Gutshot August Issue by Sajid Moinuddin

Volume 2 | Issue 8 | Mumbai |

www.gutshotmagazine.com

August 2021 | Pages 58

WORLD SERIES OF POKER - UNYIELDED! ESPORTS AND TOURNAMENTS: A HAND-IN-HAND AFFAIR GUTSHOT PLAYER OF THE MONTH - SURAJ YADAV

VAIBHAV TEMANI

A DISGUISED

POKER MAESTRO

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https://bit.ly/GSN8WSOP

CONTENTS

ESPORTS

Editor’s Note

Bulletin of the month

40- 42 Esports and Tournaments:

A Hand-In-Hand Affair

FEATURE:

43-45 GamerESPL 2021: Serving the

IOPC 11th Edition - A Virtual

untapped 1 million potentials!

Poker Coachella

FANTASY SPORTS

POKER

46-49 Into The Realm of Top Fantasy

20-21

World Series of Poker - Unyielded!

Contest Pool

24-26 Gutshot Player of the Month - Suraj Yadav 28-30 Cash or tournaments: What is your thing?

RUMMY 50-53 An Unparalleled Cosmos of Online

LOOKOUT

32-33 Finest Hotels In Panjim

54-56 RIO 2021:Slaying The Red Carpet

GAMING 34-37 GCC: A Jump-Start For Gamers 38-39 Realising The Dream Of

Amateur Players

COVER STORY:

Vaibhav Temani

A DISGUISED POKER MAESTRO Temani could have started the battle just like any other player, taking one tournament at a time and wait until he is ready to go up against the reigning Pokerguru. However, how a treasure hunt - is full of surprises, twists, and turns, good and bad, Temani aka ‘AllinPavBhaji’ surprised everyone with a swift win to ship the IOPC July 2021 Main Event.

Rummy Tournaments of Rummy Championship

EDIT

EDITOR’S NOTE

www.gutshotmagazine.com

August 2021

Volume 2

Issue 8

RMG + LIFESTYLE

MANAGING EDITOR Sameer Rattonsey EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Peter Abraham CONTENT Manthra Koliyer Donna Amo Mrinal Gujare Amarylisa Gonsalves Ananya Agarwalla Akash Mishra CONTENT STRATEGY Athira Laji DESIGN HB Design Pvt. Ltd. CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sajid Moinuddin ART DIRECTOR Piyali Uchil COVER PHOTOGRAPHY Sumit Tribhuwan Sharma SALES & ADVERTISING Raunaq Pinto (raunaq@thegutshot.com) MARKETING HEAD Dwayne Fernandes (dwayne@gutshotmagazine.com) BUSINESS HEAD Ashvin Rao (ashvin@gutshotmagazine.com)

Just about a month to go for the biggest poker tournament on the planet in, where else, but Las Vegas. Yes, Sin City will once again welcome participants to the World Series of Poker set to crown a new world champion in November. The Indian participation is expected to be minuscule unlike previous years mostly due to pandemic reasons and you can read more about the WSOP’s upcoming series in these pages. The recently concluded 11th edition of the India Online Poker Championship crushed its 30 crore guarantee giving away more than 33 crores in prize money! And what a finale to end it all! Battling one of the country’s leading lights in heads up, is no mean feat but Vaibhav Temani proved up to the task. Coming from a 10:1 chip deficit against top pro and dare we say, the Godfather of Indian poker scene, Aditya Agarwal, it was a stellar battle between the two players for the prestigious Main Event title. In the end, playing with a lot of heart and testicular fortitude was Temani who won the IOPC Crown Main Event for a handsome first place prize and bragging rights of winning against one of India’s best. So no surprise that Vaibhav makes it to our cover feature in this edition. And speaking of tournaments, check out our article on whether you should be playing cash games or tournaments. More content on e-sports and the ESPL, a deep dive into all the top fantasy sports portals and we close this issue with the just-concluded Rummy India Open held by Ace2Three Rummy along with a chat with their parent company Head Digital’s CEO. Stay safe and keep crushing!

Volume 2 I Issue 8 I AUGUST 2021 Printed and Published by: Peter Abraham for Gutshot Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., S/6-8 Khira Industrial Estate, B.M.Bhargava Road, Santacruz (West), Mumbai-400054 Gutshot Magazine is not responsible for the opinions or views expressed by individuals or writers that may be included in any part of Gutshot Magazine. The views expressed are for encourage - ment and entertainment purposes only. By being an author on this site all writers transfers copyright ownership of the manuscript to Gutshot Magazine. for publication in print, on line and in downloadable form. Permission is also given to publish all subsequent electronic media, reprints, and any other subsidiary print rights worldwide of this article for Gutshot Magazine. The author(s) will have the unrestricted right to reuse this material on condition that credits are included for prior publication in Gutshot Magazine, to include the issue and date of publication. Interviews are the personal opinions of the interviewee and are not necessarily the views of Gutshot Magazine or it’s Publishers Gutshot Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. take no responsibility for any of their answers or comments. All interviews are subject to editing spelling, grammar, and any content that is not useful may be disregarded when posted/published. Gutshot Magazine reserves the right to change, update this disclaimer and policy at will without any notice.

PETER ABRAHAM Editor-In-Chief

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ADVISORY BOARD

ADVISORY BOARD As a part of our journey to develop into a world-class publication with the highest reputation, we happily present Gutshot Magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board members. These thought leaders in their areas of expertise will vitalise the editorial scope and focus of the magazine and will be our eyes and ears to the Real Money Gaming industry.

Amin Rozani MD, Spartan Group

Roland Landers CEO, All India Gaming Federation (AIGF)

Karan Vig Head of Production, Mind Sports League

Richard Haridasoham Poker expert and commentator

Muskan Sethi Professional Poker Player Responsible Gaming Ambassador

Ramesh Rao Thotapalli Casino Pride 1 Poker Room

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BULLETIN OF THE MONTH

Live Poker is BACK with Elite Poker Tournament!

IVE POKER IS COMING BACK! How many times have you dreamt of going out and grinding in a live poker tournament? We know you have! The COVID-19 pandemic has forced people across the world to stay indoors with no scope of travel. While poker players have been grinding online, an opportunity to play LIVE again is knocking on our doors. The much-awaited live poker is coming back as Elite Poker Tournament (EPT), one of the new and upcoming live poker brands in the country, promises a grand and fun event for all poker lovers. The name ‘Elite’ comes from the fact that EPT is touted to be India’s biggest Super Highroller series, and the upcoming edition will be a limited-seat event only. The EPT is going to take place Club Fenicia, Kolkata.

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COVID-19 precautions EPT will be serving as a brand platform exclusively for highroller poker tournaments in India. They are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to taking COVID-19 precautions and sanitisation and precautionary measures such as disinfecting surfaces and touch points, improving hygiene security etc. An isolation room will be made available in case someone shows COVID-19 symptoms at the venue. Game hosts, dealers and staff at the venue will be vaccinated. Players will have to submit a mandatory RT-PCR report within 72 hours of their travel. EPT founders Rahul Khanna and Hardeep Singh, are very confident and are looking forward to the fact that EPT would be the first to get the novel idea of rolling exclusive highroller poker tournaments in India. In a joint interview, they

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said, “People do need a break from staying at home all these months and live poker, in a new luxurious set-up will definitely get players moving! We are not looking for hundreds of players for our event. As this is a high-value elite event, our target is to get a maximum of 50 participants. Our USP is to balance the pool with an equal number (or most likely more than 50%) of recreational players vs the regs. We, personally, have a 25-30 player quorum who are recreational players/businessmen who will play the tourneys.” The hope and joy to make it big in live poker has been mingling in the minds of every poker pro. So, now is the time for you to pull your sock up and get started with live poker and say a big thank you to EPT. The dates of the live tournament are yet to be released. So, do stay tuned to Gutshot Magazine for exclusive dates of Elite Poker Tournament!

POKER

NEWS

ESPORTS

NEXT STAR, A $100 Million Content Creation Program by PUBG Mobile

Mind Sports League Launches Hashtag Poker Dabur India backed Mind Sports League has announced Hashtag Poker , a one-stop solution for everything poker! Learn, play and watch poker content all in one place in an entirely comprehensive and risk-free environment. The application is the first poker sports learning aggregator in India. Users may access top-notch poker instructors who offer organized courses, live streaming, and personalized coaching, among other services. Through 2500+ puzzles, prizes, and leaderboards, players may assess their progress in many ways that are both enjoyable and interactive. They also aim to conduct free, entertaining, and rewarding tournaments in collaboration with colleges, clubs, and professional.

PUBG Mobiles unveiled its NEXT STAR initiative, a new content creation program with a total prize pool of $100 million. The perks of the NEXT STAR initiative consist of salary, training, special incentives and more for the PUBG mobile content creators. Before launching worldwide, the NEXT STAR program will make its debut in a few select locations like the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Turkey. With this program, PUBG

Mobile pledges to provide significant assistance to these communities while also rewarding players for their efforts in supporting the game. Players will have access to a unique training system which will help them improve their content production abilities, get more fans, and grow as successful gaming influencers.

FANTASY SPORTS

Smriti Mandhana, Bhuvneshwar Kumar retained as PlayerzPot’s Brand Ambassadors PlayerzPot, announced the extension of cricketing stalwarts, Smriti Mandhana and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, as their brand ambassadors. Smriti and Bhuvneshwar joined hands with the brand in 2020 and PlayerzPot unveiled its new brand identity in April 2021. Both the sport stars will continue to anchor the brand with their charisma and will drive 360-degree communication through various campaigns and activities. Sunil Yadav, CEO, PlayerzPot commented on the association saying, “The past

year has been one of hitting many benchmarks for us, we witnessed 3X growth in terms of user base and have introduced multiple new offerings and services on the app. We could think of none better who understand our brand DNA and culture the way Smriti and Bhuvneshwar do. We look forward to another fantastic year of collaboration with them.” Ahead of IPL 2021, Playerzpot had unveiled its new avatar with a brandnew logo, tagline, and groovy new rap. The high-decibel campaign has been a successful one with app downloads and user time per session zooming up, and ‘PlayerzPot Pe Khela Kya?’ by KaamBhaari becoming the earworm of IPL aficionados.

RUMMY

Tamil Nadu Caught Up in Tug of War Over Rummy The Madras High Court’s decision to call out the ban on online gaming imposed by Tamil Nadu as ‘invalid,’ was music to many of the rummy players and platforms, down South. The Madras HC had stated that the legislation is ‘excessive and disproportionate to its object. The court passed an order

in response to the pleas filed by online gaming companies. However, things have taken another twist. The Tamil Nadu State Government has now brought a fresh legislation to ban online rummy in the state. A directive from the Chief Minister, M K Stalin led to the formation of this fresh legislation of banning online rummy in the state.

A ban again would only harm the legitimate operators, forcing them to leave the market while illegal operators would continue to function under the radar. Completely banning online gambling would only harm the state more as opposed to regulating the market. The gaming space continuously generates revenue every year and are also responsible for the employment of thousands of people.

