Anisha Arora’s poker journey started way back in school days with Zynga Poker. He then played the game in college with his friends just for fun. Intrigued by the game, he did a little bit of research and initially learned the game through YouTube videos before getting coached by renowned poker pro and coach Abhishek Goindi.

In 2018, he started playing the game online on Spartan Poker and since then there has been no looking back as he has won more than 200 online titles, including many marquee events. Anish’s largest online score came last November when he overcame a massive field of 553 entries in Natural8 India’s Daily Special 88 to make a smashing debut and claim a hefty INR 7.26 Lakhs – his career-best score to date. Most recently, he made waves for winning GGMasters Double Stack 25 on Natural8 India (January 2025). He overcame a massive field of 2,256 entries in the tournament to win INR 6.29 Lakhs – his second-biggest score.

Anish Arora’s poker resume has a mix of live and online success. Starting his live journey in 2019, he has showcased his mettle at some prestigious live events such as WPT India, Deltin Poker Tournament (DPT) and India Poker Championship (IPC). His biggest live cash came in May 2024 when he clinched a fourth-place in the DPT Micro Main Event, pocketing INR 3,64,350. While his live journey is still growing, Anish has showcased his prowess to compete and win against some of the best in the game.

Apart from being a fierce competitor on the felts, Anish Arora has also served as the Tournament Director during Poker Sports League (PSL) Season 6, playing a crucial role in managing India’s premier team-based poker event.

Anish Arora – A Rising Star of Indian Poker

Mentored by India’s renowned poker pro and coach Abhishek Goindi, Anish Arora has a bright future ahead. His recent victories on Natural8 India coupled with many deep runs across various major events on other platforms have cemented his place as a rising star of Indian poker. With his consistency and hunger for success, he is set to achieve bigger milestones in 2025.

Exclusive Interview With PokerProNews

From crushing online MTTs to making his presence felt on live poker felts, Anish Arora’s journey is a story of determination, patience and passion. Recently, we caught up with this upcoming poker player to delve into his poker journey, his role as a tournament director during PSL Season 6, his evolution as poker player, future plans and more. Check out the video above to get into our complete interview with the upcoming player.

Keep following PokerProNews for more such inspiring interviews and stories of upcoming poker players!

The post Exclusive: Anish Arora On His Poker Journey, Recent Victories, PSL Role & Future Aspirations first appeared on Global Poker News Daily: PokerProNews.com.

One such player is Avneesh Munjal, an emerging poker talent from India who has displayed exceptional growth and consistency in his poker journey. The Mumbai-based player is known for his strategic gameplay and consistent performances, which have earned him recognition both domestically and internationally. 

The poker pro began his poker journey online before gradually transitioning to live tournaments. He gained significant recognition by grabbing eyeballs with his talent not only in the Indian circuit but also at international poker stages through his consistent performances. His shining poker resume included some significant cashes and titles at prestigious events like the World Poker Tour, Asian Poker Tour as well as deep runs at the World Series of Poker. 

Avneesh Munjal has been playing on the domestic online platforms ever since in 2018. He later made his live poker debut in 2019 at DeepStack Championship Poker Series in Las Vegas. After years of grinding and cashes, he finally nailed his first live title in 2023 at the World Poker Tour Prime – WPT Prime in Hanoi Vietnam. He took down the WPT Opener event for $32,838. This marked a significant milestone in his career, thus boosting his confidence to compete globally.

And ever since he hasn’t looked back. The passionate pro has since then been on a consistent upward trajectory. His participation and in the money (ITM) finishes in prestigious events such as the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and others have further established him as a reckoning force from the Indian poker circuit. 

He claimed his second live title in May this year by taking down the ₫ 5,000,000 + 500,000 No Limit Hold’em – Short Deck (Event #19) at the 2024 Vietnam Poker League – VPL Summer Series in Hanoi, Vietnam. For this he pocketed a handsome $1,852 (₫ 47,000,000). This win preceded his 17th place finish for VN₫ 101.20 Million in the 2024 Vietnam International Poker Tour (VIPT) Hanoi Main Event in April.

Then came the much-awaited WSOP 2024 season and this year he registered an impressive six in-the-money (ITM) finishes at the WSOP, including four bracelet events. These accomplishments further highlighted his growing confidence and expertise at the poker felts. 

