The 27^th February saw India’s premier poker festival Deltin Poker Tournament concluding with its final

event DPT 15K 6-Max PLO at Deltin Royale in Goa. The festival guaranteed 1.5 crores spread across 6 events held from 22^nd -27^th February. The DPT in partnership with India’s largest online poker site Adda52.com had already hosted three successful events in January, August and November. For the 4^th edition, the poker brand upped the stakes by giving more lucrative guarantees. The highlighted, the DPT 35K buy-in Main Event, boasted Rs.55 lacs in the guaranteed prize, while the DPT 60K High Roller event offered Rs. 50 Lacs in guarantee. Now that the tournament is already in books, we thought to give you an overview of the biggest winners who made it to the big headlines in Indian poker circuit.

DPT 35K Main Event Winner- Imran Khan

The Deltin Poker Tournament (DPT) saw a total of 1,264 entries with the main event attracting a total of 303 entries to easily surpass the Rs. 55,00,000 lacs in guarantee. This highlight event was taken down by the newcomer Imran Khan from Delhi. He overcame a huge field of 303 entries to win his first-ever tournament trophy and claim Rs. 2,835,000 for his first place finish. He defeated Neelabh Baranga in heads-up. Neelabh lost the heads-up when his Ac-7h couldn’t hold against Imran’s 10h-10s on the board reading Qh-6c-Kh-4c-3s. Imran took down his first-ever title with a pair of pocket tens.

DPT 60K High Roller Winner- Manoj Pentakota

While the Rs.2,835,000 was a huge chunk for Imran, the player who took home the largest payout was Manoj Pentakota. He won the high roller event for a massive Rs. 3,300,000 in the first place prize money. This was indeed a big victory for Manoj Pentakota who finished in the 6th place at the WPT National Cambodia early in January this year. Manoj defeated a packed field of 202 entries to win his first DPT high roller title. In heads-up match, Manoj defeated Manish Jain whose Js-10s lost to his 9h-9c on the board reading 9d-Jc-Qc-Ac-4c. He won the tournament with one card flush on the board.

DPT 10K Kickoff Winner- Jasven Saigal

While all event saw big turnouts, the highest turnout was seen at the DPT 10K Kickoff with booming 355 entries, which easily doubled up the Rs, 15,00,000 guarantee. It was nothing short of a blazing start with the first trophy going to Mumbai’s well-known pro Jasven Saigal who won this event for Rs. 885,000. Starting as one of the short stacks at the final table, Saigal consolidated and climbed up in chips to dominate the table and win the opening tournament of the DPT at Deltin Royale. In heads-up he defeated Bobbe Slickbob whose 3h-2d lost to his 7s-3c on the board having Kh-Ah-Jd and Jc-7h.

DPT 15K Bounty & 15K 6-Max PLO Winners

The other big winners included Banman Warr who took down the DPT15K Bounty, winning Rs.724410 in the prize money for his first place finish. He overcame a huge field of 271 entries and defeated the Adda52 POY runner-up Deepak Bothra in heads-up. Finally, the man who picked up the last trophy of the Deltin Poker Tournament was no other than Jagdeep Singh. He won the DPT 15K 6-Max PLO for Rs. 580000, after defeating a field of 133 entries. In heads-up battle, he defeated Sagar Tuteja whose  Qd-9d-3d-3c lost to his Ks-10c-5d-2d on the board 6c-4s- Ad-Qh-Jd, which gave Jagdeep a big straight.

 

Poker is full of challenge. Does that mean that a person like you and me can’t win a game of poker? Absolutely not! We have live poker rooms in India and the reason they are running successfully is, people come and win games on a regular basis. So, what’s that compromises the position of a player? Check out these money winning tips on physical poker rooms and how to turn your game play into a winning match.

Are your hands out of position?

One common mistake that can make you lose a poker game is playing too many hands out of position. When you make this mistake, you give your opponent the chance to understand your move, before you have even picked a card. So, always be in position and maximize on your bets and successful bluffs.

Watch your bets closely

If you want to be a successful no limit poker player, it is essential to make the right bets. Focus on maximizing the value of the big hands and defend your hand with complete focus. Your opponent is looking for one wrong move from your side.