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POKER

IOPC 11th Edition - A Virtual Poker Coachella The 11th edition of IOPC returned, bigger and bolder, in July 2021 with a colossal prize pool of �30 Crores. The #MissionKhazana themed edition saw some valued treasures being won by poker players from every nook and corner of India. We took a quick sneak peek into what went behind the scenes of IOPC July 2021’s treasure hunt.

By Manthra Koliyer

ndia Online Poker Championship (IOPC) is like a coachella for poker. I draw this analogy mainly because IOPC holds a rigid history/position in the Indian poker fraternity, awaken your inner self, and ignites the passion for playing and winning. The series started as India Poker Championship (IPC) in December 2010 aboard Casino Royale in Goa, and is the longest-running live tournament brand in the country. As times changed, digitisation 10

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grew, and as COVID-19 decided to pay a visit, IPC transitioned into IOPC. The series that holds a majestic legacy offers crores in guarantees and an opportunity for poker players from every nook and corner to get recognition in the country. IOPC 2021: The story so far! The 11th edition of IOPC returned in July 2021 with a colossal prize pool of `30 Crore. The glorious tournament series witnessed 140

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tournaments being played, along with some magnificent giveaways like distinguished badges, prizes, and a highly coveted diamondstudded 18K gold crown. Bigger and bolder, IOPC 2021 was not just about hefty prize pools; prestigious gold and silver badges were on offer. #MissionKhazana The theme for IOPC July 2021 edition was #MissionKhazana,

https://bit.ly/GS100Spartan

POKER

mark by shipping Sunday Prime Tournament and leading the leaderboard. However, later, we saw two-time IOPC Leaderboard winners Bhanu Prakash and Anuj Yadav battling it out for the coveted position. However, just like nothing can be predicted in a ‘treasure hunt’, Anuj Yadav, aka ‘tittooTauji,’ topped the z1 crore Alicia Faleiro, Creative Director, leaderboard after sweating it out Spartan Poker intensively. The leaderboard’s and the championship indeed first, second, and third spots were featured some valuable treasures paid `30,00,000, `20,00,000, and to be won. The massive treasure `10,00,000, respectively. The last hunt was full of adventure, thrill, player on the leaderboard (15th and action-packed poker games, position) received an impressive with poker pros competing for sum of `1,30,000 in prize money. the crown. The Marquee Hunting The brainchild of Alicia Faleiro, Along with daily tournaments, Creative Director, Spartan Poker, IOPC also conducted six featured this #MissionKhazana theme tournaments, namely: proved an opportunity for players to experience the joys of playing • `1 CR GTD Blaze Of Glory a treasure hunt even during a (11th July) pandemic-induced lockdown. The first tournament, Blaze of She said, “The idea behind Glory, was shipped by Harshad coming up with the treasure Barve, aka ‘Omglukbox,’ who hunt theme was to add more cashed `16,97,615 in prize value to the IOPC 2021 series. It money. Barve is one of the pro was a team effort. The Creative players who grind recreationally team at Spartan Poker brought and has previously shipped the several ideas to the table, and I APT Highroller (2012), IOPC Elite just weaved them together. We (2019), and was placed fourth at added the map to this treasure the IPC Highroller (January 2020), hunt theme to add more colors among others. to the mission along with scrolls, gifts, and certificates, which • `1.5 CR GTD IOPC United added more value to the series.” (18th July) The `1.5 CR GTD IOPC United The Hunt for Leaderboard tournament ended dramatically The first day saw poker coach when Piyush Jain aka ‘jacks_apart’ Abhishek Goindi of Poker and Amit Ajwani aka ‘DoctorGTO’ Bootcamp India making his struck a deal. Jain claimed the 12

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United title and laughed his way to the bank with `20,72,882. Ajwani took home an impressive sum of `14,08,841 in prize money. However, the highlight and the most talked about part of this tournament was Gaurav Sood, one of India’s top poker pros and Final Table Series 2.0 Kick-Off winner, who was busted at the 5th position with prize money of `6,74,908. • `1 CR GTD Highroller (22nd July) The much-awaited Highroller tournament was shipped by Mohit Bhati aka ‘jacktheripper’, who steadily made his way to the throne amongst the massively celebrated victory. However, the main highlight was how ‘jackthripper’ broke the ultimate IOPC chip leader jinx by being the first player to lead the final table (chip leader) and also go on to win the tournament. Indeed it was a good ‘Bhatti’ Day! • `1.75 CR GTD Legends (25th July) Following suit, Amit Gehani aka ‘Kavipri,’ beat top pros on the IOPC Legends table and yet again broke the chip leader jinx. The Legends was a bloodbath nonetheless, and everyone was waiting for the winner to emerge. This finally proves that the chip leader can crush the final table, too, in every way (twice now, though!). The talk of the show was how Amit Gehani, after sweating it out intensively, beat the top poker pros of India - Abhinav Iyer (WSOP

bracelet winner), Arsh Grover, Sumit Sapra, Rajeev Kumar, and Armaan Kochhar awnd went on to bring home a massive `30,00,510!

his fourth position, in a way nobody expected, to become what many dreams of—IOPC July 2021 champion. The winning title of IOPC July 2021 now sits • `1.4 CR GTD Super comfortably in Temani’s kitty Highroller (29th July) along with the gigantic prize The stakes were higher at the IOPC money of `57,26,064. Trust us, Super Highroller as it is a coveted the final table was no cakewalk, title to grab. A mystery player and we are prettyviewercalled ‘Pradzzz’ took the lead and friendlyuldn’t have it easy as he became the chip leader and as the was up against India’s ‘PokerGuru’ game unfolded, finally crushed the Aditya Agarwal. Despite Agarwal jinx for the third time and went on leading with a 10:1 ratio, Temani to win `35,22,400 at the sought shipped the much-awaited after IOPC Super Highroller title. tournament along with a gold Veteran Highroller pro, Sriharsha badge, a diamond badge, and a Doddapaneni aka ‘Sygrayem’, who coveted diamond-studded 18K had made history by winning both gold crown. the IOPC January 2021 Highroller and Super Highroller titles, Catching the Hunting was busted at the 3rd spot for Stream Live `15,47,000. The six featured tournaments were live streamed across social media • `3.5 CR GTD The Crown platforms. The flight tournaments (1st Aug) paused on the final table on Day1 The ultimate title that of each marquee, were resumed poker pros fought really hard the next day, Day 2, and were live for! Ultimately it was Vaibhav streamed for the audience. The Temani aka ‘AllinPavBhaji’, who IOPC live streams have always nailed The Crown Main Event. been a favourite among poker Temani bounced back from players, and why not! We had Nikita Luther, Kanchan Sharma, Zarvan Tumboli, Raj Juneja, Goonjan Mall, Siddhanth Kapoor, Aditya Sushant, and Gutshot’s very own commentary veteran Peter Abraham, entertaining and putting us at the edge of the seat throughout the streaming.

Karan Vig, Head of Productions, Mind Sports League

The Backbone Never Say Never IOPC partnered with Hashtag Media Productions, run by Sidharth Mishra, Karan Vig, and

Sreetama Vig to host live streams. Talking about his experience with IOPC, Karan Vig said, “IOPC streams are always fun! From the day we started, we have aimed to capture a fresh new audience. With the 11th edition of IOPC, it feels good to get such great turnovers in viewership. This really motivates us to innovate and make the streams more interactive and viewer friendly.” Streaming has changed the way poker is looked at. Karan mentioned, “As a company, we realised that streams offer interactive learning and also increase awareness towards poker as a mind sport. India is a country where several misconceptions have always surrounded poker. With the increasing number of viewer-friendly streams, people have slowly realised that skill is the prevalent factor in winning this game, and it’s not a game of chances. This has inspired many to learn poker and play it.” The curtains are drawn IOPC concluded on a very cheerful note and highlighted a seemingly unlikely interplay between the virtual world of poker and the unmeasurable amount of emotions shared by human beings. This included the competition for the radiant crown, with a sense of brotherhood and a whimsical tone at times shared among all players. IOPC turned out to be a festival that celebrated diversity and appreciated the efforts, individual bankrolls, and more compassion, for one another.

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COVER STORY

Vaibhav Temani

A Disguised Poker Maestro By Manthra Koliyer 14

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OVID-19 has made everyone dream, and quite often, of being on a tropical island, sipping Pina Coladas, and unearthing cookie jars! How about adding badges, scrolls, and a treasure chest to your dream! Some may say it is an extravagant dream bonus! But India Online Poker Championship (IOPC) made it all come true with their July 2021 edition of IOPC. The IOPC July 2021 edition theme was #MissionKhazana, and the event saw many industry insiders going, ‘really?’. With jinxes broken and the newbies taking the limelight, IOPC July 2021 was full of surprises and jaw-dropping moments! The most significant jawdropping moment was when our own ‘PavBhaji’ clinched the crown! A ‘newbie’ they would call him; but this ‘newbie’ warrior fought the biggest poker tournament, went head on head with the biggest names of the Indian poker fraternity, crushed the chip leader, and emerged victorious with flying colours, quite literally, to ship the IOPC July 2021 Main Event. Make sure you remember the name Vaibhav Temani aka ‘AllinPavBhaji’. We are sure many people will!

‘AllinPavBhaji’ started with just 55 big blinds against poker beast Aditya Agarwal aka ‘Yennefer’, who had a chip lead of 10:1. While all eyes were glued to the screen, clearly expecting ‘Yennefer’ to win, ‘AllinPavBhaji’ meteorically played his superlative ‘A’ game, beating the ‘Sachin Tendulkar of poker’. With a win of whopping �57,26,064, a gold and diamond badge, and a coveted diamond-studded 18K gold crown, Vaibhav Temani, from being our favourite ‘PavBhaji’ went on to become the ultimate treasure hunter! Temani’s gameplay began with the commentators exclaiming, ‘Oh! He opened,’ with discussions about his username, which were afloat until he spread his wings and took it all in his stride.

marquee shipping India’s biggest poker tournament? The initial week was extremely exciting, but I am now trying to get back to the routine as the excitement is waning. I have taken a break from the game. I am in my hometown, Jaipur, until the month-end, after which I will get back to the grind. What were you gunning for the title, crown, or the prize money? It was the prize money owing to its enormous value. Of course, it is terrific to have everything, but honestly, I went for the huge prize money.

As the IOPC July 2021 Main Event winner, has your perspective towards the game changed in any way? No! The perspective has not As we caught up with Temani at all changed. This is mainly on a Zoom Call, the one thing because there is a very strong that struck a chord was his feeling at the back of my humbleness! It was quite mind that this is just one insightful to watch the ‘Golden tournament, though big. Man of the Hour’ speak about My skill level remains the his achievements, the final same before and after the moment on the Final Table, tournament. and how he is taking it all in one at a time. I did not have a consistent result with my game before A big congratulations the event. So, I cannot expect on shipping the IOPC Main anything to change. I am Event. How is the feeling much motivated to study and of shipping the biggest go back to grinding. Once

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COVER STORY

I have understood all of it, the subsequent result of all those studies will reflect in my gameplay.

“

There may be a 20% chance that my decisions might fail, but again, there is a remaining 80% chance it may work. This sort of understanding the odds and variance comes through poker.

