Sleight Of Hand

A day to learn, a lifetime to master. Poker isn’t just a game, it is a lifestyle.

- Mrinalini Singh

The first Indian to cash at a European Poker Tour, Aditya Agarwal has come a long way since playing poker in his university dormitory. Now a professional poker player, his love for the game has managed to put him on the global leaderboard and travel all over the world. Edited excerpts.

Tell us about your journey with playing poker. How has the experience been so far?

Well, I’ve been playing poker for a very long time. I started playing in freshman year of college back in 2004 and it’s been close to 15 years now. It’s been quite an up and down journey, but I have been very happy about it. I feel very fortunate to achieve quite a bit and poker has been a successful career for me.

What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken on the poker table? And if it was not poker, do you think you would be working a regular 9-to-5 job?

The biggest risk on the poker table is tough to quantify as such, but whenever you are playing, you know you are making moves and taking risks. I cannot really think of any particular situation that might qualify as the biggest risk that I’ve taken on a poker table. If I wasn’t playing poker, I might be doing some other unconventional job. But, who knows I might even be doing a 9-to-5 job.