Global Poker League India's 6 City Teams Unveiled After Bootcamp

MUMBAI, March 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

The Global Poker League (GPL) India is the country's first long-run poker league, which debuted in the country in 2018.

     (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/714016/GPL_India_Logo.jpg )

Starting June 24 last year, the online qualifiers for 6 city-based GPL India teams were hosted on PokerStars' India. Once 60 online qualifiers, 10 for each team were shortlisted, a Bootcamp in Delhi saw the Team Managers and GPL India expert judges selecting the 2 members for each team.

Hectic competition between the 6 teams eventually culminated in October, and the 5-member winning team won the coveted Platinum Passes, each worth ₹20 Lakhs and punched their tickets to the PokerStars Players NLHE Championship (PSPC), hosted in the Bahamas in January, 2019.

GPL India Season 1 started airing on Colors Infinity and Colors Infinity HD from March 9. With two episodes being broadcasted every Saturday from 7-8 PM, audiences have been watching the exciting build-up to the Regular Season of GPL India. More is coming up this Saturday, as the Regular Season commences.

Episodes 1-4 - The Bootcamp & The Draft Day 

The first four episodes aired on March 9 and March 16; bringing the action from the Bootcamp and the Draft Day.

At the Bootcamp, GPL India's superstar managers Vikram Kumar, Muskan Sethi, Abhishek Rathod, Kavin Shah, Aditya Agarwal and Vidwath Shetty put their respective 10 PokerStars India online qualifiers to the test. Only 2 online qualifiers found a place in their respective GPL India teams.

The three-membered panel of the team manager, GPL India celebrity judge Gunjan Utreja and GPL India commentator Richard Haridasoham first assessed each candidate on their technical expertise, knowledge of the game and other qualities. While the highest scorer of each team got a direct entry to the respective GPL India team, the remaining 9 online qualifiers then played a Sit-N-Go (SNG) poker match, the winner of which joined the team as the second entry.

The 2 winning qualifiers and 2 wildcard pros were announced on Draft Day where for the first time, team jerseys were also unveiled.

Team Chennai Sharks 

Vikram Kumar, manager of the Chennai Sharks chose online tournament specialist Ashish Munot and cash game specialist Gaurav Gala as his wildcard pros. The interview round was won by Mithun Mahesh who impressed all three judges with his technical knowledge and his passion for the game. It was an extremely close competition as Mithun was up against well-known online pro Ujjwal Narwal who too scored well in the interview round but at the end Mithun got the seat.

After the dramatic interviews round, it was then time for the intense SNG match where Suyog H booked his berth in the team after taking down a massive three-handed pot where he hit two pairs against Vaibhav Bhatia and Naman Khettry.

   
                Chennai Sharks
    Manager                Vikram Kumar
    Interview Round Winner Mithun Kookkiri
    SNG Match Winner       Suyog H
    Wildcard Pro           Ashish Munot
    Wildcard Pro           Gaurav Gala

Team Delhi Diehards 

Muskan Sethi - #1 GPI-ranked female player in India and PokerStars India Team Pro who leads the Delhi Diehards chose one of the most technically sound poker players yet the youngest GPL India team member Arsh Grover and cash game specialist Niharika Bindra as her two-wildcard entries.

The interview round was won by Ajitesh Bhargava who impressed the judges so much that he received his ticket to GPL India regular season straight after his interview. The SNG match was won by Albetrose Alex who wasn't really active on the table until play got down to 3-handed but then quickly changed gears and ended up securing his seat in Team Delhi Diehards.

   
                Delhi Diehards
    Manager                Muskan Sethi
    Interview Round Winner Ajitesh Bhargava
    SNG Match Winner       Albetrose Alex
    Wildcard Pro           Arsh Grover
    Wildcard Pro           Niharika Bindra

Team Pune Alphas 

Elite poker coach and manager of the Pune Alphas, Abhishek Rathod chose two of the best cash game pros as his wild card entries in Nitin Jain and Kanishka Upreti.

