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PokerBaazi, with its relentless focus on tech innovation in gaming and unwavering passion for poker, has earned a prestigious reputation across our country. Our journey spans over ten years in the Indian poker industry and has helped us earn the trust and loyalty of over 50 lakh players.
At PokerBaazi, technology, innovation, and—of course—pure entertainment take centre stage. Our team works around the clock to bring you a wide range of poker tournaments and cash games, spiced up with innovative features like Splash the Pot and Bomb Pot. As India’s biggest poker platform, we’re proud to have fostered a dynamic and ever-growing poker ecosystem.
The essence of live and online poker is that the players need to bet a convincing amount of money for other players to abandon their cards, resulting in one single player winning the pot. In poker, the pot contains the sum amount of money that all players wagered in a hand.
The game starts with each player getting their hole cards, followed by 4 betting rounds during which each player’s goal is to convince others that they have the best card combination. As per the hand ranking poker chart, there are ten five-card hand combinations that decide how strong a particular player’s hand is. The weakest hand is a High Card on this poker chart, while Royal Flush (ace-king-queen-jack-ten of the same suit) is the strongest hand on it.
The objective of the game of poker is to win money in the pot. Pot in poker refers to the sum amount of all the bets made by players in a single hand. A player can achieve this goal in two ways: either have the best hand as per poker hand ranking rules or merely convince your competitors that you are holding a strong poker hand.
Whether you hold a strong hand or a weak hand is determined by where your five-card combination ranks on the poker hand rankings chart. This chart begins with the High Card as the weakest hand and goes up to the Royal Flush as the strongest hand in both live and online poker games. The player who stands tall at the end of four betting rounds is declared the winner of that particular hand.
Like many other card games, poker’s history is entwined with the history of multiple cultures, spanning continents like Asia, Europe and finally North America. While some scholars allege that the foundation of the poker game was created in Persia, others believe it has a French origin called Poque. The Persian style of playing poker involved hand rankings and even had betting rounds, but the French spiced it up with bluffing.
The poker game that we know of today finds its roots along the banks of the Mississippi River in the United States of America. It was in the 1800s that the game started to pick up in the USA. By 1925, the widely known variant of poker, Texas Hold’em, saw the debut of community cards, the cards that are laid open-faced on the poker table.
The most notable event in the history of poker that put its name on the global map was the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 1970. This event was held in Las Vegas, now dubbed the victory of Chris Moneymaker, where he won a million dollars by entering an online poker satellite tournament for a meagre expense of $39. This news single-handedly catapulted poker’s image in the eyes of the masses.
While the advent of poker in the global markets has been interesting, the growth of the game on the home ground is noteworthy in more ways than one. The Indian online poker industry is showing promising growth year on year. The online poker market valuation in 2023 stood at USD 115.1 billion and is expected to reach USD 346 billion by 2030. Factors like mass entertainment have aided this impressive growth.
The operators in the regulated real money gaming sector in India are rising to the challenge and delivering top-notch online poker apps, boasting cutting-edge technology, features, lucrative offerings, and free online poker games. Today, poker is increasingly becoming one of the most sought-after and entertaining mind sports, with a 50 lac+ player base as of April 2025.
Join a pool of 50 lac+ players on India’s biggest poker platform, PokerBaazi. Visit pokerbaazi.com to download the poker app.
Founded in the year 2014, PokerBaazi boasts a decade-long run in the Indian online gaming industry. We are known for our technology-first approach, where innovation and entertainment have always been our top priority. We take pride in offering the most lucrative promotions and innovative game features on a gaming platform that is double-certified by independent agencies to ensure fair gaming.
Joining a poker game on PokerBaazi is as easy as pie. First, you need to pick which stake you want to play a poker cash game. Next, you need to decide your buy-in amount, and voila! You will be assigned a cash game table where you can showcase your poker skills and take home your winnings. To ensure safe and secure transactions, PokerBaazi requires all players to complete their KYC before withdrawing their winnings.
The main criterion considered to declare a winner in a poker game is where their hand stands on the strongest combinations:
When a player fails to hit any of the poker hands mentioned below in the rankings chart, it's called ahigh card.
