Beginning with their humble origins in medieval China, the playing cards have travelled across the globe in the over 1000 years of its history. Poker is a popular card game that is played with great interest across all age groups. However, among the plethora of card games in India, poker doesn’t feature as a popular one. The sport has been riddled with misconceptions and is unfortunately viewed as a game of pure luck. That is indeed true, but only for those who lack the knowledge and intensity required to play the game. On the contrary, the game requires a great deal of patience, perseverance and analytical thinking to play it.
The stigma associated with poker is slowly changing with legitimate online portals like Adda52 popularizing and bringing to light the knack and finesse required to play the game. Adda52 provides a safe and secure platform where one can enjoy playing poker with real money.
We recently had an opportunity to interact with the co-founder of Adda52, Mr Mohit Agarwal and members of India’s first set of pro poker players – Nikita Luther, Kunal Patni and Minisha Lamba – to know more about poker.
Nikita stressed on the fact that poker is “not a game of chance, it is a game of skill.”
Mohit went on to tell us how “Online poker is a great equalizer. It is easily accessible and you can begin with free games, improve your skills and then move on to the paid games where you can begin with 0.50p. Adda52 provides a safe and secure platform for an amazing poker experience online.”
Despite poker being a gender-neutral game, Mohit rued that, “the ratio of men and women poker players is 95:5. I hope that this changes soon. Adda52 has two pro female poker players and we believe they can inspire others to take up this sport.”
In a candid conversation, Nikita revealed, “people struggle with it (her being a professional poker player) initially. But I am very open about it. Poker isn’t a gendered game. It is a mind sport. I practice meditation and yoga. I mentally prepare myself for every game.”
Stressing on poker requiring the same rigour and tenacity of other mainstream sports, Kunal said, “I have a regular routine like everybody else. I put in many hours of practice, I exercise and eat right. Being a mind sport, poker is comparable to chess. It is an easy game to learn but a difficult one to master”
“It is a mental game that requires stamina and focus,” Minissha added.
Discussing about the stigmas associated with the game, Kunal said, “Poker has a very clandestine image with the dark sunglasses and hoodies most poker players sport. What people fail to realize is that these are practical measures taken by every player. A slight eye movement can tip the other player off and our sunglasses help to conceal that. The hoodies are merely worn to protect us from the cold especially since tournaments can go on for hours.”
Minissha laughs, “I wear an Eskimo-like hoodie during all my poker games. It gets so cold!”
An important point to note that Adda52 strictly adheres to crucial aspects of legality, integrity, user rights and responsible gaming with the prize money being liable to 30% tax. It was a fun conversation with the Adda52 pro team. I had the opportunity to attend the live tournament, too. Stay tuned for my next post!
We remember the day seven years back when were travelling in a Mumbai local trying hard to come up withe a name for our blog when struck us; Khushboo was always called a Jack of all Trades. The name stuck (with a slight modification, of course) and Minni was born. Six years, over 100 collaboration, lakhs of readers and several awards later; our love for blogging continues to grow. We continue to write on an eclectic range of topics from the funniest autorickshaw signs that we have spotted in Mumbai to how to bathe an elephant. We are true blue Munni of all Trades and we hope to continue on this joyride with our fellow Munnies and Munnas. 