Balla’s Beginnings
Eshaan Bhalla, known by his poker moniker Brown Balla, began his poker journey in a casual setting, playing with friends and colleagues at work. However, his path to high-stakes poker was anything but straightforward.
“I used to work for LYFT as a software engineer,” Bhalla recalled. “I started playing at the office with my coworkers. I would win $1,000 here and there, and for a while, I thought I was the greatest player on the planet. Then, I lost $10,000, and I realized I wasn’t.” [Laughs]
Bhalla’s early losses served as a wake-up call, prompting him to dive deeper into the strategy and theory behind the game. “I knew I had to study the game if I wanted to win. I read posts on Reddit and joined the Run it Once training site, where I watched videos and learned a lot. They needed an app rebuilt to be more efficient, and I did the work for them in exchange for a lifetime membership. That’s when I started improving quickly, applying deeper theory and concepts to my game.”
Tilt Happens
Despite his rise in the poker world, Bhalla admits that handling the emotional swings of the game used to be a challenge. “I used to have huge tilt problems; I would just punt it off to everyone,” he confessed. “I wasn’t nearly as controlled as I am now. When I started moving up in stakes, I realized I wasn’t handling the swings well at all.”
For Bhalla, recognizing and confronting his tilt issues became an important part of his growth, both as a player and as a person. “When it started happening too often, I asked myself, ‘What can I learn from this?’ Why did I go off the deep end? These questions helped me figure out the root causes of my issues, so I could reflect and gain more control over myself in the future.”
Poker, for Bhalla, became a valuable tool for personal development. “I understand myself better now. That’s kind of what life is about, at least for me. I like seeing the small things that I can improve in life. So, in that respect, poker has taught me a lot about how to handle life’s challenges.”
Bhalla’s evolution as a poker player isn’t just about improving his strategy at the table—it’s also about the lessons he’s learned that transcend the game itself.
