Heads-up With Raghav Bansal on His First WSOP Experience, Final Table Finish & More

Raghav Bansal
  • Profile picture
  • PG News August 2, 2015
  • 3 Minutes Read

Raghav Bansal (cover image) shot into the limelight this WSOP with his brash attitude, youthful confidence and a number of cashes, including a marvelous ninth place finish in Event 47 for $39,508.

It almost seems unbelievable that this is Raghav’s first foray to WSOP, but as we talk to him, he reveals the details and informs that he never really prepared for the series. Certainly, he has come back with some memorable moments, especially his interesting faceoff with Phil Hellmuth, the televised final table and the ambience with several celebrities milling around.

Raghav clearly has his head on his shoulders, when he does get excited, but not carried away by all the jazz. One of the few players, who has gotten his family’s full support, Raghav looks set for a long career as a poker pro.

Here, we represent you Raghav’s experience at the 2015 WSOP, entirely in his own words…

 

Please share a few personal details about yourself.

Raghav begins by shooting out staccato facts

Age – 26

Education – Calcutta International School and then Business Economics from Delhi University

Hometown – Calcutta

Family: Dad – Businessman; Mom – Housewife; Sister – married

 

How did your family react to your choice of poker as a career?

Just recently told my parents about poker some six months back. I was quite shocked that they took it so positively to be honest. I told them about bankroll management, expected value (EV) while making decisions, the psychology involved and other things, and my dad related it to trading. It was pretty cool that they didn’t think I was just gambling and getting lucky. Mom was just happy to see me happy doing I’m what I’m doing.

They were excited to see WSOP updates every day and to see me on tv was pretty special for them. It really gave them a sense of poker being a sport (exactly what it is IMO). I was obviously horrendously tilted after that blunder on the final table, but to see a text from my dad straight after saying that they’re really proud of me erased all of my tilt!

My friends were pretty excited to see the final table live stream as well and me wanting to travel the world more and play poker full time seems like a pretty awesome way of living to them.

 

Do tell us about your first brush with poker?

I first came across poker when I was studying in UK. This friend taught me and we started playing 2 to 5 pound sit and gos amongst ourselves. I continued playing poker in bits and pieces, but never took the game seriously until about a couple years back when I started getting decent results.

 

How did you plan the trip to WSOP? This being your first trip to WSOP, were there any preparations for first WSOP, in terms of getting staked, mentoring etc?

A few of my poker friends from Delhi who had been to the World Series last year told me about the experience and it just seemed too good to pass up, now that my roll could afford it. I could not have imagined this so quick though, since I only just started playing full time around a year back and I had a tiny bankroll at the time.

I hadn’t sold any action for the Series. I planned on watching a lot of training videos, getting fit , doing meditation etc. to get ready for the world series, but to be honest most of that didn’t happen and I just went there and tried to adapt as best as I could. I do plan to prepare better from now on though.

 

Tell us about your impressions of WSOP at Rio All Suites – the grandeur and scale. Did you meet any celebrities?

As expected, the WSOP was immaculate in terms of the way it was organized and everything about it was just perfect. The tournaments ran so smoothly – the staff deserves every bit of the 3% share that they get from the total prize pools. The field sizes were huge for every tournament and it really makes for massive prize pools, which is such a big motivation. The best part about the WSOP though for me, is that it can change your life in just 3 days! Not many things in life can do that!

All the poker celebrities are there for the WSOP each year and playing with them or even just observing them on a nearby table is pretty special. I definitely learnt a bunch from these guys. A lot of other celebrities like Shane Warne, Neymar, various Hollywood actors, other Sports stars show up for the WSOP each year and after a while it just becomes normal to see them playing on a table next to you!

 

What were your feelings at final tabling Event 47 on your very first WSOP trip?

Event 47 means A LOT to me! It was my first deep run in a tournament. My friends were railing me, there was a lot of excitement with each bustout, as the final table seemed like it could become a reality. I was pretty focused though throughout. When we were down to 10 and they asked us to proceed to the feature table it was an amazing feeling.

That fancy table, the bright lights, and the card readers on the felt, the audience – it was surreal. My heart was pumping like never before. Then we were down to 9 and they gave us a 10-minute break to set up all the cameras and stuff for the official coverage. On my way back to the amazon room I saw the sign which hung from the ceiling which said “ESPN FEATURE TABLE with the left arrow. :D. It all felt so special!

