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What's the story?
Poker Sports League (PSL) has roped in Indian chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand as their brand ambassador for the recently launched second season of India's first ever poker league.
In case you didn't know...
The Poker Sports League was founded by Amit Burman; the Dabur family scion, Anuj Gupta and Pranav Bagai earlier this year. It has 12 teams, 108 players and a huge bounty of 3 crores as the grand prize.
Burman and Anuj Gupta, who are also founders of online poker portal Adda52.com, founded PSL last year to give the sport a dedicated platform.
The heart of the matter
Viswanathan Anand, former World Chess Champion, and India's first Grandmaster has been signed on as the brand ambassador by PSL to popularize the league and establish poker as a mind sport in India.
Anand stated that he has associated with the PSL to establish the fact that poker, as a game, requires a high set of skills involving a lot of strategies, like chess. After playing the game of poker, he could draw parallels to chess and connected well with the game. Anand highlighted the fact that IIM-Kozhikode, one of the top business schools in India, has been teaching a course on poker similar to many other international universities.
What's next?
PSL opened bids for two teams this season and have added a team from South India in the form of the Andhra Bullets. A bid for a team from the east (Kolkata) is still open for takers.
Author's take
With the launch of leagues across different sports in India, a league of poker players is a positive sign for Indian poker enthusiasts. The association with Viswanathan Anand, one of the biggest faces for mind sports in India is definitely a huge boost for the league, which is still in a very nascent stage.