Tell us a little about how you transitioned yourself into the game. The transition into the game and the change that happened in my gameplay were gradual. There were lots of ups and downs, but thankfully nothing was a steep one. I even happened to bust my bankroll once. But then I decided to push myself to study you started working in harder and kept on pursuing Bengaluru, you started the game. grinding online. What is your daily poker scene in You went up against Aditya Bengaluru like? Agarwal! How was the overall The live poker scene in feeling? How did you make Bengaluru is not something sure to keep your mindset or I am aware of, as I don’t play confidence intact! Were there live. However, to summarise butterflies in your stomach? my daily routine - I get up A little backdrop to that. I was in the morning, do my usual speaking to a few people about stuff, study, read, and watch the FT. So the people I spoke poker content. By evening 7 with asked me to consider PM, which is the prime time, this to be any other poker the major MTTs start, and the tournament. They asked me grinding lasts till 12-2 AM, 3 not to get overwhelmed by the AM, or 4 AM. prize money but just play my usual game. I went onto the You have been playing Final Table with that in mind poker for a few years now. and put the same into practice How has the experience in on the Main Event FT. Only after the game shaped the way the tournament got done, I you think or take other life understood that I was against decisions? Agarwal. Definitely shaped my life! Poker teaches you to start In an interview, you had thinking in bits. Suppose I am mentioned that once thinking of investing, I begin 16

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to think of the upsides and downsides and the particular odds I face. I start calculating if I have enough upsides as compared to downsides. Be it investing or general decisions, poker teaches you to bear the short-term outcomes. I think having faith and keep investing and trusting yourself is what poker teaches you. You can think through all possible outcomes, risks, and the gamut of outcomes that can occur. So, you devise a plan in mind based on what the likely outcome might be. In the long run, thinking of the outcomes, variance, and more will help our life in place. There may be a 20% chance that my decisions might fail, but again, there is a remaining 80% chance it may work. So understanding this sort of variance comes through poker and its study.

Usually, when something works out for us, we believe that ‘something’ is good based on hindsight. What poker teaches you is to not take much from hindsight but during the process that took place. The process teaches you to think logically during that particular time when something is underway and not after it is over. With the help of poker, you understand that the outcomes smoothen out rather than getting volatile. Does the game empower you in any manner? Poker gives you free time and flexibility. By teaching you the pros and cons of your decisions, poker gives you a sense of entrepreneurship that makes you the boss of your life. Do you have any mentors in the Indian poker circuit? You mentioned bonding with Goonjan Mall and Anant Purohit. Our bonding started through a WhatsApp group where we talked about hand history, tournaments, results, and other poker-related stuff. This was at a time during the pandemic when I had taken MTTs seriously and started playing more intensely. It was and is very tough to learn and improve on your own in poker. G UTS H OT

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COVER STORY

“

Poker operators should realise and rework the rake structure. I think, otherwise, the cash tables could run out dry very soon because of the rake.

jumps at a point, three bets, We believe this is exactly how Temani and more. In poker, you got up the next day of the FT grind - could play the worst game of your life but still ship with such a big grin on his face! a tournament, and on the It would be best if you had a bit contrary, one could play their of assistance. So, we have this best game and not win. group, where I reach out to the players from time to time to If there is one change that discuss. you wish to bring about in the Indian poker circuit, Are there any instances where what would it be? you felt you should have The rake on cash games or shouldn’t have made a must be reduced. It is too particular move when you high, and if one does the look back? math, one would realise that When I reflect, I think that there the rake percentage is much were several situations where higher than anticipated. I was scared of getting busted. Operators should realise and Those were the moments when rework the rake structure, I was thinking and making and I think the cash tables decisions based on emotions. could run out dry very soon I was also thinking of the pay because of the rake. 18

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As a poker player, where do you see yourself in the next five years? Five years is a very long time, but I would definitely be improving my game in the next six months. To be honest, I do not know if I will be associated with poker in the next five years; I may or I may not.

Temani made it big in the IOPC 2021 July Main Event and also secured a special place for himself in the history of Indian poker. The live streams, blazing action, and the conviction with which Temani shipped this tournament will be spoken about in the years to come. Cheers to convictions and chivalrous moves on poker tables!

TELL TALES THE INSPIRATION BEHIND ‘ALLINPAVBHAJI’ Planned to start a poker-themed Pav Bhaji restaurant. DESCRIBE POKER IN ONE WORD Beautiful PLAYING WITH ADITYA AGARWAL WAS LIKE Intense ONE PLAYER FROM THE INDUSTRY YOU ADORE Laksh Pal Singh WHEN ON THE FT, WHOM DID YOU WANT TO KNOCK OUT? Aditya Agarwal A POKER PRO, YOU WOULD LIKE TO PLAY AGAINST A FT with Anant Purohit DREAM TOURNAMENT? World Series Of Poker THE COOLEST THING ABOUT BEING A POKER PLAYER? Brag about your winnings Don’t have a boss YOUR 2 AM FRIENDS FROM THE INDUSTRY Vivek Nityanand Naitik Jain Ameya Gokhale HASHTAGS THAT DESCRIBE YOU #Agressive #Allinpavbhaji

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POKER

World Series of Poker - Unyielded! When we speak of ‘Tournament Watch,’ it would be a sin to miss out on talking about the humongous WSOP! So, we take a quick walk through the by lanes, its controversies, India’s run at WSOP and give you a sneak peek.

By Ananya Agarwalla

hen you think of poker immediately, high stakes of money, cigars in one hand, and Vegas come to mind. You start dreaming – maybe one day you’ll be able to compete against thousands and emerge victorious in a tournament with such a huge prize money. Every poker player, who starts considering poker a serious business, always has their eye 20

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and a little space reserved in heart and brain for WSOP and its bracelets. And why not! Numerous events happen every year, organised by some of the biggest online poker platforms, still, the World Series of Poker remains the most prestigious event on the calendar. Played annually in Las Vegas, WSOP, has allowed players to change their lives, test themselves and show the world what true poker strategies are. With its origins 2021

dating back to 1969, the series has gone through changes over the years. Traveling back to 1970 Before achieving the stardom position, WSOP enjoys today -standing tall, in both tradition and stature - it was an invitation-only tournament started by Legendary Las Vegas casino owner Benny Binion in 1970. With a handful of the best poker players in the

world gathered at his famous Horseshoe Casino, Binion wanted to determine who was the number one player on the planet. The legendary Johnny Moss came out as the ‘World Champion’, the basis of the popular vote. This is the same Johnny Moss, who, along with Nicholas “Nick the Greek” Dandolos, played the poker marathon in 1949, which lasted for five months. Though significant in its own way, this poker marathon paved to be the stepping stone of WSOP. WSOP, today, has touched millions of lives over the years, giving opportunities to talented players to follow their dreams, reach for the stars even on days that are

long and arduous, and perhaps one day achieve greatness in their chosen endeavor. WSOP 2020: The year of two Main Events The 2021 World Series Damian Salas won the World Series of Poker will begin Of Poker Main Event 2020. on 30th September at the Rio in Las everything went online. WSOP Vegas, and there is a promise then announced an exclusive that the event this year will be online version, ‘World Series more entertaining and, most of Poker Online,” an online importantly, worth your time. We poker festival that spanned believe them too, owing to how two months. One of the largest everyone’s lives changed in 2020. online tournament series, WSOP online, had massive prize pools 2020 changed the way we look and gold bracelet glory across and grasp things. People’s lives two distinct gaming platforms came to a halt, and societies of WSOP and GGPoker. The had to adapt to a system where online experience opened a

The Ballroom at RIO where WSOP is hosted. G UTS H OT

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POKER

door for new-gen poker players to feel the rush of competing for the game’s biggest prize. Stoyan Madanzhiev was crowned as the 2020 World Series of Poker Main Event champion after winning the $5,000 Main Event on GGPoker. He took home $3.9 million for his impressive performance and also earned a bracelet! So, that makes him the 2020’s world poker champ? Apparently not! Things got interesting here! WSOP & Its Tryst With Controversies! A tournament as big as the WSOP is bound to run into challenges, by which we mean controversies - that are crazy enough to be turned into film scripts. WSOP 2020, post announcing Stoyan Madanzhiev as the 2020 World Series of Poker Main Event

champion in November 2020, went on to announce another exclusive online version of the $10,000 No-Limit Hold-Em World Championship. Damian Salas was crowned the winner in the second version of the Main Event. However, since the Main Event tournament happened twice in 2020, people voiced their confusion and opinions on the true holder of the 2020 WSOP Main Event winner title - Madanzhiev or Salas! Many condemned having the hybrid version and believed that the entire tournament should be played online given the world’s circumstances and how it was unfair that the WSOP announced a new Main Event to ‘crown a champion’ when a player already won the title. The controversy is big but something of the past now. However, this was not the 1st time that WSOP has found itself in hot soup.

Picture Credit: US Poker

Whether you consider what happened all these years on WSOP events acceptable or not, WSOP still stands tall amongst all! It is still great, seeing all the skills demonstrations coming under the umbrella of WSOP since 1970 and play such amazing poker!

Stoyan Madanzhiev was the 2020 World Series of Poker Online Main Event Champion. 22

Top WSOP Contoversies • WSOP 2020 was more know for its controversies. They came under the radar when they messed up a Main Event satellite payout and took money from Eric Baldwin’s account and replaced it with a tournament ticket! • The 2018 WSOP Main Event had Phil Hellmuth getting serious flak for speaking out of turn right before his opponent Alex Kuzmin was about to act on James Campbell’s all-in raise. • The 2012 WSOP saw one of the biggest blunders in history. Hungarian player Koroknai was left red-faced when he tossed his hand onto the table, thinking that French player Baumann had folded. Upon realising his error, Koroknai quickly attempted to gather the cards back up. Much controversy followed.

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India and the WSOP In India, poker is still seen as a taboo for a profession and is misconceived as gambling. The opinion of the masses is slowly

India & its woes with poker There has been a massive boom of poker in India with the pandemic and the growth of online poker sites. With better data plans and a Abhinav Iyer was the first population of 1.3 billion, Indian to win a Solo WSOP poker has more potential Gold Bracelet, which marked to infiltrate the gaming history for India. It’s incredible market and become a to see players train so hard to more widely played game. reach world-class standards Though India continues and succeed. He shipped event to have certain norms #84: The Closer – 1500 dollars and issues and states NLHE in July 2019. He was able banning poker, many to win INR 3.87 Crore through have started recognising this tournament which has been it as a game of skill. One Abhinav Iyer graced Gutshot’s January the biggest sum of money an of the most significant June 2020 Cover! Indian has won in a global poker supports came from tournament. the Madras High Court, which recently revoked We have also seen Aditya a past law that banned Sushant (2017) and Nikita people from playing Luther (2018) win bracelets at online gambling games the WSOP at partnered events. like poker and rummy and Nikita Luther’s win showed and called the games a ‘skill encouraged the female poker game.’ The Indian attitude atheletes of India that there is is changing, and poker world out there in the poker seems to be booming at community. Aditya Sushant, the a sonic speed and will first Indian to win in a WSOP continue to! event, paved the way for more poker players to follow and Signing off on a give India a more significant WSOP note! place in the WSOP series. Each While WSOP undeniably player has made their distinct attracts the best poker mark on poker globally as well players globally, mediocre as in India. Nipun Java, Vivek players or recreational Aditya Sushant and Nikita Luther graced Rajkumar, Aditya Agarwal, players are attracted to the Gutshot’s June 2019 Cover. Raghav Bansal, and Dhaval the beatuty of WSOP what history says, you can compete Mudgal are some famed poker events too. Address one with anyone or everyone as long as pros that have made India of the that there is a wide gap and Indians proud with their between the ‘best poker pros’ and you think straight and ahead and figure out what is going on! outstanding skill at WSOP. the competent players, going by changing, and seeing Indians win at various events at the WSOP surely helps! We are slowly seeing more Indian players representing our country at these tournaments, which helps prove that poker is a game of skill.

