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Following a few unexpected turns of events and a swift reorganization on the part of the hosts, the Match Indian Poke League (MIPL) is finally here and now well underway, bringing together top poker talent from the country and region.

The Match Indian Poker League in Progress

The Indian poker scene is developing itself. Although it’s still far from rivalling what we have in the US in terms of breadth and scope, events have been chugging along just as well down in the subtropical continent.

Now, the Match Indian Poker League (MIPL) is in its third season, allowing for player and spectator alike to enjoy yet another intense action of poker. The event officially kicked off on Tuesday, 23 October, having eight competing teams join and vie for the prize pool.

The hosts have made sure that the tournament will run smoothly, inviting a number of personalities to lead the event, including Raj and Shilpa Shetty Kundra alongside popular actor Ronganathan Madhaven. It does help to be well-versed in Indian culture to know who these people are, of course.

More importantly, however, is the fact that MIPL has really been gaining traction with local players. As one of the first large poker structures of organized and tournament poker play in India, the league is a conduit of the possible development of the game in future.

The importance of the event is also not to be underestimated. The winners will end up as the team that will officially represent the country at the upcoming Poker Nations Cup, which has been endorsed and supported by the International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP).

Season 3 and Beyond

So far, Season 3 has proven a success. The action continues at full speeds and the hosts have been using social media extensively to keep readers quite well informed about the developments of the hour.

At the same time, the format of the tournament that utilizes Match Poker is also advertised as a more skill-intense game than other popular and intense versions of the game, including Texas Hold’em which is what we in the West often do when it comes to hosting a tournament and playing for a big pot of money.

So far, there has been a strong push from all teams with Haryana Hawks clearly topping the charts. Other notable teams in the event are Pune Kinge, the Kolkatta Diamonds, the UP Indians, the Mumbai All Stars, the Bangalore Royals (second in the current standing), the Jaipur Jewels, and the Ahmedabad Hearts.

However, one glaring absence is the Goa Lions who didn’t want to participate over last-minute changes that hosts had to do in order to ensure a smooth play. Basically, the software that was going to be used to host the games had to be replaced with normal physical decks due to a glitch in the system.

Goa Lions insisted that they enter without paying any tournament fee as a result of the events. The case is now being settled by a mediator.

India has a strong and promising future in both offline and online poker, and the country’s prospects are improving by the day. MIPL is just a beginning.