Ladies and gentleman, give it up for Rubin Labroo, poker professional from Delhi who went on to scale great heights a few nights back, shipping the India Poker Championship (IPC) 50k Main Event after getting past an enormous field of 693 entries that registered over two starting flights in Goa's Big Daddy Casino. This edition of the IPC Main Event was special because there wasn't just massive prize money up for grabs but also the prestige of becoming the India Poker Champion, which came with a trophy, a Panerai MS Dhoni Limited Edition watch worth INR 6.67 Lakh and a sponsorship package from Spartan Poker worth INR 20 Lakh!

Labroo was chip leader when the final table began and he went on to ride that chip lead to win the tournament, beating Siddharth Mundada in heads-up and winning a humongous INR 45+Lakh top prize after a 4-way deal! When he began playing poker in college a decade ago, little did he know that he'd one day win one of India's most prestigious titles in poker. In fact, he wouldn't have even imagined it when he made the move to pro 3 years ago. Prior to this, his best live score came in Vietnam, where he finished second in the WPT Vietnam Kickoff Event for VND 662 million ($37,302) in September 2019. This recent win in Goa led to Labroo more than doubling this previous best live score in Vietnam.

Having lived in Delhi for most of his life and even schooled in Saudi Arabia for 5 years, Labroo began his Computer Engineering degree in Manipal where he initially dropped out only to return and complete the degree later. He went to give a back exam and the person he stayed with introduced him to poker. Some friends played together and apparently, Labroo picked up the game really fast, beating them all, much to the surprise of these friends! Clearly, he's been crushing since early days, since around 11-12 years ago!

Overwhelmed with his win, Labroo expressed his joy saying, "This definitely has to be the biggest achievement of my poker career so far. I've had a few scores, a title at DPT and a runner-up finishing in Vietnam, but just having a trophy is an amazing feeling and a rush. Winning the IPC Main Event was a feeling like never before!"