A Community’s Unanimous Choice to Make A Hero Call!

OVID-19 started as

Ca China’s problem in January 2019, until it toppled the world into a vulnerable situation. The rosy days that everyone looked forward to in 2020 had fallen short and a new task to curb the spread of this deadly virus began.

Stuck in four walls, everyone started practicing the most effective tool against the virus, which is to break transmission by reducing or completely cutting off social contact. Within four walls arose love, inconvenience, invasion of privacy, and a new culture called work from home. Even as the virus ravaged us and our loved ones, work from home kept people going. The biggest dilemma for the central and state governments was to start opening the economy again, as it was required for people’s livelihoods.

To rescue the lives, to fight the mutant virus, soldiers rose from every walk of life. Good Samaritans from across the globe have made their efforts to help people

By Manthra Koliyer

during the COVID-19 outbreak. For the poker community, who was trying to play the best hand during this pandemic, underwent a change to shift itself from the live casino scene to an online one. However, what the poker world experienced was a resurgence during the COVID-19 lockdown. So, because it got reinvigorated, India’s poker community decided to come forward and share their strength with the other communities of India. By organising live tournaments and online streams, the poker community brought together thought leaders and influencers together to raise funds and pitch in donations to PM CARES so that India can be relieved off some burden.

Pledging the winnings

Hundreds of poker players and brands took every chance out there to save humanity and Indians from the nightmare. Millionaire Series veteran Sriharsha Doddapaneni pledged to donate 50% of his Sunday cashes to charity. He communicated this via a Facebook post in the The Players Group (TPG), a group for people acquainted with the Indian poker world. This thread went on to reveal the other charitable causes that players have been supporting during that time. Players like Nitin Arora, Pranay Chawal, Kumar Vatsal, Harsh Kumar Dembla, Shagun Jain, Kunal Patni took to sharing screenshots, while others pledged to contribute 10%, 20%, and even 50% of their winnings to the COVID-19 relief initiates. Players also rolled out all the links that required help and weighed it in equally with the amount of money raised.

Actor turned philanthropist Siddharth Kapoor started with donating plasma for COVID-19 patients and urged his Instagram community to follow suit. He also started a #Mumbai plasma drive in association with Red FM 93.5 and Aaarnaav Shirshat. Kapoor is also advocating the ‘Find a Bed’ initiative where he has been supporting 20,000 students across 160 cities to help find a bed or build a quarantine centre for COVID-19 patients. Kapoor has raised ₹15,00000 so far and plans to raise even more with the initiatives that he is taking. Delhi-based Anmol Mehta and

Akshay Kapoor conducted a hand history session on 4th May which invited everyone to make a minimal contribution of `2,000 to charity. Two high-stakes players, Shashank Siddharth and Rajnish Kumar also planned to raise `70,0000 and buy ambulances for the transportation of COVID-19 patients, so no loved one ever goes through days of ‘gasping for air.’ This initiative was backed up by poker superstar Patrik Antonius who urged the players to donate to the Akkaara fundraiser initiated by Shashank and Rajnish. The cause by these two players received tremendous support from others from the community like Abhishek Mazumder, Awnish Kumar Singh, Irshad Chaudhary, Kanish Upreti, Zarvan Tumboli, Gaurav Sood, Muskan Sethi, Harsh Raj, Ankit Jajodia, Rishab Jain, Jaldeep Vadera, Shashank Singh, Manish Jain, and Naveen Kumar, among others.

Platforms to strengthen the initiatives

Online poker brand PokerBaazi stepped forward in April 2020 by organising fundraising tournament series to donate a minimum of `10,00,000 to support India’s battle against Covid-19 by associating with Delhi Youth Welfare Association (DYWA). The entire fees were donated to the cause and to support the daily wage workers with money and ration. Baazi in partnership with GiveIndia, also conducted ‘The O2 Initiative’ tournament on 7th May 2021 and successfully raised `3,31,000. 100% of the tournament fee went towards providing oxygen to those in need.

In March, a special tournament, Falcon by Adda52 raised `2,50,000 for donation. The AOPS (Online poker series) Warm Up event, a part of the April Edition AOPS series by Adda52 that offered a guarantee of `30,00,000 raised funds for the poor and the underprivileged. The amount collected from the warmup events were donated to the PM Relief Fund. An initiative called ‘Play for a Cause’ donated funds to the Hemkunt Foundation and ACT Grants. The initiative further reinforced the #EveryHandCounts implying how every little help during this tiring time can help save lives.

Natural8, too launched one of the biggest fundraisers to support COVID-19 relief efforts in India. This ‘Unite to Fight COVID-19 in India’ campaign saw Natural8 matching every dona-

tion dollar for dollar. All contributions went to community-run fund CryptoRelief, which provides aid in the form of medicine, oxygen, and other essential items. So far, they donated close to $1,000,000 with the goal of providing #OxygenForEveryone during the ongoing crisis in India. BLITZPOKER too joined the fight with the ‘BLITZ Covid Relief’ tournament which hosted a `249 entry buy-in. With the GTD of `75,000 prize pool, all the proceeds went to the Hemkunt Foundation to provide oxygen cylinders and ventilators to those in need. Siddhanth Kapoor hosted the ‘Poker for a cause’ tournament (30th May 2021) on PokerHigh where his celebrity friends also contributed for the cause. This tourney helped raise money for hospital beds in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh. Along with poker brands, Poker Bootcamp India also conducted a campers stream

along with Hemkunt Foundation.

Not only poker brands but even casinos took the initiative on their shoulders and extended their help in every way possible to the people in their locality. Casino Pride, a cruise ship located on the coast of Mandovi river, Goa started providing free lunch meals for COVID-19 patients around Panjim and Porvorim.

This COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to a human collage filled with a tragic miasma. Poker players registered their gut-spilling anger towards the virus by choosing to give back and by rescuing as many as they could from this deadly virus. The old Indian fable about people gathering around an accident, whispering but not helping has now changed. This is a form of holocaust faced by everyone and poker players shook off every fear from their shoulders to add as much luminescence as possible during this morbid countrywide emergency.