Tournaments
GST Update
Poker Essentials
Resources
cta-spade
Download the Pocket52 App  and start your poker journey today

🔥 Get full buy-in value on all  your deposits

Updated: October 27, 2023

An Interview With A Brilliant Poker Player At IIM Kozhikode.

Pocket52 hosted a No-Limit Texas Hold’em poker tournament for the management students of IIM Kozhikode. We were honored to interview the only female contestant who was ITM (Into The Money).
Ms. Shaifali is a Management student at IIM Kozhikode and is a brilliant poker player. Let’s see what she had to say about the event and poker as a game in general.
Debashish: So Shaifali what made you participate in the Pocket52 NLHE Tournament on your campus(IIM Kozhikode).
Shaifali: I started playing online poker games merely because it is one of my electives. But after playing a few games and learning it in the class I enjoyed the game a lot. I understood that winning here is no chance or luck. When we’d just begun to play poker I noticed people make instinctive decisions for a call or a raise. However, I usually take my time to see what my pot odds are and what is my probability of winning.
How my probability has changed after the flop opens. And hence played my game by understanding the skills involved in it. The involvement of numbers is my major drive. And yesterday I was at the tournament to see how much I honed my skills. Being able to use my love for the game and the other areas of intelligence that surface to make the game feel even better.
Debashish: Do you consider poker a game or a sport?
Shaifali: I think poker has multiple personalities in different parts of the world. What is understood of it in India inclines towards the meaning of a game which is, a bunch of people competing with each other for recreation? However, it has become a sport internationally. out there people have realized the need to sharpen their skills in math, logical thinking, and more to be good at poker. Precisely the definition of a sport.
Debashish: If you ever decide to go pro in poker, what rationale would you give to the people who would expect you to stay mainstream?
Shaifali: If I ever realize my attitude and aptitude for going pro in the game I would first go for it with all my might. And to all of the people who like their comfort zone, I’d say that a profession is a profession. Also, Indian society is still struggling to understand the nuances and the nature of the game of poker, whereas internationally it has a sound reputation. Changes are gradual and it is catching up in India too. It takes a lot of my brain energy to win something in poker. Poker is a sport to me, just like hockey or cricket.
Debashish: Considering your brilliance at the game, do you plan to go ahead and be a master or will it stay a hobby forever?
Shaifali: I am still exploring my bond with the game. I certainly place the game above a hobby. I Play the game very seriously. Soon even after assuming my position with my future employers, I will keep playing the game, and if someday I reach the realization that poker is my calling I will take it up, period.
Debashish: You have a course here at IIM and it was introduced by the professor as ‘Competitive Strategy Of Poker’ to make a point. To instill strategical thinking and understanding of risk management. How do you think will the game do any good for the young people, if exposed to the game/sport?
Shaifali: I believe the game should be introduced at an early stage just like monopoly. Mostly without real currency for the younger ones but surely it should be. Girls or boys, the truth is no one can tell another person what to do unless in some cases the paths are tried and tested by the people we have faith in.
Everyone can and should make their choices on their own. Calculate their risks and profits and be their persons.
Debashish: How was your experience playing your final action at pocket52?
Shaifali: I loved the interface. It was quite soothing. Apart from the few things which you mentioned are still being constructed, I think I enjoyed the smoothness.
Share it with friends