Meet Avneesh Munjal, a 35-year-old poker professional from Bhiwani in Haryana. A bright student with a passion for theater, he performed in plays in his school days. He pursued a degree in chemical engineering and later worked as an engineer. In pursuit of a career in the corporate world, he then earned an MBA degree and got a job with CitiBank where he worked for over 6 years. His poker journey started back in school days. He initially played the game just for fun. Intrigued by its depth, he learned the game a bit and started playing it during his MBA and corporate days to practice and hone his skills.
Avneesh Munjal started realizing poker’s true potential in 2018, especially after he saw a friend quit his job to play poker professionally. By 2019, he started playing the game seriously. Two years later, he decided to quit corporate job to become a professional poker player. There has been no looking back since then as Munjal has built an impressive resume with $218,350 in live earnings and close to INR 8 crores in online winnings.
His breakthrough on the live felts came in May 2023 when he won the WPT Prime Vietnam Opener for $32,838 and his maiden live title. He continued his momentum in 2024, conquering the Short Deck event at the Vietnam Poker League (VPL) Summer Series in May and then following it up with career-defining victory in the APT Phu Quoc High Roller – Double Stack for $60,981 in November. With three live titles to his name, Avneesh has etched his name as a rising force in the live arena.
With more than 400 online titles, Avneesh Munjal stands out as a formidable force in India’s online poker landscape. His largest online cash INR 28,28,741 came in 2020 for his runner-up in the Adda52 AOPS Main Event. More recently, he made waves at the WPT India Online Series in December, winning an impressive three major WPT titles. He took down PokerBaazi’s WPT#73 Bounty Hunter (KO) for INR 11.37 Lakhs, WPT#31 Bounty Hunter (PKO) for INR 14.54 Lakhs, and then earned a massive INR 17,28,330 by winning the 1 Crore GTD WPT#87 Championship. With his WPT#87 victory, he topped the WPT Player of the Series leaderboard, amassing 16,715 points from 61 cashes across 77 poker tournaments, earning an additional INR 10 Lakhs cash bonus and another WPT trophy.
Avneesh Munjal’s Exclusive Chat With PokerProNews
We recently caught up with Avneesh Munjal to discuss his journey from Bhiwani to becoming a professional poker player in Mumbai, his live and online milestones, challenges in his journey, the role of discipline, diet, and workouts in his poker success, evolution of Indian poker, importance of Poker Sports League for him, future plans, his advice those looking to transition from corporate to poker, and a lot more. Watch the above video for a full conversation.
Munjal’s hunger for excellence in poker fueled by discipline, diet and workouts, sets him apart from many in the community. Whether it is topping the online leaderboards like WPT and NPS or crushing the live felts, this Bhiwani lad has established himself as one of the most promising talents in India’s poker scene. Keep following PokerProNews for more such inspiring interviews ahead!
