Match IPL`s Team Jaipur Jewels Locks in a Strong Team

Jaipur Jewels
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  • PG News November 9, 2017
  • 4 Minutes Read

In less than two weeks (November 17), Mumbai will play host to the inaugural Match Indian Poker League (MIPL) and it will be an understatement to say that the seven teams competing in the League are prepping in full vigor for this first-of-a-kind extravaganza.

The man who made it all possible – Raj Kundra has already expressed his excitement and how MIPL will change the perspective of poker in the country. The major highlight for this inaugural League will be the mainstream attention the finale will receive largely from its collaboration with MTV channel that will be broadcasting the event.

Coming back to the League itself, the team representing the pink city of the country – Jaipur Jewels is owned by a consortium including the ‘Fire and Ice’ duo of Agarwal brothers i.e. Aditya aka Bitti and Praveen. Aditya is a renowned poker player and has been a veteran in the industry having taken up poker professionally in 2007 (since he was 18 years old) and later venturing into the business side of the game as well. Aditya’s poker resume is full of notable accolades but his most valuable contribution is undoubtedly his efforts in getting poker legalised in West Bengal after an unbridled courtroom battle. He also runs the Kolkata chapter for Indian Poker Association (IPA), a society to make India a dominant force in the world poker circuit.

Aditya speaking about his team said, “All the team members are specialists in certain areas and have varied experience across various formats of the game which will be very useful in this format of the game. Can’t talk more about it as I think we have an edge in that department. My expectation from the team is 100 percent effort from all the team members so that Jaipur Jewels wins the event and becomes the 1st team to represent India in the World Cup of Match Poker and also win it and become the ultimate champion.”

On his poker journey Aditya said, “I consider myself to be a versatile and an experienced poker player as I can play all structures comfortably and I can also play different variants of the game. I have also travelled the Asian circuit with the Indian contingent couple of times and was in Team PokerGuru back in 2011.”

Aditya Agarwal
Aditya Agarwal

On the other hand, Praveen has been a career banker and has spent a decade with the Bank of America (Corporate and Investment Banking division) in Mumbai. This MBA degree holder from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) has considerable experience and expertise in the banking sector. He recently moved back to Kolkata to join his family business that ranges from textiles to edible oils.

Praveen expressed his views on team saying, “The core of the team was handpicked. Some players were selected basis the responses we received from various interested player on our social media campaign.”

Praveen Agarwal
Praveen Agarwal

Another co-owner of Jaipur Jewels is Nikhil Maheswari who has interests in the garment industry with his business largely catering to Tirupur and Kolkata. A poker buff himself, his mantra is that, in tournaments a player’s personality reflects how he handles situation at every second of that clock as it tickles to the end of day.

Nikhil Maheshwari
Nikhil Maheshwari

The other co-owner of Jaipur Jewels is Rahul Soni who is more of a go-getter when it comes to options trading in the Indian Financial Market. Soni has proved his financial skills par excellence time and again and currently heads Shree Vihar Housing and Developers Pvt. Ltd. which is a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC). This multi-faceted man is also an avid party goer and in that quest, he founded an Event Management Co. DANCETRAL, which organises parties all over Calcutta.

Rahul Soni
Rahul Soni

Rounding up the ownership team of Jaipur Jewels is Ankush Agarwala, an avid entrepreneur who started his career by setting up a transformer & switchgear manufacturing company and later diversified into constructions. However, Agarwala’s overwhelming passion for competition got him hooked to poker. An ebullient man who has proved his appetency in both cash games and tournaments, he believes that poker is a skill based mind game.

On his association with MIPL he said, “Match IPL has revolutionised the poker industry. It has eliminated the luck factor completely and concentrates more on optimal play strategies.”

Agarwala also shared the plans and strategies for the upcoming MatchIPL saying, “The Team is meeting couple of days in advance of the tournament to know each other better and discuss gameplay. After all, this is a team sport. J

Ankush Agarwala
Ankush Agarwala

The final team has been locked in and will be helmed by the versatile Rajnish Kumar.

Here is a brief about the team members:

 

Jaipur Jewels Team Mentor – Rajnish Kumar

Rajnish Kumar is well known for his exploits playing high-stakes poker and often travels all across the country in the hunt for the biggest games. This 27-year-old from Patna discovered his love for the game in college and started his poker journey on 888poker and within a year he had managed to put his name on the Global leaderboard on Sharkscope. Kumar is currently among the top 4 players for the WPT India Player of the Year race.