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T H E N O TA B L E

Gutshot Player Of The Month Suraj Yadav - On A Chase For The LeaderBoard By Donna Amo The 11th edition of India Online Poker Championship (IOPC) took the poker fever in July 2021 to an all-time high. Along with the intense poker action, there were many players emerging into the spotlight with their consistent gameplay and performance on the online felts. Out of these players, the Advisory Board of Gutshot Magazine selected BLITZPOKER player, Suraj N Yadav aka ‘MR. BEAST,’ as July’s Gutshot Player of the Month. Right from the start of IOPC, Yadav managed to catch the attention of the poker community by shipping the IOPC Launch Party event. While he is not a professional player, his skills in poker continued to shine throughout his IOPC run and warranted him the spot of Gutshot Player of Month – July 2021. Here’s our conversation with this upbeat and enthusiastic player.

Congratulations on being chosen as the Gutshot Player of the month. How do you feel about it? I feel very honoured to be chosen as the Gutshot Player of The Month. Being named the player of the month amongst such a vast field of players gives me immense satisfaction. What has motivated you to keep on playing as a regular grinder on BLITZPOKER and having up to 53 ITM finishes? My love for the game has kept me motivated for the long grinds on BLITZPOKER. The number of high valued tournaments at IOPC inspired me to keep on playing. Every poker player has a story behind their introduction to poker. What is yours? I started playing poker in 2018. Along with my friends, I used to play cash games every 24

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weekend when I was in college. I accompanied my brother to Las Vegas when he won the MOP Las Vegas package to participate in WSOP in 2019. The trip to Las Vegas was the beginning of my MTT journey. Being in Vegas, playing tournaments in casinos, and seeing the top players in the world fight out for the bracelets made me realise the value of poker and made me fall in love with the game.

Gutshot Player of the month Suraj Yadav

You were a regular presence at IOPC July 2021 and even managed to clinch the IOPC Launch Party title. What did your grind schedule look like during this period, and how did you prepare for it? IOPC is the biggest online poker event in India. I tried hard to ship any of the tournaments. in the previous two editions of IOPC - I came close but couldn’t clinch a title. So, for IOPC July 2021, I had

prepared myself for those long grinds in order to win a title this time around. So, when I was able to do it for the first tournament of the series, it helped me become more focused and even aim for the IOPC Leaderboard. The leaderboard race was a long and tiring one, in all honesty, I had to put in 14-15 hours every day. I had an excellent run throughout the series, where I was constantly at the top 3 places

2021

http://bit.ly/GSBlitzP

T H E N O TA B L E

Total winning amount No. of tournaments played

12,41,944 307

% win Tournaments total buy-in amount

17.26 1049450

No. of times ITM

Avg.count of bullets fired in tournaments

Biggest win amount

182027

GTD Buy-in Bullets Rank fired IOPC #1 Launch Party 12 L 550 2 1

Winning amount 182027

IOPC #41 Saturday Spotlight IOPC #61 Tuesday Spotlight

14 L 2200

129325

12 L 1650

85201

on the leaderboard during the initial days. However, a bad run during the last few days of the series made me come down a few spots on the leaderboard. It was a great learning experience for me, and I will be better prepared to chase the leaderboard in the next edition of IOPC.

every day, learn from my past mistakes, and stay calm. These learnings have helped me make good decisions at various stages of the tournaments, e.g., picking up the right spots at the right time.

Given that most of your grinding sessions take place on Have you decided to become a BLITZPOKER, what drew you poker professional? into choosing this platform? No! I don’t think I will be a BLITZPOKER is an excellent userprofessional poker player. Poker friendly website with a wide range would be more of a hobby than of tournaments covering low, mid, a profession to me. I’m looking and high stakes tournaments. The after my family business to start structure of their tournaments with and planning to be a fulland their GTDs makes me put fledged entrepreneur in the next the majority of my volume on few months, but I’ll be a regular at BLITZPOKER. the poker tournaments whenever I find the time. Since playing poker, what are some of the changes in your What are some learnings life that have resulted from this that have helped you remain game? consistent in your game? Poker has helped me become a I discuss the game, and the hands lot more patient and disciplined played with my brother, which than before. Through poker, the has helped me become more major aspects that I learnt are consistent. I work on my game to control my emotions better, 26

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read other people’s intentions, act appropriately under pressure, manage my finances better, and be more patient. Tell us about one memorable poker experience or interaction you’ve had. I had an opportunity to meet the best players from India in Las Vegas. This was when I attended a party hosted by 9stacks for Indian players taking part in WSOP in the RIO Casino. I had an opportunity to meet and interact with Rajesh Shukla, Abhishek Rathod, Goongan Mall, Nishant Sharma, Vivek Rugani, JD SAZ, Sanjay Taneja, the founders of 9stacks, and few more top players from India. That, for me, has been the most incredible experience in my poker journey so far. Interacting with these top players and understanding their thought processes and how they go about their games was a huge eyeopener for me. Have you experienced the live poker scene in the country? Are you looking forward to it, now that they are coming back? I have been fortunate to experience live poker in Las Vegas for 20 days. I have been to a few tournaments in Goa for the Deltin Poker series. However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, I haven’t played many live tournaments of late. But hope to get to Goa when the next big live series arrives.

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POKER

Cash Games or Poker Tournaments – What’s your thing? It is essential to understand which one is the right fit for you and your mindset - cash games or poker tournaments. We got in touch with Manish Yadav and Radhika Shankar to get a quick understanding the best of the both.

By Ananya Agarwalla

s a poker player, you might have, at some point, evaluated what your priorities are when it came to choosing between poker tournaments and cash game poker. Building a tournament poker strategy or cash game poker strategy requires different skills and mindsets. Thus, it is essential to understand which one is the right fit for you and your mindset. Gutshot got in touch with the two poker pros who have been shipping poker tournaments and cash games poker for quite some time. We spoke to Manish Yadav, a high-stakes cash player, and Radhika Shankar, a poker pro and

Radhika Shankar 28

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tournament crusher, and tried to understand their perspective on why they play, what they play. Cash game poker or poker tournament? Manish: Cash game poker! For me, it’s more about the flexibility the cash games offer. I can join the game anytime and don’t have to skip on the other things because I can’t miss out on some MTT schedule. When I started playing with friends, we were only into ring games, and that was an organic way for me to grow as a player. I had no plans to play full-time back then and wanted to keep it as a hobby that doesn’t interfere with the other things I’d like to commit. I’ve played some MTTs now and then. However, I never really enjoyed the grind. I’d instead work on the ring games and get better at it. That may change in the future, though, as I love traveling and playing those live flagship events. Radhika: Poker tournaments! I feel that poker tournament brings out 2021

far superior qualities in a poker player than anything else - be it patience, perseverance, skill, discipline, grit; nothing tests your strength more than tournaments do. Fortunately, being a parent taught me to be patient. So why not use that tool where it’s needed most – in poker tournaments! How do you handle variance? Manish: Variance isn’t a big deal now. I think when you’ve played enough professionally, it’s natural to come to be on terms with the variance. I would look up at those bell curves to know how far and for how long I can deviate from the actual win rate without worrying much about my ability to beat the games. I now have enough samples to have the first-hand experience

POKER

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on how the swings work. Now, after a bad session, it’s more about scanning the HH to find my poor decisions and fix them than to care about the win or loss. Ignoring the variance is important, and it has to be learned by everyone who wants to take the game seriously Radhika: Bankroll management and discipline are the only ways to handle variance. It’s a known fact that even the best poker players will be slapped in the face by a downswing or harsh variance at some point or the other in their poker journey, possibly even multiple times. The ones who survive and live to see another day are the ones who stick to their bankroll, or even drop stakes, if need be and control tilt. If you rebuy when variance is high, you will find yourself losing every flip, maybe fifty flips in a row! I try (and successfully have managed) to stay within my bankroll when this happens. It’s the only way to ensure I’ll be playing poker for the rest of my life. What kind of bankroll management do you follow? Manish: I think I’m rolled enough to play all the games that run on Indian sites. Back then, I was a bit conservative in moving up stakes. Having played with my own money since the beginning and not having a mentor/coach guide me through the process efficiently, I had my reservations about things getting beyond my control and going backward or nullifying the progress 30

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I had made, which was the last thing I wanted. Even when I was convinced that I should move up by all the BRM standards out there, I needed to make a rule for myself not to touch the current stakes and only play the higher ones; else, I’d find myself sitting at the same tables again.

ranges in check at every node of the tree. On the other hand, MTTs are played with diff stack depths at diff stages, making it hard to remember all the GTO ranges/frequencies as the number of strategically different spots pre-flop is a lot more than in ring games. ICM also adds to the complexity.

Radhika: I follow the hundred buyins rule, i.e., I must have at least a hundred buy-ins for the stakes I play. So, if my bankroll is 2 lakhs, I do not and will not play any games with more than 2 thousand bucks buy-in. I allow myself the liberty to roughly balance it out since obviously games vary in stakes. So, if there’s a game I’ve played above my buy-in, there’ll surely be one or two below, so it evens out.

Radhika: Poker requires skill. Period!

Which do you think requires more skill, cash games or tournaments? Why? Manish: Skills are involved in both the formats, though on different levels and kinds. The bigger the game tree, the more edge a player gains for a single hand in isolation. The average stack sizes in ring games are deeper; because of that, a good player can extract more EV per hand than in the MTTs. As the games go deeper, the right frequencies and balancing become more relevant. As you play a lot against the same player pool, you leave yourself exploitable if you haven’t worked upon your game by running the solvers for different spots and have made an excellent effort to keep your frequencies and 2021

What kind of advice would you give to someone who is debating between playing cash or tournaments? Manish: It all depends on what kind of life you want, which format you enjoy the most, and your expectations from the game. For someone who is playing for fun and is fundamentally strong, MTTs should be the way to go. The average field in an MTT is softer than the ring games. Hence a good recreational player is more likely to make money there. Also, recreational players can’t be targeted for their leaks in an MTT as the tables keep shuffling. The longer you play against a better player, the bigger his edge gets. Radhika: My only advice to anyone who chooses to play cash games or poker tournaments is to follow strict bankroll management. Especially in cash, it’s really very easy to lose money very quickly; a few buy-ins can disappear in minutes! Secondly, no matter which format you play, it is crucial to STUDY! It’s the only way to be profitable in the long run!

