Over the past few years, poker in India has been booming at an unprecedented rate. The Indian poker scene is on a constant growth trajectory with more and more players, not only joining the scene but also achieving unbelievable results.
2023 was a fantastic year for the poker talent in the country, both for established professionals as well as new and upcoming players. With many live poker events happening, and online poker witnessing some of the biggest guarantees ever offered, the poker scene of India was buzzing with achievements, shiny envy-worthy trophies, and some hefty paychecks.
Building on the scale of the previous year, 2024 promises to be even bigger. As we enter the New Year, let us spotlight some rising stars from the Indian poker fraternity who are worth our attention and are most probably going to make some noise in 2024.
Whether Neel Joshi is a rising star or an established pro may be debatable, but the fact that this young player has immense potential is constant. The player is well known in the Indian online circuit. He also has multiple cashes in the live scene and has also made appearances at the World Series of Poker. (WSOP). While he has plenty of WSOP cashes to his name, his most significant score at the prestigious series was $72,031 at the WSOP 2021, which he earned for finishing third in the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Super Turbo (Event #86). It remains his best score to date.
Some of his notable recent wins include WTF 20 Lakh GTD, BSS Superstack 50 Lakh GTD, Endeavour HighRoller 30 Lakh GTD, Daily Mini HighRoller 10 Lakh GTD, and Summit HighRoller 20 Lakh GTD on the online felts, apart from several final table finishes. Besides, he has already started the year on a winning note, bagging three titles in 2024.
He also cased four events at the WSOP 2023, including three WSOP Online events and one at the live WSOP $600 No Limit Hold’em – Deep Stack Championship event, wherein he finished 30th.
Saransh Garg
This young player demonstrates immense potential to make it big in 2024. Currently, he ranks 42nd in the Indian online poker rankings. Hailing from Jabalpur quit his job to become a full-time poker player in 2022 and hasn’t looked back ever since. With multiple online titles under his belt, he is also seen playing at live events.
Saransh registered four cashes at the WPT Prime Cambodia event held in March 2023 in Phom Phen. This included one runner-up finish, a second runner-up finish, a fifth place, and a 14th place. Talking of online results, he has been consistently recording cashes. In the past few months, he has also shipped prestigious titles like IOPC, ITM, Legends, Adda52 Millions, Sunday Special, and WTF.
Garg made headlines when he was bought by Delhi Czars at the PSL auction last season for a whopping ₹4.4 Lakh due to his consistent past results. This made him the second-highest pick from the qualifiers at the league.
Vishal Ojha
Vishal Ojha has already begun making noise with his strategic prowess in the Asian Poker circuit. He recently clinched victory at the record-breaking USOP No-Limit Hold’em Main Event in Hanoi, securing a career-best VN₫ 4.952 Billion (INR 1.71 Crores).
Talking of his online records, he ranks 88th among Indian online poker rankings with 132 online titles to flaunt. His rise on the Global Poker Index (GPI) leaderboard has also been impressive. He currently ranks 9th on the GPI among the Indian contingent.
Some of his online titles in the past few months include multiple prestigious and top IOPC and Legends titles, Masters, The Summit, and Godfather titles, along with several final table and ITM finishes. He is known to be among the top grinders seen regularly on online felts.
In 2023, Vishal recorded more than a dozen of live cashes at notable events such as WPT India, APPT Cambodia, USOP Hanoi, USOP Da Nang, APT Hanoi Billions, WPT Vietnam, and APF Hanoi in the Asian poker circuit. This included one victory at the USOP Hanoi Main Event. He currently ranks 9th on the Global Poker Index among the Indian contingent.
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Pratibh Saluja
Pratibh Saluja is another upcoming star. After playing online for months and clinching several titles, Saluja, a former DPT champion, grabbed his first live title in 2023 by taking down the No Limit Hold’em – Hyper Turbo Closer event in Hanoi.
Saluja ranks 33rd on India’s GPI rankings, thanks to his impressive live cashes in the Asian circuit. In 2023, he cashed at multiple events including WPT Vietnam, WPT India, WPT Prime Cambodia, APT Hanoi Billions, and APF Hanoi. He even clinched his first live poker title at APF Hanoi.
Although he has just one title, namely 1000X, on the online felts in the past six months, he flaunts a pretty impressive scorecard of numerous cashes and final table finishes. While currently ranking 33rd on the GPI India leaderboard, Saluja is a player to watch out for in 2024.
Aman Parakh
With an impressive 196 online poker titles to his name, Aman Parakh has set foot in the live poker scene and is here to reach greater heights in 2023. Parakh ranks 61 in Indian online poker rankings and is a regular name in the online circuit.
He made his debut in live poker with DPT in Goa. In December 2023, he competed in the APT Hanoi Billions in Vietnam. He finished runner-up at an event and even cashed in the Main Event in his first-ever live poker series outside India.
On the online felts he recently shipped titles including ITM Main Event Day 2, Nano Highroller, Holdem Bash, and OSS along with a long list of cashes and final table finishes. Aman has also been highly consistent and result-oriented in the past year, thus building his poker resume and making him one of the players with a lot of potential and a note-worthy rising star of the Indian poker circuit.
While these are just a few rising stars who could make it big in 2024, there are countless others who showcase unmatched potential and talent. Their poker skills and determination could lead them to new heights, and by the end of 2024, we may have a whole new bunch of rising stars helping put India on the poker map.
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