One tip for live poker room is watching the reaction of your opponent and as you see the opportunity, chase his hand. Your main goal should be to take the complete stack of your opponent. Of course, you need to place your bets correctly and not over or under bet. Don’t think that you might scare the opponent away. Without placing the right bet, you are losing a good amount of money and do you really want to do it?

How often do you bet or raise?

 

Poker asks for aggressive playing. So, rather than check or call, go for bet or raise. It will let you pick up pots when you don’t have a hand. Further, it also allows you to get the maximum value for your hands. This will inevitably make it difficult for your opponent to understand your game strategy and they will feel confused. So, play aggressive but always be in control.

Your bankroll management is very important

 

Bankroll management is one of the essentials for winning any poker game. You definitely don’t want to go broke, no matter how good is your moves. If you are in the middle of a bad run of cards then it can wipe out your complete bankroll in no time. As a standard practice, you shouldn’t put more than 5% of your entire roll in a single cash game of poker.

Never chase your losses and at all costs play within your limits, no matter how challenging and inviting the game looks.

Avoid those ugly tilts

 

This can act as the biggest problem for any poker player. Tilt generally occurs when your poker game takes a downhill trip due to your emotional state. This can inevitably lead to a series of bad bets, losing big pots and not being able to carry on with the game with full concentration.

If you feel, your mind is diverted for different reasons then the best solution is to take a break from the poker session. Every move you make is costing money, so don’t put it in the wrong place.

Solid poker players work hard on improving their strategy, bankroll management and in fact on all factors mentioned above. So, work hard on removing these common poker mistakes and play like a professional.

If you play enough poker, there are certain stages where you feel like you have the talent and skills to become a poker pro, but whatever the reason may be, you still keep playing as a recreational player. Maybe, you lack the drive to be successful, or maybe you are overburdened with life responsibilities, there could so many reasons why cannot become a pro. Here, we list down the five obvious reasons as to why many players cannot become poker pros, despite having talent and skills.

You Are Not Willing to Change Lifestyle

Turning poker pro requires lots of travel from one destination to another. Sometimes you are playing offline poker tournaments in Goa, while others times you are playing tournaments in Vegas. There is lots of travel involved, plus you also require to stay up through the night sometimes, as many liver poker tournaments often run till the midnight or in some cases till the whole night. Unfortunately, many players are not willing to take up travels outside their country and hence they cannot become a pro.

You Lack the Drive to Become a Poker Pro

There are many poker players who approach this game with recreational mentality. They actually don’t know the amount of time, hard work, efforts and learning required to turn a pro. A player may win many poker tournaments or earn millions, but it is of no use if he/she doesn’t feel motivated or lacks the drive to excel. Yeah, if you don’t have a proper drive, you are not going succeed in the game. So, there must be something there that motivates you to do better and come on to the top in poker.

You Don’t Know How to Manage Your Bankroll

From my personal experience, I know many players with huge poker bankroll, but they couldn’t move up in the game because they didn’t know how to manage their bankroll effectively. As a result, they destroyed their entire bankroll and their dreams of turning pro were dusted. I saw players who played too high for their bankroll and skills set. Others times I came across the ones who blown their bankroll on the flashy lifestyle such as luxury cars, expensive gifts, expensive holidays, romance with hot girls, etc.

You Are Overburdened with Responsibilities

It is utmost important to strike balance between your personal life and poker career. If you are overburdened with too many life responsibilities, it is much likely to conflict with your ability to play poker. There are many players who have to reduce their poker schedule dramatically in order to fit their new family responsibilities. However, life readabilities are not just limited to family only. There are so many competent and skilled players who cannot become pro because of business and many other professional duties. So, you need to have a great deal of time and efforts to turn a real-time pro.

You Are not Able to Evaluate Your Potential

The sign of a good live poker player is that he/she is able to fully evaluate his potential of turning a pro. There are players who just overestimate their ability or skills at poker. This could be the result when they win several poker tournaments or achieve an unexpected big score. On the other hand, there are again some poker players who know their limitations and evaluate their play and skills vs others to understand if they really have what it requires to be a successful pro in the game of poker. So, if you wish to turn a pro ahead, these are a few important things you will have to keep in mind.