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LO O KO UT

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GCC: A Jump-Start For Gamers While Indian professional esports are garnering attention worldwide, the amateurs and the semi-professional gamers are losing out on a heavy chunk of opportunities. Gamerji Community Challenge is one such opportunity for the newbies to set their foot right in the world of gaming.

By Donna Amo

sports and gaming among the youth of India are not uncommon phenomena. For the younger population, the space of gaming has become one of the favourite forms of entertainment. Competitive gaming or esports has continued to garner more interest in recent years, and according to a CLSA report, esports was a $100 million market. The popularity of gaming has also fostered a sense of community among those involved. This community consists of casual gamers, esports enthusiasts, streamers, content creators, etc. Due to the growing popularity of video and mobile games, many companies and organisations like NODWIN Gaming, India Today Gaming, Gaming Monk, Esports Federation of India, and All India Esports League have held countless esports tournaments. 34

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Bridging the Gap Most of the tournaments in India are directed towards professional players and esports teams. While nonprofessional gamers could participate, the chances of 2021

winning against the trained pros are relatively slim. Gamerji, an esports tournament organiser, recognised the need to bridge the gap and decided to hold the first Gamerji Community

Challenge (GCC) in January 2021. GCC mainly was aimed at amateur and semipro players; giving them a

platform to compete in their own league and make their mark in the esports industry. The first edition of Gamerji

had a prize pool of around `1 lakh and attracted about 15,000 participants from all over India. Even though this was the first tournament hosted by the company, it saw a tremendous response from its audience and had a total reach of 2.1 million. Encouraged by this, the company decided to bring back GGC for a second time and hosted Gamerji Community Challenge 2.0 (GCC 2.0) in July 2021. The fast-paced growth of the tournament within just these seven months further proved that there was vast potential in this space.

Soham Thacker, Founder of Gamerji

Gamerji Community Challenge 2.0 The 2nd edition, i.e., GCC 2.0, was even more significant than the last, with an increased prize pool of `3 lakhs and a sponsorship offered by their G UTS H OT

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streaming platform Loco. The tournament held on the 11th and 12th July saw player participation of 32,000, which is more than twice the number from the first GCC held in January 2021. Soham Thacker, Founder of Gamerji, commented on this huge milestone, “We believe in the growth story of esports

in India and focus on bridging the gap between amateur to professional level gamers through our tournaments. GCC 2.0 tournament has seen one of the highest participations ever for a single event. GamerJi understands that aspiring gamers need exposure and recognition to advance in their esports careers.”

The move of making esports more accessible was something that drew Loco to partner up with Gamerji. “Esports needs to focus on

Taral Patel, Head of Esports, Loco

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The total reach for the tournament also saw a rise in numbers and peaked at 6.8 million. One main reason for this growth was the company’s association with Loco. As one of the top streaming platforms for gaming, Loco provided the perfect medium for GCC 2.0 to become more accessible to a broader audience. Regarding the association, Taral Patel, Head of Esports, Loco, said, “We associated with the Gamerji Community Challenge 2.0 because we wanted to engage at grassroots levels and build a community to bring out the next big stars in gaming.” With Loco, the live streaming hours of GCC went from just 11 in the first edition to 40 in the second. Even in just a short amount of time, GCC’s reach has more than doubled. For nonprofessional players, GCC was the perfect platform they needed to jump-start their journey into the world of esports. This voice that Gamerji provided to the larger community of gamers was another thing that appealed to its audiences.

2021

casual or non-professional players because that’s where the next generation of superstar players are going to come,” said Patel. Esports is changing every day, and it demands new star players who can challenge the current ones to level up their skills. “It’s like a new star coming out from every IPL, they challenge the current stars in Indian team for a spot,” he further added. Gamerji even partnered with gamers and streamers to host its tournaments. Among these were popular streamers like Saloni Kandalgaonkar and Juliet Salve. When asked about her experience with Gamerji, Salve replied, “I had a great experience with Gamerji. I was able to host around five to six tournaments in a day which was fun, and I even got to witness skilled PUBG players who were really good at their game.” Sharing her thoughts on Gamerji’s efforts to bring professional esports to casual gamers, Salve said, “Even if you are not even a professional player, you can still play in GCC and win like a pro. Another great thing about GCC is that it also has matches where top ten or twenty people can also win prize money.”

In a span of 12 months, Gamerji experienced tremendous growth from having only 100,000 users initially to over 1.5 million users. Among the company’s many milestones, founder Soham Thacker also pointed out that raising seed capital from India Ventures and Lead Angles was a huge turning point. “Competitive gaming platforms like ours provide a transitional area for potential esports athletes, something that Juliet Salve, streamer with Gamerji the Indian gaming industry needs to accelerate its growth. GCC, a With all its efforts to make property created by GamerJi esports more accessible, will see at least two more Gamerji is slowly removing such large-scale tournaments the dividing barriers in the by the year-end. GamerJi gaming community. Opening will continue to launch such the doors for all kinds of tournaments to further grow gamers will only help boost the esports ecosystem in India the growth of the gaming and and continue to provide a fair, esports industry even more, fun and engaging platform to and it looks like Gamerji is on amateur gamers,” said Thacker. the right path.

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GAMING

Realising The Dream Of Amateur Players A quick chat with Soham Thacker, Founder, Gamerji who decided to give those ‘gamers’ a chance who does not exactly fit into the mold of esports with Gamerji Community Challenge!

By Donna Amo

mong the various esports tournaments hosted in the country, most of them largely focus on professional teams and players. Gamerji wanted to change this status quo and give the little guys a chance. Gamers that did not exactly fit the mold of esports athelets but were gamers. The platform finally achieved its dream with its first Gamerji Community Challenge back in July 2019. Now with Gamerji Community Challenge 2.0 already wrapped with a resounding success, there’s no doubt that Gamerji will continue to grow in leaps and bounds. To get an inside look into Soham Thacker, Founder of Gamerji the growth of Gamerji and its journey, we approached Soham bedrooms or outside college campuses, did not have the Thacker, Founder of Gamerji, to share his experience right platform to compete in or even make a mark. as its founding father. Thacker has always been an With that thought, we started a virtual tournament avid gamer and found himself drawn to the gaming platform in July 2019. Since then, Gamerji has grown industry when he made a cricket action game which from a few thousand users to more than 1.5 million eventually turned into Gamerji. active gamers today. Tell us more about the inception of Gamerji and how it has grown as a company? We realised that most of the esports tournaments were only catering to the pro-gamers. Hence most of the audience who play from the comfort of their

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How did you come up with the idea for an esports tournament like GCC? We realised that there were not a lot of multi-game tournaments that were hosted for the community. Gamerji Community Challenge (GCC) was created

with the intention of having gamers from all gaming modes to be able to come together and compete in one single event. There are so many esports tournaments like ESPL, Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2021 etc, what makes GCC 2.0 different from these? The thing that sets GGC apart from all these tournaments is the fact that it hosts multiple titles and not just one game. Other than this, I would say much of the player participation in GCC comes from amateur players and not from esports professionals or paid teams. Gamerji’s partnered with streaming service Loco for GCC 2.0, tell us a bit more about this association and if there will be more like it in the future? Loco has been the one of the largest and fastest growing Indian streaming platforms. The association was mutually beneficial for both the companies where Gamerji brought in its experience of tournament hosting while Loco had the upper hand in content creation and streaming. How do you think esports tournaments like GCC 2.0 are changing the gaming landscape of India? Tournaments like Gamerji Community Challenge is giving the average or semi pro player an opportunity to compete and make a mark in the industry. It is somewhat of a steppingstone for aspiring gamers who eventually want to be scouted as pros.

Gamerji is also tapping into the college landscape in India with its CGL tournaments, what pushed you into targeting this space? Inter college tournaments have a strong belonging and following in conventional sports and esports should be no different. Also, in these tough times when it is not possible to get involved in outdoor sports, esports is one another way where colleges can still find that kind excitement. With the tournaments, Gamerji is also aiming to bridge the gap between professional and casual gamers. What are the other gaps in the gaming and esports industry that can be worked towards? Esports is still in its very early stages in India, but there is a large gap when it comes to playing only as a recreational gamer and the actual journey that is required when becoming an esports athlete or pro. It is like most conventional sports and also requires its athletes to train and play in local or international tournaments in order to move forward. This gap is what I believe can and needs to be filled in the gaming and esports industry. Compared to other gaming companies in the country and around the world, Gamerji is just a newcomer. However, by giving lesser-known players a shot into the big leagues, it sure is capturing the heart of many players out there. For the gaming community this just might be the change it needs to move even more further. G UTS H OT

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ESPORTS

Esports and Tournaments: A Hand-In-Hand Affair By Amarylisa Gonsalves If you start talking about esports, the topic of tournaments will follow; an inseparable pair they are! Tournaments are one of the most important factors that differentiates esports from gaming.

teve Bornstein, Former CEO, ESPN once was quoted saying, “Esports will rival the biggest traditional sports leagues in terms of future opportunities, and between advertising, sales, licensing, sponsorships and merchandising, there are tremendous growth areas for this nascent industry.” Esports is something that young people have created for themselves over a shared hobby and passion. It has been quite some years since esports moved from the sidelines into the mainstream, i.e., it is no longer treated a s a ‘waste of time’. Unlike traditional sports, esports is categorised by being scalable 40

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owing to its digital backup and its ability to get everyone involved with irrespective of their origin, gender, and physical appearances/impairments. Esports tournaments Immersing your players and audience in a tournament is an opportunity for any esports company to score big! As such, if you start talking about esports, the topic of tournaments will follow; an inseparable pair they are! Tournaments are one of the most important factors that differentiates esports from gaming. It gives a platform that allows brands to truly engage and entertain their 2021

audiences. The popularity of esports is unprecedented and the attention and money that a tournament creates is astonishing. But what goes into building a successful esports tournament? When deciding a game, you should consider elements such as popularity, competition, streamability, duration, and competition integrity restrictions. The popularity of your tournament will help you evaluate how scalable it can be; your competitors will offer you a better idea of how online tournaments for your game are managed; and stream-ability will help you determine how easy you

INDIAN NEWS

can stream games. Designing a tournament Anyone can organise a tournament but building esports tournaments are not as easy as simply inviting a few people, organising a bracket, and handing out some fancy trophies. The very first step being designing the structure and format of a tournament. Right from designing a tournament to successfully rounding-up the tournament, it’s a lot of people, a lot of processes and a lot of technicalities that come into play. What makes esports so unique is its ability to organise tournaments to have participants compete at home. There are a variety of formats in which esports tournaments can be played. But deciding on one format is the first essential step. Shiva Nandy, CEO, Skyesports, which is one of India’s leading esports tournaments organisers, says, “We follow a pyramid structure while designing a tournament. The pyramid is divided into three levels, which comprises the amateur level, the path to pro level and the topmost is the league. Depending on the purpose of the tournament and the kind of players that we expect

to participate, we decide on the structure and format based on these three levels.” As pointed out by Ishan Arya, Co-founder & Head of Business Ishan Arya, Co-founder & Head Development and Content, The of Business Development and Esports Club, which organises Content, The Esports Club major Indian esports tournaments, rightly says, “The format all comes to register is something that any down to the objective of the event, organisation cannot compromise on. the objectives of our clients and Streamlining a process for gathering partners and of course how much registrations and storing the players’ time we have to finish each event.” data safely and securely can define A successful esports event define the success of a tournament. the objectives and expectations around it. You need to clearly define Once the players register, it is your objective, do your research also very important to verify the regarding your specific game, build registrations. Instances of players up your tournament assets, plan registering multiple times and using and advertise your event, and unfair means for greater advantage execute your event effectively. For have been recorded frequently in successful subsequent events, you esports tournaments. Such instances will want to make sure you have have not only happened in India but a well-organised and thoughtat international tournaments too. provoking debrief. It is important for organisers to ensure the viability and authenticity Registering the registrations for of the registrations. the tournament The next most important aspect is Sponsorships and partnerships the registrations and verifications As esports is gaining its mainstream of the players. Players are without status, the number of sponsorships a doubt the most essential and partnerships pouring in components of any tournament. has also considerably increased. Gathering players by having them International brands like AMD,

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ESPORTS

helps us in assimilating the latest when it comes to organisational practices from around the globe,” says Vishwalok Nath, Director, Esports Premier League (ESPL). This is particularly true and can greatly benefit the esports scene in India to scale up to international levels.

