Phil Sanders, One of India’s Poker Pioneers Passes Away

On last Thursday, Oct 23 veteran poker professional Phil Sanders (cover image), succumbed to cancer, at his hometown Birmingham, England.

Phil Sanders played a pivotal role in shaping the early poker scene in India. With over a decade of experience in the casino and poker industry, Phil brought his international expertise and he is credited for giving poker its initial thrust in India.

Phil’s association India began in 2009 when he started working as a junket operator for clients in Asia. He settled in Goa and joined hands with Goa Coastal Resorts and Recreation India, working as a Consultant.

During this time, Goa began emerging as a favorite tourist destination, attracting a large number of foreign visitors. Sensing an opportunity for increasing revenue, the state realized the need for further entertainment, such a gambling and poker and gave out licenses.

It was around this time that Phil took the helm of the first official poker room in the country onboard Casino Royale in Goa. He even brought in Craig Wildman to join the team, in a position of Manager and in-house Tournament Director.

With Craig, Sanders soon established an international class poker room, with professional and global standards of playing.

He can rightly be said to have created a nurturing ground for budding Indian players, who built their confidence levels in his arena, enough to enter the international world of poker and make a mark on the scene. These young starters went on to become the first generation of poker professionals from India, such as Abhishek Goindi, Sangeeth Mohan and Aditya Sushant.

Sanders had the foresight to encourage live tournaments and made Casino Royale the breeding ground for poker tournaments in India. A man with a vision and the determination to work hard, Sanders can be attributed for putting India on the global map. Even prestigious Asian tournament series like the Asian Poker Tour held two tournament series in India due to Phil`s efforts and networking.

In a glaring contrast, Phil, who was soft-spoken and a man with a gentle demeanor, was a complete contrast on the felts and the gracious host switched roles as a competitive player when on the tables.

Sanders participated in a number of poker tournaments. He made it to the 1st place thrice, two of them at the APT Asian Series Goa 2011, the 5K Freezeout and the 250k High Roller. Then he bagged the Indian Poker Pros IPP Feb 2012 Event.

Besides these, he made it to a number of final tables and his biggest tournament cash was ₹12.35 Lakhs at the 250k high roller event at APT Asian Series Goa in Nov 2011.

In the past few years, it was no secret that Phil was suffering from serious health issues and made regular trips back to the UK for cancer treatment. Phil who had left the Casino Royale Poker Room in 2013 made a brief stint as poker room operator onboard Casino Carnival before returning back to UK and fell completely off the radar for the past 9-10 months. However, news of his sudden demise last week has shocked the entire Indian poker community.

Many players have expressed their condolences; chief among them was Rakesh Sharma, PPA India admin, who posted on Facebook, “Terrible to hear that Philip Sanders passed away.

Last time we spoke, a couple of months ago, he seemed to be doing well, seemingly overcoming the odds in his medical battles. He sounded eager to return to India, to poker, speaking to me about a project here, or another there, just waiting to get better so he could get back into the approvals, licensing, networking grind again.

I don’t know the details yet, but comments on Craig Wildman post seem to suggest that he didn’t make it through a heart surgery.

Rest in peace, Phil. In you, Indian poker has lost a great friend…”

Condolences on Phil`s sudden demise are still pouring in from the poker community on social media.

Few messages

Vikram Verma

Shocking!!! Deeply saddened by the sudden demise of our dear friend Philip Sanders …RIP PHIL you will be missed

— feeling sad.

Dhaval Mudgal

Terrible news. RIP.

Sunil Singh

RIP Phil. You were one of the old school true blue gentlemen.

PokerGuru salutes the indomitable spirit of Phil Sanders, may he Rest in Peace!