Once A Poker Player, Always A Poker Player

PokaBunga Poker Stories are back with a different chronicle of a new & diverse Poker Player, but brings along the same kind of dedication & enthusiasm towards playing card games.

A frequent traveler, nature lover, Biker & energetic marathoner, Ravi Tanna , MBA SP Jain School of Global Management alumnus of the 2011 batch, Let’s hear your story…

I raised my sore eyes and looked around. The noise of Slot machines was clamoring all over the place. The place was abundant with sweet aroma of coffee & coke served by the waiters. The air had freshness of new card decks dealt every now and then. And I had no clue about the whereabouts of my friends as I sat at this Poker table at my favorite casino and rolled along all night, or till as long as my pockets were empty. Geeeeezzz!! This is how a typical night would unfold at our weekly, and at times, daily trips to the casino.  ‘Aaj Kuch Toofani Karte Hai’ was always on top of my mind during my MBA days and I made sure I live upto the motto…

It all started when I was a kid and was introduced to 2 games namely Bridge and Rummy. With a penchant for counting cards, I immediately got captivated on to these games, or any other, that required me to keep a count of cards in order to guess the move of the other players. Soon I had formed a coterie of friends interested in cards that met during the afternoons over the weekends.

As I grew, so did my risk taking ability. I had matured to become a small time “gamer” from just being a card player who played with friends. We started with any random card game but finally settled on the one addiction that was to remain the love of our lives, POKER. Playing Poker is like any other addiction; you can never check out of an addiction. It’s just not limited to that, I always looked upto the advantages which the game brought along.

Back to the casino night which I will remember for a long time to come, the dealer had just dealt me the cards. As many nights before that one, I was again on the verge of betting the last dollar I had in my pocket. But this night was going to be different; or so I felt. Those who have seen the Dev Anand starrer movie Gambler would recall the scene in which he is broke. He finds a single coin in his pocket and goes on to gamble that coin only to make millions out of it. There is something about this particular night that makes me feel like the Dev Anand from that movie. I mean who would not be upbeat with 2 Queens in his hand.

The dealer lays down 3 cards – 2, King and QUEEN !!!!! I am sure this is going to be mine. Dev Anand is all over my mind.

Another card – QUEEN !!!!! I am All In.

Can anyone guess the last card? No? It’s a King again. Now card counting and probability theory tells me that if you have four of a kind, and that too Queens, there’s not much of a reason to worry. As luck would have it, the dealer had 2 Kings and I lost even my last dollar; yet again.

And if you think this is going to deter me coming back to this godforsaken game and to the casino, let me tell you that you are mistaken. Always remember – Once a Poker player, always a Poker player.

As the saying goes, once a poker player always a Poker player. I am sure a lot of us would be able to connect or relate to Ravi’s Story. Ravi Tanna we see the sportsmen in you, appreciate & acknowledge the zest of being a gamer with the tossing of an adventure guy.. Hope you go places….

Ladies On The Floor

About a week ago, we posted about 5 sexiest ladies on the poker floor. We did make a pitch for 5 of our favourite lady sharks, but we felt like we did not justify our choices. So, here is what we looked at.

1. Does she turn a few heads or catch a few eyes when she walks onto the floor?

2. Poker winnings (Money matters!)

3. Does she jump off of cliffs or play a guitar or generally cool stuff that would add to her sexiness?

So, here's the list.

Rank 1: Jennifer Harman

Mother of two kids, 4th highest poker winnings by a woman. One of the most feared cash game players. Jenna Harman has 2 bracelets and has made it to the WSOP final table 12 times. She is definitely our sexiest female poker player. Good luck for WSOP 2013, Jenna!

Rank 2: Vanessa Rousso 

Vanessa Rousso is nick named Lady Maverick for her tricky plays and her skill. Guess what! She's only second to the great Vanessa Selbst in her winnings. Oh, she's also a sports illustrated swimsuit model. Couldn't resist putting her at No. 2 now, could we?

Rank 3: Kara Scott

Kara Scott has stolen so many hearts with her sweet smile and smooth voice, that we decided to call her the queen of hearts. She has a sizeable poker winnings. And she has also hosted WSOP Main Events number of times. Kara Scott is often referred to as a "Total Lady", by the colorful commentator Norman Chad. We put her at No. 3.

Rank 4: Beth Shak

She is an entrepreneur. She is the richest of the lot. She is very generous and has played on numerous charity tournaments. Rich, smart, beautiful and kind. If she not for the top 3's overwhelming skill at the game, she would be Rank 1. But for now, Beth Shak will be Rank 4. 

Rank 5: Olivia "Liv" Boeree

Nicknamed The Iron Maiden for her taste in metal music, Olivia "Liv" Boeree is one of the most skilled british players WSOP has ever seen. She's an EPT presenter and a swim suit model. Oh, the icing on the cake; she's a Astrophysics major from University of Manchester. She definitely deserves a mention in the top 5. We give her Rank 5.

Anyone else we have missed out on? Let us know. Write to us at pokabungaindia@gmail.com

You Make Time For Everything Else

PokaBunga Poker Stories are back! Like we said every poker player has a poker story and we are out to get all of them.

