| Player Whos Harder to Read Than his Name - Vivek Rajkumar At first glance, Vivek “Psyduck’ Rajkumar looks like your typical young man. But this 21 year old has a lot more going for him than most at his age.
Vivek has cashed five times in the World Series of Poker (2007) and has just walked away with over $100,000 in prize money after winning a $2500 No Limit event at this year’s L.A. Poker Classic. Like many of his college mates, Rajkumar began playing poker against friends for $1 buy-ins. But while others were satisfied to keep their poker at a recreational level, Rajkumar discovered that he had a natural talent for the game and turned to online poker to advance his hobby into something a little more serious. Using $50 as an initial deposit, put up by his father, this pro turned his winnings from the PartyPoker site into hundreds, and then thousands and finally hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Last year, Rajkumar decided to try the live poker circuit and was hugely successful in the 2007 World Series of Poker event, cashing five times in total, including one final table event. His latest winnings at the L.A. Poker Classic put another $113,000 in his back pocket and name for himself as an up and coming poker professional who should be taken very seriously!
In a recent interview, Rajkumar was asked about his favorite type of tournament. He noted that, in the case of live tournaments, his favorite kind was deep-stack events, mainly because of the flexibility involved. He especially likes the fact that there are good intervals between levels, allowing space to continually accumulate. When asked about online tournaments, he said that his preferences were actually opposite to what he likes in live tournaments, stressing that he loved turbo tournaments because of his impatient streak. “That’s a discrepancy in my live and online tournament preferences,” said Rajkumar.
This poker professional aims to play the poker circuit for as long as he possibly can, putting all his efforts into becoming the best player out there. He moved from his native Seattle, Washington to Las Vegas to be nearer to the action and is making every effort to learn from his mistakes in previous tournaments. With a university degree in computer science behind him, and work experience as a Microsoft software developer, Rajkumar always has a career to fall back on. But for now, it seems that poker is his life’s passion.
Author: Renee Kingsley |
