Delhi Panthers Win India Poker Sports League for $225k

Season 1 of the India Poker Sports League (PSL) drew to an exciting conclusion on Sunday, with the Delhi Panthers triumphing over the Mumbai Achors to claim the title, as well as first place prize of around US$225,000.
Twelve teams of nine players originally took part in the initial phase of the competition which finished on March 28. By the end of this period, the Delhi Panthers had subsequently earned the most points to top the leaderboard, and on May 28th the teams then descended upon the Deltin Casino Royale in Goa for a five-day contest to decide the league’s inaugural winner.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for the team representing Delhi, though, and by Day 2 they had fallen out of a top three position, before rallying for one tremendous push on the final day of play. As well as creating a fascinating climax to proceedings, interest in the contest was also given a further boost by the addition of US pro Alec Torelli and the UK’s Sam Razavi as wild cards in the PSL, with a huge 2.8 million people tuning into the League’s Facebook stream to view their game on Day 4.
Champion team aside, Season 1 of the PSL has been hailed as a great success by its organizers, Amit Burman, Anuj Gupta, co-owner of India’s biggest online poker site called Adda52.com, and Pranav Bagai, with the latter commenting:
“The journey of the league has been a roller coaster ride and initially many could not believe that the league would materialize in to something as large as other sports leagues in the country. The never seen before structures and massive prize pool kept the adrenaline rush going for the players along with a chance to make some serious money.”
Also throwing their support behind the PSL were such sponsors as Jet Airways, Real Activ, Bira 91, and John Jacobs Eyewear. The PSL was also given an extra air of credibility by the addition of Australian 2-times WSOP bracelet winner Mel Judah, as the League’s tournament director. Looking ahead, Pranav Bagai stated:
“On closing our first season with a splendid grand finale, we are sure that this is definitely not a one-and-done season. We have plans to come up with season two next year.”