Just when he was basking in the glory of a successful WSOP campaign he added another shining feather to his cap by grabbing his first-ever Asian Poker Tour title. He registered a monumental maiden APT title win at the prestigious High Roller – Double Stack event at APT Phu Quoc in 2024. With the historic win, he also earned his career-best $60,981 (₹51.34 Lakhs).

Avneesh Munjal live poker stats

Avneesh Munjal boasts of Total Live Earnings clocking at $213,456 from his six years long live poker career, according to the Hendon Mob. His best live cash to date has been $60,981, which he pocketed after taking down the career-defining ₫ 54,000,000 + 6,000,000 No Limit Hold’em – High Roller Double Stack (Event #29) at the Asian Poker Tour – APT Phu Quoc, Vietnam recently.

Talking of his WSOP exploits, Avneesh Munjal flaunts 8 cashes from the World Series on his poker resume. Owing to these 8 cashes he has earned $36,691 from the WSOP alone. 

Avneesh Munjal online stats

He has also been an active player on the online poker felts in the country. With more than an envy-worthy 400 online poker titles and countless cashes to his credit, Avneesh has earned a massive ₹7.05 Crore from his online poker exploits. His largest online cash to date has been ₹28,28,741. He banked this massive amount for his runner-up finish at the AOPS ME Finale on Adda52 back in 2020.

Keep follwoing PokerProNews for more such inspiring stores of rising stars in the world of poker! Follow us on our social media platforms –Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube for all the interesting stories and updates from the world of poker!

The post India’s Poker Pride: Avneesh Munjal’s Remarkable Rise first appeared on Global Poker News Daily: PokerProNews.com.

Just as the industry is flourishing overall, individual players are also thriving in their respective poker journeys. Over the past few years, especially post-COVID-19, there have been a host of young, new, and emerging players who have managed to carve a name for themselves in India’s poker landscape. One such player is the young and talented Saransh Garg. 

Who is Saransh Garg?

Saransh Garg is a Madhya Pradesh-born player who has been making big waves in the poker world in recent times. He was born and brought up in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh and completed his graduation in civil engineering from NIT Warangal. He later completed his MBA from FMS Delhi. 

Journey into poker

Saransh Garg initially started playing poker part-time in 2018. He later started playing professionally after moving back to Jabalpur during the pandemic in 2020. He considers that phase as “starting a career once again.” Garg is a construction businessman by the day and prefers following his passion for poker by the night. 

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A civil engineer by profession, Saransh adheres to a unique theory of 10,000 hours. “You can play any sport and skill in the world if you apply 10,000 hours. That’s why I feel that everyone can be a poker player if they have the patience and willingness to do it,” he says.

He in an interview shared that he usually plays Poker for four days and loves spending the rest of the days socializing with fellow players, learning from them, and studying the game by himself.

Saransh Garg recent endeavors 

Saransh Garg was last seen cashing at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Prime Cambodia held in Phnom Penh in March 2023. He recorded four out of his tidal five live cashes at this poker series. These four included three final table finishes, namely a fifth-place finish, a runner-up place, and a second-runner-up finish in three different events. The other one was a 15th-place finish. He collected a total of $7,471 from these four finishes. 

While he is yet to cash on the live poker felts in 2024, he has been crushing it on the virtual felts. He already has claimed 14 online titles in just about five months. He started this year with a bang taking down WTF 25 LAC GTD on PokerBaazi for ₹3,11,610 on January 6th, 2024. His next notable title came in the form of AOPS Warhammer on Adda52 on 1st February for ₹1,31,679.

This was followed by PokerBaazi’s The Summit Lite 10 LAC GTD and (1000X) BSS Superstack 50L GTD for ₹1,72,605 and ₹5,31,791 respectively in February 2024. He started his March campaign taking down Adda52 Million on March 11, 2024, for ₹5,83,644. He claimed the same title again later that month on 25th March for ₹4,66,751. Meanwhile, he also took home the prestigious NPS on PokerBaazi for his victory at NPS#140 SATURDAY SLAMDUNK 40L GTD on 24th March 2024 for ₹5,05,253.