The three were joined by interview round winner Vishal Bajaj who impressed the judges with his technical acumen in the game. Taking down the SNG match was the surprise find at the GPL India bootcamp - Haryana`s Vikas Dhull. Dhull comes from the rural part of Haryana and his passion for the game shows how popular the mind sport is even in remote parts of the country.

   
                 Pune Alphas
    Manager                Abhishek Rathod
    Interview Round Winner Vishal Bajaj
    SNG Match Winner       Vikas Dhull
    Wildcard Pro           Nitin Jain
    Wildcard Pro           Kanishka Upreti

Team Bengaluru Hackers  

Bengaluru Hackers manager Vidwath Shetty brought with him online tournament specialists Abhisek Panda and Rahul Melwani. Shetty chose Shiv Bhargava from the interview round while the SNG match was won by Arun Sriram who started the match with the highest chip stack and maintained his lead throughout.

   
              Bengaluru Hackers
    Manager                Vidwath Shetty
    Interview Round Winner Shiv Bhargava
    SNG Match Winner       Arun Sriram
    Wildcard Pro           Abhisek Panda
    Wildcard Pro           Rahul Melwani

Team Kolkata Creators 

PokerStars' first Indian Pro and manager of Team Kolkata Creators, Aditya Agarwal selected online tournament specialist Jayjit Ray and heads-up specialist Rishab Jain as his wildcard pros. The interview round was won by Gokul Raj whose lifetime poker experience and earnings along with his passion for the game and thirst to get the GPL India ticket, worked like a charm. Raj's impressive interaction with the judges saw him scoring the highest points among the entire lineup of online qualifiers for GPL India Season 1.

The poker match was taken down by Jai Saha who won two crucial three-way pots eliminating four players and then cruised his way to victory after defeating Shital Godara in the heads-up match.

   
              Kolkata Creators
    Manager                Aditya Agarwal
    Interview Round Winner Gokul Raj
    SNG Match Winner       Jai Saha
    Wildcard Pro           Jayjit Ray
    Wildcard Pro           Rishab Jain

Team Mumbai Jetsetters 

High stakes specialist, and manager of the Mumbai Jetsetters, Kavin Shah roped in online tournament specialist Vivek Singh and cash game veteran Ramandeep Gujral as wildcard entries. Saurabh Sindhwani impressed with his experience and theoretical knowledge of the game to win the interview round and outran Himanshu Dwivedi who was also a strong contender and trailed Sindhwani by only 0.5 points. Aneesh Gopinathan won the SNG match to join the Team Mumbai Jetsetters.

   
               Mumbai Jetsetters
    Manager                Kavin Shah
    Interview Round Winner Saurabh Sindhwani
    SNG Match Winner       Aneesh Gopinathan
    Wildcard Pro           Ramandeep Gujral
    Wildcard Pro           Vivek Singh

GPL India - What's Next? 

With 6 teams locked in, coming up next is the much anticipated Regular Season which starts with the Manager's Brawl where all the team managers play to win points for their teams. Two matches hosted between the qualifiers i.e. Qualifiers Showdown, two matches between the wildcard entries i.e. Battle of the Pros and a final match between the Team Managers aka Manager's Finale will follow. Only four teams will make it to the GPL India semi-finals and episodes 4 to 8 will reveal who these final four teams will be.

About GPL 

The Global Player League is a competitive gaming, poker and esports league with 30 teams all over the world. The GPL began life as the Global Poker League, promoting poker as a skilled game and sport. In 2017, it was transformed into the Global Player League, with a new focus on sportifying a multitude of new and emerging titles within the competitive gaming ecosystem today. The Global Player League is a trading name of Mediarex Group, a global sports and entertainment organisation, founded in Malta in 2012. Global Poker Index, Global Poker League, Global Player League, 'We Sportify Poker', and 'The Cube', are registered trademarks of Mediarex Group in the U.S. and other territories.

For further information:
Emma Diskin
[email protected]
+356-7965-0033
PR & Communications Director

Arpit Jain
[email protected]
+917737315747
GPL India Events Co-ordinator
GPL India