What Is The Match Indian Poker League?

Put simply, the Match Indian Poker League is a regulated Match Poker tournament that takes place in India and is made up of Indian teams. It was created by industrialist Raj Kundra and Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty Kundra in 2017 and continues to make waves throughout the Match Poker community. Plus, as Match Poker is a decidedly more skill-based game than regular Texas hold’em, the Match IPL is fully sanctioned and backed by the International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP) as well as the Indian Federation of Poker (IFMP).

During the first tournament, only seven teams were competing for the top rank – which was eventually taken by the Mumbai All Stars. However, by season two, there were already ten teams and, with season three on the horizon, there’s sure to be even more. Here’s a quick look at some of the top teams and the affluent team owners: 

Ahmedabad Hearts

Owner:Yatin Gupta, created logistics company Network Transport Corporation Ltd.

Members:Jay “Jks” Shewramani | Ryan “Thaminator” Tham | Yating “YG” Gupta | Kunal Kohli | Arjun “AK” Singh Kochhar | Prateek | Ravi “Rj” Jethani | Saijad “The Hustler” Meherally | Reena Gupta 

Bangalore Royals 

Owner: Gaurav Kapur, whose family founded YES BANK. 

Members:Akash “Notorious Poker” Pritom Saika | Himanshu Sanganeria | Aditya Kumar | Shilpa “Pocket” Bhagat | Sumil “Sum” Shah | Guarav Kapur | Honey Bijlani | Pranav Bathija  | Aditya “Muck_U” Pratap Singh | Jujhar Kichhar | Ashia “Ash” Aziz

Delhi Aces

Owners: Abhishek Khaitan, owner of Radico Khaltan Ltd. | Rajnish Gupta, otherwise known as “The Zambian Lion” who built a bottling company. | Rajat Sikka of Saivana Exports |Shantanu Dalmia, Casewell Drilling.

Members:Avadh Shah | Rohit Behal | Kunal Chandra | Devesh Thapar | Raghav Singh | Simrit Tiwana| Niharika Bindra 

Jaipur Jewels

Owners: A consortium led by the ‘Fire and Ice’ Agarwal brothers, Aditya and Praveen.

Members: Aditya Agarwal | Ankush Agarwala | Tanmay Bagga | Arjun Dhingra | Karan Jain | Rajnish Kumar | Rishab Jain | Mahima Walia Das​

Kolkata Diamonds

Owners: Ankit Doogar, Chartered Accountant, a pro poker player and creator of iWGC, a cryptocurrency | Ankit Chopra from the family that created Nexus Logistics |Sunny Karira is the owner of the Park Street Privilege Club and a poker enthusiast | Deepak Keswani, Director at United Roads Constn. Pvt. Ltd. And Vintage Infra Pvt. Ltd.

Members: Anil “Aces” Adiani | Shammi “Sam” Karira | Aditya Goenka | Akhil “The Mav” Jain | Jayjit Ray | Mukul Agarwal | Niwesh Sharma | Pranay Bachhawat | Rohan Singh | Shuchi “Chi” Chamaria

Mumbai All Stars

Owner: Harman Baweja, actor, entrepreneur and part of the team.

Members: Nikunj “quest_donk” Jhunjhunwala | Abhishek “Bajo” Jalan | Sacheen “Chiefisback” Ramchandani | Pratibha “Shydoll” Arya | Ronak “ReadBaby” Gidwani | Harman “PokerJoker” Baweja | Anita “PokerFace” Hassandani Reddy | Jagdeep “NODUS TOLLENS” Singh | Siddharth “Maverick” Anaad | Keenan Tham | Kancba Cheena 

UP Indians

Owners: Janhavee Droliya, businesswoman and proud mother | Abishek Jalan, team captain and businessman known for Jalan Synthetics | Rohit Chokhani founder of White Unicorn ventures | Anuo Palod, an ex-investment banker who quit his job to play poker last year | Rannvijay Singh, Indian TV host, youth icon and avid poker player

Members: Abhishek Jalan | Anita Hassnandani | Prashant Jain | Prateek Mishra | Neeraj Kumar | Ragesh Mishra | Abhishek Garg |Ashish Munot | Arsh Grover 

Haryana Hawks

Members: Pulkit Totla | Navkiran Singh | Nitin Maheswari | Jitendra Agarwal | Jagdeep Singh | Kalyan Chakravarthy | Pranjal Batra 

2. What Is Match Poker?

There are a number of different poker varieties out there, from seven card stud to Omaha to Razz. Some versions of poker have been around for centuries, such as five-card draw, but others are entirely new. The introduction of new games is probably down to how popular poker tournaments and online play is these days. Players are always looking for a new version that will challenge them and make them use poker strategies, whether it’s for the thrill of the game in free poker tournaments or for the jackpot at world-famous events like the WSOP.

These may be the very reasons why Match Poker was created by the International Federation of Match Poker. In the beginning, the federation had just seven members, but now there are well over fifty different countries with Match Poker teams from all different corners of the world. There are dozens of events taking place each year from Albania to Uganda and from Barbados to Sweden. Of course, India’s Match IPL is one of the most popular.

So, how is Match Poker played?

Match Poker is based on Texas Hold’em, though there are a few changes from the traditional, world-renowned rules. By far the most noticeable difference is that Match Poker is a team game. Instead of individual players gathering around a single table to play Texas hold’em, there are several tables each with a member from each team randomly seated around it. Another addition in Match Poker is that cards are not physically represented - they appear on smartphones. Plus, each table receives the exact same cards, all dealt to the same position on the table. 

Every player begins each hand with the same exact number of chips, and from there they must play Texas hold’em. Whoever wins at each table receives points which are added to their teams' scores. As much of the game takes place on smartphones, every single action is recorded, enabling automated scoring in real time, animated replays and even detailed analysis of every move. At the end of a hand, the chips are reset, and the game begins again. When all hands have been dealt, the team with the most points is victorious. 

3. Match IPL Teams Up With MTV for Pro Hunt

If you still aren’t convinced about the popularity and promise of Match IPL, you should know that season two of the tournament was actually broadcast on MTV. In addition to this, creators Raj and Shilpa recently announced that their online poker site will be hosting MTV’s Pro Hunt. Poker players throughout India will be able to participate in online Match Poker tournaments, all with the aim of coming first and getting into one of the Match IPL teams. This race to the top will be filmed for MTV’s Pro Hunt, which will air either late this winter or next year.

Considering the fact there are literally millions of online poker sites that could have been chosen as the hub for Pro Hunt, the fact that the Match IPL’s creators have been given the honour is astonishing. Hopefully, with the combination of Pro Hunt and Match IPL season three, Indian Match Poker will become more popular than ever.