After a dry title-deprived run in April, he bounced back by taking down Spartan Poker’s Destiny for ₹1,88,202 on 2nd May 2024. This was followed by PokerBaazi’s The Quest 25 LAC GTD victory for ₹3,67,250 on 11th May 2024. His most recent title is PokerBaazi’s 5 LAC GTD Daily SPRINT, which he clinched on May 14, 2024, for ₹81,430.

Saransh Garg’s Achievements

Saransh Garg is a well-known name in the online poker circuit, who has gradually managed to make it big in the live circuit too. Talking of his online exploits, the young pro has as many as 80 titles under his belt on the online poker felts in India. 

In addition to his titles, he has countless notable cashes to his name too. His total earnings from online endeavors account for a lifetime total of ₹5.71 Crore. His highest paycheque to date has been ₹12,26,000, which he pocketed for his runner-up finish at PokerBaazi’s BB6 MoneyMaker 1 CR GTD back in 2022. He currently ranks 51st in India in terms of online winnings. 

Coming to his live poker stats, Saransh Garg has yet to record a live poker title, however, he has many live cashes including final table finishes to his credit. His total lifetime live tournament earnings according to Hendon Mob stand at $9,697. His highest live cash to date is $3,684 which he won for his second runner-up finish at the No Limit Hold’em – Superstack 6-Max Finale event at World Poker Tour Prime Cambodia in Phnom Penh in 2023.

Saransh Garg’s initial journey, his passion and zeal for the game, and his recent accolades prove that when one sets their heart on something, there’s no stopping for them. His worth and potential were evident at the Poker Sports League auctions in 2023. Saransh Garg attracted the second-highest bid at the auction with Shardul Parthasarathi-led Delhi Czars acquiring the Jabalpur player for a whopping ₹4.4 Lakh.

Garg’s undying passion for the game paired with his consistent form over the years and his potential prove that he is one of the most promising rising stars that the country currently has and he is certain to rise only upwards in the future. 

Keep following PokerProNews for the inspiring stories of rising poker stars from India!

The post Rising Star of Indian Poker: Saransh Garg’s Rise To Prominence first appeared on Global Poker News Daily: PokerProNews.com.

Poker in the country is now being viewed as a promising career option, thanks to our poker champs breaking barriers and inspiring thousands of Indians to take up the game as a career choice.  

One such poker champion that India has produced in recent years is Amit Kaushik.

Who is Amit Kaushik?

Originally from Kurukshetra, Haryana, Amit Kaushik is a Noida-based poker player with more than $435k in live earnings. This young talent is consistently climbing up the ladder and is currently ranked 22nd on India all-time Money List. Particularly in recent years, he has made a lot of noise in the Asian circuits. Kaushik has consistently made his presence felt on the virtual as well as live felts, making waves in the Indian and Asian circuits with excellent performances on both live and virtual felts. 

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Amit Kaushik’s Poker Journey

Talking about his educational background, he did his postgraduate in Applied Mathematics from IIT Roorkee. He started his poker journey way back when he was in college. Initially, he played card games with friends in college. Eventually, his interest in poker started to grow. This led to Kaushik watching ‘Poker After Dark’ on YouTube religiously, which further grew his interest in the game. However, Kaushik began playing poker full-time only after taking a break from his corporate career in July 2020. 

Climbing Up The Ladder 

Since then, Kaushik has refused to look back. Transitioning from online felts to being a familiar face at the Asian poker events, he has quickly moved up the ranks, delivering some amazing performances along the way.

He first grabbed eyeballs when he secured his biggest online score to date in January 2022. The pro finished second at Spartan Poker’s India Online Poker Championship (IOPC) ₹1.50 Crore GTD Blaze, earning a massive ₹16,28,782.

However, this was just the beginning of his ascendence. 2022 marked a significant turning point in his journey. He made his first live tournament appearance in March 2022 at the Baazi Poker Tour. In his first outing itself, he claimed a 35th-place finish at the NLH BPT Big Bounty Event pocketing ₹25,800. 

Just a few weeks later, he went on to ship his first-ever live title at the coveted Deltin Poker Tour (DPT) NLH ₹5K Bounty to add ₹5,34,140 to his bankroll. 