Taral Patel, Head of Esports, Loco Redbull, WD_black to name a few, have actively invested in Indian esports tournaments. The most recent partnership being Amazon partnering with The Esports Club for the Amazon Prime Day Valorant Championship. Talking about it, Arya says, “We had been in discussion with Amazon for several months. The event was moved around a few times and finally it was decided that it would be one of the spotlight activities during Amazon Prime Day. The event was a huge success not only in terms of participation and viewership, but also because we hosted multiple watch parties through partnered streamers that really helped reach and even more gamers across India!” Sponsorships are key in helping us ensure that we are constantly creating opportunities for aspiring esports athletes and together with our partners we’re creating an invaluable platform for them. “Some of the brands have a healthy history of being involved in much larger esports tournaments across the globe with multiple organisations. Their expertise 42

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Go streaming! Another major component of any tournament is the streaming of the tournament, so that it reaches the audience. When tournaments are streamed live, it helps add additional value to the organisers, the brands, and the tournament itself. Just like how people enjoy watching a live cricket tournament, the same applies for an esports tournament. Player satisfaction Coming to the final aim of any Talking about the difference tournament, without any doubt, between streaming a normal is player satisfaction. One of game and an esports tournament, the quickest and easiest ways Taral Patel, Head of Esports, Loco, to measure the success of any says, “There’s not much difference tournament is understanding the between the technicalities, experience of players during that the process remains the same. tournament. Arya says, “One of our Viewership, of course, has a biggest priorities is the experience difference, when a tournament is for players. This can range from being streamed, we expect a higher being accommodating to fixture audience engagement than a regular changes, broadcast timings, stream, because we have a lineup of delays, technical issues and superstar streamers competing in a overall assisting players during single window. Content also plays the entire tournament process an important role while streaming. right from registration till prize Content is what drives engagement money payouts.” for any stream.” The Indian esports tournaments Streaming of esports tournaments have been growing at a manifold is now being done in different pace. And all we can say is that it languages. Which is an amazing has come a long way ahead. feat itself and a testament of how It won’t be long until Indian rapidly the esports scene is growing tournaments stand at par with in the country. international tournaments. 2021

ESPORTS

ESPL 2021: Serving the untapped 1 million potentials The ESPL was the talk of the town when it received a spectacular 1 million registrations. We caught up with Vishwalok Nath, Director, ESPL to get a gist of the ‘behind the scenes’ of India’s first franchise-based esports tournament.

By Amarylisa Gonsalves

he Esports Premier League (ESPL), which kicked off on July 16th, 2021, has been going on in the full swing. The Free Fire tournament, scheduled for a duration of over two and a half months, has witnessed tremendous success so far. Within just a few days of its commencement, the spectacular tournament managed to receive

over 1 million registrations. We connected with Vishwalok Nath, Director, ESPL, to understand the thought process behind initiating India’s first franchise-based esports tournament. Though the tournament still has a month to go before its completion, it has received a great response from the esports community. Nath

shares some insights on how the tournament has been doing so far and what is anticipated. Can you elaborate on the structure you follow while designing and hosting a tournament? How are the format and structure decided upon? The structure for any given

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ESPORTS

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“Indian parents should encourage their kids to follow the route of becoming a professional esports athletes.”

tournament is different depending on several factors, including the game and the scope of the event. Other aspects that impact these tournaments include whether they are a solo segment or will just focus on team-based competition. These things are taken into consideration during the making of the format and structure of the tournament. For ESPL 2021, we knew that we wanted to target gamers across India with Free Fire as the title. The nationwide structure and the franchise-based system aided the decision to divide ESPL into four levels spanning two and a half months. When we talk about an esports tournament, what are the different teams involved who work backstage? For ESPL 2021, several teams work in the backend, from the conception to the execution and the post-tournament activities. We have a team that works on the concept and structure of the tournament and the marketing team that pushes the idea forward to the partners. Other teams include a production team that handles 44

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both the design and the actual execution of the tournament matches. Esports Premier League 2021 also has a customer support team that addresses any concerns gamers may have over discord and other support lines. The overall team includes a tech team and content team that focuses on keeping the site running and the correct information for interested gamers. Tell us about your most successful tournament so far. Most of the tournaments in the past have been successful in various degrees, from gamer engagement to the actual scale. However, ESPL 2021 seems to be on route to be our most successful tournament so far. As part of the registration phase, we managed to amass more than 1 million participating players with thousands of registered teams. The nationwide scale of the tournament is likely to take things to the next level in the remaining levels. How has the pandemic affected the occurrence of esports tournaments? The global pandemic has changed the way we planned to 2021

Vishwalok Nath, Director, Esports Premier League (ESPL) execute the event. Initially, we planned the tournament to be a proper offline celebration of gaming and esports. However, the pandemic turned it into a completely digital event for both the organisers as well as participants. This helped us ensure that ESPL 2021 is exceptionally safe for all the parties involved. How do you manage the registrations and verifications processes? We have created a robust India Today Gaming platform to ensure that we can easily manage the registrations and not worry about verifying the players involved. We have also used discord and social media platforms to help incoming gamers register without any problems. If they have any issues, they get connected with our team to solve their queries

and issues. The ESPL 2021 registration process requires players to verify through their phone number or email ID to make the process as seamless as possible. This one-time registration will ensure that players can stay informed about our future esports tournaments. We are continuously working to improve the platform to make it better for gamers. Can you share an incident where a major technical issue occurred and how your team overcame it? We did face some technical issues at the start due to the sheer number of users registering on our platform. However, our technical team was on its toes and quickly fixed the problems to make the Esports Premier League 2021 registration process a breeze. What do you think of Indian esports tournaments as compared to the tournaments in western countries? The Indian esports scene is still

nascent compared to global esports and happens at a much smaller scale. However, significant game tournaments happen between India and other countries both in the East and West. ESPL is one small step in helping India move forward the long journey to bridge this gap.

in the future to create newer platforms. In the meantime, stay tuned for other tournaments in the coming months and future iterations of ESPL.

India Today Gaming has partnered with global brands like Infinix Mobile and WD Black, to name a few, for Where did the idea of ESPL organising tournaments. What and having a franchise-based impact does collaboration esports tournament root with international brands from? bring? We created ESPL 2021 to serve Collaboration with global the gaming community in India brands like Infinix Mobile, by offering them a national Western Digital, and Garena stage to exhibit their talent. for tournaments helps us push This move will push gaming the tournaments to the next to the mainstream and on level. Some of these brands par with some of the other have a healthy history of being competitive sports. India has a involved in much larger esports lot of untapped potential in the tournaments across the globe esports arena. We want to help with multiple organisations. discover and nurture this under- Their expertise helps us in utilised reserve of talent. assimilating the latest when Our goal is to make esports a it comes to organisational viable and lucrative option for practices from around the Indians so that even Indian world. This allowed us to create parents can encourage their kids and execute tournaments like to follow the route of becoming the ongoing ESPL 2021. professional esports athletes. Apart from ESPL, any ESPL received 1 million upcoming esports registrations. What would tournaments from India Today you like to say about that? Gaming? I want to thank the entire We are currently working esports community for on a major global tournament offering tremendous support behind the scenes. I would around Esports Premier request interested gamers to League 2021. One million is stay tuned for tournaments a good number, and it will that are now in the works and help us bring more (and much is likely to be announced in the larger) esports tournaments coming months. G UTS H OT

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FA N TA S Y

Into The Realm of Top Fantasy Contest Pool Fantasy platforms do not have “tournament per se.”, so, we decided to delve more into the contest pool of India’s top fantasy sports platform.

By Akash Mishra

antasy sports have been fueling sports consumption in an instrumental and revolutionising manner, ensuring that sports enthusiasts engage with their respective favourite sports. The tremendous growth registered by Indian sportsmen and athletes has helped India look beyond cricket; sports such as football, kabaddi, and badminton are trying to make room for themselves in the hearts of Indian sports fans. The theme of the August 2021 Edition of Gutshot’s e-magazine is “Tournament Watch.” However, since fantasy platforms” do not have “tournament per se.”, we decided to delve more into the contest pool of India’s top fantasy sports platform. The pool is a term used in fantasy leagues where a pool of fantasy players chooses players according to the league format and style of play. Sometimes, player pools make the fantasy game quite interesting as they get into the heart of what’s happening in the game zone. We have curated a list of top Indian fantasy sports platforms that organizes contest pools for their users. Have a read at these fantasy player pools that may help you decide what kind of league you wish to join. Dream11 When talking about Dream11 in India, one must understand that the Dream11 online prediction platform is not a betting website. Dream11 is a place where people can earn based on their cricketing skills and gameplay techniques. We are aware of the questions that arise about the legality of fantasy sports and their platform. However, we would like to 46

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inform our readers that Dream11 is a legitimate business activity protected under Article 19 of the Constitution of India. Every second person in the world is aware of the fad of IPL (Indian Premier League). Players crosswise the globe participate in this tournament and utilize this platform to earn and learn more from categories of players within the squad. Introduced in 2016, Dream 11 has carved a niche as one of the most popular and reliable websites. Previously, the platform used to provide `250 to participate in the Dream 11 Fantasy Cricket. However, the referral and acquisition program has now changed and have got themselves a few upgrades. If you click on someone’s referral link and enter the code to register, `100 would be credited to both accounts. This allows you to play by creating a Dream 11 Cricket Team without any investment. How to win an �1 crore pool in Dream11 If you are a fantasy sports enthusiast and adores playing fantasy sports, you must know that winning or losing is nothing but a part of the game. Every competition in the division requires remarkable skills, and if you outshine these skills, you can accomplish anything.

