Will India’s Poker Sports League Prove a Success?

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Wednesday, March 29th, 2017 | Written by Charles Washington

Alexandre Dreyfus has made it his mission to make poker into a sport via his Global Poker League (GPL), which last year brought together 12 teams from across the USA, Canada, Europe, Russia, and Hong Kong. Although the GPL experienced many highs and lows in its first season, leading some to question its feasibility, the idea of bringing competitive poker into the realm of team sports still remains a burning ambition of Dreyfus, who now intends to expand his product into the Chinese and Indian markets. As he announced recently:

“Alongside GPL China, we are currently preparing the rollout of GPL India and GPL Latin America also. Our goal is to connect poker fans and help them be a part of the GPL adventure, regardless of where they are.”

Poker Sports League (PSL) in India

In the meantime, Dreyfus will have to cope with some home spun competition in India as another league similar to his own GPL model has sprung up on the sub-continent called the Poker Sports League. The brainchild of Amit Burman (photo), the PSL will also consist of 12 teams associated with major Indian cities, including the following:

– The Bengaluru Jokers
– The Chennai Bulls
– The Delhi Panthers
– The Goan Nuts
– The Gujarat Acers
– The Haryana Hunters
– The Hyderabad Kings
– The Kolkata Royals
– The Mumbai Anchors
– The Pune Sharks
– The Punjab Bluffers
– The Rajasthan Tilters

Each team is privately owned by the well-known Indian businessmen, Amit Burman, who came up with the concept and subsequently contacted investors who wished to purchase licenses to bring a PSL team to their cities. Burman reports that demand for licenses was high, and reportedly, there were no problems finding wealthy individuals with cash available to establish a team. In fact, it appears that all the licenses had been purchased within 4 days of the sale’s official launch.

To fill the teams with pro players, the Poker Sports League is holding qualifier tournaments throughout India, and Burman feels confident that they will have no problems filling the places. After all, poker is becoming increasingly popular in India, a country where people grow up playing card games with their families at night.

How the PSL Works

Each team in the Poker Sports League will have nine players, led by a team captain with many years of experience in the game. There will also be two additional pros on each team; as well as two players selected from live qualifying tournaments; two players selected from online qualifying tournaments; with the final two members being wild cards.

The 12 teams in the Poker Sports League will be competing for more than just bragging rights, and the honor of the cities they represent, as a prize pool worth 3.63 crore will be awarded over the course of the league’s season, which is equivalent to around $500,000 in US currency.

Prospects of PSL

Will the Poker Sports League be able to attract fans and finally succeed in popularizing poker as a team sport? Burman feels confident that it will, and as he explains:

“We intend to sportify the game of poker and bring it to the masses. We have been working on this for a while now and the concept has materialized into something beyond what we had imagined. The never seen before structures and massive prize pool will keep the adrenaline rush going for the players along with a chance to make some serious money!”

With a population of 1.3 billion people, India has a large pool of potential fans, and Burman estimates that only 5 to 10 percent of Indians will need to take interest in the league to make it a success. All industry eyes will now be on India to see if his bet proves a winner.

Indian Poker Pros

Vivek Rajkumar is the country’s biggest live tournament earner with $4,427,667 in winnings, with his biggest score recorded back in 2008 after taking down the $10,200 WPT Borgata Poker Open for $1,424,500. In second place is Nipun Java with $1,828,477, followed by Taha Maruf ($673,517), Aditya Agarwal ($652,398), and Raghav Bansal ($381,081).