We could have best acclaimed Poker players with enough opportunity, says Muskan Sethi

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Bengaluru, September 2: PokerStars India is all set to host the inaugural India Championship of Online Poker (INCOOP), starting from Thursday (September 3).

The three-week tournament series will include 205 power-packed events including 100+ knockout tournaments. The series will culminate in a three-day Main Event guaranteeing a prize pool of INR 1 Crore.

Heading into the history making tournament, myKhel had an exclusive chat with PoskerStars India's Brand Ambassador, Muskan Sethi, who shares her insights of the game and how India could see emergence of top players at the table if the opportunities arise.

Q. What's the most important skill a Poker player should possess to excel in the sport?

To be able to see the same situation from every possible angle, and decipher it with an open mind. Apart from the technical skills and love for the game, poker players must have patience, discipline and persistence that will take them a long way.

Q. You talked about equality in gender at the table, have you ever experienced racism given that Poker still lies pre-dominantly in the west?

Racism, nah! Surprised them? Yes! You have to see their face when I tell them that I hail from India. They always double check, "you came all the way from India to play poker tournaments? Wow!" is usually the reaction followed by another typical question, "is poker big in India?".

Well, if it was, I wouldn't have traveled so far to chase my dreams. With a population like ours we can host the bigger events in our own country. In fact, they fear Indian poker players for being so unpredictable. If we got as many opportunities as them then nothing can stop the best globally acclaimed poker players to be from India.

Q. What are some of the tips for someone who is interested in learning to play Poker?

Take each topic and lesson one by one, you cannot master all the concepts over night or even in one month. Give yourself time to apply what you theorize, dissect your mistakes and then you move on.

Find the right course or coach for yourself and take it seriously. Join poker groups or discord channels created by aspiring poker players. That way you will find likeminded people and more guidance.

Do Hand History reviews and see how you could have played better, take help of better or senior players and do not be afraid to ask them questions, they always love and welcome an interesting hand history and your effort to learn will be appreciated more often than being judged on how you played.

Q. Indians do enjoy Poker as a recreational game; what do you think are the factors holding them back from pursuing it professionally?

Apart from less opportunities and tournaments to play, poker as a game in India is only about a decade old, and yet there are already a good number of people playing it professionally, I don't think too many sports have this kind of a growth curve.

So while it's on the right path, only when there's more awareness created of the game, only when more people understand the elements of skill involved and then see how they can potentially make a living of it, will there be a higher number of professional players.

Q. What is your mantra in life?

"Make a life, not a living" as much as we all work so hard to make it in life and it's about finding out what does "making it" mean to you. Is it just financial and material success or did you touch and change any lives along the way, when you had the power to do so? It's a thought worth pondering over. I'll leave that to you. I believe in a life full of love and compassion.

Q. You discussed responsible gaming, what are some of the options or features that PokerStars India offers to ensuring safe play?

Age verification, KYC registration, self-exclusion, setting limits of deposits, restricting game limits (buy-in), restricting withdrawal cancelation to name a few.

Beyond this, PokerStars uses an independently verified random number generator to produce a shuffle that is completely random, and that favors no player over any other. The methods we use ensure complete randomization of cards, and complete unpredictability of the cards to come.

Our random number generator is one of the most advanced in the industry. We use a ground-breaking system based on quantum theory. A single photon is directed at a semi-reflective mirror; the angle at which it is reflected, or whether it passes through, is an entirely random process that can never be accurately predicted, reproduced or interfered with.

Our random number generator has been tested and certified by Gaming Labs International (GLI) to meet the industry standard for highly-regulated jurisdictions.