Team Herald
PANJIM: Delhi Panthers emerged champions of the the first season of the Poker Sports League held at Deltin Casino Royale, Panjim.
After completing a magnificent run in the playoffs for five days, Delhi Panthers won the final table and took home the prize money of Rs 1.15 crore.
Mumbai Anchors finished runner-up with the prize money of Rs 1 crore, Kolkata Royals took home 50 lakhs and Punjab Bluffers had to be content with Rs 35 lakhs.
Owned by Abhishek Jain of Leela Jewels, Gaurav Goel of Dhampur Sugar, Rishi Kajaria of Kajaria Ceramic, Ruchirans Jaipuria of Jaipuria Group, and the team was mentored by Akash Malik. The other team players included Vinod Megalmani, Aman Dhamija, Akshay Nasa, Samay Modi, Kunal Bhatia, Prashant Bhutoria, Dhruv Patel and Erik Rise.
Delhi Panthers will now share the first prize as well as the honour of being the first team to win India’s first Poker Sports League.
Speaking about the League, Pranav Bagai, CEO and Co-Founder, Poker Sports League said, “The journey of the league has been a roller coaster ride and initially many could not believe that the league would materialise in to something as large as other sports leagues in the country. The never seen before structures and massive prize pool kept the adrenaline rush going for the players along with a chance to make some serious money. On closing our first season with a splendid grand finale, we are sure that this is definitely not a one-and- done season and we have plans to come up with season two next year.”
The brainchild of Amit Burman (Vice Chairman, Dabur India Ltd) who partnered with Anuj Gupta (Co-Founder Adda52.com), India’s largest online poker website for the league was spearheaded by Pranav Bagai, (Co-Founder and CEO) and Nikita Luther, (COO).
Akash Malik, mentor of the winning team said, “Punjab Bluffers, Mumbai Anchors and Pune Sharks were also topping the leaderboard, but thanks to the amazing team and support of the team owners, Delhi Panthers has tasted the victory. Poker community really enjoyed the tournament and witnessed the game become a ‘sportified’ game in the country.”
Over 2.8 million poker fans watched the league live streamed on the Facebook page of the league.
