Pratyush Buddiga (born May 11, 1989) is a former American professional poker player and spelling bee champion originally from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Early life

Buddiga was born in New Zealand and moved to the United States when he was five years old. Two years later he moved to

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

. In 2002, at the age of 13 Buddiga won the

75th Scripps National Spelling Bee The 75th Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, D.C. on May 29–30, 2002, sponsored by the E.W. Scripps Company. 250 contestants participated in the competition. Thirteen-year-old Pratyush Buddiga, from Colorado Springs, Color ...

after spelling ''prospicience'' earning him $12,000 and a scholarship. His brother Akshay competed in the 77th Scripps National Spelling Bee, where he finished 2nd. He attended

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

and graduated in 2011.

Poker

Buddiga began playing in live poker tournaments in 2010. In 2011, he finished 613th in the

2011 World Series of Poker The 2011 World Series of Poker was the 42nd annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). The WSOP is the most prestigious poker tournament in the world with the winner of the Main Event considered to be the World Champion. It was held at the Rio All Suit ...

earning $21,295. In 2012, he finished 8th in the

European Poker Tour The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour (WPT), created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Tex ...

hosted in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

earning $94,127. The following year he finished 8th in GuangDong Asia Millions earning $772,870. In 2014, he won his first major tournament, the Fallsview Poker Classic, earning him $222,172. Later that year, he finished 3rd in the Super High Roller Event at the

Asia Pacific Poker Tour The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) is a major international series of poker tournaments established in 2007 and hosted in cities across the Asia Pacific. Along with other major tours such as the European Poker Tour and Latin American Poker Tour, ...

earning $844,571. In 2014, Buddiga said "No matter how good I get at tournaments, I’ll never be better at poker than the best cash game players, guys like

Doug Polk Douglas K. Polk (born December 16, 1988) is an American professional poker player. Polk played under the alias WCGRider, specializing in heads-up No Limit hold'em (HUNL). Early life Polk was born in Pasadena, California, and has loved strategy ...

, for example". Buddiga won the 2016 EPT Barcelona €25,000 High Roller event earning $780,011. The final three finishers agreed to a three-way deal based on ICM numbers. In 2017, Buddiga finished 6th in the

Super High Roller Bowl The Super High Roller Bowl is a recurring high stakes No-Limit Hold'em poker tournament that takes place at venues across the world. The first edition of the event was held in July 2015 and featured a $500,000 buy-in, drawing a field of 43 playe ...

earning $1,000,000 in the process. The tournament was won by

Christoph Vogelsang Christoph Vogelsang (born 26 July 1985) is a German professional poker player from Sassenberg, Münster. Early life Vogelsang was raised in Sassenberg, Münster. He studied economics at Witten/Herdecke University and the London School of Econo ...

. As of 2018, his total live tournament winnings exceed $6,400,000.

References

External links

Hendon Mob profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buddiga, Pratyush American poker players Living people 1989 births Spelling bee champions Contestants on American game shows Scripps National Spelling Bee participants People from Colorado Springs, Colorado