Baazi Games is proud to have recently associated with Shark Tank India as a co-sponsor and thrilled to be a part of their journey. PokerBaazi, being the maiden offering from the house of Baazi Games, is excited to shake hands with the sharks of India’s popular business reality show.

Recently, a video was released on Sony Liv’s official handle as a part of the Pitch Prep Series of Shark Tank featuring the founder and CEO of India’s biggest poker platform, Navkiran Singh who shared his insights on the game of poker and how it is similar to doing a business.

On Shark Tank, investors hear pitches from a variety of aspiring business owners who seek funds from them. And in return, they ask for a certain stake in the business after forecasting its revenue and earnings and thereafter, assigning a valuation to the company. 

Now, the question is, what makes India’s most sought after poker destination associate with Shark Tank?  The reasons are too many. If you have played poker even a few times, by the time you’re done reading, you may be surprised how deeply interconnected poker and business are. Let’s find out.

Poker and Risk Management

In poker and business both, you need to constantly evaluate and measure potential profits and losses and be highly strategic in your decisions. Taking calculated risks in your venture requires applying quick math, data assessment, recognizing competition tactics and mitigating threats. Carrying a little bit of instinct is a bonus. 

Like in Poker, going All-in may sound quite tempting because it is the highest risk you can take in an instant. You either stand to win or lose everything. However, a smart player like a sound entrepreneur, only takes this risk when the odds favour them deeply. A blind risk only makes you a thrill seeker and following this path will eventually lead to huge losses. 

Poker and Endurance

When you play poker tournaments, you learn to endure losses and cope with pressure especially when you’re in the bubble. Tournaments begin with a huge number of players sometimes in hundreds, sometimes thousands. After days, sometimes, weeks of play, this number reduces to the point where only a single person emerges as the winner. 

By the same token, numerous startups crop up every other day with entrepreneurs hoping to make it big. The ones that actually hit the mark are those who carry a thick skin, work relentlessly and endure a series of challenges along the way. Both Poker and Business need your unperturbed resilience to make it to the winner’s circle.

Poker and Information

Poker and Business have one key thing in common- uncertainty. In Poker, players must place their bets in a series of rounds starting with just their hole cards while carrying minimum information just enough to make the first move. As the cards are flipped over, you receive more information and you may alter your moves and make snap decisions based on this new information. 

Similarly, entrepreneurs enter into a business with incomplete pieces of information. They make moves by evaluating market data and their competition to know what the market lacks or needs. As you gain more information, you must be able to shift your strategies and if necessary, quickly alter your course of action in the favourable direction if the current data indicates so.

Poker and Competition

To thrive in Poker, you must be able to decode your competition and identify the gaps in their game strategy. You need to be able to figure out their tells, betting patterns, poker hands histories and stats to gain a good read on their possible holdings and beat them in their own game.

Similarly, kicking off any business requires you as an entrepreneur to study the market well and ensure that the product or service you wish to create and offer has the potential to attract a solid client base. 

To make this happen, you need to conduct thorough market research so as to identify gaps by checking your competitors well and studying the needs and desires of your target audience.

Poker and Money

Playing smart Poker means understanding your own scope of winning. Even the best hands can be beaten sometimes but in the end, it all comes down to probability.  You need to know if the cards you hold can be played in a certain way that can beat your opponent’s better hand. 

Similarly, as an entrepreneur, you must understand your holdings, the amount of money you can spend and how you plan to spend it. It’s not always how much funds you get, but what you do with the money in hand. 

In the words of PokerBaazi founder and CEO Navkiran Singh, 

“Enterpreneurs should look at smart money, they need to fact check what VCs have done in their investments depending on what stage of the business they are at. Do you need strategic help or financial help? If you know the subject matter well and you have a solid business plan, you will get VC money eventually if the business requires it.”

Summing Up

If you are on the path to becoming a successful entrepreneur, the PokerBaazi founder concludes, “There’s a very famous line in a book a friend gifted me. You need to treat Poker not as a game, but as a subject. In life, you don’t know all the variables. So, you need to make decisions based on the information you have and over time, not worry about the outcomes. That really inspired me.”

After careful perusal, one can safely say that Poker and Business are highly skill based endeavours. Inarguably, both carry a hint of luck, but don’t we know by now luck only favours those in motion. 

It’s time you hold the cards.

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