MUMBAI: In a departure, that’s sent ripples through India’s gaming industry, Nazara Technologies’ chief operating officer Sudhir Kamath is folding his hand after a two-and-a-half year winning streak.
The gaming and sports media powerhouse confirmed yesterday that Kamath will step down from his post on 1 April, with the veteran executive citing family reasons for his departure from the Mumbai-based firm’s C-suite. It made this declaration through a regulatory filing with the Bombay stock exchange.
“Kamath is exchanging his corporate royal flush for a full house back home,” quipped one industry insider, referencing the executive’s previous life as co-founder and CEO of online poker platform 9stacks, where he dealt cards for over five years before Nazara poached him in October 2022.
His decision to relocate to his native city marks the end of a diverse career that has seen him play across multiple tables – from McKinsey’s consulting halls and Nigerian oil fields to the competitive word tiles of the Scrabble Association of India, where he spelled out success as president from 2020 to 2022.
During his tenure at Nazara, Kamath helped the company level up its operational strategy while navigating the increasingly competitive gaming landscape. industry analysts suggest his departure comes at a pivotal moment as India’s gaming sector faces regulatory challenges and fierce competition from international players.
While Nazara’s managing director Nitish Mittersain and board has yet to name a successor, the company’s shares remained stable following the announcement, suggesting investors aren’t throwing in their cards just yet. The firm continues to expand its portfolio across esports, gamified learning and mobile gaming.
For Kamath, who once turned an amazing return as an early investor in fruit exporter INI Farms, this latest move appears less about game over and more about selecting a new avatar closer to home.
This November, 9stacks, a leading pioneer of online poker, is all set to host the highly anticipated 'Heads Up – Poker Championship'. Heads Up play is considered one of the most strategic forms of play in poker because the game is against the player and not just the cards. In such Heads Up matches, aggression becomes one of the most important factors because players are posting blinds every single hand and waiting for great cards is just not an option anymore.
Beginning from 24 November 2020, the Heads Up Championship is designed in the No-Limit Hold'em format. Starting with a buy-in of INR 5500 and no second chances, players are expected to knock out their opponent in every level and keep climbing the ladder to victory. Beginning with 64 players, the game advances by reducing the number of players by half. At the end, the last two players have to compete against each other for the final Trophy, cash prize and the title. The top four players get rewarded.
With two weeks of thrilling action, the winner bags the title of Heads Up – Poker Championship of India, takes home 200K prize money along with the winner’s trophy!
Sudhir Kamath, 9stacks co-founder says "At 9stacks, we believe in constantly looking for new and exciting avenues to promote poker. One extremely competitive format of poker is HEADS UP format where only two players at a time go head to head against each other – almost like a boxing match! For the first time, we've been able to conceptualize a tournament in this format which will identify ONE winner out of a select field of 64 players – someone truly deserving to be called a CHAMPION. Looking forward to some intense matches!"
NEW DELHI: 2020 has been a difficult and challenging year on many fronts on account of the Covid2019 pandemic. Alongside, it has taught us to value life and treasure every moment spent with our near and dear ones – and Diwali is the perfect time to do so. With the festival of lights and joy upon us, digital platforms across categories have come up with fun and innovative ways to celebrate the occasion with everyone.
Here's a look at some of the campaigns by digital platforms that advocate following precautions and overcoming adversities through togetherness this Diwali:-
Mitron
Mitron is spreading festive cheer with the launch of its Diwali campaign #mitronkidiwali. Users are invited to share their Diwali celebrations on the short video sharing app, by participating in an exciting contest.
Adding to the festivities, Mitron has also launched catchy in-app music. Titled ‘Happy Diwali Mitron’, the toe-tapping song urges users to enjoy the festivities with family and friends.
For the contest, users are invited to upload Diwali celebration videos with festive elements like rangoli, firecrackers, playing cards, Diwali cleaning, sweets, and festive attire. There are six categories for participants to choose from, which will then serve as the theme of the video. These include Miss Phuljadi #diwalidiva (best dressed female), Mr Bomb #diwalihunk (best dressed male), Super Lit Diwali #litdiwali (best Diwali decoration), Jashn-e-Diwali (best Diwali celebration with family/friends) and Mitron ki Diwali (best Diwali video on the app). Content creators can participate in all the categories and create as many videos as they like. Six lucky winners will get to win some amazing prizes.
Eros Now
Eros Now, through its #UnlockDilwaliDiwali campaign, is encouraging users to celebrate the festivities with loved ones. While it is important to be mindful of the current circumstances which restrict certain activities, what matters in the end is quality content at affordable prices. Eros Now’s #UnlockDilwaliDiwali campaign is based on the simple premise that people can remain safe and have fun at the same time by spending this special occasion indoors together, binge watching their favourite movies with a helping of their favourite mithai on the side.
