PokerStars India signs Sharad Rao as new ambassador

PokerStars India has signed Sharad Rao as their dedicated Twitch live streamer. Sharad becomes the third ambassador to represent PokerStars.IN, joining Muskan Sethi and Aditya Agarwal.

Sharad will be using PokerStars India’sofficial Twitch account to live stream, marking PokerStars India as the first online poker company in India to use Twitch (the world’s leading live-streaming platform for gamers) as a medium to live-stream poker games. Sharad’s first official live stream for the channel will be Friday, June 28.

Sharad has always put his love for skill games and analytics to use, first playing poker to earn some extra pocket money and now making a career out of it. In 2018 he bagged a Platinum Pass and free entry to the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) in Bahamas, the biggest $25,000 buy-in live poker tournament in history, which took place in January 2019. The dynamic 24-year-old poker player from Pune cashed in over $400,000 (approximately three Crores) and his hard work-ethic and determination to succeed at something that he loved impressed the PokerStars India team and they decided to sign him.

Talking about his experience, Sharad said, “I have been playing poker professionally for three years now and making a career in this domain was a conscious decision. Looking at the changing dynamics of the poker industry, I sense that live-streaming is the next big thing. Through PokerStars.in, I get access to Twitch and a large audience, which will help me, share my poker playing skills to all those wanting to learn.”

Ankur Dewani, CEO, Sachiko Gaming, which operates PokerStars India said, “We are delighted to partner with Sharad as his passion towards the sport and the commitment towards the game is impressive. Through live streaming, we want to build a larger poker playing community and make it an interactive platform for enthusiasts to discover and explore the life of a poker player. With him, we will be able to build awareness about poker being a skill-based sport and also aim to create regular poker content for people to enjoy and learn the sport, something that is currently underexplored in India."

Sharad’s long-term vision is to invest more time in understanding the game and work hard towards playing more competitive fields and tougher opponents. He intends to learn from his peers with the goal of becoming a better version of himself with every game.