t, you can always play the game recreationally. Also, please complete your education before giving this game a shot.