Rajnish Kumar
Rajnish Kumar

According to Kumar, his real poker journey started when he came to Goa and shipped a 5K event at the PokerGuru Tour. He recently shipped the Deltin Poker Tour July 2017 High Roller event for an impressive ₹32.47 Lakhs payday.

Kumar on his role as a mentor said, “I am happy and pumped up to become part of Jaipur Jewels. It’s a great opportunity to perform on national level in these kinds of platforms.”

 

Team Members

Arsh Grover

It all started online on Zynga Poker for Delhi-based pro Arsh Grover that too at a tender age of 11. He is all of 21 right now and says that he had had a very swingy journey so far but a memorable one. He is the brand ambassador of PokerHigh and also coaches a lot of students.

On his journey and about Match IPL Grover said, “I have been travelling for the last few years to all the major tourney stops across the globe that I’m finally legally allowed to play in. 😉 Pretty excited for Match IPL to take poker mainstream and make more people aware about this beautiful skill game.”

Arsh Grover
Arsh Grover

 

Rishabh Jain

Rishabh Jain was bit by the poker bug in college and what started as a hobby eventually turned into a profession for Jain.

On his journey Jain said, “Poker has given me more than I could have ever asked for, it gave me new passion and ambition to live for, it has a competitive element to it which I truly cherish. This game taught me to be mentally and emotionally strong and due to the dynamic and progressive nature of the game it keeps me motivated to work hard and learn more every day.”

This loose aggressive pro mostly indulges in heads-up games online and went on to add, “I hope MatchIPL will revolutionize the Indian poker industry.”

Rishabh Jain
Rishabh Jain

 

Tanmay Bagga

After rejecting science, business and law, this triple-college dropout is now a poker coach. His journey began with a ₹100 free coupon for online poker. A lot of black coffee, cigarettes and expensive mistakes later, he is crushing the online high-stakes cash games in India. This heads-up specialist is also a full-time poker coach to more than ten students.

Bagga found a creative outlet in poker and said, “I believe Match IPL will be the dawn of mainstream poker, making professional poker synonymous with doctors, engineers and athletes.”

Tanmay Bagga
Tanmay Bagga

 

Kanishk Upreti

Another Delhi-lad, Kanishk Upreti seems like a chilled-out person yet he is very competitive. He started playing poker casually with friends in his first year of college, and since then slowly ventured into online cash games. He currently plays high stakes cash games both live and online, and also planning to focus on his tournament game in the near future.

This tight aggressive pro expressed his views on the mind sport by saying, “Poker has helped me not just financially but also has made me grow as a person, since the game is always evolving one always has to keep striving to getting better every single day.”

Kanishk Upreti
Kanishk Upreti

 

Arjun Dhingra

Arjun Dhingra’s foray into poker started roughly three years after a friend in the live circuit introduced him to online poker.

He has been crushing the games since then and believes that he still needs to put in the hours to achieve greater heights. He has a distinct tight aggressive style of play and on his association with Match IPL and Jaipur Jewels, Dhingra said, “I’m really excited to be a part of Match IPL as with its format, it will for sure be a one-of-a-kind experience for the viewers as well as the players involved. I’m also really excited to be a part of the Jaipur Jewels franchise as I feel they have got the perfect blend of experience and talent to succeed in such a format.”

Arjun Dhingra
Arjun Dhingra

 

Mahima Das Walia

The sole female team member of Jaipur Jewels is Mahima Das Walia who has been playing poker recreationally with friends since her MBA days in 2012. She took up the game seriously in 2017 when she along with her husband decided to quit their jobs to spend more time together. Both believed that poker could offer a way to support their finances if they could learn and improve and that’s exactly what happened.

Over the next five months they studied, practiced and reached a point where now they generate enough income to match their pre-poker incomes!

Speaking about how poker helped her, Walia said, “I am a happy go lucky ‘live in the moment’ person who believes that life is a gift in the form of all the different experiences it has to offer. This is precisely why I was intrigued by poker and Match IPL as they seemed like fun experiences worth trying.”

Mahima Walia
Mahima Das Walia

 

Karan Jain

Karan Jain started playing poker with friends during college and was the biggest fish on the table at one point but is currently crushing the high stakes online cash games in the country. After reading close to 15 poker strategy books, losing a lot of money and putting in the hours, today “Technomania” as his online moniker goes by, is a well-known name in the online cash game circuit.

Jain loves cricket, music and travelling. He says he is a chilled out, no non-sense kind of a person with a good sense of humour!

Karan Jain
Karan Jain

Keep following the latest updates from Match IPL right here on PokerGuru!

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