Example:
One Pairhand includes two cards of the same rank and three different cards.
Example:
Two pairhand consists of two pairs of one rank and two cards of another rank and one different card.
Example:
Three cards of the same rank and two different cards makethree of a kind.
Example:
5th in strength, astraightis made up of five consecutive cards of different suits.
Example:
Five cards of the same suit but in no sequential order makes aFlush.
Example:
AFull Houseconsists of three cards of the same rank and one pair. It is the 4th highest poker hand in strength.
Example:
A powerful hand that ranks 3rd in strength, four cards of the same rank and one different card makesFour of a kind.
Example:
Second highest in strength, aStraight Flushis a sequence of five cards of the same suit. The highest straight flush is the Royal Flush.
Example:
Royal Flushis the highest and unbeatable of all poker hands. It is made of the top five consecutive cards of the same suit.
Example:
These are essentially a poker player’s currency in a game. A player wagers money in chips in a poker game. These poker chips come in different denominations and represent real money.
In live and online poker, a pot consists of the chips that the players wager during the four betting rounds. This is essentially the gratification a player gets upon either successfully producing a strong hand at showdown or by making their opponents fold. A poker player’s aim is to keep the pot growing but also establish dominance to ultimately win the pot in a particular hand.
Poker blinds are forced bets that players are required to make at the start of each hand. These are the first two players seated to the left of the dealer. The first person sitting to the left of the dealer is the small blind. The big blind makes a bet that is double the bet of the small blind.
The exact amount of these blinds or bets is predetermined. For example, if the small blind makes a bet of ₹5, the big blind wagers ₹10, two times the small blind.
In both live and online poker, the dealer deals a certain number of cards to each player once the blinds are placed. This number is decided based on which variant of poker is being played. In the classic Texas Hold’em, the dealer distributes two hole cards to all the players, whereas in the classic version of Omaha Poker, players are dealt four cards each.
As per the rules of poker, community cards are the cards that are dealt face up on the table. These cards are called “community” cards because they can be used by all the players to make their strongest five-card combination.
Before the actual poker game begins, a dealer is picked at the table. While the letter ‘D’ denotes the dealer on an online poker table, the same job is done by the ‘Dealer Button’ in live poker. In each hand, the dealer button moves in a clockwise direction. The player who acts as the dealer has the privilege of betting last in a hand.
The next step is to assign the blinds, who sit on the left-hand side of the dealer. Following this, the players are dealt their hole cards (2, 4, or 5, depending on the poker variation you are playing). Once all the players get their hole cards, the first round of betting, pre-flop, begins.
A game of poker typically has four betting rounds: pre-flop, flop, turn, and river. A player has to wager the chips as per their cards and their poker strategy.
During the four poker betting rounds, a player can take five actions: fold, call, raise, check, or go all-in. Depending on the strength of their hand, a poker player can either fold from that hand if they have a weak hand or call to stay in the hand.
After the hole cards are dealt, the player sitting to the left of the big blind can make any of the five actions at this moment:
There are mainly four rounds, or betting rounds, in a poker game. As previously introduced, they are pre-flop, flop, turn, and river, followed by a final showdown. Let us discuss these in detail:
Once the blinds are assigned and the players get their hole cards, the pre-flop round of betting begins. After the small blind and big blind make their mandatory bets, actual betting in a poker game is initiated by the player sitting on the left-hand side of the big blind. Players can either choose to fold, call, or raise the big blind at this stage. The pre-flop round ends with the dealer making their bet.
The pre-flop betting round is succeeded by the flop. Once all the players have completed their actions, the dealer opens three community cards on the table face-up. The first active player sitting on the left-hand side of the dealer is required to initiate the flop round.
After all the players have wagered their bets at the flop, the dealer deals the fourth community card. This card and betting round is called the turn. The betting continues until all the players are done wagering their chips.
This is the fifth and the final open-face card. Based on their poker strategy and hand strength, players place their bets.
The final round of betting—the river—is concluded, and more than one player remains active at the table; a final stage of the hand occurs, called the showdown.