9stacks
9stacks, the poker platform, has dealt out the Yeh Diwali Poker Wali campaign, wherein players can simply stay home and connect with their close ones over the voice enabled private table feature on the platform. Through the private table option, users can reserve tables to play with their friends and family anytime during this festive season.
With the much-awaited festival of Diwali just around the corner, most families are looking forward to spending time with each other in-house as going out and celebrating would not be possible amidst the pandemic. Hence, in such a scenario, the concept of private tables will help users bond with their loved ones as well as break the monotony brought in by the lockdown over the last few months. 9stacks invites everyone to host Poker nights this festive time by gathering around with their loved ones and enjoying a riveting game that is sure to keep them hooked.
Facebook
Facebook has shared a short film underscoring the power of connections, and its brand belief that people can do ‘More Together’ than alone.
The film's plot is centered around the spirit of resilience of 28-year-old Pooja and how she helps sustain as many households as possible through the hardships of the pandemic via her dairy venture. The decision to hire more personnel, even when business is slow, comes at a great personal cost. However, the way the plot unfolds showcases the limitless possibilities when people come together.
Paytm
The online wallet brand has launched a film to celebrate the festive spirit. It showcases a strong emotional bond between the family members even if they are separated by distance. It is an extension of the company’s ongoing TV campaign highlighting the seamlessness of Instant Bank to Bank Transfers through the Paytm app.
MUMBAI: Online gaming platform 9stacks has signed on cricketer Suresh Raina as their brand ambassador. The partnership will see the cricketer in the brand’s upcoming campaigns and promote 9stacks through various engagement activities.
To celebrate the deal, the homegrown poker portal has organised the ‘Raina Freeroll Tournament’ on 27 October 2020 at 7 pm. The pool prize money for the tournament is one lakh rupees and the entry is free for all.
Raina will anchor the brand with his sports charisma and help in creating a higher brand recall amongst the key target audience.
9stacks co-founder Sudhir Kamath said, “It’s been a month since we roped Raina as our brand ambassador and we are super delighted to see the response we have received from our users both existing and new ones.”
Founded by Sudhir Kamath, Pratik Kumar and Rishab Mathur in 2017, 9stacks has emerged as a leading online poker gaming platform. With around 350,000 users, 9stacks currently offers Texas and Omaha variants of poker that engage both experienced players and learners.
9Stacks, India’s fastest growing poker platform announced the launch of “Private Tables” feature on the platform for all the players. Through the private table option, gamers can reserve tables to play with their friends and family anytime. 9Stacks offers the best experience and high engagement on its platform by innovating and creatively offering interactive gameplay for its discerning patrons.
9Stacks is a leading multiplayer gaming platform that caters to its audience by offering user-friendly, entertaining and compendious interface.
Amidst the epidemic, most of the population is stuck at home and of course, avoid gatherings, leading to miss out on meeting and socialising with family and friends. 9Stacks brings a way to stay connected and enjoy time with family and friends without leaving the safety and comfort of homes.
Sudhir Kamath, CEO & Co-Founder, 9Stacks says, “9Stacks is committed to provide creative solutions and leverage ongoing trends to cater to our audience in the best possible way. We realised that there are a lot of recreational players who want to connect with their friends and family over a game of poker but during the Lockdown which is the time for restrictions they were unable to do so. As it is, millions of people who had never played online before have now tried playing games on their mobiles during the lockdown. This gave us another opportunity to cater to our audience and we decided to introduce PRIVATE TABLES on our platform, both for cash game and tournament players. Basically, it is like hosting a poker party sitting at home, with complete authority to choose who all can be a part of that. More so the games can be kept completely hidden from the others if the players want to”.
Sudhir further added that “The idea behind private tables was to give a comfortable platform to recreational players who feel that they may get exploited by superior players playing on general tables but are completely at ease playing amongst their friends or acquaintances”.
“I love playing poker. Due to the current lockdown and ongoing restrictions, I started playing poker on 9Stacks.com and I learnt that it’s not only completely legal but also safe and entertaining. Also, it’s a good way to bond with our families and friends as 9Stacks allows us to form a private table and play only with your close friends” says Nandita Kodesia, a regular poker player on 9Stacks.
The process to create a private game is really simple. There is a separate tab for private games in 9Stacks, “The table runner”, or the person representing the group wanting to play together, has to fill up a form – mentioning some of his details and create a table on desired stakes, give it a unique name and password. All those who want to join in have to create accounts on 9Stacks.com. They can find the table by its name and can sit on the table using the password. Players can also choose the table to be not visible to everyone but only to a pre-selected group of IDs. The players can play both cash games and tournaments. This feature saw a lot of people rushing to make private tables and bond with friends and family while enjoying a game of poker. More than hundred and fifty such tables were created in the last few weeks. Even with lockdown easing, it is expected to remain a very popular feature on 9Stacks.
