Ravi Raghavan on Re-Entry Strategy and the Benefits of Self-Reflection
Recently 33-year-old poker pro Ravi Raghavan was thrilled to capture another title at his self-proclaimed "home casino" in the World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Hammond Main Event for a $272,322 first prize and a seat in the 2020 WSOP Global Casino Championship.
That win pushed Raghavan's overall tournament earnings to almost $4 million. He's been collecting cashes for over a decade, with a victory in the 2012 World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic for over $1.2 million a career highlight.
After getting started playing poker while in college at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Raghavan immediately started playing poker full-time online upon graduation. However, after Black Friday Raghavan followed the path of others and successfully made the transition to live poker.
I recently had Raghavan as a guest on The Bernard Lee Poker Show where he talked about his love of tournament poker, what makes him comfortable playing in the mid-stakes tournaments, and how he continues to improve his own game.
PokerNews: Congratulations on your recent victory at the 2019 WSOP Circuit Hammond Main Event. How special was this victory since it was basically in your backyard?
Ravi Raghavan: Thanks, Bernard. Yeah, I have played so many Chicago Main Events, whether it be the HPT or WSOP Circuit, and I had never won one. I've played every single one for the last 12 years. So even though it wasn't my biggest win in my career, it was huge and very special to me, especially for me to win this at my home casino at (Horseshoe) Hammond.
When you got started playing poker online, and then playing live in casinos after Black Friday, why did you choose playing in primarily tournaments?
The first poker I ever played was cash, but when I started playing online, it was tournaments. Once I started playing tournaments, it was hard for me playing cash again.
The reason is I think it's just the accomplishment of winning one, especially with the fact that winning one happens so rarely. The feeling after you win is so addicting and I just love playing in tournaments.
With almost $4 million in live career earnings, you have had tremendous success playing in tournaments, including winning the 2012 WPT Five Diamond Main Event for over $1.2 million. Yet you still focus on mid-stakes level tournaments such as the WSOP Circuit, HPT or MSPT? Why is that?
To be honest, I feel more comfortable with the buy-in amounts. Any professional poker player has some sort of average buy-in. For me, my average buy-in is around $1,700. So if I'm playing a $10,000 buy-in, that's about six times my average buy-in. So my mindset going into a $10,000 buy-in, it will just be a little different, even though I don't want it to be. Not just with the player pool, but just with the actual buy-in amount.
When playing at your usual buy-in amount, are there any other advantages that you feel heading into an event?
First and foremost, it helps that I can re-enter a tournament. I don't want to be in for multiple buy-ins and, of course, the goal always to be in for only one bullet. But at the same time, it's nice that if you do get eliminated that you can buy back in. That's a huge, huge advantage for me.
Having that comfort factor that you can easily re-enter, what is your thought process regarding how to approach re-entry events?
Some players like to keep firing away (in an unlimited re-entry event), but it's not easy to make a profit if you rebuy multiple times, especially with the WSOP Circuit now paying 15% of the field. I mentally can't do that.
[Regarding] my strategy for multiple-day events like HPT, MSPT and WSOP Circuit Main Events, I like to cap myself at one buy-in on the first day, and then a maximum of two buy-ins on the second day. I like to start fresh on Day 1b and give myself more chances on that day. Others may approach it differently, but that is my personal preference.
You have many professional poker buddies who travel with you to many of the stops. Do you discuss poker with them to improve your own game? What else do you do to help yourself improve?
I'm fortunate to have such close friends who are such great poker players. Of course, I'll talk poker with them and discuss specific situations.
But I feel that in order to truly get better, you need to self-reflect. You want to be confident but also need to have self-reflection and evaluate your own game. After you do this, then you can ask the right questions to ask other people in order to get more specific answers. Some questions might be "Do you think I am playing too aggressive?" or "Do you think that I should be three-betting more in certain spots?" These questions can only be considered if you reflect specifically on your own game.
But for me, the way I help myself the most is being honest with myself. And that wasn't easy for me for a long time and has only started happening over the last couple of years.
Thanks for sharing your own reflections and once again, congratulations on your victory in the 2019 WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Hammond Main Event.
Thanks, Bernard.