Showdown is the stage of the poker game that determines the winner of a hand. All the active players reveal their hole cards and compare their five cardpoker hand. The player with the best hand wins all the chips in the pot.
This stage in a poker hand decides who will be bagging the pot by winning that hand. In a showdown, all the active players need to reveal their hole cards for the final winner to emerge. The player who holds the best five-card hand combination takes all the chips of that pot.
In case all the players fold, but one remains before they reach showdown, the one player remaining wins that hand and the pot.
The PokerBaazi app offers its 50 lac+ player base five entertaining variations of poker. Here’s a list of all the poker variants offered:
Texas Hold’em
Super Hold’em
Pot Limit Omaha 4
Pot Limit Omaha or PLO 4
Pot Limit Omaha 5
Pot Limit Omaha 6
The International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) recognises poker as a mind sport due to its intellectual and strategic elements. Playing poker online can help players acquire skills that provide them with a competitive edge in life.
Here’s a list of skills that poker teaches you to acquire:
Math skills play a crucial role in improving a player’s overall poker gameplay. If you have a basic understanding of math, you can easily have a better edge at poker. However, learning Poker mathis not a mammoth task to fulfil. With continuous practice and discipline, a player can upgrade their poker skills.
The sport of poker teaches you the hard skill of risk management while on the field. A typical professional poker player is relentless when it comes to maximising their risk vs. reward ratio. A poker table is a dynamic workplace where your hand strength, board texture, and your opponents keep changing the odds of the game. This is where your risk management skills play a crucial role.
Being disciplined is the only way forward for players who want to remain winning players. Consistently picking the right stakes, making the right bets, and routinely studying the game off the tables are some crucial efforts all successful poker players make to get ahead in their game.
Discipline is a life skill that applies to professional poker as well. It’s an intangible that all aspiring poker players should work on.
Poker also teaches you to be an observant person. The subtle shift in your opponents’ betting behaviour is as important as calculating your own odds and deciding the strength of your hand. In online poker games, a player needs to closely observe each move of their opponent. Know when they usually raise or call. It is only when you crack their playing patterns and game strategy that they become an easy target for elimination.
Picking a tell on an opponent is important, and so is not giving one out at the poker tables. Keeping a careful check on your emotions is a poker player’s superpower. No matter how hard you work on studying the game, if you lose it at the actual battleground, it is over for you.
Poker players who grind on a regular basis know the significance of emotional maturity and how it can be an additional skill in their arsenal as a player.
PokerBaazi offers you a bunch of perks you don't want to miss out on if you love to play poker games online in India.
By joining PokerBaazi, you join 50 lacs+ active poker players from all across India and share the celebration and glory of the game. With a variety of poker tournaments, game variations, and exciting new formats, no matter which table you choose to play, the action stays on around the clock. Not to mention, ours is a trusted and certified gaming ecosystem that ensures honest gameplay.
TThe ease and convenience of gaming are the major features that our users love about the PokerBaazi app. You can directly play on the desktop while working side by side or download the app on your smartphone and get gaming instantly.
Ours is a trusted gaming ecosystem that ensures honest and fair gameplay. The PokerBaazi app is RNG certified by two international and fully independent accredited testing labs, iTech Labs and Gaming Laboratories International, LLC (GLI), to ensure complete randomness and unpredictability in the generation of cards and game outputs. This allows all players an equal chance to win.
At PokerBaazi, you enjoy a bunch of exclusive features on the app. For starters, we got private tables where you can play private poker games with your friends by setting stake limits and buy-ins. Another crucial feature is “player profiles” that let you gain information on your opponents to know what kind of player you’re up against.
To spice things up, you can also enjoy emojis and send throwables at your opponents! Interact with your fellow players through texts and voice chats, and keep things interesting at the tables.
We are also certified members of AIGF and IAMAI. The former is India’s apex industry for online skill gaming, and IAMAI represents India’s digital services industry. AIGF is a pan-India regulatory agency, and it ensures best practices in the online gaming ecosystem via effective self-regulation of its members, which includes player protection and responsible gaming.
