The hype is building up for the inaugural PokerStars Players NL Hold’em Championship (PSPC) and a set of poker players from India are preparing to make their way to the Bahamas to take part in the 2019 PSPC which is due to take place from January 6-10.
PokerStars has promoted the PSPC as the biggest poker tournament in the history of the game and has spent over 12 months in marketing and promoting the event – especially via its special Platinum Pass giveaway. The buy-in to the 2019 PSPC is fixed at $25,000 which is a lot of money for most poker players, especially for those in India due to the massive difference in currency rates.
However, eight Indian poker pros don’t have to shell out the $25,000 buy-in as they qualified for the tournament by earning a coveted Platinum Pass. They did this by winning a number of tournaments and contests hosted by PokerStars and their brand ambassadors.
Each Platinum Pass is worth $30,000 in total and includes six nights’ accommodation at the Atlantis Resort, Nassau Bahamas.
Team India Representatives
India is home to several high-profile poker pros that are making a mark on the international poker scene. One of them is PokerStars Team Pros Aditya Agarwal whose career prize money is in excess of over $1 million. He has done rather well for himself at international events and has been chosen to be the captain of Team India to the Bahamas tournament.
An architect by profession, poker Nikhil Segel took part in an #UltimateSweat challenge initiated by PokerStars ambassador Jaime Staples. Under the terms of the challenge, players should lose weight and quit smoking to get the chance to win a PSPC Platinum Pass. The New Delhi player emerged as the most resilient and determined individual throughout the challenge. He lost 15 kg and was also able to kick his smoking habit. This was good enough for him to win the much-coveted Platinum Pass.
Poker Sharad Rao took a different journey – he competed against more than 500 players in the Diwali Rush tournament, the first ever tournament series put together by PokerStars India. The Pune native took top spot, earning for himself a Platinum Pass to the Bahamas.
Sumit Shapra became the first PSPC Platinum Pass Winner from India after defeating PokerStars Ambassador Randy Lew at the Asia Pacific Poker Tour in Korea held in April. Though his poker journey started a long time ago, Shapra only decided to consider poker as a full-time career in 2015.
The remaining five players comprising the PSPC Indian delegation are members of a team that won the Global Poker League tournament hosted by PokerStars India. Vivek Singh from Chennai, Aneesh Nair from Kerala, Mumbai’s Kavin Shah, Raman Gujral from Chandigarh and Saurabh Sindhwani from Ghaziabad each won a Platinum Pass after defeating five other teams that took part in the tournament.
India Poker Player Market Base Growing
Ankur Dewani, CEO of Sachiko Gaming Pvt Ltd is happy about how the Indian online poker scene has evolved through the years, with the number of players rapidly growing. This year’s group is the largest Indian contingent to travel to the Bahamas, and Dewani is confident that even better things are in store for the poker market in India.
Dewani congratulated the eight players for embarking on the once-in-a-lifetime poker journey. Along with bringing home a trophy, Dewani also hopes the players get to enjoy every aspect of the Bahamas experience. Should any one of these players end up having a good run at the 2019 PSPC, it will certain drum up a lot more interest in the Indian poker market and attract more players to the game.
300 Platinum Passes Handed Out
PokerStars organized a series of contests throughout the year in preparation for the massive PSPC tournament. In those competitions, winners have been awarded Platinum Passes. As many as 300 passes were handed out by PokerStars all year round.
PokerStars Marketing Director David Carrion had a great strategy with the Platinum Passes campaign as it not only created a lot of interest in the PSPC but also gave poker players from all backgrounds in different countries the opportunity to play at a high stakes poker event and get a fair chance of winning a life changing sum of money!