Poker isn’t just a game; it’s a journey of strategy, skill, and a bit of luck. From the bustling casinos of Las Vegas and Goa to the digital tables in India, pro Poker tournaments truly are a global sensation. They come with high buy-ins and even higher prizes, but they aren’t the only type of tournament that exists. We’ll take a look at some of the most famous Poker series today, as well as freeroll tournaments that celebrate the spirit of Poker just as much.
The World Series of Poker is the gold standard of Poker tournaments. It takes place annually in the US, over a series of games and culminates in the main event: Texas Hold’em. The winner of the game becomes the new Poker world champion! If you participate in this tournament, you basically go down in Poker history.
We all remember when Daniel Weinman won ₹9,98,87,543 and when Aditya Sushant, Abhinav Iyer, Nikita Luther and Kartik Ved won their golden bracelets. Phill Hellmuth currently holds the most golden bracelets— 17!
The World Poker Tour is another famous tournament that started in 2002 and came to India in 2017! There are around 20 events in each tournament season and they’re televised across the globe. World Poker Tour also has its own Hall of Fame and new players are added to it each year. Brian Rast made the cut in 2023, which is super impressive because it was only his second time being nominated.
2023 was a big year for World Poker Tour India, too, as Prasit Chowdhury broke the record with his winnings for the Prime India Main Event and took home ₹88,07,500!
The European Poker Tour has stood as a testament to Europe’s love for Poker since 2004. It was created by John Duthie who won Poker Million, a televised shootout tournament. Like other tournaments, such as WPT, it’s all about Texas Hold’em Poker. But what’s interesting is that eight players enter the final table instead of six like in the WPT.
Though the events of EPT are held across Europe, the tournament attracts players from all over the world— and players from India are no exception. In fact, Ankit Ahuja won the Cyprus Eureka Main event with ₹3,01,54,800 in 2023.
2023 was a big year for World Poker Tour India, too, as Prasit Chowdhury broke the record with his winnings for the Prime India Main Event and took home ₹88,07,500!
This is the most famous and biggest Poker tournament in India, usually held in the offshore casinos of Goa. The series had two four-year-long pauses but came back again in 2019. And what a return it was! All four main events were played and Noida-based Pranay Chawla was the player that won the most during this season. He took ₹51.66 lakh in the High Roller event.
And in 2020, Rubin Labroo took the ₹45.34 lakh in the IPC main event and became the new Poker champion in India. He also got a sponsorship deal with Spartan Poker.
Baazi Poker Tour started in 2016 and it’s only been growing in popularity since. It’s held at Poker Baazi Live and features six events. The last tournament was held in 2022 and it had 900 entry fields for the main event!
The number of players isn’t the only record-breaking thing about this. It also collected a prize pool of ₹2.96 crores! The winner of the main event was Nitin Arora and he broke yet another record with his winnings of ₹42,70,000.
When you take into account that BPT had a five-year pause in total, you can see why so many records were broken in 2022. India clearly missed one of its favourite Poker tournaments!
And in 2020, Rubin Labroo took the ₹45.34 lakh in the IPC main event and became the new Poker champion in India. He also got a sponsorship deal with Spartan Poker.
This is another tournament hosted by Baazi Poker, but it’s the only national celebratory championship! It’s had three editions so far and we’re already looking forward to the fourth. Winners of NPS don’t just win a cash prize, but they also get medals and go down in India’s Poker history. Their names are added to the official Golden Book!
Some of the top players you can find here are Shagun Jain and Rohit Begwani. Of course, we can’t forget about Md. Azhar Tak who won three gold medals in 2021. He was the Podium Gold Medalist, Player of the Series, and Champion of Champions. He won ₹7 lakh!
To celebrate a total of one billion Poker hands being made on its site, Poker Baazi rolled out the Baazi Billions series in 2022. The ad campaign that the casino released had the whole Poker community talking! They came out with some interesting statistics, including that Texas Hold’em is the most popular Poker game in India and that 57% of winning hands are decided before the final showdown.
The series was divided into multiple tournaments, including Cash Royale, EndBoss, Moneymaker, and Sunday Feature Tournaments. The last one came with the biggest GTD (guaranteed payout)— ₹12 crore! The most notable winner was Sahil Nair who got ₹1 crore in the Moneymaker tournament. He’d decided to go pro only a year prior— what a start to his career!
Freerolls are the best types of tournaments in Poker for one simple reason— there’s no buy-in or entry fee. Yet, they still come with great prize pools and sometimes tickets for bigger events.
As part of their welcome offer, PokerStars gives you 15 days of freeroll tournaments. They come with ₹1,000 prize pools and you can enter three per day. The best part is that you don’t even have to deposit to get the welcome offer, just register and verify your account!
This is another casino with daily freeroll tournaments. Only a registration is required for you to be eligible to join them. The prize is ₹2,000 and the tournament happens once per day. And since you’re already registering, why not make a deposit, too, and get your hands on the 100% up to ₹10,000 welcome bonus?
PokerTempo also has a range of freeroll tournaments available at different times of the day. The prize pools range from ₹500 to ₹1,000, but you can also join weekly tournaments with much bigger pools. The Welcome Sign-up Freeroll, for example, comes with a ₹5,000 prize!
Winamax has 12 daily tournaments available and none of them require buy-ins. The prize pool ranges from ₹4,412 to ₹22,061 depending on the tournament. After you register, you’ll also get a ticket for the Welcome Freeroll tournament that has a ₹88,247 prize pool! And the week of your birthday, you’ll also get a ticket for a Birthday Freeroll tournament where you can win your share of the ₹44,123 prize pool.
At Khelo 365, you can find not one but two types of freeroll Poker tournaments. The first type has a ₹1,000 GTD and you only need to register to join. The second has a much larger prize pool of ₹30,000. You can get free tickets daily if you deposit ₹200. That deposit can go towards other tables and tournaments, giving you more to play with!
Online Poker tournaments are a series of Poker games where players compete against one another. As players are eliminated, the competition narrows down and the action gets hotter. Finally, the winner of the tournament is crowned and they get the biggest share of the prize pool. It works just like a tournament in a land-based casino but is hosted in online Poker rooms.
Winning a Poker tournament comes down to having the best strategy, a lot of skill, and a little bit of luck. Players who compete in tournaments are usually advanced, so you have to practise a lot to beat them. To increase your chances, keep practising your winning strategy and improving your game!
A freeroll Poker tournament is one that doesn’t require a buy-in. That means you can just join a table and start playing. Though it’s free to participate, there is a prize pool that everyone plays for. Sometimes, a freeroll tournament will offer an entry ticket to a bigger tournament instead of a prize pool.
This really depends on the tournament. Some can last just a few hours, while others can go on for days. The longer ones are usually tougher and bigger.
To participate in IPC, you need to pay the buy-in and administration fee and take your PAN card and ID to prove your age and address. If you want to play the India Online Poker Championship (IOPC), you can register at Spartan Poker.
The answer to this question is India Online Poker Championship, of course. It’s the largest championship today and it’s held twice a year. Spartan Poker and Poker Baazi also hold other large tournaments that you can check out.