To win a `1 crore pool in Dream11, check the players’ performance in the previous matches before you go ahead and select a team. Before picking a team, be aware of all the news related to that match. You should not select a player who has not participated in the recent matches. Before choosing a captain and vice-captain, check the position at where he comes to the bat or bowl. The competition does not end before that. If you have multiple phones, choose a different team for both phones. Before choosing a Dream11 team, get information about Dream11 prediction from our website gutshotmagazine.com. Dream11 Fantasy Cricket Rules & Points System • Whichever captain you select, its points are doubled i.e., multiplied by 2. • The Vice Captain’s points are multiplied by 1.5. • If the batsman scores a run, he gets 0.5 points. • If the bowler takes a wicket, he gets 10 points. • If a player catches, then he gets 4 points. • For hitting a boundary, you get 0.5 points. • Hitting a six gets 1 point. MPL- Mobile Premier League MPL- Mobile Premier League is one of the biggest fantasy platforms in India where one can enjoy, play and earn money by playing games such as MPL Cricket 2021, Fruit Chop, Runner No.1, Monster Truck, Run Out, Space Breaker, and Ninja Jumper, etc. To earn from MPL, all you have to do is play games and earn MPL Tokens to participate. These MPL tokens make you eligible to participate in several games; you can make money through the platform by winning these games. How to earn from MPL? Earning from MPL is as easy as playing Ludo on your Android or iOS. MPL allows you to gain money by playing.

To play MPL games, you need to pay for MPL tokens. You can also add money to your MPL account from your Paytm. Meanwhile, you participate in the game; you will earn money according to the ranking. MPL also allows you to earn through referring. You can also make money by introducing MPL to your associates. When your colleague downloads the MPL app and uses your referral code, you and your colleague will receive `25. How to make a team in MPL? MPL is a gaming platform application in which you can create your team in any sport and legally earn real money from it. In this, first, you have to choose your favorite sport, after that, create a team of yours. For example, if you adore cricket, you can select cricket and start making your dream team. If you have to make your team in IPL and compete in the IPL pool, you have to select an equal number of players from both teams, after which you can make your team and go ahead with the competition. Five easy steps to earn millions from MPL • Match selection: Select one of the upcoming matches from either the current or upcoming cricket series. • Create a team: Leverage your sports knowledge, show off your skills, and create a super team within a 100-credit budget. • Participate in the contest: Join the Super Team Free or Cash Contest to earn cash and the ultimate bragging rights and showcase your Super Team’s improvements in the Free / Skills Contest! • Follow match: Watch the actual match and track your scorecard • Withdraw prizes: Instantly withdraw prizes from your wallet. Points to remember • Cricket players selected as captains of the super team will earn double points. • Vice-Captain receives 1.5 times more points on his performance. • Strike rate scoring applies only to the strike rates G UTS H OT

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FA N TA S Y

• • • • •

of less than 70 runs per 100 balls. Substitutes do not earn points for their contributions. If there is an actual player transfer during a scheduled update, the transfer will not be reflected in the player’s address until the next. (Transferred players can be selected from the player list of the teams transferred in the contest in the meantime. However, no points will be assigned to such transferred players during such a contest. “Starting line-up” is just a function to help you select a team. This will prevent you from selecting a player who is not the starting member of any match. We strongly recommend that you do your research before creating a team. According to T&C, Google will not be liable if a player labeled “Playing / Not Playing” does not play or start a match for any reason.

MyTeam11 Myteam11 is a fantasy prediction platform where one can create and compete in the pools with their team. It is a government-approved application, and with the Myteam11 app, you can compete in games such as cricket, soccer, and kabaddi. For those who have a lot of knowledge and are passionate about cricket, and loves to watch matches for hours, MyTeam11 is the best platform for you - cricket enthusiasts. How to earn from Myteam11? Making money from Myteam11 is not rocket science, Myteam11 helps you to earn, by referring, Joining the contest, playing games etc. To make money from the mentioned fantasy platform all you have to do is to choose the game that tickles your interest, take an example of cricket, for playing cricket with Myteam11 all you have to do is to build your team by selecting batters/ bowlers/all-rounders/captain and vice-captain

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You can create your dream team according to your cricketing knowledge. After creating your Myteam11, join the league of your choice and wait for your selected players to form. The winner is decided entirely on the basis of points earned. How to play the Myteam11 game? It’s effortless! According to your cricketing knowledge and research, all you have to do is choose the 11 players of your choice from the 22 players on the list. You need to join the league of your choice, create your dream team at the end of the match. To create a team, all you have to do is: • Select a match: Select the match you want to play and show off your skills. • Select XI to play: Create your team by selecting different players within the defined virtual credit points. • Select Captain and Vice-Captain: After selecting Play 11, select a captain and vice-captain to help you earn additional points. Double points for the captain and 1.5 times the points for the vice- captain, based on performance on the field. • One league, multiple teams: Increase your chances of winning with multiple entries by participating in up to 15 “multi-entry” leagues • Become part of the league: In playing XI, you can participate in leagues or contests hosted by MyTeam11 and compete with other users or your friends through private leagues created by you or your friends. Halaplay Halaplay is also one of the most trending fantasy platforms in India, the platform allows you to play daily or weekly matches. To earn with Halaplay all you need to do is to just create your leagues and invites friends to play along you in a minute. Halaplay allows you to withdraw money anytime, the platform is suitable for newbies as well as pro’s who desires to do something in fantasy platforms. How to earn millions from Halaplay? • First, you have to select a wicketkeeper. Remember,

the one you will choose should have a good form. • After selecting the keeper, make sure that you select a relevant batsman that is in good form. You can select a minimum of three and a maximum of five batsmen. • After batsman, go for the all-rounders. Make sure that you only select 2 to 3 all-rounders. • Then you have to select the bowler. You can select 3 to 4 bowlers. • After this, you have to select the captain and vice-captain. • After this, you can play the league of your choice by investing money. Halaplay App Team Tips • Before forming the team of the Halaplay app, you need to extract the records of the players, you canget the player information from any sports site you prefer. • Always try to get more all-rounders in your team so that you get more points. • Always make an all-rounder as your team’s captain and vice-captain. • If you are playing big league, then play with six teams. • The more minor league games there are, the more chances are there. CricPlay CricPlay, a completely cricket-only fantasy sports platform, was founded in 2018 by Gaurav Sarin. With a user base of about 5million, CricPlay has now registered a growth of nearly 500%. CricPlay Fantasy Cricket Rules & Points System • Points are doubled for whichever captain you select.

• • • • • •

The vice captain’s points are multiplied by 1.5. If the batsman scores a run, he gets 0.5 points. If the bowler takes a wicket, he gets 10 points. If a player catches, then he gets 4 points. For hitting a boundary, you get 0.5 points. Hitting a six gets 1 point.

Important Points to Remember on CricPlay • Players selected as captains of the super team will earn double points. • Will the Vice-Captain receive 1.5 times more points than his performance?) • Strike rate scoring applies only to strike rates of less than 70 runs per 100 balls. • The player does not earn points for donations. • If a real player gets substitutes during a scheduled update, the substitute will not be reflected in the player’s list until the next update. During that time, the substitute players can be selected from the player list of the teams transferred in the contest, but no points will be assigned to the players transferred during such a contest. • “Starting lineup” is a function that helps you select a team. This makes it impossible to select a player who is not the starting member of any match. How to Win CricPlay Pool contest Every competition in the division requires remarkable skills, and if you outshine these skills, you can accomplish anything. To win a 1 crore pool in CricPlay, before selecting a team, make sure to check the players’ performance in the previous matches. Before picking a team, be aware of all the news related to that match. You should not select a player who has not participated in the match around. Before choosing a captain and vice-captain, check the position at which he comes to the bat or bowl. The competition does not end before that. If you have multiple phones, choose a different team for both phones. Before starting to play and creating a team on any top fantasy platforms, get prediction information about all the domestic and international teams from G UTS H OT

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RUMMY

An Unparalleled Cosmos of Online Rummy Tournaments Online rummy tournaments fit the frame just right to earn some extra bucks by putting that analytical skill of yours to play rummy during quarantine. So, here's a sneak peak into the top rummy tournaments of India.

By Mrinal Gujare

e are sure that the headline has your attention! Out of all things under the Sun, why are we talking about online rummy tournaments? Firstly, we are staying true to our August 2021 edition ‘Tournament Watch’ theme and because our countrymen and women 50

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love this game dearly. Our intentions are noble. Trust us when we say we would love to tell you a fascinating tale about online rummy tournaments that are literally making people rich! Yes, we are sure you have heard how online rummy a game of skill and strategy is. Strategise well, and you get paid handsomely. 2021

Madras High Court’s decision to strike down in its entirety the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act has opened a new window of opportunities for players of all ages to enjoy a new medium to play this traditional game in a new light. This news will surely boost the online rummy tournaments. Rummy lovers benefit heavily from this

RUMMY

variant of rummy, be it in the form of lucrative rewards and real money prizes or simply the adrenaline rush that shoots up during the game. Indian Online Rummy Tournaments If we talk about Indian online rummy space, there is absolutely no dearth of tournaments or promotions offered to the ever so enthusiastic rummy players. Despite stiff competition from other Real Money Gaming markets, the rummy industry has held on to itself and is growing rapidly. Online rummy tournaments fit the frame just right to earn some extra bucks putting that analytical skill of yours during quarantine. Rummy tournaments are a couple of levels up the ante in terms of professionalism, expertise, excitement, and rewards. Ace2Three Rummy To begin with, the Rummy

Indian Open 2021 (RIO) by online rummy brand Ace2Three (A23) brought on the largest online rummy tournament in history for players. The three-month-long tournament began on May 22, 2021, and ended on 22 August 2021. Under the leadership of Deepak Gullapalli, Founder and CEO, Ace2Three Rummy has flourished. By taking a giant step ahead and launching RIO 2021, they gave over two hundred thousand online rummy enthusiasts a chance to come together to flex their skills on a common platform from the comfort of their homes. with a mind-boggling prize pool of �25 crores. Junglee Rummy A23 is not alone, and the peers aren’t too far behind. Holi—the festival of colors and all things bright and chirpy was even sweeter this year thanks to Junglee Rummy. This popular online rummy platform hosted its Holi 2021 Tournament Series with a prize pool of �8 crores to win from. Players could smash the virtual felts

from February 15 to March 30, 2021. Imagine battling it out in a grand finale worth �2 crores and a 1st place prize of �75 lakhs. That’s a lot of dough! Junglee Rummy, an established operator in the real money gaming space, had also conducted its New Year 7.5 crore tournament series, which ran from November 30, 2020, to January 3, 2021. Players were offered an attractive prize pool of �1 crore for the grand finale. The top spot winner pocketed �50 lakhs. Another offering by Junglee Rummy was its Republic Day Series with �4.5 crore in the prize pool. An elephantine prize pool is more than enough for players to grind like there is seriously no tomorrow. The series ran between January 4-31, 2021. The cherry on the cake? The grand finale offered �50 lakh, and the first-place finish got �20 lakh. Next in line is the Millionaire Series again from Junglee Rummy, with a �3 crore prize pool. This event was hosted between June 16th-30th 2021

