Top Five Developments of 2021: Poker Players & Operators Play Their Hand in Fight Against COVID-19

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  • Namita Ghosh January 5, 2022
  • 10 Minutes Read

We’re back with the #2 story in our year-end feature, focussing on the top five developments of 2021. In our previous editions, we canvassed the legal challenges for the RMG industry, the return of WSOP and poker invading OTT platforms. In this feature, we highlight how poker players and operators stood up in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sometime around mid-April last year, the country was hit with the second wave of infections. The country’s healthcare structure came under severe pressure, and one of the biggest problems that emerged was the lack of adequate medical facilities and a glaring lack of oxygen support. Amid the mayhem, poker players and operators came out with a united front to contribute towards COVID-19 relief. From hosting charity tournaments and donating the rake collected to raising funds and even donating plasma, the poker community went all-in to help. Players like Anmol Mehta, Akshay Kapoor, Rajneesh Thakur, Shashank Siddharth, Siddhanth Kapoor, and Parth Jain – to name a few – were some who contributed in different ways towards this cause.

The poker brands also stepped in their own way. Spartan Poker was the first domestic online poker site to start relief efforts for the COVID-19 pandemic last March, pledging to contribute a minimum of ₹3 Lakhs every month. The company decided to donate all the rake collected from Windfall tournaments to the cause. PokerBaazi’s O2 Initiative and BLITZPOKER’s COVID-Relief Charity events were some other initiatives by poker operators that went a long way in supporting the needy.

As we enter 2022, the country is struggling with a fresh surge of cases of the variant Omicron. There couldn’t be a better time to look back at the poker community`s contributions towards COVID -19 relief. We have listed out a few significant efforts made throughout the year for the lack of space.

 

Patrik Antonius Supports Akkaarra Fundraiser

One of the prominent COVID 19 relief efforts was the Akkaara fundraiser organized by Indian high stakes cash game regs and our former Young Guns Rajnish Kumar and Shashank Siddharth. The two poker players launched the NGO Akkaara, intending to provide 10 ambulances across tier-2 and tier-3 cities in India to transport COVID-19 patients.

Rajnish Kumar
Rajnish Kumar

 

For this, they aimed to raise ₹70 Lakhs by May 11.

While several Indian players contributed to the cause, the move found a strong international voice of support in Finnish poker superstar Patrik Antonius. The former tennis player and coach put up a post on Instagram on May 4, asking people to contribute towards the worthy cause.

The initiative mustered a good response in a short span and found many takers with Awnish Kumar Singh, Abhishek Mazumder, Irshad Chaudhary, Kanishk Upreti, Harsh Raj, Ankit Jajodia, Rishab Jain, Jaldeep Vadera, Shashank Singh, Manish Jain, Naveen Kumar, and Aneeeh Deshmukh being some poker players who pitched in.

 

Anmol Mehta & Akshay Kapoor Review Hands For Charity

On May 4, Delhi-based Young Gun Anmol Mehta and Akshay Kapoor conducted a paid MTT hand review session. Incidentally falling a day after Akshay Kapoor’s birthday and a day before Anmol Mehta’s birthday, the session was open to anyone who made a minimal contribution of ₹2,000 to a charity of their choice. A similar initiative was undertaken by Sriharsha Doddapaneni previously.

Both players were moved by the glaring lack of health infrastructure and resources. Delhi was among the hardest-hit cities in India, and Mehta experienced the calamity firsthand after his maternal grandfather passed away due to COVID-19 in January.

The idea, according to Mehta, was also to “spread a little joy while we do the HH review session in a fun and interactive way, we thought it could add more value.”

Kapoor added, “I was organizing a normal hand review, and I get a ping by Anmol that why don’t we do a community review to help raise some funds for COVID-19 and that’s how it started, and within a day, we posted on our socials.”

Mehta and Kapoor actively promoted their donation campaign across social media platforms. The response was tremendous, and they received messages from several top guns of the game who joined the session, making the efforts a worthwhile endeavor!

 

Siddhanth Kapoor Donates Plasma

In February, Bollywood actor, DJ, and poker player Siddhanth Kapoor tested positive and recovered from COVID-19. The experience got Kapoor thinking how frightful the scenario can get, and he decided to contribute by taking the most direct route – donating his plasma. Kapoor was in Goa through the recovery period, and as soon as he was fit, he donated his blood plasma at the Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre.

