Baazi Games CMO and Co-founder Varun Ganjoo speaks on the growth of POKER in India
Baazi Games CMO and Co-founder shared various insights on how India is evolving in Poker in the recent times.
Baazi Games, the company behind the famous app Pokerbaazi recently conducted the third edition of the National Poker Series (NPS) 2023. The 18-day tournament ended with some great performances where Vikram Mishra from Darbhanga, Bihar clinched the gold medal, the player will now represent India at the World Poker Series 2023 in Las Vegas.
On the successful conclusion of the National Poker Series, India Today Gaming got the chance to have a conversation with the CMO and co-founder of Baazi Games, Varun Ganjoo. He said that National Poker Series (NPS) 2023 represents the sports element of Poker with podium finishers rewarded with medals. The tournament had over 1.25 lacs entries with participation happening from pan India and not being limited to urban cities. Varun further mentioned that tournaments like the National Poker Series are playing a crucial role in flourishing Poker in India, he said that participation is happening at low entry points with an opportunity to win big amounts and have that national glory at the same time.
Varun Ganjoo later shared the back story of how the Baazi Games started its journey. He said that the CEO of Baazi Games, Navkiran Singh was an avid Poker player, he went to the US for a holiday and saw that Poker is much bigger in the Western markets. This introduced the idea of bringing Poker to India even though it was a new category. He further mentioned that prize pools back then used to be 20-30k but now, it's in crores. He also added by saying that Poker is a game of skill where one can earn big.
Baazi Games also has a dedicated learning program where players can practice and analyze their gameplay and further make adjustments to it. "Every sport has its ecosystem and it becomes necessary to add various elements like learning, coaching, and helping players to analyze their gameplay. Hence, PokerBaazi introduced these programs in a separate app called Poker School where players can learn to play the game right from scratch."
We also asked Varun whether the company has any further plans to enter into esports which has a variety of games including Valorant, BGMI, and CS:GO and is growing at a rapid pace. Answering this, Varun said that there is always a scope to diversify and but right now, the real money skill games have a lot of scopes, and currently, Poker will continue to be the main focus for Baazi Games. He further added that apart from PokerBaazi, the company also has a fantasy platform called Ballebaazi.
The CMO also stated that it was important to operate Baazi Games responsibly so that remains sustainable. He said that the tax policy for games introduced by the Indian government this year has been followed by the company before it came into force.