I have been told that it was the first time an Indian flag was next to the name of a player at a WSOP final table and that’s a pretty big deal so I am quite proud about that.

If someone offered me a 9th place finish at a WSOP event before, I would snap take it but actually making the final table and then busting 9th hurts, especially as I had a huge stack throughout . The couple of blunders I made (one with 16 to go vs Matt, the eventual champion, and then my bustout hand vs Matt again) will take some time to heal, but I hope they serve as motivation to improve and to not make these mistakes again in the future.

 

Talking a little more about Event 47; you ended Day 2 of Event 47 second in chips with just 21 players left. Take us through some key hands and strategy that helped you get on top.

I played well in the monster stack before this event and cashed and then went deep in a Venetian Deepstack tournament too, so I was feeling confident and was in the zone. In Event 47, I was down to like 12 bb within a few hours of day 1 and clipped a king to double up KJ < AQ vs Bryn Kenny. I swung a lot that day and ended day 1 with an average stack. I got a pretty decent table on day 2 and just kept chipping up all day long. I abused the bubble pretty hard and was chip leader for quite some time. I’m pretty happy that I kept up my aggression and borderline maniac play even with Carlos Mortensen and Christoph Vogelsang on my left later on in the day. I finished 2/41 on day 2. I was pretty certain that I would make the final table and I could see all those blingy lights of the final table. I couldn’t sleep for a second that night.

Tables broke pretty fast on day 3. I kept up my aggression throughout as I had a huge stack (that’s the only way I know how to play). I just wanted to keep chipping up and play my game even though I had some pretty tough opponents on my left – Jeff Gross (winner of the premier league), Andre Akkari (team PokerStars pro) and the Poker Brat Phil Hellmuth.

 

Tell us about some more interesting hand/s from the event. At one point you faced Phil Hellmuth, what was the gut reaction, honestly?

The most memorable hand just from a pure happiness perspective was the one where I crippled Phil Hellmuth and put him on monster tilt. At first, Phil 3-bet me a couple times and I folded as his timing was pretty good. Then later I was opening almost every hand and Phil was moaning for the last half an hour non-stop about how he was so card dead and that if it was a chess tournament he would have it wrapped up by now already. LOL.

So in this hand we were 7 handed (15 players remaining). I opened for 50k at 12k/24k from the CO with A5o and Phil defended his BB with a stack of 345k. The flop was AJ4r he checked to me I bet 60k and he snap check raises me to 145k. I was never going to fold this hand obviously with his stack and my image so I started tanking to decide the best course of action. Phil then said to me “let me take this one, you can take the next one”. I called to let him bluff at me once more. He bet 100k on the turn with 140 behind and I shipped and he exploded, started berating me, before eventually folding. He berated me for another 10 mins or so and I just couldn’t stop laughing.

Akkari was high fiving me from the side and my friends in the rail were going crazy. Phil then asked me to play him heads up for 1.2 million dollars (don’t know why that exact amount!) before he calmed down and apologized 5 mins later and said that he shouldn’t have said what he said and that he was just tilted. I just told him its cool I’ve seen this on tv a hundred times and he started laughing. He was out 3 hands later!

 

Any memorable experiences with pros or celebrities that stand out?

It was pretty cool to see how chilled most of the poker pros were. I played a lot with Carlos Mortensen and by the end of it we were discussing Spanish football in the hallway! Andy Black was on my final table and we went bowling along with the Irish contingent after that quite a few times. Team PokerStars sports pro and Olympic Gold medalist Fatima De Melo was on my table a couple times and she was a lot of fun to chill with. She’s pretty awesome – can’t wait to meet her at EPT! I met Shane Warne during the main event and told him he was my 2nd favourite cricketer of all time, to which he replied “2nd???” , I just said ” I’m Indian man, you get it! ” I played with a bunch of other known pros too, but that’s pretty normal for anyone playing a bunch of events at the series. After a while, you’re not star-struck anymore and it’s all pretty normal.

 

If you were to bet money on an Indian winning the bracelet next year, who would you back?

PokerGuru himself, Adi, obviously! I hope an Indian wins a bracelet next year though. Poker could explode in the country as a result of that, our own mini – moneymaker effect!

 

Thanks Raghav and wish you all the best for future tournaments!

0 0 votes
Article Rating

Related Players

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Top Online Poker Rooms

Top
PokerGuru