Poker Sports League (PSL)

Posted by Sofia Moore on April 24th, 2021

Poker Sports League (PSL) launched in 2016 is India’s first poker league. They have been promoting the game in a unique team-based format and this team-based format of PSL has poker players from across the country vying for a chance to win a massive prize money every season.

This poker league completed three seasons so far which were widely successful. PSL is a highly-anticipated poker league in India. Season 3 Virtual was shifted to a digital space due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s take a look at what Season 1 and 2 were all about.

Season 1

Season 1 of this poker league took place in a live setup with poker players enthusiastically cheering each other, with live commentary, players competing as teams than one on one, and much more. The teams in Season 1 were Delhi Panthers, Mumbai Anchors, Punjab Bluffers, Kolkata Royals, Rajasthan Tilters, Kings Hyderabad, Gujarat Acers, Chennai Bulls, Goan Nuts, Bengaluru Jokers, Pune Sharks, and Haryana Hunters.

The winners of the first season were team Delhi Panthers who took prize money of INR 1,50,00,000. Delhi Panthers was followed by Mumbai Anchors and Kolkata Royals as the runners-ups who won INR 1,00,00,000 and INR 50,00,000 respectively.

Season 2

For the second season, PSL signed Indian grandmaster as their brand ambassador and partnered with Dsports as their broadcast partner. For season 2, PSL also roped in international players like Kevin MacPhee, Sparrow Cheung, Danny Tang, Bobby Zhang and several others.

Season 2, which had a city-based franchise took place between 9 and 13 May 2018 with 11 teams consisting of 10 players each. 10 players of the team had a mentor, 2 pro players, 3 online qualifiers, 2 live qualifiers, and 2 wildcard entries. 

The finale of this poker league took place in Deltin Royale in Goa and Goan Nuts won PSL Season 2 and bagged INR 2 Crore in prize money. Goan Nuts was captained by Dhaval Mudgal and the members of the winning team were Abhinav Iyer, Aman Dhamija, Firoz Khan, Siddharth Karia, Dylan Linde, Kevin MacPhee, Pranay Chawla, Pranav Khandalkar, Kshitij Kucheria.

Season 3

PSL Season 3 returned with a bang despite the lockdown and its hurdles. The past two seasons of PSL took place in a live set-up but due to pandemic, PSL took poker online. This time, the league followed a unique format while forming teams as the eight teams had a mix of both professional and amateur players for the poker league.

The eight teams consisting of 10 players each will be competing for a prize pool of INR 2+ Crores. The draft for the first season included 140 players and since then the number of players every season has just been increasing.

This poker league has always tried to make the game familiar to a larger audience, this time too they came up with an idea to break preconceived notions. Since poker is widely recognized as a male-dominated sport in India, the poker league has included at least one female player in every team in Season 3. The female players who will be setting the digital felts on fire this season are Nikita Luther, Smita Agarwalla, Muskan Sethi, Radhika Shankar, Niharika Bindra, Mahima Walia Das, Kanchan Sharma, and Simran Malhotra. With this initiative, we will be able to take a closer look at how these female pros have made their way into this industry and understand their strategies. Not only this, PokerDangal, a well-known poker platform, also partnered with PSL. PokerDangal recently conducted their multi-flight GLORY tournament and the winner of that poker tournament, Aniruddha Joshi became a member of PSL’s Kolkata Kings.

The online qualifiers for this poker league began on 23 October, 2020 and Season 3 saw its winners in Deccan Aces which was captained by poker pro Kunal Patni. The league matches ran three days a week consisting of MTT, SNG, and Heads up matches.

The finale of PSL Season 3 Virtual ran from 17 to 20 February, 2021. Folks were pleasantly surprised when the news broke that Voot is the official streaming partner for PSL Season 3 Virtual. Popular poker platform Pocket52 had come on board as the title sponsor for Poker Sports League Season 3 Virtual.

The growth of poker online in India has been the reason for increased participation from poker players across the country. PSL has gained an immensely positive response since the time it began and with every season they have been growing bigger. Gutshot also covered stories on each of the PSL Season 3 Virtual teams, and the woman power in the poker league. The poker game is surely widening its fan base in the country.

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