Social anxiety can take you in its grip on the poker table. Offline poker trends in India suggest that players occasionally succumb to this and fail to unlock their full potential. The psychological fear of social situations, as you may fall prey to in physical poker rooms in Goa while interacting with fellow players can malign your reputation and present your vulnerabilities to rivals. With a little conscious effort on your part, you can surmount this pervasive disorder on the offline poker table.Poker table offers sterling opportunity to get over your chronic problem. Read on to learn how.

Stop thinking about dire consequences

Losing games is every player’s nightmare. But, far more losses compared to wins would cross your way if you keep thinking about the worst that can happen to you in the poker room. Work hard to supersede your pessimism with unflagging optimism. Develop an appreciation for the luck factor and have unshakeable faith in your skills. Even if a loss stigmatizes you, take it as a stepping stone for future wins. Collect your feelings and imagine about the fears that seem deadliest to you. Next, try to visualize the genesis of such feelings. You will find that stings of wounded pride, shame and embarrassment are parasitic thoughts that arise from your own stomach. Rein them in with the resolve of gaining a decisive edge on rival on the table.

Metamorphose your feelings and belief patterns

Social anxiety in you stems from the thought of being dumped after losing to your opponent. Even before the game has started, you have resigned yourself to fate. To counter such compulsive disorder, you need to stop reacting to thoughts of being doomed. Your own feelings are your greatest friends and foes. Think positively. Turn a harmful feeling into your favour by steeling your resolve. Believe in the fact that nothing on the poker table can affect you adversely and you would stoically make your way to a win. Create a negative emotion and your day is ruined.

Prepare a list of objectives and work on them

Don’t’ crave for instant gratification of your desires. Take a piece of paper and scribble down the entire array if scenarios that can heighten your social anxiety. The feeling that intimidates you the most should feature first followed by others. Make your own strategy to overcome them. Keep in mind that the game of poker demands commitment and yields results in the long run. Short-term victories are no occasions to celebrate. You have your full life to work on the game and emerge victoriously. From your list of priorities, take one feeling and challenge the same in the next session of poker. Persist and persevere till you are comfortable and the bad feeling does not niggle you anymore.

Stop focussing on yourself

As soon as you step into one of the many poker rooms in India, a sense of self-consciousness may take you in its grip. A glance of your mighty opponents may cause variegated emotions to run through you. You may feel scared, ashamed, stupid and conscious of your appearance all at the same time. Your social anxiety is stimulated due to awkward emotions you create in your being. Reflect on the origin of such negativities and you will find that the emotions appear as a string i.e. as one fades, another assumes strength. Ask yourself questions whether these base thoughts deserve your attention. Work on improving your self-esteem.

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

You can release anxiety from your energy system using this finger operated psychological acupressure technique. The method requires fingertip tapping for inputting kinetic energy onto particular energy meridians on chest and head while mulling over your specific social anxiety problem. You have to simultaneously voice positive assentation.

The aforesaid five techniques would help you get over your social anxiety in physical Poker rooms in Goa and Bangalore and elsewhere. Enjoy your game.

Re-buy poker tournaments have their own perks and benefits. The poker players widely love re-buys, because these kinds of tournaments promise bigger prize pool and better action. Even if a player loses his or her chips, he or she can still re-buy more chips and join the game again. There are many reasons why most poker players love re-buys. Here, we discuss top 5 reasons why most players love re-buys:

Bigger Prize Pool

As many players are re-buying and adding-on, the prize pool in re-buy poker tournaments soar up higher and higher, providing poker players their chance to win from the whopping prize pool. The rewards of cashing in the re-buys can be much more lucrative than the non-rebuy poker tournaments. This is perhaps the big reason why most poker players continue to prefer re-buy poker tourneys.

Better & Faster Action

In re-buy poker tournaments, players with large bankroll often don’t fear eliminations and continue firing the poker table with action by bluffing, calling, raising, re-raising or going all-in. Players in such tourneys are often less defensive. That means a lot of actions and many opportunities for players to build a huge stack and jump ahead of the others in the tournament to win from the bigger prize pool.