Amartya Sen, is an IIM Kozhikode alumnus of the batch of 2013. He met us when PokaBunga’s word started spreading and we got talking. Finally, we got to hear his Poker Story spanning over two colleges VIT, Vellore and IIM Kozhikode. Thank you, Amartya! It was wonderful hearing your story.

“I started playing on Facebook first, and then got hooked onto it after seeing Casino Royale. The scene where Bond slow plays a straight flush gave me goose bumps! Within a few weeks after that I picked up the game seriously and started playing mostly with friends. I played almost a year at low stakes, slowly after that we raised the stakes at a periodic rate. Finally I met some guys who played at pretty high stake buy-ins. There was no looking back after that. Long story short, I play everywhere and at any stakes (that my bankroll can handle) now.

It started off with a friendly discussion with a couple of my friends. They played casual games only, so we sat down with a deck of cards, later the word spread that we played poker; we didn’t need any advertising. The buzz itself brought me in touch with the ‘real’ players and we were rolling since then!

We coordinated after classes, usually one of the guys volunteered to host it at his room.  We had no rake or anything. We split the hospitality expenses amongst everyone, we made an excel sheet to keep track of winnings and made the transactions at the end of the month.

One thing I have realized is, if you really like to play poker then you don’t need to find time for poker, you need to find time for everything else.

Everyone had their own style in our group, some were aggressive some days some were not in the end what came out was that everyone had a maverick style of playing but everyone knew how to play and we developed our game together.

I was called the Straddler for straddling every time, a guy whose min bet was 600 got nicknamed 600, we generally gave nicknames over professional famous players based on style of play and fan following, for example a guy who was very good at playing bad hands got called Dwan!”

Quite the man of words, Amartya! We like your spirit and how you don’t have to make time for poker, you have to make time for everything else. We hope your spirit lives on in VIT and IIM Kozhikode and the poker culture continues. We dedicate this video to your poker story.

Cheers!

Poker is Infectious

Every poker player has a poker story. It usually starts off with a friend or a relative or a video or a movie. One of our friends thought it would be a nice idea to talk about his poker story, so here we are.

Once upon a time...

"I played poker a couple of times, but never too seriously. It was online poker. I don't remember which one. I lost interest because it was mostly a fun game and no one took it seriously. Then, almost an year later I was invited to a poker game, by an attractive lady friend. There were about 8 of us and I had a girl to impress. So, we started playing. We played for about 4 hrs. I bombed. I was worse than the worst possible player ever. I was down by 4 buy-ins! At the end of the day I hit it off with the girl, but my ego was bruised. So, I decided I wanted to learn this game. I met a friend who had played a tournament in Goa and I started playing. The first few days were a disaster. But after a week of poker nights every single night, I started getting better. In fact I started winning pretty big!

We soon started having regular poker nights and about 10 people in the group. 6-7 of us were regulars. We usually played in a bedroom, until we found an abandoned pool table. This pool table was the perfect hook. People started pouring in, because it looked pretty professional. Apart from the aesthetics, the regular players' game improved a lot! We used to watch WSOP, Poker After Dark, any and every video we could get our hands on. We talked about tells, strategies, popular bluffs, favorite players and soon it turned from a hobby to a passion. Initially it was just a tug, but soon it was an unquenchable thirst! I had to watch more videos, read more blogs, books. That feeling was wonderful.

The best part about playing poker was, I made some amazing friends that I'm pretty sure I will always stay in touch with. I have moved to a new city, but I still look for games and new people to play with. A dream come true would be to play in pro tournaments and if possible, one day, in WSOP. I am in love."

Pretty nice, huh? We love poker stories and we would love to hear more of them. So, mail your poker story to pokabungaindia@gmail.com

Cheers!

In Poker We Trust

Hey! We are PokaBunga, India's finest online poker site. Why are we here, apart from the desire to provide you with the best gaming experience? We are here to show India the skillful and beautiful game that poker is. In recent years, Indian players have made their presence felt in the international circuit at places like Macau Poker Championship, Asia Pacific Poker Tour, etc. We want to do our bit to take poker to the next level.

Poker as a sport is one of the few card games that requires tremendous amount of skill. There are players who play a mathematical game. They calculate their odds and they play safe. These people rule the online circuits. They have massive bankrolls from all their online winnings. There are people who read their opponents and always have a hook on what everyone’s cards are. These people usually frequent casinos and sweep out the tables. Real pros are usually a varying combination of both. They range from pure geniuses like Martin Staszko, who plays the game like it’s a mathematical equation with the inputs from the players’ tells and the cards, to shrewd sleuths like Daniel Negreanu, who can get tells from a blank canvas, to players like Phil Ivey, who play diabolic mind games on their opponents.

People from every profession have played at tournaments like WSOP and WPT; some of them serious players, some of them trying their hand at professional poker. Actors like Matt Damon, Kevin Pollak; Hedge fund managers and investors like David Einhorn and Richard Yong, models, sportsmen and many other professions have made for a really interesting mix of strategies in professional tournaments. So, as you can see, poker is everywhere!

   

A journey into complex world of poker starts off with one game. After all, a journey of thousand miles starts off with a single step. So, give it a shot. Come explore our site http://www.pokabunga.com and with it the exotic world of poker.

Let’s shuffle up and deal!