Mobile Premier League (MPL) has introduced Poker Academy, jointly with some of India’s top poker professionals, to help aspiring gamers hone their skills.
Poker, as a skill-based game, requires analytical thinking, knowledge of math, and a knack to read people. The Academy, through a series of unique content properties, aims to deconstruct all these aspects in an accessible manner and help aspiring poker players learn the techniques, and enhance their strategy and thinking, while ensuring skill-based gameplay in the long term.
MPL also announced the launch of India Poker Festival, an online event that would offer a best-in-class gaming experience to all kinds of poker players across different tournament formats. The 11-day event, from 26 May through 5 June, will see thousands of players from across the nation participating. MPL will also run contests, discount offers on social media and provide free tickets for the tournament as prizes.
Worldwide, there are over 100 million people who play poker. With tech advancements, enabling transparency and fairplay, especially online poker on mobile apps, many new players have started playing poker, across the world. In India too, the sport has attracted a lot of new players in recent years. The number of tournaments has also increased. Poker, along with games like Bridge, Chess and Scrabble, is a part of the Mind Sports Olympiad, the global event for games of mental skill and mind sports.
Commenting on the launch of MPL Poker Academy, MPL country head (India) Namratha Swamy said, “Success in a game of poker is a product of hard work and skill. We strongly believe that with MPL Poker Academy and its myriad learning tools and features, we can create a conducive environment where people can learn from experts and connect with other like-minded players. Through this initiative, we also aim to clear any misconceptions that people have about the game.”
As part of the Academy, MPL will curate beginner, intermediate and advanced levels of content that cater to all types of gamers. Professional poker players such as Parth Jain, Dhaval Mudgal, Siddharth Karia, Aniruddha Joshi and others have joined hands with MPL to create short, snackable videos to make learning poker accessible to people. This includes commentary on the various aspects of poker including structure of a game, best and worst hands, common poker mistakes and how to avoid them, setting financial limits, playing against different types of opponents, etc. to help people get started on their poker journey.
Commenting on the launch, Siddharth Karia said, “Like in other competitive sports, developing strategies and executing them under pressure is what excites me the most about poker. I am excited about the Indian Poker Festival. I believe it will be a great platform for players to leverage their skills, compete against the best and earn recognition.”
Final Table Replay, a weekly video series, will see poker streamers walk through final table live action of the biggest tournaments hosted on the MPL platform. This will help players view all cards on a poker table and learn along as experts analyse all the hands and the decisions taken by players during the game.
MPL Poker Academy is accessible to gamers on MPL’s app, social media platforms as well as well-known poker communities like India Poker Players’ Association (IPPA), Poker Guru, Gutshot, among others.