After making several deep runs in Adda52’s Godfather, the veteran Dhaval Mudgal finally broke the jinx of not closing it. He won last night’s Godfather 8.0 for an impressive INR 5,10,880 in top prize after beating ‘bhavesh03’ in heads-up. ‘bhavesh03’ took home INR 3,09,000 for his runner-up finish. In addition to the top prize, Dhaval also earned a seat into the 9 Lac Vegas Package SNG on Adda52.
Godfather is one of the most popular tournaments in India with a buy-in of INR 5,500 and a massive guaranteed prize pool of INR 20 Lac. Yesterday’s tournament saw an impressive participation of 412 entries in total, easily crushing the guarantee and generating INR 20,60,000 in total prizepool, which was distributed among the top 43 players with minimum cash prizes starting from INR 11,275.
On his way to the grand Godfather victory, the 2018 WPT Vietnam Main Event champion Dhaval Mudgal outlasted a strong final table that had some solid regs in Anuj Kumar Kodam – (3rd for INR 2,16,300), ‘zillastar’ – (5th for INR 1,07,120), Raman Gujral aka ‘thuscame’ – (7th for INR 56,650).
Top 43 places were paid out in yesterday’s Godfather tournament with a min-cash of INR 11,330. Some notables to cash were Mihir Thakkar (11th), 2018 WSOP ME best Indian finisher Nishant Sharma (17th), Rajat Sharma (19th), Ashish Munot (20th), Gokul Raj (29th), Sumit Sapra (30th), last week’s Godfather winner Vinayak Bajaj (34th), Akshay Nasa (37th) and Deepak Bothra (38th).
Currently ranked 9th in India All Time Money List, Dhaval is one of the most skilled and experienced players in India with a whopping $370,337 in total live earnings. He has been touring the international circuit for several years and has won several tournaments, including 2018 WPT Vietnam Main Event, 2016 APT Manila Deepstack Turbo and a Teams Event at the 2015 MPC.
As for his journey on Adda52, it has been impressive so far. The Delhi-based musician turned poker pro has won and cashed several online tournaments though, it was his first Godfather win. Apart from shipping Godfather, he has made multiple final table finishes in Mega Suits and cashed in Godfather, Adda52 Millions and other prestigious online poker tournaments on www.adda52.com.
Post his Godfather victory, we got in touch with Dhaval Mudgal and here are the excerpts:
OPN: Hi Dhaval, a big congratulation! How does it feel to ship your first Godfather?
Dhaval: Thanks! It feels really good to ship Godfather especially so close to Vegas!
OPN: Please tell our readers about how poker become a part of your life?
Dhaval: Poker came into my life many years ago. Thanks to Akash Malik who learned the game in America and brought it into our teen patti circle. We started loving the game and stopped teen patti completely and this took over our lives.
OPN: Tell us about your Godfather win. Any particular strategy you had in mind?
Dhaval: I don’t really go into a tournament with a specific strategy from the start except for playing your hands to the best of your ability. I ran good right off the bat and built a big stack and the rest was history.
OPN: How was the field? The FT had some tough regs, could you share your FT experience?
Dhaval: The field was soft on the whole but still had some regs in the later stage. Once Raghav Bansal was out, I was pretty confident that I could close this. I had some big swings on Ft and HU but I really wanted this one and all the Vegas preparations I have been putting in came in handy .
OPN: You have been regular on Adda52. What are your views on Adda52 and their tournaments?
Dhaval: Honestly, the structures and fields on Adda52 are amazing, so you’ll see me playing most of the majors.
OPN: What would you say about Adda52’s recently announced ‘Poker Mania’ promising 50 Lac guaranteed prizepool at just INR 1000 buy-in?
Dhaval: It’s good to see buy-ins lowering and guarantees increasing! You’ll probably see me Late register for ‘PokaMania’ as the low buy-in events tend to not have too much uptop.
OPN: What are your thoughts on Indian online poker industry and what does it mean to poker players?
Dhaval: I truly hope that the Industry can start looking at long-term ecosystem and not short-term gains. Our player pool can be unparalleled, and the skill element from the Indians is there for all to see.
OPN: Lastly, what would you say to someone who is looking to get into online MTTs?
Dhaval: To be honest, I am more of a live MTT player and only play online in my downtime from the circuit but Volume, Volume, Volume is the key! Also, skip a buy-in or two to get some coaching. Good luck!
Thanks for your time Dhaval, and we wish you all the best for the tournaments ahead!!