Yesterday being a Thursday night, it was time for the 20 Lac GTD Godfather 7.0, an INR 5,500 buy-in tournament on India’s largest poker site – adda52.com. The prestigious online event drew a strong field with 460 entries to easily surpass the specified guarantee and create INR 23 Lac in the final prizepool. Out of this giant amount, the top 49 places were paid out with a min-cash of INR 12,650.
Yesterday’s Godfather started at the usual time of 8 pm and ended after a long grind of over 8 hours. In the end, it was Bangalore’s Vinay B who emerged as the eventual winner to take home an impressive INR 5,63,500 and a seat into the Godfather Vegas Package SNG to be played on Adda52 this Sunday at 5 pm. In heads-up, Vinay faced Rohan Patnaik aka ‘rohan_patnaik, a good reg who fought it well but could not go all the way, eventually finishing runner -up for a cool INR 3,33,500.
It was not an easy win for Vinay as he had to face some tough players at the final table, including Sahil Mahboobani aka ‘ImHighIshove’ (3rd for INR 2,30,000), ‘gauravarod’ (4th for INR 1,72,500), WSOP bracelet winner and Adda52 Team Pro – Nikita Luther aka ‘nikitaluther’ (5th for INR 1,15,000), and ‘DutchAJ’ (6th for INR 80,500). The well-known reg Sumit Sapra finished 10th for INR 28,750.
A Little About Vinay’s Online Journey
An architect by profession and a semi-professional poker player from Bangalore, Vinay has been playing on Adda52 for several years now and the journey has been amazing so far. He has notched up several scores on the poker site, both in 2016 and 2017. However, the year 2018 was a peak time as the player bagged several victories, including his win in Sunday Suits, Judwaa (won 3 times), Friday Adda, CrackJack and Whale 6-Max tourneys. Six-max format seems to be his favourite one as the player has made several FT finishes in Adda52 Millions and Whale 6-Max tourneys, apart from cashing out Godfather, PayCheck, Mega Suits, Hitman, Roar, Blaze, Juice, Beast etc.
Vinay has come close to a win in Godfather a couple of times. Winning this flagship tournament was a dream, which came true just last night when he finally shipped the big event. Post his win, we got in touch with him to know about his win, special moments and a lot more. Here are the excerpts:
OPN: Hi Vinay, a big congratulation! How does it feel to achieve your dream – Godfather win?
Vinay: Thanks! Two big reasons why Godfather is one of the best events, one because of the SNG it promises and second the structure, the tough field it has and the value for money it offers if you finish at the top! So, it feels great to achieve this feat and win Godfather! I wasn’t aware that this was the last GF for this version 7 and the SNG is this Sunday. So, now I am even more excited.
OPN: Any particular strategy you had in mind? How tough was the field? Any special hands?
Vinay: No particular strategy except to not loose patience when stacks went down a couple of times! I knew if I focused hard enough, I could exploit leaks of a few opponents. The Final table was tough as it had players like Sahil Mahboobani, Rohan Patnaik, Nikita Luther. I kept pressure ON when stacks were deep on FT and kept chipping up! In a 3 way at one point, we all were equal stacks! I made some bold moves against Sahil, especially by bluffing in a couple of spots. Overall, I kept the game very basic and aggression was the key!
OPN: You have been a regular on Adda52. What are your views on their tournaments and promotions?
Vinay: Adda52 promotions and tournaments are one of the best-structured events coupled with a very high quality software interface! I always love playing on Adda52.com.
OPN: Your views on the booming online poker industry and what does it mean to players in India?
Vinay: Online poker boom is real. I think, we have now entered the next phase of boom with ‘Game Changer’ making new benchmarks! It’s perhaps the best time for poker enthusiasts to enter the industry.
OPN: How excited and prepared are you for the Vegas SNG coming this Sunday?
Vinay: To be honest and frank, I wasn’t aware that the SNG is this Sunday itself and what I won last night was the last Godfather in this version 7! So, this is something super exciting for me and I am charged up to ship it ! Vegas is a dream for any poker player to even travel to and play! If I manage to win and then manage to get the Visa, it will be my first visit to Vegas for Poker. So, all geared up!
OPN: Finally, what would you tell someone who is looking to get into online MTTs?
Vinay: Someone who is planning to get into online MTTs should study the game hard, as this game is so intense and deep that even after years of playing, there is always something new to learn. So, study hard and at the same time work on your fitness, both mind and body. I feel, it is one of the most under-rated and under-estimated aspects of the game – poker!
Thanks for your time Vinay, and we wish you all the very best for tournaments ahead!
Want to win big like Vinay but don’t have account as yet? Just sign-up HERE & get 500 to play!!
