Industry Talk: Navkiran Singh – The Man Behind PokerBaazi on How “A Captain is Only as Good as His Team”

Industry Talk: Navkiran Singh
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  • PG News November 18, 2016
  • 3 Minutes Read

Navkiran Singh (cover image) celebrated the second anniversary of PokerBaazi in October and has a lot to be proud of. The 27-year old entrepreneur began without a clue as to what next, except his passion for poker and today is successfully helming PokerBaazi, one of the top three online poker sites for Indian players. His brand went live with the Baazi Poker Tour (BPT), which saw great success at its inaugural run in Goa, late June this year. Recently, Singh extended the PokerBaazi offerings with the launch of the PokerBaazi LIVE poker room in Bengaluru.

Singh has a typical tale to relate when it comes to his introduction to poker, starting like all others at Zynga, but what sets him apart is his visionary approach and ability to cross over to the other sides of the felts in order to further the sport with a modern and attractive platform. With his background in IT and help from family and friends, he has nevertheless seen struggle and believes his team has made the going smoother.

Here he talks to us about the start, his journey, and his idolization for his father and of course, his glamorous brand ambassador Sunny Leone.

Singh is an action-man, who feels that excessive thinking only instills fear and causes delay. He strongly feels that poker is on the rise in India, and that with the right legal support, it can go a long way in the country.

A lot has been written about your love for poker, which got you into the business, but please share for our readers, where did it all start? When and how did you come across poker?

Like most, I came across poker on Facebook through Zynga when I was in college. An innocent interest quickly turned into an obsession and I fell in love with the game and its intricacies.

What was your poker-playing journey like? Any specific incidents that got you going and what got you hooked?

A bunch of us in college would regularly get together to play Rs 500 buy-in games. On the side, I even started reading books about poker and went through some autobiographies and strategy books by renowned players. It was then that I suddenly realized that there is a lot of skill involved in this game and it was a lot more than merely playing the 2 cards in front of you.

I started playing online on Full Tilt poker initially and the stakes I played were very low. Then I heard about Adda52 and I started playing on their platform for extended durations during college.

Also, I was studying in Manipal and I saw an immense hunger in the students there for the game of poker. Every other student was either playing or discussing it. This further fueled my desire to open a poker room.

Who were you player idols back then; do they still remain the same?

I’m a self-taught poker player and as such have never modeled my game on anyone. There are a lot of players whose game-play I love watching, but I wouldn’t say there’s any one person in particular.

Did your IT engineering background steer you towards an online venture? Did you ever think of a live poker room or something like that at that time?

My IT engineering background did not steer me towards an online venture, but it did help me during the phase when we were conceptualizing and building PokerBaazi. As you know PokerBaazi software is built from scratch and since I was involved in it’s development, I do, in hindsight, feel that my IT knowledge helped me understand the problems the developers would face and help them design a few algorithms.

No, I was honestly very skeptical of opening a live poker room even now. Our motive has always been to increase the market share and spread the game to a larger audience. We felt it was imperative to have a live presence for that. We are doing a lot of special promotions and tournaments to promote the live venture and the sport.

Building a venture from scratch is not easy, nor is managing a successful team on a long term basis. You must have surely faced challenges. Can you share the experiences, those that taught you some things in life or were helpful?

I feel very fortunate to have had the team that I did on my journey with PokerBaazi. As I have stated previously, it was just Anirudh and I when we started out. I asked my brother, Puneet, to join as I felt his expertise was necessary for this venture to be successful and others like Varun, and Avneet have since come on-board as well.

I have definitely faced a lot of problems in bringing PokerBaazi where it is and I’m sure we’ll face many more in getting it to where I envisage it to be one day. But, I take solace in knowing that since we’ve all been through and come out of so many difficult times together, we’ll be able to reach there stronger.

It’s just like they say it in cricket – “A captain is only as good as his team”!

On a personal level, a lot of what I know today and things that I have used in my success, I have learned from my father. He’s taught me a lot about what it means to be a leader and how to run a business and I owe him more than I can express in words. I think it’s very important to do things and not keep worrying about failures. You can never make the right decisions all the time but if you keep thinking about the results you will always be stagnant. All the wrong decisions you make eventually teach you much more.

How did the idea of signing on Sunny Leone come about; will the Indian poker world get to see more of her at tournaments?

We at PokerBaazi are always looking at ways to introduce poker to a larger audience and continually grow the market and we are not afraid to think outside the box. After a lot of brain storming, we felt that Sunny Leone had the appeal to help us in our objective. We thought that signing someone as big as her would increase our credibility. She is one of the most popular faces in Indian cinemas today and her association has already helped us attract a host of new players to the game.

As to whether she will make an appearance at tournaments… There may be some surprises in the pipeline. Just wait and watch:)

She has already started playing poker online on PokerBaazi by the way!!

PokerBaazi has already begun to move with the BPT and now PokerBaazi LIVE in Bengaluru. What next can we expect from your team?

All our present efforts are directed towards the new software launch, which is coming very soon. We have taken feedback from our players and our team has been working over-time to ensure that the new software is perfect. I’m confident that everybody will be in awe of the new features that we are incorporating.

As for BPT, people really loved the first season and to be honest it’s their love that is motivating me to do it. We will be focusing on BPT and other exciting announcements after the launch of our new software.

Where do you see yourself about five years from today with PokerBaazi, any other additions?

To be honest I am someone who doesn’t like to think so far ahead. I would love to diversify more with the business. If there is something exciting and challenging that comes up, I would definitely want to take it up.

The decision to enter into the live space with PokerBaazi LIVE was made in a couple of days and in a month we got everything in place. I think it’s best to take it one step at a time.

Poker is certainly growing in India online and live, what in your opinion does the country need (legally or otherwise) to give the sport a better platform?

I hope the government relaxes the tax rules on poker-based startups. Presently, operators must impose a 30% tax on any player winning more than Rs. 10,000. Also, the conflict between central laws and state laws will have to be resolved to ensure the growth of this industry.

There is also a negative image associated with most card games in India. Our society refuses to recognize poker as an acceptable profession and this is a mentality that in my opinion, coming generations should look to change.

Where do you see this industry in five years from today?

With the Nagaland government now issuing licenses to online poker operators, I feel optimistic for the poker industry. Some of the events we have conducted in colleges have furthered my belief that poker as a sport is on the rise and that individuals of all ages are slowly taking to it. In 5 years time, I’m confident that India will have opened up to poker a lot more and that we will be able to operate from the front lines.

Cover Image courtesy: PokerShots

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