Viswanathan Anand Becomes Poker Sports League Ambassador
December 11, 2017 10:40 amThe Poker Sports League (PSL) is looking to “sportify” the popular card game in India, and promote it amongst a wider audience. It has already enjoyed some success in this endeavor, too, as teams from all around the subcontinent battle it out to become the PSL champion.
This is all comes at a time when India’s poker industry has suffered a number of setbacks of late, with just the state of Nagaland’s legislature accepting poker as a game of skill, and other promising candidate states Gujarat and Telangana recently dismissing the skill-based argument in their law courts.
Nevertheless, Indian poker as a whole received some much welcome good news over the past few days after it was announced that one of the world’s greatest chess players of all time has joined the PSL as a brand ambassador. Indian chess master Viswanathan Anand, 48, is one of his country’s most high-profile and admired personalities, and having someone of his stature associated with the game of poker is sure to attract good publicity, and bring an extra layer of respectability to the industry.
Commenting upon his appointment as the new PSL ambassador, Viswanathan Anand said that having played chess all his life, he immediately recognized its parallels with poker when first introduced to the card game. This in turn helped him to better connect with poker as a game of skill involving a great deal of strategy, with Anand stating that he was now looking forward to promoting that message as part of his tenure with the PSL team.
Likewise, the PSL said that it was delighted to have Anand onboard, and haled it as a monumental move towards changing the game’s negative perception in India. Elaborating further, Amit Burman, co-founder of the PSL, explained:
“Chess and poker are frequently compared as both games are based on strategic thinking and decision-making. A chess game is broken up into an opening phase, the middle game and the endgame, often with blurred lines between each phase. Depending on your overall strength as a player, each part has varying levels of importance as to what is best to improve next. Similarly, the whole theory behind poker brings to light facts like, how to figure what the best plays would be in different sorts of situations.”
Viswanathan Anand joins the PSL just as the organization has launched its second season, with the Delhi Panthers having secured the title last year, and the team having been awarded $225,000 in prize money for their victory.