India’s most prestigious poker event, as well as one of the most recognized and most prestigious in the poker industry, just shared its dates for the 2022 edition. As the official announcement states, the National Poker Series India will start on March 6, 2022, and will last for 15 days.
A Total of 84 Tournaments to Take Place
NPS 2022 will host 84 tournaments during those 15 days and will crown the country’s best players in poker. It will be hosted online on PokerBaazi.com, a platform that was recently recognized as India’s top-ranked poker website by Poker Scout, the global top poker-listing website.
Moreover, a guaranteed prize amount of INR 18.5 crores ($2.5 million) will be featured, apart from the 252 medals throughout the series. To win a ticket to the NPS tournaments, players will have to go through the Qualifiers, which will start on January 15 on PokerBaazi.com.
The CEO and founder of Baazi Games, Navkiran Singh, stated that the NPS allows players to engrave their names into the Golden Book of Indian Poker history. The series is about respect, fame, and glory. Thanks to the concept, the game is accessible to many poker enthusiasts across India.
He also added that with the massive Internet penetration in India, the PokerBaazi app had been designed to meet the standards of international poker apps and be the driving force of recognizing poker talents and shedding light on them.
The First NPS Edition Had Participants From 20 States
NPS 2021 was the first edition of the prestigious event, and it was hailed as a massive success. It was watched in numerous regions and had participants from 20 states. Moreover, it had 64 tournaments and 83,793 entries. The total prize was 19 crores ($2.6 million). The reason why this unique concept was met with such praise is that it arrived at the perfect moment. NPS 2021’s original plans date back to December 2020.
Poker is among the leading segments in India’s digital wave, which is rising at a fast pace. The online transaction system in the country, powered by UPI, allowed numerous sectors to adapt to this way of payment, and as the KPMG estimates, the online gaming industry in India is likely to grow at a 22% CAGR by 2023 and reach 11,880 crores ($1.6 billion).
As for the NPS, the five states that hold the biggest number of medals are Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka with 12, Haryana with 18, New Delhi with 37, and Maharashtra with 44.
Apart from the fact that winners in every tournament win a medal, the series also has a leaderboard on the overall medal tally. In 2021, the podium finishers were Kritagya Sharma from New Delhi (bronze medal), Ankit Wadhawan from Punjab (silver medal), and Mohammad Azhar Tak from Rajasthan (gold medal), and they got a ticket to represent the country in one of the world’s most significant poker events in Las Vegas.
Azhar Tak was crowned as the Champion of Champions, while Vivek Bajaj was the winner of the Golden Rush tournament.