Siddharth Kripalani

Siddhanth Kripalani: A Poker Champ In The Making

WORDS BY DONNA AMO

tarting the pok-

Ser season off on a spectacular note, the 10th edition of India Online Poker Championship (IOPC) was one of the most awaited online poker events of the year. While many champions were crowned, it was Siddhanth Kripalani aka ‘PluRibu$’ who bagged the first major title, the Millionaire United. Here’s our conversation with his poker pro on his IOPC win and journey as a professional player.

You have been playing poker since 2018. What are some of the biggest lessons the journey has taught you?

Poker has a way of teaching you many qualities that ultimately turn out to be useful in your day-today life. It has taught me how to be patient, to stay calm in unfavourable scenarios, to be respectful, and have humility. It has also taught me that if you have certain goals in life, you have to get up and do the work. Day in and day out. No one is going to spoon-feed you or give you a shortcut.

In IOPC, January 2021, you clinched the Millionaire United. What tournament are you looking to ship in FTS 2.0?

I’ll be happy to win any of the feature tournaments, but my eyes are of course on the Main Event and the High Roller.

When you were in the Master’s Table and going heads up against Aniket Waghmare, what thoughts were going through your head?

I had no specific approach; I was just going to play each hand to the best of my ability and see how it went.

Besides Millionaire United, what were some of your most rewarding wins in recent years?

Some of my most rewarding wins were PokerBaazi Monthly Value Series (PMVS) Main Event in April 2020, PokerBaazi’s The Game Changer in July 2020, and the World Poker Tour India (WPT) Super High Roller in November 2020.

What advice you would give to a budding poker player?

There is a lot to say but to put it in a few words: work hard, stay tunnel visioned, have the discipline to make the right decisions, and keep your emotions out of the game. If you work hard then there is nothing or no one that can stop you.

Lastly, tell us one of the best memories you have of playing poker.

I had wanted to go pro for about a year before it actually happened. On 30 March, 2020 one day before the lockdown, I was broke. I had borrowed 6K from a friend and promised to return it within a week. That night I played the Night Rider (3 Max) on Spartan Poker with an INR 880 buy-in. I ended up coming 6th for 19K. My bankroll was now 25K.

Then I fired two bullets in the next day’s Destiny and Daily Hi-Fi but busted in both. I remember having only 7.5K on my Spartan Poker account and I snap clicked on rebuy for the third time in Destiny, which I ended up winning. The following week, I ended up winning the PMVS Main Event, and the next week’s Destiny. I remember having 3 big blinds when there were about 57 people left and I thought it’s over. But was somehow saved by some good runs. I ended up shipping that too, and in one week I had gone from being broke, to having a bankroll of 30 Lakh.

That was one of the happiest moments in my poker journey because this was my chance to make it as a professional. Bankroll management is probably the most important aspect of poker. I had never had a sufficient bankroll to grind the daily features, and now, that was possible. This was my shot and I’m thankful that I took it.