Siddhanth Kapoor donating plasma
Siddhanth Kapoor donating plasma

 

Sharing a picture of himself at the hospital, Kapoor also urged others who have healed from the infection to follow suit. Plasma transfusion can save critical patients, and Kapoor’s effort made a small but crucial contribution to the COVID-19 support healthcare system. His celebrity status also helped spread the word for plasma donation.

 

Spartan Poker Donates Rake Towards COVID Relief

Spartan Poker announced that it would donate all the rake collected from Windfall tournaments on the platform in mid-March towards COVID-19 relief. Going with the mantra of “We Fight Together,” the Spartan Poker team pledged to contribute a minimum of ₹3 Lakhs every month, becoming one of the first Indian online poker sites to start relief efforts during the pandemic.

 

 

PokerBaazi Hosts “The O2 InitiativePoker Charity Tournament

On May 8, online poker gaming platform PokerBaazi hosted the O2 initiative, a ₹15 Lakhs GTD tournament. The online poker site donated 100% of the fees raised to Give India for procuring oxygen cylinders.

PokerBaazi O2 Initiative

The event registered rousing participation with 1,655 total entries, including 947 unique players that helped raise ₹3.31 lakhs for the cause. Deepak “sabJuwaaHai” Choudhary won the charity event, pocketing ₹2.78 Lakhs for his efforts.

 

BLITZPOKER Hosts “BLITZ Covid Relief” Charity Tournament to Fight the Pandemic

Online poker site BLITZPOKER was another poker operator to initiate a poker-centric tournament for COVID-19 relief. In May, the brand announced an all-newBLITZ Covid Relief tournament, a ₹249 entry buy-in tourney that ran daily from May 8 to 14 at 10:30 PM, with a ₹75,000 prize pool guarantee.

As part of the move, the site donated twice the rake generated from this tournament. All the proceeds went to the NGO Hemkunt Foundation to provide oxygen cylinders and ventilators to those in need. At the time, BLITZPOKER stated, “We have partnered with an NGO – Hemkunt Foundation, which aims to provide humanitarian aid to marginalized sections of society. You can directly make donations to them through their website.”

 

MPL Sports Foundation Contributes ₹5 Crore to Virat Kohli & Anushka Sharma’s COVID-19 Relief Campaign

In May, Bengaluru-based Mobile Premier League (MPL) contributed a jaw-dropping ₹5 Crores to the COVID-19 relief campaign started by cricketer Virat Kohli and his wife, Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma. Kohli has been a brand ambassador for MPL since 2019. He, along with Sharma, took to social media on May 6 to announce that they had started a campaign to raise funds for COVID-19 relief in partnership with Ketto called “#In This Together.”

Anushka Sharma & Virat Kohli
Anushka Sharma & Virat Kohli

 

All proceedings for the campaign were to be donated to ACT Grants, an organization working to fill in the oxygen shortage in India. In a video posted across social media platforms, the star couple said, “It pains us to see our country suffer. We are grateful to all the people who are fighting to save India, but they need our help now.”

While the couple contributed ₹2 Crores to the campaign, their fundraiser evoked an overwhelming response, collecting almost ₹3.60 Crores in under 24 hours. Soon, the MPL Sports Foundation stepped in and contributed ₹5 Crores, helping exceed the fundraiser’s initial target of ₹7 Crores. The couple increased their target to ₹11 Crores and eventually raised ₹11.39 Crores for the cause.

 

Parth Jain Runs #Poker4CovidRelief Campaign

Poker player Parth Jain‘s #Poker4CovidRelief was one of the headline COVID-19 relief charity initiatives taken by a poker player last year. Jain announced the campaign in May. He blogged he would onboard 10 top MTT regulars, and each would play five regular MTTs over 15 days sponsored by websites. The players would contribute 50% of their winnings to the Hemkunt Foundation.

Parth Jain
Parth Jain

 

Jain put out the message on his Poker Global Community FB group.

The campaign received an overwhelming response from both players as well as sites, and Jain shortlisted the following players for the cause – Aniruddha Joshi, Kshitij Kucheria, Muskan Sethi, Shivam Jain (Cyflopse), Sanjay Taneja, Pranav Khandalkar, Abhishek Malik, Animesh Thakur, Gitanshu, Neeraj Kumar and Ankit Saurabh.

Many players even agreed to give 100% of their winnings to the cause. Jain also approached the websites and roped in three brands, 9stacks, Calling Station, and PokerDangal.

On May 25, Jain reported the campaign had collected ₹24,000.

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