Pratyush Buddiga (born May 11, 1989) is an American former professional poker player and spelling bee champion originally from New Zealand.
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. In 2002, at the age of 13 Buddiga won the 75th Scripps National Spelling Bee after spelling prospicience earning him $12,000 and a scholarship.[1][2] His brother Akshay competed in the 77th Scripps National Spelling Bee, where he finished 2nd. He attended Duke University 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 earning $21,295.
In 2012, he finished 8th in the European Poker Tour hosted in Berlin 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.[3] Later that year, he finished 3rd in the Super High Roller Event at the Asia Pacific Poker Tour earning $844,571.[4] 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, for example".[5]
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.[6]