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and offered a grand finale worth �50 lakhs, and the title spot winner could get an impressive sum of �20 lakhs in prize money. What if we told you that Junglee Rummy did not stop at �4.5 crores? Yes sounds riveting, right? A �3 crores Rummy Royale promotion was hosted in a truly royal fashion with a �50 Lakhs grand finale and another �20 lakhs for the title winner. June 2021 was a great month for rummy players as Junglee Rummy went all out with their offerings. Junglee Rummy concluded its tournament spree with Rummy Premier League �1.5 crore grand finale and �50 Lakh top prize. This tournament was a ticket-based promotion wherein keeping an eye on the leaderboard was critical. The top 350 players on the leaderboard won direct tickets to the grand finale - who doesn’t like to debut on a grand finale, especially if you get a chance to flaunt those unparalleled rummy skills. RummyCulture: Indian Rummy League

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We also spoke to Amit Kushwaha, Head Brand Strategy, RummyCulture, about the tournaments galore in the online rummy industry to extract meaningful insights. He said, “Big tournaments are one of the biggest audience drawers for any gaming platform, and these are the events that players look forward to. Tournaments allow users to play with the best players in the game and win sizable amounts. Thus, during major tournaments, we see a good spike in the number of users and players. It is Amit Kushwaha, Head Brand the thrill of participating in Strategy, RummyCulture tournaments where the best players participate along with at par with other gaming higher winning amounts, thus tournaments nowadays. Thus, helping gain a higher number looking at the participation of users.” numbers of these events, it has become evident that they have When we quizzed Kushwaha a significant impact on the about the big-ticket events online rummy industry. in online rummy and its corresponding impact on the One can’t possibly ignore industry and players, the Head the blockbuster prize pools of Brand Strategy stated, offered in online rummy “Like any other online gaming tournaments that went from segment, rummy also gets lakhs to crores. While shedding benefited from leagues and more light on this topic, tournaments because they Kushwaha said, “Looking at draw users to the platforms.” the last few years, we have Many new as well as regular observed that the prize money players look forward to playing of these tournaments has in such tournaments as they grown manifolds which have have become a good option resulted in higher participation for new user acquisition and from users. Also, higher user retention for high-value participation has encouraged players. These tournaments players like ours to make these help put the rummy industry tournaments not just bigger 2021

but also better in terms of gameplay experience.”

not stop just yet. There is more! We also have one of the most renowned As delighted as we are to get online rummy platforms, significant insights about Adda52Rummy, making the tournament scene in some scintillating offers. online rummy, one must not This brand is hosting the forget about RummyCulture’s Indian Rummy Challenge smashing tournament series with �8 Lakh in the called Indian Rummy League guarantee. The tagline (IRL), which generously offered of ‘Roar High With Mega a prize pool of �6 crores. Top Winnings’ aptly defines this bosses at RummyCulture, 13 card rummy tournament which comes from the hood of series. This online rummy room Gameskraft, rightly scheduled guaranteed players not just an this tournament series to run impressive prize pool but also alongside the Indian Premier an incredible adrenaline rush. League (IPL) 2021. IRL was 15th and 29th August are days a delicious combination of when the winners will get cricket and rummy. crowned and garb truckloads of cash. Players could predict and win loads of cash. Apart from this, there was a champions leaderboard and a Millionaire tournament which rewarded players handsomely. We know that IPL 2021 was postponed due to the COVID-19 scare, which resulted in IRL getting hit by a minor blip. But don’t you worry, IRL will make its comeback in September 2021 Rummy Passion: Freeroll once IPL 2021 resumes in the Tournaments United Arab Emirates (UAE). There won’t be any single Cricket fans across the country pro who won’t have tried are waiting eagerly for this, their hand at freerolls and and one can only imagine would have a big win! the astonishing success that Rummy Passion’s freeroll awaits IRL. tournaments and cash games that account for �7 Lakh in Adda52Rummy: Indian the monthly prize pool are Rummy Challenge something you absolutely The online rummy train does can’t miss at all! Win real

cash, prizes and rewards every day by participating in freeroll and cash online rummy tournaments. Mega Tournament, Big Jackpot, Jumbo Jackpot are some tourneys you can smash and earn that much-deserved prize money. There is no stopping you on Rummy Passion if you love this game with all your heart. A virtual realisation and a dream come true destination for rummy lovers and fans nationwide, online rummy tournaments are lucrative games among the new-gen players that motivate them to test their skills for free and win real money. Trust us when we say there are tons of tournaments offered, and players should roll their sleeves up if they want to grind hard and takedown top titles. Gutshot happens to have the ‘deeds’ of rummy tournaments!! Remember whom to hit up if you want a review of any of the rummy tournaments!

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RUMMY

RIO 2021: Slaying The Red Carpet of Rummy Championship We caught up with Deepak Gullapalli, Founder and CEO, Head Digital, to know about ideating and devising world-class event like the Rummy Indian Open 2021 -colossal prize pool of �25 crores for a meagre entry fee of �11.

By Mrinal Gujare

emember the time when everyone in the family got together to play rummy during festivals or just played it as a regular game with the fam jam over dinner! So, rummy was more than ‘just a game’; it was a crucial element that people bonded over. Emotions run high and

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low when people win or lose in rummy, but that’s just how it is. This sought-after game has now gradually turned into a lucrative professional career option for many who excelled at it. The twist in the tale came when the game went online. Playing online rummy as a source of fun and frolic turned into a source of

2021

income for players who took it up as a means of earning livelihood. It may not be a conventional choice, but many chose to break the shackles of orthodox living by taking up rummy as a profession. Moving on to the tournament’s scene in, one can safely say that online rummy operators are

leaving no stone unturned to offer a best-in-class experience. The World Rummy Championship with �1.25 crore prize pool and winner prize money of �50 lakhs was very much fierce as only 150 participants were allowed - only the crème de la crème would fight it out for the world champion’s title. To hit such a marquee event one must go through the grind - freerolls, daily, weekly and monthly promotions which run throughout the year! What we really want to dig into are the big ticket championships that are conducted by online rummy brands. Ace2Three Rummy (A23), owned by Head Digital Works Private Limited, are on a mission to provide a seamless gaming experience to its players, promote rummy as a professional

game and build a rock-solid community of gamers. We interviewed Deepak Gullapalli, Founder and CEO, Head Digital Works to know what went into devising a world-class event like the Rummy Indian Open 2021 (RIO). The event which is ongoing offers a colossal prize pool of �25 crores for a meagre entry fee of �11. RIO kick-started on 22nd May and concludes on 22nd August. The grand finale (grand knockout) has put �6 crores on the table with the first place getting a jaw-dropping sum of �1 crore. Let’s look at what went into ideating, planning, executing, and promoting a full blown state-of-the-art online rummy championship. Since when was the idea of launching a rummy championship floating? How did you put it down on paper? We have always been conducting large scale tournaments each year but wanted to up the ante a bit as the industry was going through a slight lull at that point. That’s when the idea of launching an annual championship came up.

Deepak Gullapalli, Founder and CEO, Head Digital Works

What were the initial hurdles you thought of while planning the RIO tournament series? Bringing in something unique as a format and structure over a period was the challenging part. We also needed to ensure ample participation would be there to justify the cost and that kept

us on our toes in the planning phases. Given the legal status of rummy in various Indian states, was the brand not apprehensive of going full steam? Not just rummy but all skill gaming is affected by the regulatory changes in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. But given that India is a sizable market, we knew we had to continue to grow and let the judicial outcomes take their own course. How did A23 decide on the prize pool for Rummy Indian Open 2021? We wanted Rummy Indian Open 2021 to be the largest ever tournament held in the online rummy space and the prize pool number was decided on that basis along with the potential to expand our engagement levels with our users. When it comes to participation from players, what was the number you were looking at? We were looking at engaging over 500K participants.

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RUMMY

Once the registrations started for RIO 2021, what were your initial feelings about the response for the event? We were pleased overall with the response and the participation levels. The tournament is still ongoing, and the format is such that players can still come and give it a shot, so the numbers are swelling. Not many large-scale rummy events are held in the country, so do you see this trend changing post the launch of RIO 2021? We usually set the trends for the market and have already seen other peers launching similar initiatives. This is probably how things will continue in the years ahead. Newer brands in the RMG industry are launching rummy on their respective platforms, what can be done 56

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to have more tournaments/ championships in the rummy space? Typically, stand-alone brands offer the focused group of rummy players what they want. Tournaments are one aspect of that engagement activity and also promotes healthy competition and awareness of the game. In making sure that RIO 2021 is a success, what are the various aspects that the brand made sure are ticked off? We wanted to make sure that the concept was unique and that the message also stood out especially during the build-up and launch phases of the tournament. It was also the first time that a tournament concept was built as an asset for a brand to showcase as opposed to just selling the brand. What kind of tournament series/events is A23 looking

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forward to hosting in the future? Well, one can say accurately that there is no stopping the online rummy players or the firms who want to go bigger and bolder with their offerings. We will continue to run Rummy Indian Open on an annual basis and build it up over the future. The participation in RIO 2021 only points towards the fact that seasoned players and newbies want more of such events; a competitive prize pool only further incentivises players to come out and fight it out on the virtual felts. Once the legal issues are ironed out, then hopefully we can have more such tournaments as the industry will look to go full steam. Just like we see it in poker, live events are also conducted in rummy. The games are more in the west, but India can take the live rummy route, if the mood is set to go big. We are currently living in a time when live poker is making a return after a sabbatical that was forced down owing to the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown. If Las Vegas can do it with the World Series of Gin Rummy at the Bally’s and Flamingo, then India can surely take some inspiration and pull its sock up if the dream really is to put ourselves on a global map of real money gaming.

10 THINGS

10 Things About Tournaments

Word ‘Tournament’ is derived from the old french word ‘tornoier.’

Use of ‘tournament’ for competitive games, dates to the mid18th century.

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Longest poker tournament lasted

Largest poker tournament was played in 2013 in the UK, with 2,25,000 players.

Idea of WSOP was conceived more than two decades before it’s debut in 1970.

48 hr 55 min 58.5 sec.

First esports tournament was played in Stanford University in 1972.

\World’s largest esports tournament was Dota 2 International in 2019 with a $30 million prize.

League of Legends World Championship 2015 recorded the largest audience of 334 million.

9 10

Largest card game tournament consisted of 1,146 pairs playing Mus in Spain in 2010.

Largest online rummy tournament held in 2010 had 109,000 participants.

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Gutshot August Issue

Articles inside

RIO 2021:Slaying The Red Carpet of Rummy Championship

An Unparalleled Cosmos of Online Rummy Tournaments

Into The Realm of Top Fantasy Contest Pool

GamerESPL 2021: Serving the untapped 1 million potentials!

Gutshot Player of the Month - Suraj Yadav

IOPC 11th Edition - A Virtual

Finest Hotels In Panjim

Cash or tournaments: What is your thing?

World Series of Poker - Unyielded

GCC: A Jump-Start For Gamers

Realising The Dream Of Amateur Players

Bulletin of the month