No Fear of Bad Beats

In re-buy poker tournaments, you can still get a bad beat, but unlike a traditional poker tournament, you don’t get out of the play. If you get a bad beat, it is not the end for you, as you can re-buy more chips for the initial buy-in amount and start playing again. So, you have less or no fear of getting bad beats in re-buys. Keep in mind, re-buys can be very advantageous but you still need to follow limits.

No Extra Fees to Make Re-Buys

The key advantage with a re-buy tournament is that you don’t have to make any extra taxes to re-buy into the tournament. You just re-buy into the tournament for the initial buy-in of that particular tournament. This makes this type of poker tournament a better value than other tournaments. Hence, you can save money you are going to spend on buy-in fees of the future poker tournaments.

Put Your Bankroll to Work

If you are a poker player with huge bankroll, you can put your extra funds to work in re-buy poker tournaments. If you are getting good cards, you can be very aggressive and accumulate more chips than your opponents at the table. If your aggressive play backfires, you can still make some re-buys and come back into the game. Whenever your bankroll is large enough to support additional add-on, you should take the advantage of add-on and add more chips to take advantage over other players. For instance, if you have accumulated 10,000 chips, you can add 10,000 more on the final add-on and take the lead over some opponents at the table. An add-on can put you in a very strong position.A re-buy poker tournament is a good for poker players with deeper pockets. However, it may be quite frustrating when you play too many hands and make endless re-buys, destroying your entire bankroll. Sure, the prize pool is going to be bigger with re-buys, but if you continue re-buying and sucking out against reckless players, you need to re-think your strategy, else you will lose your entire bankroll.

A Few Instructions for New Poker Players

If you are a new to Texas Hold’em poker, play and practice re-buy poker tournaments before you enter the real live poker tournaments somewhere. Make sure you first learn the Texas Hold’em rules and familiarize yourself with the nuances of the tournament play. Learn how to play starting hands and how to switch gears across different stages of a tournament. Practice holding and using a big stack to your advantage. Learn coming from behind with limited number of chips to dominate your opponents. Once you learn how to play re-buys, you can go and register for re-buy poker tourneys played at various places in India and the world. You can start your inning with the upcoming Deltin Poker Tournament to be held from 23^rd Feb to 27^th Feb at Deltin Royale, Goa. This is India’s prestigious poker series that brings you a chance to play re-buys and win from mammoth prize pools.

The Indian government finally released the much awaited Union Budget 2017-18 on 1^st February yesterday. When Indian government was planning to announce its budget, the whole poker industry and gaming industry in the country was hoping for some important changes and reforms regarding taxation on poker winnings. But this new budget doesn’t have much for the poker industry of India.

To date, poker winning taxation has been very high and Indian players therefore expected some heavy respite and relaxation in the Union Budget 2017-18 . As the heavy tax is levied on the gaming industry, gaming lobbyists especially those from poker industry were pushing hard for some fruitful changes in taxation, taking into the account the constantly growing poker market and increasing number of poker players. The budget did bring up some fruitful changes for Indian economy but unfortunately it does not have much to meet the growing expectations of the poker players, fans and operators.

The new budget for the year 2017-18 doesn’t bring much respite to the players and other stakeholders in the poker industry. According to the Income Tax Act, 30% tax is levied upon poker winnings. TDS (Tax Deduction at Source) certificates are issued to poker players by organizers and companies who are responsible for making the required deductions on the poker winnings from players in India. In spite of several pleas and efforts by the organizers and players regarding deduction in high tax, the tax rates remain unchanged. Indian players will have to still pay 30% of tax on their poker winnings.

A Couple of Positives of Union Budget 2017-18

The good thing about the new budget is that it brings relief to start-ups as well as small enterprises, giving Indian business and economy the much-needed boost in the country. Income tax on companies with annual turnover of less than Rs. 50 crore per year has been reduced to 25% from that of earlier 30%. The year 2016 has seen the poker industry of Indian constantly growing. According to Economic Times, India’s poker start-ups industry was estimated around $120 million recently. Although the pace of growth of has been slow, but it is constantly evolving. Now with tax relief to start-ups, we can expect more investors entering the online poker market and optimizing the growth of poker in 2017.

