PokerStars India Streaming Ambassador Sharad Rao`s One-Year Stint With the Brand is Coming to an End

The last few months have seen an exodus of team pros from the domestic online sites. The most prominent of these was Aditya Agarwal, who ended his five-year-long collaboration with PokerStars India last December.

Kunal Patni was the latest one to announce his departure from the Adda52 pro team, he too ending a long five-year association.

Earlier today, PokerStars India’s streaming ambassador Sharad Rao tweeted that his year as a streamer for the site was coming to an end. Rao was roped in by brand as its first streaming ambassador from India last June.

(1/3)Hey folks, my year as a streamer for @PokerStarsIN is coming to a close.

I wish to thank the @PokerStarsIN team for giving me an opportunity to represent the brand and showcase Poker is
a game of skill. It's been a true honor to be able to do this.

— Sharad Rao (@kidkeenyle) April 18, 2020

With the exit of first Agarwal, and now Rao, Muskan Sethi remains the only poker pro representing PokerStars India presently.

The site had earlier this month onboarded former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a celebrity ambassador. The sporting icon replaced acclaimed Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the new face of the brand.

We reached out to PokerStars India CEO Ankur Dewani, who declined to comment on Rao’s departure but confirmed that Muskan Sethi will continue representing the brand!

Rao could be regularly seen streaming his sessions on PokerStars India`s YouTube and Twitch channels during his association with the site. He had won a freeroll in PokerStars India Diwali Rush series in November 2018, and that got him the coveted Platinum Pass for PSPC 2019. He was among the eight Indians to win a Platinum Pass and represent the country in the prestigious tournament that was held in the Bahamas in January last year. Rao was also one of the first breed of poker pros from India to start streaming. What really got him the limelight was the self-issued bankroll challenge that saw him playing the micro-stakes and spinning up ₹2K to ₹10K across 12,043 hands in a week. His efforts caught the attention of PokerStars India, and the brand roped him in as a streaming ambassador a few months later, in June.

While Rao has been actively streaming for the better part of the year, his last stream was almost four months back.

In his tweet today, Rao clarified that the poker dream was still very alive for him and that he`s planning on playing more poker this year.

(2/3) Thankyou to everyone who checked my streams/videos out and for making the rails so much fun ❤️

I'll be getting back to playing more poker this year and you'll be able to find me at the tables a lot more often.

— Sharad Rao (@kidkeenyle) April 18, 2020