We host several variations of online poker games around the clock. These include various freerolls across variations, cash tables and tournaments arranged in different formats. The choices are limitless. The real action begins past dusk, so it is ideal for players who have a busy day schedule.
PokerBaazi never misses an opportunity to give back to its players. Feel free to enlist in different poker promotions and enjoy numerous perks along your poker journey. From India’s longest-running single-flight 1 Crore poker tournament, The MoneyMaker, to India’s biggest poker tournament series, 100 Crore National Poker Series India (NPS), you name it, and we are hosting it. The more you play and refer, the bigger your returns on PokerBaazi.
Never wait to get your winnings credited to your registered account or pause your online poker game due to a lack of funds. Get KYC verified on the PokerBaazi app to enjoy immediate deposits and withdrawals. We offer multiple payment options, such as UPI, American Express, Paytm, OLA Money, MobiKwik, and Net Banking to ease transactions.
OurResponsible Gamingtools help users to play the game in moderation and keep their funds in check. It allows the alleviation of any potential effects that come from excessive online gaming. Feel free to check our amazing set of tools and features to regulate and monitor your game sessions in real time.
Betting is placed in Entry 34 of List II (“State List”) of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. As such, the Indian Constitution permits state legislatures to enact laws to regulate betting and gambling within their respective territorial jurisdictions.
Several states in India have their own legislation conforming to the erstwhile Public Gambling Act of 1867. Accordingly, the majority of state legislations have an exception that classifies ‘games of skill’ outside their ambit. It is to be noted that poker has been held as a “game of skill” in judicial pronouncements made by various Hon’ble High Courts of India.
The legislations of a select number of states prohibit games being offered for stakes and do not make an exception for games of skill. These states are the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Sikkim, Nagaland and Telangana. Currently, residents of the aforementioned states are not allowed to play poker for real money on PokerBaazi.
Players from all other states in India can follow their passion and continue playing online poker for stakes on PokerBaazi’s trusted poker app. This has led to the rise of many prominent poker players in India who have made a name for themselves in this spectacular game of skill.
Here is a list of the brightest poker minds from India that have become a sensation, whom you may choose to follow and stay inspired. These are the players who stood out among lacs of entries at the National Poker Series India 2025, a month-long poker tournament series that tested the endurance of these players to the very limit. Hail the phenoms of Indian poker:
| Sr. No. | Player | Medal Tally (2025) |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Mohit Bohra | 3 Gold | 2 Silver |
| 2nd | Sreekanth KN | 2 Gold | 2 Silver | 1 Bronze |
| 3rd | Ankit Wadhawan | 2 Gold |
| 4th | Bhanu Prakash KC | 3 Gold | 2 Silver |
| 5th | Wilson Yomso Pilot | 2 Gold |
| 6th | Zarvan Tumboli | 1 Gold | 4 Silver | 1 Bronze |
| 7th | Vikhyat Ahlawat | 2 Gold | 2 Silver |
| 8th | Anish Vijayvergiya | 2 Gold | 1 Silver |
| 9th | Aditya Sushant | 2 Gold |
| 10th | Saahib Bawa | 3 Gold | 1 Silver |
| 11th | Goonjan Mall | 2 Gold |
| 12th | Snehil Aggarwal | 3 Gold | 1 Silver | 3 Bronze |
Arun Vijay - Karnataka
I am Arun Vijay and I won G.O.A.T 2023 winning ₹1.50 CR. Life teaches Poker and Poker teaches life.
Biggest Win ₹1,49,67,481 
Shagun Sarda - West Bengal
I'm an actuarial consultant aged 25. Have been playing poker for 6 years now. This is my first big MTT win and looking forward to more.
Biggest Win ₹5,82,900 
Hanuman Patel - Karnataka
Mera naam Hanuman Patel hai. Maine Endboss 2023 tournament khela tha aur usme mein 2nd rank aaya. Mujhe winnings me ₹78 Lac mile. PokerBaazi ne meri zindagi me ek naya mod de diya hai.
Biggest Win ₹78,74,414 