Talking about the pros and cons of the new budget for the year 2017-18, Jay Satya, who is a gaming lawyer and owner of site glaws.in, stated: “Budget 2017 did not have any specific announcements as far as the gaming industry is concerned. I think the gaming industry will be disappointed that the Finance Ministry has not yet accepted the Easwar committee recommendations and representations from stakeholders regarding hiking of threshold for TDS deduction on gaming/poker winnings from the current Rs. 10,000/-. A couple of positives are that there is minor reduction in individual tax rates for the lower income bracket, which will leave greater disposable income in the hands of the salaried class. Secondly, reduction in corporate tax for companies with less than Rs. 50 crore annual turnover will be beneficial for online poker and other gaming startups. The online skill games industry will also be relieved that the service tax rate was not hiked as was widely expected.”

The new budget for the year 2017-18 seems to focus more on rural infrastructure and development, as the Finance Minister indicated that the by the end of 2017-18, about 1.5 lakh gram panchayats will have access to the high-speed broadband connectivity, which will be a good initiative towards boosting the digitized economy. Though more focused on rural infrastructure, this new budget is seen  beneficial to Indian online poker and we may expect more online poker companies to come up in 2017.

 

 

Deltin Poker Tournament (DPT) has established itself as one of the India&rsquo biggest and richest poker tournaments taking place at Deltin Royale Casino in Goa. The poker festival runs over five days and has something for everyone. The poker series features various events in No Limit Hold’em and Omaha formats, catering to both pros and newbies and for fans of low and high buy-in action. Speaking of the high buy-in events, it features DPT Main Event, which attracts a large number entries every season. The DPT Main Event is an exciting tournament played in No Limit Holdem (NLH) format and has a whopping prize money. It runs for two days and starts with a stack of 10,000 at starting blinds of 50/100.

DPT 100K Main Event (23rd-24th January)

The first DPT Main Event took place from 23^rd to 24^th January at Deltin Royale Casino in Goa. It served as the highlight of the entire Deltin Poker Tournament with a whopping Rs. 1 Crore guarantee. As expected, it drew 102 entries. It was a star-studded tournament and saw participation from India’s well-known poker faces. Some notable players seen at the tables included Raghav Bansal, Abhineet Jain, Madan Kumar, Ujjwal Rana, Jaideep Sajwan, Akash Malik, Dhaval Mudgal and many more. Finally, it was Delhi’s Raghav Bansal who won the event for Rs. 30.6 Lacs and emerged as the biggest winner over the five-day series. He bested a field of 102 entries to win the title of first DPT Main Event in Goa. The heads-up match happened between Raghav and Akash Malik. The final hand saw Raghav with Kh-Qh bet 80k pre-flop to which Akash Malik with Ac-4h shoved his entire stack. Raghav made the call and the board showed 6d-Ks-4s-3h-8h, giving Raghav a pair of Kings to claim the first DPT main event.

2^nd DPT Main Event ( 27th-28th August)

The 2^nd edition of DPT Main Event was 30K Main Event, which ran from 27th-28th August in 2016 and found a champion in Vikas Singh, who defeated a field of 235 entries to earn a payout of Rs.17,60,000. The final table began with Naren Prakash as the chip lead and Vikas Singh as the second-lowest in chips. After Shyamrag C getting eliminated in third place, the heads-up for the title began between Rahul Agrawal and Vikash Singh. The heads-up did not last long and the final hand came very soon. In the final hand, Rahul had 8s-8h, while Vikas held Ah-3s. The board ran out Kc-10h-Js-7h-As, giving Vikas a pair of Aces to win the title and trophy. Rahul ended up earning Rs. 10,90,000 for his runner-up finish.

3^rd DPT Main Event (12th-13th November)

The 3^rd edition of DPT Main Event was 30K Main Event, which kicked off on Saturday 12th November in 2016 and attracted a total of 161 entries, creating a huge prize pool of Rs. 4830000. Finally, Gautam Sachdeva emerged as the 30K Main Event champion after defeating the Mumbai-based pro Kanishka Samant in heads-up battle. He won the top prize of Rs.1304000 along with the event title and trophy.

