What comes to your mind when you hear the word Poker? Let me tell you Poker is just not a game, it is a sport. And it also has a lot of things to teach us if we dig deeper into it, like any other sport. For those looking to understand the game better, October marks the month of revolution in the world of Poker with a Delhi based lifestyle brand going all-in by launching India’s first online poker university. Filling a major gap in the poker industry, Poker University by Big Stack believes that acquiring skills from Poker makes an individual more adept at life skills like calculations, competition killing, negotiations, calculating probabilities, etc.
Rai Saheb Khurrana, Ritesh Tanu and Sunny Kochhar the founders, have the vision to establish Poker as a game of skill in India. India’s online gaming market is yet to be tapped fully. There are just 1000+ players in India currently who play poker professionally and just over 50,000+ active Poker Players, but I believe with the help of Poker University by Big Stack it would definitely help all the Poker enthusiasts to learn and understand the fundamentals of Poker.
The western world has already accepted Poker as a legitimate sport. Their ideology is shifting and they realize that Poker is a game of skills. Bill Gates’ dorm mate at Harvard once said that Microsoft’s business plan was “basically an extension of the all-night poker games Bill and I used to playback at Harvard.” He used to run a game at Currier House at Harvard before he dropped out.
Undoubtedly, many acclaimed universities have added Poker in their mainstream course as well. Not only this they even have big rooms and dedicated societies which allow Poker in Campus to facilitate the sport. Top universities like Yale, Harvard, and Stanford have a subject called ‘Game Theory’ where they teach strategies from various games and sports like Chess & Poker.
India is not too far from accepting the game as a career option and it is great to see, Deepak Dhayanithy, Assistant Professor, IIM Kozhikode teaches a class on competition strategy using the game of poker.
While in India, Big Stack may be one of the first Universities to teach Poker online, but they definitely have international competition. For example, runitonce and masterclass. Dan Bilzerian, a professional poker player known for his lavish style asserted during his recent visit to India during the Indian Poker Championship that ‘Poker is a game of skill.’ He added that, “There is a lot of online training right now that was not available when I started playing poker. Now there are training sites where you can learn to breakdown what you can do in every situation. There are solvers now too. They tell you exactly what you’re supposed to do. Every single hand, what you’re supposed to open with.” Now with Big Stack’s first Poker University the void is more or less filled in India.
Big Stack aims to make poker an ultimate sport played professionally in India given our generation’s rising interest in the game and their ability to make a successful career out of their passion.
Giving Poker a profound spin, Rai, Ritesh & Sunny aim to establish Poker as a sport, which should have been the case from the beginning they believe. Rai opines, “Poker has been a way of life for many successful entrepreneurs across the globe. The game of Poker teaches a lot of life skills that can be the success mantra in both life and business.” His vision is echoed by best-selling authors like Dan Casetta and Ellen Leinkind. Ritesh Tanu adds, “We now have a lot of corporate interest in the game of poker and he predicts that the game would soon be a key component of curriculums of top management schools.” Ritesh an astute Digital Marketeer, is used to taking calculated risks attributes his success to the hours spent on playing poker.
Big Stack made way into the hearts of Poker Enthusiasts with Poker Merchandise, a vertical that serves this community with well-crafted and tasteful Poker Apparels & Accessories. Rai an entrepreneur backed by angel investors from the Signature group is determined to make the game more accessible for those who wish to benefit from this sport through his soon-to-be-launched Poker University.
