Ankit Jain now makes his living through a means known to few yet in India. An avid poker player, he quit his plush, handsomely rewarding investment banking job and took to playing poker professionally, for a living.
A little known, yet growing sport in India, poker is now turning into the next big wave in the young sports circles in major cities of India, with players vying for tournament ranks as well as for raking in huge pots in cash games.
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But it is not as simple as it looks. Poker, a game of high skill, requires intensive mental acumen in mathematics and probability, as well as in understanding player psychology. Moreover, a gradual development of self-discipline to moderate risk-taking behaviour is key to success in this sport.
Ankit, who has now been playing for the last four years regularly, brings home no less than 2 lakh a month through his prowess at the poker tables. He prefers playing on online sites, he says, as compared to regular house games. While a lot of his friends host friendly home games of poker regularly, he says the true test of mettle and development of skill as a poker player happens only when you start playing online poker.
The variety of players to match your level of skill is higher, the tenacity required is higher, the stakes are higher, and you get to study a wide variety of playing styles of players, he says.
Take for example, Ravi Kinjal, who plays on Pokabunga.com, India’s largest online poker site. He started off playing free-roll poker tournaments at Pokabunga, and invested his prize money by buying into cash tables at the same site. Within a month, he had made about 1.5 lakh rupees, with no investment.
Or look at the case of Kavita Reddy. One of the few but mushrooming women poker players in the country, her journey was riddled with ups and downs. She had lost up to a lakh before she starting making any money in poker.
She used to enter the tables with minimum buy-ins and used to lose the money very quickly. Through the process of keen study and research, however, she realized the importance of large stacks on the table, and then after that, she made sure that she sat with no less than double the amount of the chips as anyone else on the table.
Bullying is key to bluffing in poker, she says.
Understanding and manipulating player psychology can often make or break a game, adds Ravi.
Take for example the option of Muck Cards/Show Cards, provided at high quality poker websites such as Pokabunga. There is no obligation to show your cards if you are not sitting on the winning hand; similarly, I sometimes choose to show my cards when I win against a huge bluff, to shake things up a little at the table.
It’s fun to see the players going completely all out on tilt against even my genuine raise in the next hand, haha! It is really like a mini encapsulation of your real world, and studying people’s reactions and working with those reactions is just so much fun.
But isn’t poker gambling? Are there no laws against it? Poker is recognized the world over as a mind sport. The International Federation of Poker is officially a member of the International Mind Sports Association, putting poker in the same category of sports such as Chess or Xiangi (Chinese Chess).
The thrill of Poker is to be experienced to be believed. It teaches you control, self-discipline, observation, focus and concentration unlike any other mind sport, says Ravi. The World Poker Tour is also the most watched Sports show on ESPN’s Travel Channel, he adds.
We operate in a completely legal territory and there is no issue with players depositing money into the website wallet through their bank accounts and redeeming their winnings back into their bank accounts, a spokesperson of Pokabunga.com stated. They are supported by a variety of certificates and ensure the complete privacy of the data of their players. The website also holds a website identity assurance warranty of $1,750,000 and is internationally certified for Fair Play and Responsible Gaming.
Ravi and Kavita regularly play on Pokabunga.com. They say the options of depositing money on the website are very friendly with all debit cards and credit cards being supported by trustworthy payment gateways. Also, there is no hassle in withdrawing the winnings from the website.
Pokabunga.com remits my winnings into my bank account within 48 hours of my putting in the request, says Kavita. I simply trust the site, she adds, which is the most important thing in online poker.
The players are amongst a small bunch of people who are now participating in bringing India to the world map of poker. Where do they wish to go from here?
Maybe be the next Chris Moneymaker, jokes Ravi, and bring in the 8 million prize money from the World Series of Poker Tournament, and then retire for life, he giggles. Having always been at the forefront of mind games in the world, India is not far from World Poker domination, however, adds Ankit.