The final table was formed after Gautam Sachdeva eliminated Anil Gulati in the 10^th place. Kanishka Samant led the final table with 527,000 in chips. Trailing him were Anup Palod and Vikas Mantri with 390,000 and 353,000 in chips. Gautam was sitting on 6^th place with 233,000 in chips. However, he outlasted everyone on the table and won his first DPT Main Event title. The final hand was a three-way action where all the three players ( Nitin Jain, Kanishka Samant and Guatam Sachdeva) went all-in. Nitin held 2c-2h, Kanishka had Jc-Jh, while Guatam had Ah-As. The board came 5h-8d-5c-10d-Ad, thus giving Gautam a full house to win the title and the top prize of Rs.13.04 Lacs.

The Next Edition of DPT with 1.5 Crore in Prizepool Starting from 23^rd February, 2017

After the grand success of Deltin Poker Tournament (DPT) over the last few editions, India’s largest poker site Adda52.com and Deltin Royale, the country’s biggest floating casino in Goa are once again set to host the first of edition of DPT 2017 from 23rd-28th February. This time around, the tournament has upped the prize pool utpo 1.5 Crore to attract players looking to win big in 2017. The poker players love high buy-in action will be able to take part in the DPT 60K High Roller (FO) with Rs. 50,00,000 in prize pool and 35K Main Event (RE) with Rs. 55,00,000 in prize pool. The players who cannot afford the buy-ins to these events can take part in satellites running on Adda52.com from 2nd January to 21^st February and win seats into these events with buy-ins ranging from as low as Rs. 1500.

 

Amir Khan starer Dangal is already out in theaters making good business. The movie crossed more than 350 crores within just two weeks. We are all crazy about the characters and dialogues in the film. Everyone is talking about the greatness of the movie- how a father trained his daughters to become wrestling champions. A biopic based on the real life story of Commonwealth Games Gold Winning Sisters Geeta & Babita Phogat, Dangal offers valuable life lessons for people from various walks of life. We discuss 6 lessons that poker players can learn and implement to improve their game.

1.Set Your Goal and Plan Well to Achieve it

The victory is half won when you learn to set and achieve your goals. Mahavir Singh Phogat ( portrayed by Amir Khan), realized that his daughters had wrestling in their blood and could win a Gold Medal for India. As a result, he set the goal of making them wrestling champions and winning Gold Medals for their country. He didn’t get diverted from his goal and achieved it eventually with his winning strategies. As a poker player, if you have set a goal, you should not divert your focus until you achieve it. Be it online tournament  or live poker tournament, always enter it with a specific goal and strategies in mind. We would suggest you to set poker goals and strategies to win big in 2017.

“When you have a dream you’ve got to grab it and never let go.”

2.Work Hard to Develop Talent & Skills

Success does not come without hard work, though the hard work may not guarantee you the success. Nothing is achieved overnight. Everything requires hard work, skills and talent to reach your goal. Mahavir in Dangal worked really hard and trained his daughters everyday. The father left no stone unturned to groom his daughters to face the challenges in the wrestling world successfully. As a poker player, you also need to practice poker a lot to develop necessary skills and talent. You must understand when to call, raise, go all-in or fold to ensure that you have good run at the poker tables. Be it poker or any other game, only practice and hard work can make you perfect.

“Stop doubting yourself, work hard, develop skills and make it happen for you”

3.Read Your Opponents to Win the Game

Be it about the success in wrestling or live poker tournaments, much depends on how you read your opponents. Analyzing and watching your opponent’s body language is the key to what action you need to take. If you can spot a few tells, it may help you to win the game. In Dangal movie, Mahavir asks his daughter to act smartly by making fake moves to deceive her opponent and win the final world wrestling championship. The same thing applies in poker. There are times when you have to deceive your opponent by raising and making him or her fold and getting their chips at the table.