Exploiting the Asian felts

Following his success on the home turf, Kaushik began to grind outside the county. He was seen grinding at multiple live events while also exploiting the online felts. He debuted into the Asian poker circuit with a bang after shipping his debut tournament. He took down the No Limit Hold’em – Deep Stack Hyper Turbo (Event #18) at the Asian Poker Festival – APT Summer Festival Hanoi – VSOP 2022, Hanoi in July 2022 for $2,163. Later, he finished third at the very next event of the series. 

He later recorded many other cashes at other series including Asian Poker Tour – APT Vietnam Ho Chi Minh, World Poker Tour Prime – WPT Prime Cambodia, Phnom Penh, World Poker Championship – SEAPT Hanoi in 2022. He continued his streak in 2023 with notable cashes at WPC Hanoi, Hanoi, World Poker Tour Prime – WPT Prime Cambodia, Asian Poker Tour – APT Phu Quoc, WPT Prime India, Asia Pacific Poker Tour – APPT Cambodia, World Poker Tour Prime – WPT Prime Vietnam, Asian Poker Tour – APT Summer Series Hanoi, World Poker Championship – WPC IV Hanoi, Asian Poker Tour – APT Summer Series Da Nang, USOP Ha Noi, USOP Da Nang, APT Hanoi Billions, and Asian Poker Festival – APF Hanoi.

2024: A Year To Watch Out For Amit Kaushik

Coming to 2024, Kaushik is showing no signs of stopping. He has already posted seven cash finishes, including a 5th place finish in January 2024 at the WPT Cambodia Championship Main Event where he secured $118,906, his biggest score to date. 

He started this year with the Hanoi Series Of Poker – HSOP Grinder Series in January, where he secured the 38th position in the Kick Off event. He then competed in the WPT Cambodia Championship in Phnom Penh later that month. He started his campaign with a 12th place finish for $ 5,092 in the Championship Warm-Up event. Subsequently, in the 8-Max Survivor 2k Bounty event, he secured the 48th position for $ 1,257, which he followed up with a 3rd-place finish for $ 8,125 in the Megastack Action Clock event.

Kaushik’s success in Cambodia reached new heights when he secured a fifth-place finish in the WPT Main Event, where he earned a career-best $118,906. His journey in Cambodia concluded with an eighth-place finish in the Superstack Turbo event. March saw Kaushik competing in the U Series of Poker – USOP Da Nang Part 1 in Vietnam. Despite facing tough competition, he secured notable finishes in the Mini High Roller and Main Event, finishing 10th for $ 2,129 and 155th for $ 2,377, respectively. Most recently, he recorded four cashes at the Poker Dream 9 Malaysia, including a 7th place finish in Event #34 Mini High Roller for RM 18600 and a 171st place for RM 12,700 in the Main Event. 

Career Graph 

Within just a matter of over two years, Kaushik has accumulated $432,880 in total live earnings. Kaushik currently ranks 5th on the GPI Rankings for India with 1,685.09 points, which is an incredible feat given his short span of playing the game professionally. 

His GPI rankings skyrocketed in 2022 and since then he has refused to bow down. In July 2022, his GPI rank was around 32,972. By August of the same year, he had made his place among the top 10,000 with a rank of 5,678. Currently, he is among the top 1,000 poker players around the world, with a rank of 772 as of April 4, 2024.

Talking of his online exploits, he has over 226 online title victories and over ₹7.3 Crore in online winnings to his name. His most recent online titles include PokerBaazi’s NPS#131 Marathon 15L GTD where he triumphed over 481 players for INR 2,01,392, and Saturday Smash PKO – 5 Lac on Spartan Poker for INR 1,26,791.

With such impressive stats already making his poker resume shine and stand out, Amit Kaushik is truly a rising star in the Indian poker circuit who continues to rise higher and higher. Given his current form and his talent, it won’t be surprising to see Kaushik overtake fellow Indian poker players in terms of ranking as well as earnings in the coming months.

Keep following pokerpronews for the success stories and journeys of rising poker stars from the world of poker!

The post Meet Amit Kaushik – A Rising Poker Star From India first appeared on Global Poker News Daily: PokerProNews.com.

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.

Neel Joshi

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.

 Keep following PokerproNews for the latest updates and news from the ongoing EPT Paris series.

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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The post Rising stars from the Indian poker circuit to watch out for in 2024 first appeared on Global Poker News Daily: PokerProNews.com.