The peaking poker

The story of card games begins way back during the period of the Tang Empire that ruled China from 618 to 907 CE. This era was considered a pinnacle for the Chinese civilisation, considering how the cosmopolitan culture was at its zenith. 

The royal families and the civilians were said to be patrons of all sorts of entertainment – drinking, feasting, holidaying and indulging in sports. Thanks to printing techniques of those times, these fun-loving, drinking-games-playing Chinese also became the creators of the first playing cards during the 9th century. 

At a time when most other parts of the world were caught up waging wars, historic texts point to the dynasty’s Princess Tongchang and a few others keeping themselves occupied with a game of cards – in what was possibly one of the earliest card games recorded.

Starting then, card games made their way across continents and began to entertain people in various countries, including in India, where the Mughal emperors of the 16th century were among the first to play them. The popular game was Ganjifa, which used circular cards adorned with Mughal motifs.

Since then, the world has witnessed a multitude of card game variants, including blackjack (an American version where the player competes against the dealer to reach a high score), rummy (American-origin game, also popular in India, wherein a player has to create sets of cards in a sequence or of the same rank), poker (also an American-origin game that includes elements of betting, skills and strategies) among others. 

While there are countless games of, the ones that involve money wagering have been enjoying the most popularity, with poker topping the list universally. The instant gratification and indulgence offered by games like poker led to the birth of gambling houses known as saloons, which later turned into casinos, with many cities like Las Vegas in the US and Macau in China turning to these high-stakes card games as their prime source of revenue.

In India, however, with the Public Gambling Act, 1867, of the central government, and State governments outlawing gambling houses, it is only Goa, Daman and Sikkim that allow casinos. Now, Puducherry Union Territory is also making attempts to open casinos though the efforts are still in the early stages.

There’s also a mythological connect to poker’s popularity in our country, with a legend stating that after Goddess Parvati’s win against Lord Shiva in a game of dice, she announced that whoever gambled on the night of Deepavali would remain prosperous through the rest of the year. 

It is on the eve of Deepavali that poker comes alive, with millions families and friends trying their hand at a game of cards. In addition to that, digital medium is truly spurring poker’s growth in India, admit ace poker players, online gaming firms and industry bodies.

While the game involves luck, players can improve their chances of winning on the long term using probability, strategy and psychology. Apart from casinos, the game’s presence at one’s fingertips through the dozen-odd websites dedicated to poker is helping many people make careers based on the card game.  

A poker player for over a decade now, Chennai-based Aditya Sushant emerged over the years as one of the top players in the country with multiple wins at various offline poker championships. According to him, online version has been instrumental in spreading more awareness in the recent years.

“I found the game in 2009 when I was looking for something to play, and have been playing it ever since. Its complexity and uniqueness, offering infinite scope for a player, fascinated me. 

Even though luck is definitely a part of the game, skill will outrun luck. When one starts out playing, he or she might lose out. But the longer one practises, the better one gets at winning it,” says 29-year-old Aditya, who is also one among the country’s poker ‘athletes’ who travel to the casino hubs like Las Vegas for world tournaments. Chennai’s small but growing community of poker players, like in the rest of the country, are largely young adults, he adds.  

Unlike cricket, football or other such games that require physical stamina, poker is independent of the player’s gender, as it only needs skill and the ability to read the opponents, says Pooja Jhunjhunwala (41), who has been playing at live offline tournaments for the past two years. Pooja, however, says she keeps away from online games as they do not allow her to gauge the opponent’s facial expressions and body movements.

“I started playing the game because of my husband, who is also a poker player. The game involves a tremendous amount of skill and improves one’s reading of a person. While many in our country still think the game is a taboo, the perception is changing. The number of women in the game has also gone up over the years. Today, one can see quite a few women poker players doing exceptionally well,” Pooja says.

At the recent India Poker Championship held at Goa’s Big Daddy casino floating on Mandovi waters that this correspondent was witness to, there were about 2,000 poker enthusiasts who thronged the dozens of green-felted poker tables lined up inside the magnificent halls. 

Of that, however, there were only a handful of women players. The tournament organiser Spartan Poker, one of the leading poker playing websites in the country, believes that offline poker events play a huge part in popularising the game, thereby bringing more traffic online.

“There is a conservative attitude among many Indians, but there is also a niche market that is growing. Most people who use our platform are doctors, lawyers and banking professionals, who are well-travelled and informed about the game having seen other players across the world making a career out of the game. 

We try and reach out to such people to grow our user base, by targeted advertisements on video-streaming platforms and other websites they may use,” says Chief Executive of Spartan Poker Amin Rozani, in a conversation with DT Next.

Amin began playing the game on Facebook way back in 2009, and the love for poker eventually led him to set up an exclusive digital platform. At the championship’s grand finale alone, leading players went home with a price money of over Rs 6 crore.

Due to faster internet speeds and better technological infrastructure, online gaming industry in India is growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30-35 per cent, according to All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), the apex industry body for online gaming. “The ecosystem, including the online real-money games, is growing in the country. 

The ideal situation for the game, however, will be to have a national regulation,” the Chief Executive of AIGF Roland Landers tells DT Next. Currently, the industry body follows a self-regulation model. The federation estimates the online gaming industry involving real money to be worth Rs 3,000 crore, of which poker alone is worth nearly Rs 400-crore.

Meanwhile, leading poker sites like Adda52 are betting big on Deepavali to attract more players to the digital medium. The platform’s chief Naveen Goyal says at least 20 per cent of their annual new users take to the website during the festival. “Online poker has grown exponentially over the past three years. 

Deepavali, in particular, is a peak season for us, as people across north and eastern parts of the country prefer to play the game during the festival. We are also holding a special campaign that is structured around asking people to learn new skills like poker during Deepavali. Having studied mathematics and statistics, I find the game the best way to apply the subjects,” says Naveen.

The website has also introduced “responsible” gaming, that sets a weekly or monthly limit for a player so as to not burn more cash than he or she can afford, he adds. “The challenge is that poker is relatively new to Indians, compared to games like cricket and hockey. If we are able to educate our people on the game, we can grow the industry exponentially,” Naveen remarks.

Poker: Fast facts 400 cr the value of Indian poker industry

2 million the number of registered poker players in the country

Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Delhi are home to the most number of poker players

Source: All India Gaming Federation

All’s not rosy for poker, even though the game utilises more of strategies and skills. Any game that involves money wagering can be easily addictive, warns city-based clinical psychologist R Manoj. “Games with immediate outcomes satisfy one’s need for achievement – whether it is on the poker table or online. One tends to play more and more in order to win back the money they might have lost. Unless there is a systematic approach to the game, one could end up losing a lot of money by investing more in an attempt to win. It can end up being a vicious circle,” he says.