Abhishek Goindi

More about Abhishek Goindi

Abhishek Goindi is a highly established name in the Indian poker circuit. He has been grinding for well over a decade and was also awarded the Indian Poker Player Of The Year in 2011. Co-founder of Poker Bootcamp India (PBCI) and currently one of India’s finest poker coaches, it would be correct to say the pro has witnessed the substantial growth of poker in India.

Goindi graduated from Christ College in Bangalore and was introduced to poker when he was aged 17. He started off playing the game with friends for ₹10-50 buy-ins before getting help from a French national Philippe Davis that saw him go pro. He worked for HSBC in 2010 before making the switch to playing poker professionally. Goindi realised his passion towards poker when he was leading his corporate life and decided to quit his job and focus on playing poker full-time.

As per Hendon Mob, Goindi’s first recorded live cash came at the India Poker Championship (IPC) in 2010, where he participated in the ₹25,000 No Limit Hold’em, where he registered a 6th place finish to pocket ₹1,18,000. Goindi started off with international tours with his first international live cash came in 2012 where he won PHP 1,604,000 in the PokerAce High Rollers Event at the APT Asian Series Manila which also saw him collect 360 APT player points and claim the 6th position on the series leaderboard.

Later, he recorded his biggest cash till date while playing in the HK$10,120 + 880 No Limit Hold’em – Red Dragon Event in Macau in February 2012, where he recorded a second-place finish to pocket HK$1,056,500, which translated to $136,245 (₹96,97,306). 

Despite showing a lot of potential, Goindi suffered a major tilting phase, which saw him keep poker on the sidelines and work as a sports consultant in 2014. However, he was soon back on the table and ended up fulfilling his dream of participating in the highly coveted World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 2017. Regarding playing at the highest level in poker, Goindi has scored 17 times at the WSOP, with his lifetime earnings in the tournament sitting at $53,976.

Goindi is a versatile player who can make his opponents sweat on both virtual and live felts. He is often seen playing poker online with various usernames like ‘Singhsaab’, ‘pomfret1989’, ‘haweye23′,’ MambaMentality’ across various online poker platforms. He has shown his poker prowess on both live and online platforms and is considered among the country’s top 30 players.

Goindi became the first Indian poker pro to be featured on the cover of a CardPlayer magazine edition, while a few years later, he made the cover of Gutshot Magazine’s Nov 2020 edition, along with his PBCI partner, Tanay Hargunaney.