MUMBAI, March 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
From a student of Engineering in Bengaluru to one of India's finest Professional Poker Player, to starting out with Buy-Ins as low as Rs. 150/- for tournaments, to cashing out winnings in crores, who would've ever thought that a young boy hailing from Patna, would eventually move to Goa with the help of a bankroll, built purely out of playing Poker Games all over the world! This is the story of the rise of Rajnish Kumar.
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As awesome as it sounds, Rajnish did have to face his own set of problems. A rocky start during the initial days of his career in Goa led to him losing his bankroll playing daily cash games and online tournaments. He was forced to return to his home in Patna for a brief period, where he returned to the daily online grind of playing low stake tournaments and rebuilding his bankroll. Like a phoenix, Rajnish chose to rise from the ashes and make a successful comeback to Goa three years back. Since then, he has had a successful career as a professional poker player, travelling across the country and overseas, to play cash games and notching up tournament wins both live and online. The most notable win was his first place finish that earned him a payday of over Rs. 36 lakhs at the prestigious High Roller event at World Poker Tour (WPT) India, held in November 2017 at Goa, along with that, a first place in an online poker tournament that saw him take home 30 lakhs in prize money for his efforts in February 2017.
"Started from the bottom, now we here..." these infamous lines by Drake resonate every time one hears the name of Eka Vedantham. Being introduced to poker during his teenage years by his sister, Eka began playing for free chips on Facebook and that's when he decided to turn his hobby in to his vocation while pursuing a degree in Journalism from Essex University, Colchester. Since then, there was no looking back, Eka started playing on major international sites during his stay in England and went on to become one of the top Indian earners with over $250,000 in winnings in 2016. Following his return to the country, the 23-year-old worked on his game by playing live cash games in his hometown of Bengaluru. He finished 2017 as the number one ranked Multi-Table Tournament player tracked on Indian sites with over Rs. 1.5 cr in earnings.
And now, Baadshah Gaming is on the lookout for the next rising poker stars of the country. With the launch of the 'Pro-Hunt', Baadshah Gaming aims to be a catalyst in identifying and grooming young, intelligent Indians who are daring enough to take on an off-beat career in the field of Poker, thereby opening a brand new career avenue to individuals. The perks of which, as one can see from the stories of Rajnish and Eka, are obviously exciting and plenty!
The 'Pro Hunt' and the Baadshah Gaming Mentorship Program will be overseen by Rajnish and Eka. They will be responsible for coaching and mentoring young poker talent across the country. The aim of the program is to provide players who join, exclusive access to the two professionals who will coach and mentor them via skype calls as well live sessions, discussing poker strategy, conducting hand review sessions, and providing mental game coaching among other things. The 'Pro Hunt' program will allow Rajnish and Eka to identify the top performers, who will then be crowned the next 'Baadshah Pro's' and be provided with a yearlong staking deal from Baadshah Gaming that covers Buy-Ins to tournaments and cash games across India. In addition, Rajnish and Eka will share their inputs and assist Baadshah Gaming in implementing new ideas such as live and online events, new structures and formats, player's choice tournaments, and introduce weekly cash game and tournament leader boards with the objective of providing existing players a seriously fun experience and growing the poker community in India by taking the game to a wider audience.
In a statement made on social media, the Co-Founder and Chief Card Shark at Baadshah Gaming, Madhav Gupta, said, "Baadshah Gaming is proud to welcome Rajnish Kumar and Eka Vedantham who have come onboard to spearhead our mentorship program. These two well-loved legends will collaborate with Baadshah Gaming to play a crucial role in nurturing and growing the current player pool and help create the next generation of professional poker players. In their time as professional players, both Rajnish and Eka have displayed values like credibility, transparency, hard work, humility and consistency that have earned them the respect and admiration from the Indian poker community. As a firm that espouses the very same principles that helped these two achieve what they have in the time they have, we could not be happier to rope in these superstars in trying to do our bit to give back to the poker community."
About Baadshah Gaming:
Casino Pride Group backed online skill-based gaming start-up, Baadshah Gaming announced the signing of two of India's best professional poker players, Eka Vedantham and Rajnish Kumar to head their recently launched Mentorship Program and Pro Hunt for young, aspiring poker talent, ahead of its first year anniversary of starting operations. Baadshah Gaming which began operations in March 2017 is an online portal that offers games of skill such as poker, fantasy sports and rummy. In June 2017, Goa's Casino Pride group bought a 30% stake in Oceanking Software Solutions LLP, the company that owns and operates the Baadshah Gaming brand. As part of the deal, the start-up has gained access to run and operate the 'Baadshah Gaming Live' property onboard the Casino Pride vessel in Panjim, Goa. With this, they will be able to host a variety of live gaming tournaments, bringing poker players all over the country to show-off their poker skills. The latest edition of which will be held from 5th - 9th April, 2018.
Media Contact:
Georgie Thomas
[email protected]
+91-7044103045
Marketing Manager
Baadshah Gaming
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