9Stacks is an online poker platform where users can learn and play the game online and also earn money. It currently offers its online poker gaming services in 24 Indian states. Apart from poker, it also offers fantasy league contests under the brand name Faboom. With creativity and innovative technologies 9Stacks leverages many positive trends in the gaming industry, and consistently focuses on delivering engaging and entertaining opportunities for its audience over the long-term.
The platform currently has more than 3.25L users across India and has witnessed 350% increase in user-base in 2019. The platform currently offers Texas and Omaha variants of poker that engage both experienced players and learners.
The Big Stack, India’s first ever poker university, has collaborated with another gaming giant 9stacks to revolutionize the world of poker in their own unique way. With this partnership the aspiring poker players in the country will get a dedicated platform to acquire all the inimitable skills required to stand as a poker pro in the industry.
As a part of this tie-up, The Big Stack will play the role of training the poker enthusiasts on its eccentric platform packed with all inclusive and in-depth knowledge of the game. Whereas, 9stacks will offer the training ground/platform where these poker students can try and test their skills thereby turning into polished and refined poker players. This partnership intends to develop and bring forth the hidden talent spread across various parts of the country.
Rai Sahib Singh Khurana, Founder and CEO, The Big Stack said, “We are extremely delighted to announce our partnership with 9stack and are confident that our association will certainly revolutionize the world of poker. This first of its kind collaboration will help elevate the standard of poker in the country and will also give a boost to our business. We believe India as a market, holds huge potential for poker to emerge as a mainstream sport and we are all geared up to reap the benefits of the huge opportunity hidden in the industry.”
Under this endeavor, all students trained on The Big Stack platform will get Rs.2500 free to play on 9stacks and gain the required skills pertaining to poker. Both The Big Stack and 9Stacks will run cross promotions on their respective platforms by strategically placing “Learn” & “Play” links respectively. Besides, 9stacks will additionally offer Rs.15000 to the pokerlearners who will enroll under personalized coaching package on The Big Stack.
Sudhir Kamath, CEO & Co-founder of 9stacks, added, "We started 9stacks with the aim of taking poker to millions of new players across India. In the Big Stack Poker University, we're glad to have found a partner who shares the same mindset. At present we will start with a few hundred enthusiastic new poker players, but we're confident this will scale up manifold in the coming months and years. Further, by making the course entirely online and video-based with an added dash of testing and competition, I think they've cracked the code on designing an inherently scalable solution. I wish all the best to the Big Stack team in this much-needed endeavour."
The renowned poker platform 9stacks will also empower coaches from The Big Stack, by offering them meganonredeemable cash money for them to play and do hand history sessions, which will be recorded and made available for all students of the BigStack, the innovative training place for poker players.
India: 9Stacks, India’s fastest-growing poker platform is conducting a free entry “Women’s Day” Tournament on this Sunday, 8th March 2020. 9Stacks expects to see active participation of 100 women participating in the tournament and fighting out for the prizes out of which 9 Women participants will win INR 1000 each. In order to keep out male users from participating, 9Stacks will do a physical verification call to check players. This would be a one-time call and once the woman participant has been tagged, she can participate in all women-only tournaments that 9Stacks would conduct.
9Stacks founder Sudhir Kamath says “We have always had a view that many more women should be part of the Indian poker segment. In fact, our very first live sponsorship was for a team of 9 women players at a Deltin Poker Tour live event in Goa. We followed that up with a number of women-only tournaments that we have conducted over the last two years. A number of women players were introduced to online poker via those events, and some of them soon became regulars at our other tournaments as well, and we hope their numbers will continue to rise”.
One can play the tournament from any corner of the world, via laptop or mobile. “Is it a compulsion, is it a challenge, is it a distraction or is it all about the moolah? … well, I really don’t know. All I can say is that I am enjoying myself playing tourneys or playing with friends or making new friends. The 9stacks website is very user-friendly, and the team running the show welcome suggestions to make it more interactive,” says Radhika Mahaliangaiah, a regular woman player on 9stacks.
9stacks is an online poker platform where users can learn and play the game online and also earn money. It currently offers its online poker gaming services in 24 Indian states. Apart from poker, it also offers fantasy league contests under the brand name Faboom.
The platform currently has more than 3.25L users across India and has witnessed a 350 per cent increase in userbase in 2019. The platform currently offers Texas and Omaha variants of poker that engage both experienced players and learners.
