POKER
Up and Personal with Thailand’s Numero Uno, Phachara Wongwichit With an early indulgence in competitive strategy poker games, Natural8 Ambassador, Phachara Wongwichit is an inspiration to Thailand’s youth.
By Shweta Maheshwari
A
professional player, an influencer and an inspiration to Thailand’s youth, poker star Phachara Wongwichit has bagged the titles of many big tournaments. Needless to say, his early indulgence in competitive strategy games played a crucial role in his professional poker career. We connected with Phachara Wongwichit who significantly contributed to shaping Thai poker to know more about him, his strategies, his experiences and more. Here’s what he had to share: What made you take up the proposal of working with a brand like Natural8? Natural8 is a rapidly growing Asian brand, allowing me to enjoy the geographical proximity of my existing Thailand market. Besides easy operability, Natural8 was already a huge name even before I planned on associating myself with it and provided multiple gaming options. On top of that, I also knew key people inside Natural8, which added to the credibility and trust of this association.
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How did you get into poker? What were your early experiences like? I was always interested in card games, board games and strategy games. So naturally I took a liking to poker from a young age. However, I did not take it seriously until I graduated university. Once my academic liabilities were out of the way, I had a lot of free time to indulge in poker. Subsequently, I started reading books and surfing through online stuff related to poker and how to improve my skills. I started playing micro stakes and then moved to live cash games at local casinos. Eventually, I lost the first two or three buy-ins, before building up my bankroll from there without ever looking back. How do you prepare for a poker tournament? Do you make any changes to your daily routine before you start preparations? I try to sleep plenty and eat well before a big tournament. But things hardly go as planned when you have money at stake! Also, if I haven’t played much recently, then I consider indulging in a few smaller turbo tournaments 2021
Phachara Wongwichit to warm me up a day prior to major events. I do not try to add any new arsenal to my poker game or strategy right before a tournament. Finally, I consider long term association with the game and not immediate preparatory hacks.