“ If you can read people, you can really move the world”

4.Change Your Style of Play to Fit the Situation

Be it cricket, wrestling or poker, defense and attack two common strategies to achieve success. Sometimes you require to be defensive, while others times you need to be aggressive. You cannot stick to the same style of play if you really want to win. As seen in Dangal, Geeta Phogat becomes aggressive against some wrestlers in the early stages of the Common Wealth Games, but she became defensive in the final match against the wrestler who is mightier and smarter than her. Like a wrestler, you as a poker player should change your techniques as and when required. When you have got weak cards, you need to be defensive. However, when you have winning cards, you need to be aggressive.

“You cannot change your situation, the only thing you can change is how you deal with it”

5.Keep Your Eyes and Ears Open to Find Opportunity

Mahavir (Aamir Khan) in Dangal realized that wrestling as a sport is not only for the boys. He saw an opportunity and scope for his daughters in this sport. Soon after, he started training them intensively and grooming them to compete with other international wrestlers. Just like Mahavir spotted the opportunity and started working towards it, the same way you need to keep your eyes and ears open to search for the right opportunities in the poker world and then act smartly to reap the real benefits.

“ Nothing is worse than missing an opportunity that could have changed your life”

6.Champions are not Made in a Single Day 

Be it wrestling or poker champions, they are not made in a single day itrequires lot of time, dedication and handwork to be a champion. As seen in Dangal, it is years of effort and dedication of the girls that finally pays off in the form of gold medal that they win for their country. Like wrestling, poker also require years of effort and dedication to even come close to international poker stars like Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, Erik Seidel and other big name. So, if you wish to become a poker pro, you need to devote everything to master the game.

“Nothing is achieved overnight. You need years of efforts to master the game”

5 Sports Celebrities Who Love Playing Live Poker Tournaments

Poker is an amazing and fun game of cards, which is played and enjoyed worldwide today. Over the years, the game has caught up the nerves of many sports personalities. Many sports stars seem to be influenced by various poker games, including the most popular Texas Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, Sprint and Crazy Pineapple to name a few. Although the die hard fans of the game can be seen regularly at the live poker felts across the world, a few popular sports stars and legends also join in the live poker tournaments held at various places from time to time. Some sports celebrities who love playing live poker across the world include some well-known names:

1.Shane Warne (Cricket)

Warne broke almost every record on cricket field as a legendary spin bowler of the world. It would interesting for his fans to know that the cricketing legend has a deep love for the game of poker. According to him, he likes the level playing field of tournaments because anyone can beat anyone. Growing up, he watched his dad playing against his younger brother. Talking about poker, Warne once said “ “Nine years ago, when I retired, I sort of found poker, even though I’d played all my life, and thought wow! This is really exciting – the strategy, reading players, trying to work out all their tells – and just that competitive nature at the poker table.” In 2007, Warne was signed up by 888 Poker to promote their poker games and he remained an ambassador for them until January 2015. He got a huge press attention for having $225,000 worth of tournament chips during the WSOP Main Event. Finally, it is nice to hear that he has a full section on his website dedicated to poker.

2.Rafal Nadal ( Tennis)

The Spanish tennis ace too seems to love poker when he is not on the court. His love for live poker games can be known from the fact that he participated and competed in various poker tournaments in the world. His fist live poker tournament was the ETP Prague festival where he got the chance to play against some of the biggest poker players including the richest poker player Daniel Negreanu. He won €50,000, which he later on donated to a charity. Nadal was signed by PokerStars during his convalescence from a knee injury that caused him miss 7 months of his tennis career of 2012-13.

3.Ronaldo & Neymar Jr ( Football)

A three-time World Footballer of the Year, two-time European Footballer of the Year, two-time World Cup winner and a top goal scorer in World Cup finals, Ronaldo also loves the game of poker. Poker is very much popular in South America and Brazil and that was perhaps led him to establish a sports and entertainment agency 9ine, which showed his interest in the game. Among other Footballers who play live poker is Neymar Jr., who plays for FC Barcelona, one of the biggest football clubs in the world. Neymar is one of the brand ambassadors for PokerStars. Last year, he posted a picture of a rare royal flush in an online game, which helped him to win $100,000!

