Emergence Of Indian Poker

Posted by Rajeev Raut on 2015-09-11 at 12:00 AM

[CENTER][B][U]EMERGENCE OF INDIAN POKER
[/U][/B][/CENTER]
In Continuation Of My Previous Blogs
1. [url]https://pokerguru.in/forum/entry.php?757-Start-of-a-magical-journey[/url]
2. [url]https://pokerguru.in/forum/entry.php?769[/url]

2010 saw emergence of Poker in India & It was rapidly growing. Almost all Major cities saw home games mushrooming. Gradually every Goa Event was seeing a steady growth in numbers. Youngsters were rising fast with an obsession to making it big with passion to perform at the highest level.
A young phenom ADITYA SUSHANT had made his presence felt on the Indian Tournament Scene by winning the India Poker Championship 30k Main Event for almost 7 Lakhs. His Victory was a part Fairy Tale journey – Bus ride from Chennai to Goa – low on Bank role – Great support from a few seniors funding his main event buyin which he won & eventually being spotted by Aditya ‘Intervntion’ Agarwal to be taken under his mentorship.

[CENTER][B]INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE[/B][/CENTER]
The biggest News to have shaken The Indian Poker Circuit was Young ABHISHEK GOINDI chopping The Macau Poker Cup Main Event Red Dragon.
This actually started the belief in Indian Players to step up & perform on the International stage & Macau was The ideal Stepping Stone.
This Belief & Inspiration also fuelled My 1st International Tournament Experience in 2012 when I attended Macau Poker Cup Hosted By POKERSTARS at The Hotel Grand Waldo. I had finished Top 3 in 3 IPC Main Events, which also gave me come confidence & was hoping For Lucky Fish to Survive International Waters. I was awestruck just at the size of the venue; The Banquet Hall of Grand Waldo was as big as the Hong Cricket Sixes Stadium. About 40 Tables were placed in the Centre of the Arena & it was a huge walk entering towards the playing arena & another huge walk from the playing arena to the registration desk. The Timer Clocks were like small theatre screens. PokerStars was capable of hosting 3 Live events & a dedicated SnG table simultaneously. The dealers & organizers were so professional in their duties. All this was just a larger than life experience.
I bricked all the events I played, but the highlight was that I won 5 satellite seats to The RED DRAGON out of a total of 7 satellite events that were held ( there were anywhere between 5 – 10 seats per event to be won ) I remember funding some of my Indian friends for the RED DRAGON.
Poker players going for overseas events must stay away from Casino Games as there is absolutely no way to win unless one walks away if you get lucky.
Indian Poker Community is amazing Overseas. All the experienced guys were so helpful & were always there to guide & discuss hands & give amazing inputs on approach to the Game. I have to give a special mention to AMIT VARMA who was 1 of the most helpful guys for a newbie like me & I always felt that this was the camaraderie 1 must have towards your fraternity brothers.

[CENTER][B]SLOW DEATH OF INDIAN TOURNAMENTS[/B][/CENTER]
2012 saw the worst times for the Busy Indian Tournament Circuit.
From having 2 Tournament Series per month to Guaranteed events being cancelled to the eventual closure of all Tournament Events.
This debacle was brought on by 2 main factors:
1) Competing Groups having tournaments on consecutive weeks, which saw a drastic drop in numbers.
2) The introduction of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) on Tournament Winnings.
Many organizers tried hard to avoid the TDS or have events Overseas but nothing could draw in the numbers & enthusiasm of player like the Golden Years of 2010 – 2012.

[CENTER][B]EMERGENCE OF ONLINE GAMING[/B][/CENTER]
This lull in the Goa Tournament scene led to the Emergence of Online Poker. POKERSTARS was obviously the 1st option. More & more players wanted to continue competing in tournaments & the only option was online. However, this led to major diminishing of Bankrolls as availability of Dollars itself was at about 10% premium & the inexperienced Indians could never come to terms with the dreaded VARIANCE of online Poker. The game was so fast paced & saw the inexperienced Indians competing with Super Grinders who were Online professionals. There was no proper guidance in these early days. It was just the Sunday dream to play The Sunday Million & the hope of making it big. There was absolutely no planning of schedules or events to suit your bankroll or skill. It was definitely proving to be a very expensive proposition.
I know many can relate to these dark times in Indian poker.

My next Blog will showcase The Rejuvenation of Indian Poker.