Poker Sports League Goes Digital for Third Season

Poker Sports League (PSL) is going to return online for its third season after the coronavirus pandemic disrupted original plans.

Amit Burman, promoter and chairman of Mind Sports League (owner of PSL), said to the Economic Times that the company has had a practice run by organising a virtual charity event recently. He said: "With our charity event last month, we have tested out the production capabilities. While we have already hosted two seasons of PSL, this time, it will allow us to engage the viewers and keep the excitement high over a longer duration by hosting it online."

Offline qualifiers were cancelled back in March, and online qualifiers are now running until 22 November, with 80 players to be selected and drafted into eight teams in December. Team owners will then have a month to prepare their teams with a boot camp planned for the first week of January.

Pranav Bagai, CEO and co-founder of Mind Sports League, added: "In terms of production, we are the only company in the country which has done a live stream of poker. It's very difficult to have all the players and record their audio in a single frame.

"What we tried to attempt with the charity event has not been done in the world. But it got us a lot many views even from people who were not poker enthusiasts. Now with the proof of the concept, we will have the PSL spread over two months."

This PSL will be very different from last year. As well as being online, only six of the 10 teams from season 2 have decided to continue.

PS3 will have a total prize pool of Rs. 1.8 Crores - Season 3 was originally announced with Rs. 4 Crores in prize money. The company is in talks with Reliance Jio and MX Player for streaming rights and with various sponsors. DSport broadcast season 2.