“The interesting part of my poker career is my parents don’t know that I play poker. Convincing my father is not so easy. Usually, when I start a poker session, I say that I am gonna do freelancing work. That’s how it goes till now!”
Well, we hope your father doesn’t get around this piece of writing till you tell him on your own about winning Rs 1.86 lakh in Adda52’s marquee tourney AOPS Hexagram 8 Lakhs GTD. In a chat session with PokerSpot, poker player Sethuram Kannan opened up about his passion for Poker and also shared some helpful insights about the game.
Let’s begin –
First of all a big congratulations to you Kannan on bagging Rs 1.86 Lac in Adda52’s 8 Lakhs GTD AOPS Hexagram that took place on Tuesday. For those who don’t know much about you, can you tell a little about yourself, your educational background and introduction to Poker?
Thanks a lot. It was a long wait to ship a featured tournament. Finally, I got there. Basically, I am from Chennai. I came to know about poker when I was doing an MBA at SSN University through one of my seniors in 2017. He was crushing cash games those times. Like many of us, I was also surprised and was very eager to know how these guys make so much money. I was completely into it. I learnt myself from YouTube initially and started playing freerolls. Just used that money to make my college time happier.
Later there was a College Ambassador promo from FTR. I was the ambassador for my college, where I promoted their website and earned tourney tickets. That was the turning point where I made some decent money—kept on watching new stuff, improving my game from there—kept on building my BR (bankroll)—now playing low to Mid stakes mostly.
Also, I am not a professional. I am working in the USA based IT company.
That’s great! In just three years you have taken your game to a level where you have bagged such a big tourney and title. So, are you planning to turn into a professional?
I am very much interested in turning into a professional player. But I feel like there is a lot to improve in my game. Until I get those consistent results, I am not going to do that.
So, can you let us know what kind of a player you are at the poker table? How would you describe yourself?
I play differently on different stakes. Mostly I will play tight initially and keep on increasing my stack. In the middle to later stages, I will be little more aggressive to steal antes and blinds.
Have you ever played live poker? If yes, which is more exciting to play live or online poker, and why? If not, then where do you dream of playing live games?
I am not that outgoing person basically. So, online games are much more convenient for me. Also., I can put more volume, which is necessary at the early stage of my career to keep the variance away and constantly build my BR (bankroll). But still, I am waiting for the right time to try a live series like IPC. Let’s see how it goes. Of course, I want to play a WSOP ME at least once.
I know it is a bit cliché but do you also dream of winning a WSOP bracelet for India like every other poker player?
Of course, that would be the dream of every poker player out there. It is nothing better than winning a bracelet for your country in such a top international event.
But need to work a lot harder!
Tell me about your support system that keeps you going even after a terrible day of poker?
Naturally, I am not the kind of person who gets broken after a terrible day of poker. Also, it will affect you the most when you are dependent only on poker. In my case, even if I bust my whole BR, I can come back and deposit some money and start from scratch again. But I don’t want that to happen. Haha!
That’s great! What are your most significant achievements or memories of your poker journey so far?
Not an interesting memory, but the interesting part of my poker career is my parents don’t know that I play poker. But I have won most of my big scores when I was sitting with my parents hiding my laptop screen from their vision.
You haven’t told them about your recent Adda52’s winning too?
Not yet. Convincing my father is not so easy. I need to get even a big score. Usually, when I start a poker session, I say that I am gonna do freelancing work. That’s how it goes till now. Also, I have promised them that I will make 10 lakhs in two years for one of our personal need. If I could make that soon, that will be the right time to let them know.
Tell us a bit about your daily routine or lifestyle?
As I said, I am working in the USA based IT company. Due to COVID19, it is WFH for us. Nowadays I am working in night shift. So, mostly the day goes in sleep. Usually, on weekends, I will dedicate a lot of time to poker. Yesterday I got very minimal tasks to complete for my company. So, registered a tourney and luckily ended up winning.
Who do you think is currently the best poker player in the Indian circuit?
The answer will be the same for most players. Aditya Agarwal
Which are the Indian websites you love playing at? Can you rank them in order?
I play mostly on Pokerstars, Adda52 and sometimes on Spartan and Baazi.
The ranking will be
I rate Pokerstars on top because of the interface. It is the best interface which no other competitors can come close to.
Would you like to share anything for the new recreational players before we wind up?
I am not an expert. But I was immensely benefited out of it. So, I like to share it with my friends. People underestimate the power of twitch poker streams and poker replays. People straight away look to buy courses spending thousands and later they don’t understand most of the things. Twitch streams are very helpful to learn poker initially where they share their thoughts on every spots and decision. Also in poker replays like PokerStars, you will learn a lot. Mostly I will put myself on a most consistent player on the FT and make decisions before he makes. Then if he makes a different move, I will analyze why he did that. This is extremely helpful. TRUST ME. Just wanted to share this.
Stay tuned to check out the next Rising Poker Star!