In Season 3, Poker Sports League puts its chips on the virtual table

The first year he organised it, Dabur India chairman Amit Burman hosted the Poker Sports League (PSL) on the five-storey Deltin Royale, India's largest casino ship anchored in the Mandovi river in Panjim, the Goa capital. That was in 2016. This year, however, the pandemic put paid to all plans of a physical event. So, like several other things, PSL too has assumed a virtual avatar as Poker Sports League-Virtual, or PSL-V – among the world’s largest such events in terms of participation and prize pool (Rs 1.8 crore this year).

The qualifiers, held online between October and November, are over and now eight teams – Delhi Czars, Deccan Aces, Goan Nuts, Gujarat Falcons, Mumbai Anchors, Kolkata Kings, and Teams 7 and 8 (added later) – will train at a week-long boot camp in the early weeks of January. Thereafter, the league matches will be held from January 16 to February 11, followed by the finale from February 19-21.

“The number of people who participated in the qualifiers is up some 60-70 per cent,” says Burman, PSL promoter and co-founder of Mind Sports League, which organises the poker tournament.

 

To secure a spot in the India-wide league, anybody with knowledge of the basics of poker could participate, free of charge, and eventually, the top 50 players were selected and bid for by the teams. Each team of 10 now has four or five players from the qualifiers, a captain (or mentor), some professionals, and a wildcard, who could be the team owner or a highly-rated international player or even a celebrity. “In each team, at least one of the players will be a woman, given their increasing interest in poker,” says Burman, who has been in London during these pandemic months and is managing the show from there.

The league will have a total of 30 games, with each participant playing a maximum of six games. With Rs 15 lakh as the prize pool for each team, every qualifier will receive a match fee of Rs 10,000 per match and the mentor, wild cards and pros will get Rs 20,000 each per match, Burman adds. The mentors will also be given a base fee of Rs 200,000 along with a coaching budget of Rs 300,000 to train their team member.

The Dabur chairman has invested Rs 17 crore in Mind Sports League, which is valued at Rs 40 crore and which he owns 90 per cent of together with its CEO and co-founder Pranav Bagai. Burman is hopeful of raising sizable funding by July-August 2021.

With the pandemic leaving people confined to their homes, online poker is among the e-sports to have picked up like never before. It is estimated that India currently has more than 3 million active players, and the number is only growing.

 

So, this is an opportune time for the league to go virtual. And it is determined to make an impression as it does so. To spread the word, social media influencers such as stand-up comic Rahul Dua have been roped in. And with Viswanathan Anand on board as brand ambassador, the message is that poker is a cerebral sport and not a game of chance.

Also partnering is an OTT platform on which the matches will be live-streamed. Burman says the partnership will be announced soon, as will the sponsors, including the title sponsor. And a month after the league is over, the back story of the players will be shown on the OTT in a reality show-based format.

Screening the game live requires players to be equipped with broadcast-quality technology. Cognisant of this, Bagai, who has in the past created multiple poker-related IPs and published India’s first poker magazine (Card Player India), says they have invested big in technology and have sent shoot kits – studio lights, HD cameras, green screens, microphones – to all the players. The tech support, including an in-house Zoom video call-like platform, has come from PSL’s own production company, Hashtag Production.
 

While it might have been a product of a pandemic year, the virtual poker league, it seems, is here to stay.

Investors and partners

• Key investor: Dabur India Chairman Amit Burman

• About Rs 17 crore raised so far at a Rs 40-crore valuation

• Brand ambassador: Viswanathan Anand

• Sponsors and OTT partner finalised, but names yet to be announced. Talks were on with Jio, MX Player, Voot and Disney+ Hotstar

• League to be live streamed on OTT three days a week

• Post-production show to be aired on TV, OTT

For team owners

• Contract for 10 seasons for the next 5 years. Each year to have two seasons/leagues – one live and one virtual, with prize pools of Rs 3 crore and Rs 2 crore, respectively

• Investment by team owners for 5 years: Rs 7 crore (approx)

• Each team to have a premium of over Rs 1 crore