4.Georges St-Pierre ( Fighting Champion)

Georges St-Pierre is a Canadian mixed martial artist and the Ultimate Fighting Championship, who was signed up as a brand ambassador by 888poker.com in April 2012 to represent their games at the WSOP in Las Vegas. He is one of the few UFC fighters who have competed on the poker felt – including Chuck Liddell, Mick Swick and Forrest Griffin. On behalf of 888poker.com, he participated the $10,000 World Series of Poker Main Event back in 2012, but failed to make it beyond D1B. During 2012, he was also seen playing online poker at 888poker.com during special promotions.

5.Michael Phelps ( Swimmer)

Michael Phelps is Olympic swimming sensation who has won more gold in the pool than the poker players have won bracelets at the World Poker Series (WSOP). He won 22 medals in 3 Olympiads, 18 of them were gold medals. Also, he has broken an incredible 39 world records and has global superstar status in the world of swimming. He started playing live poker tournaments back in 2012.He came into media highlights when his friend remarked that his “don’t quit until you win” attitude that helped him gain No.1 position in the swimming pool might cause him to lose millions in poker.

reading for our list of the top five movies, which have been liked and watched by the most poker players. All five poker films listed below are worth watching for both poker players as well as the fans.

 

1.Rounders (1998)

Directed by John Dahl and starring (Mike McDermott) Matt Damon and Edward Norton, Rounders is a drama film that every poker player should watch at least once. The film is viewed as the first film to really show the poker world how it really is, or at least how it was back in the 1990s. Featuring the most popular game of poker Texas Hold’em, the movie became a cult hit. It got mixed reviews but a modest box office. The story in the film revolves around two close friends who need to quickly earn enough money to pay off a large debt. Are they really able to pay off the debt? Watch the full movie.

 

2.The Cincinnati Kid (1965)

Set in depression-era, it is a 1965 American drama film that focuses on the ‘Five Curd Stud Poker’. It the Cincinnati Kid, real name Eric Stoner (Steve McQueen), a budding genius card player in New Orleans, who tries to prove himself in a high-stakes match against a long-time master of the game, Lancey Howard nicknamed as “The Man”. While the movie may seem a little over-dramatic, it is one of few old movies that give you the real portrayal of underground poker in the olden days. Reviews suggest that it is a breezy and entertaining old school poker film that poker players should watch.

 

3.The Grand (2007)

If you like comedy movies, then you will for sure like The Grand. Containing a hilarious cast led by Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines and David Cross, this film revolves around Jack Faro (Harrelson), who enters The Grand: a big Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament in Las Vegas created by his grandfather Lucky Faro (Barry Corbin) with an intention to win the $10 million prize to cover up a loan he got to keep open his family’s casino, The Rabbit’s Foot, which his grandfather left as a legacy when he died.

 

The story revolves about professional poker and features six players who reach the final table of the world-famous high-stakes tournament, the Grand Championship of Poker. Included in the film are several famous poker pros from that era, all playing comedic scenes. Although this is fun jaunt into the poker world, some jokes may go over the head of those who have entered the game in the last five years or so. Overall, if you need a solid comedy about live tournament poker, it is a good choice.

 

4.All Work All Play (2015)

This is a documentary, which talks about the life and struggle of people becoming professional gamers. It is not about poker, but rather about the world of e-sports. The film covers the rise of e-sports and takes you through different leagues of Legends teams. It tells the story of ESL’s Intel Extreme Masters series, and the competitive drama that occurred between the top teams of Korea, North America, and Europe. Creadon and his team have really managed to make it one of the most gripping eSports documentaries ever made. It is a must-watch film for e-sports fans across the globe. It would be interesting to know that this film was premiered at Tribeca and ran in over 15,000 theaters globally.

5.Breaking Vegas: Prince of Poker (2007)

Directed by by Ted Schillinger and staring Jim McManus, Breaking Vegas is a documentary premiered on The History Channel in the US. The series covers people who make lots of money from poker or games played in Casinos. The Breaking Vegas (2007) is the interesting story of Jim McManus’ run at the 2000 World Series of Poker Main Event. The series is a good option especially for those who don’t already know his story, they will for sure learn something. Serious poker players too will get some good chuckles from the cheeseball acting and questionable script writing. So if you love poker and look out for some drama in movies, Breaking Vegas should be worth watching for you this weekend.