Varun Goenka

Will the Indians Successfully Defend Their Title of Asian Champions?

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Team India are the defending Asian Champions after their nail-biting victory at the 2019 Asian Nations Cup in Taoyuan, Taiwan. Their squad for the upcoming event contains 2 players from the title winning 2019 squad, namely Aditya Agarwal and Gaurav Gala. They are focused on defending their trophy and going back home with the title of ‘Champions of Asia’ once again. With more teams competing and overall level of skill increasing, defending their title will be a hugely impressive achievement if they manage to do it!

 

Here is the Indian squad for the upcoming 2023 Asian Nations Cup:

Name: Jagdeep Singh (Captain)

Bio: Arguably India’s best performing Match Poker athlete, Jagdeep has been competing at the highest level since the inception of the Match Indian Poker League in 2017 where he first tasted success with the Mumbai All Stars. He has since created his own team, the Haryana Hawks, and lead them to victory in season 2 and 4 of the national league. This will be his 5th appearance for the national team.

 

Name: Harman Baweja

Bio: A Bollywood producer and movie star, Harman’s talents go well beyond acting as he’s proven time and again. Against the odds his ‘celebrity’ Mumbai All Stars team emerged victorious in the inaugural season of the MatchIPL, leading to him captaining the national team at the 2017 Nations Cup in Oxford where India finished 5th overall. Since then his team has finished runners-up twice in the national league, and this will be his second opportunity to play for his nation.

 

Name: Abhishek Jalan

Bio: Abhishek was a member of Harman’s Mumbai All Stars in MatchIPL’s first season and after tasting success he too created his own team, the UP Indians, who he lead to a podium finish in seasons 2 and 4 of the league. Jalan was also part of the Indian team in Oxford and is very excited to have the opportunity to play for the national team once again.

 

Name: Aditya Agarwal

Bio: Aditya was an integral member of the title winning Indian squad in Taiwan and after having tasted success there is desperate to help defend the Championship, and add another gold medal to his collection. He was awarded ‘Player of the Tournament’ after his solid performance in the inaugural season of the Match Indian Poker League which not only helped his team finish in second place but also allowed him to become a part of the national team.

 

Name: Shuchi Chamaria

Bio: Shuchi has been a regular part of the national league, playing an integral role in the Pune Kings victory in season 3 under the leadership of Gaurav Gala. She then went on to represent Team India at the Nations Cup in Dublin which she thoroughly enjoyed, and is honoured to be playing for her country once again.

 

Name: Loveleen Singh

Bio: Loveleen proved himself playing for the Delhi Aces in the MatchIPL and was selected to represent the Indian team at the Nations Cup Finals last May. Another strong performance by him lead to his selection for the upcoming Asian Championships, which will be the second time he is playing for Team India. After a disappointing finish on his debut, he is keen to help the team achieve a much improved finish this time around.

 

Name: Abhishek Goindi

Bio: Abhishek was a member of the national team at India’s first ever performance in a Match Poker event – the Asian Nations Cup in Sanya, China in 2013! Since then he has gone on to really improve his skills and also teaches poker through his Poker Bootcamp. He has fond memories of his previous participation and representing India, is extremely excited to see the evolution of the sport over the past 10 years and having the opportunity to put on the blue jersey once again.

 

Name: Gaurav Gala

Bio: Gala lead the national team to victory in 2019 and wants to do all he can to ensure Team India continue to be Champions of Asia. He has been successful at the national and international level, helping bring the best of the team and will surely play an integral role in Hong Kong too.

Varun Goenka

The Japanese are Going for Gold in Hong Kong!

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The Japanese national team has competed at every global Asian Match Poker event to date, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves as well! They haven’t had the best finishes but have always come together as a team to challenge for the championship. A mix of some familiar faces and a few new ones, Team Japan is ready for Hong Kong and aiming to put on their best performance yet!

 

Here is the Japanese squad for the 2023 Asian Nations Cup:

Name: Yasuhiro Sasaki

Bio: First time representing his nation, he is excited to play Match Poker and roll it out across Japan following this event. CEO of the All Japan Poker Championship (AJPC).

 

Name: Hiroshi Miyoshi

Bio: He made his debut for Japan at the 2018 Asian Nations Pairs Challenge in Bangkok and is proud to have the opportunity to do so once again.

 

Name: Miyaka Miyoshi

Bio: Miyaka was a member of the Japanese team both at the 2018 Asian Nations Pairs Challenge as well as the 2019 Asian Nations Cup in Taiwan. This will be her 3rd time playing for her nation.

 

Name: Ryousei Suzuki

Bio: He will be making his Match Poker debut and is proud to be representing Japan at a global sporting event.

 

Name: Tsuyoshi Yanagida

Bio: Another debutant who will be donning the Japanese national jersey for the first time. He’s very excited to test his skills in the Match Poker format and is looking forward to the competition.

 

Name: Takuo Serita

Bio: The most experienced Japanese Match Poker player, having participated in IFMP events since 2011 in the London Eye! He runs the Japan Poker Association and has always represented his nation with pride.

Varun Goenka

Chinese Taipei finished runners-up on home soil last time around, can they better it in Hong Kong?

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Check out the full squad for Chinese Taipei as they prepare for their toughest Asian battle yet. National Federation leader David Tai has been doing incredible things for the growth and acceptance of poker as a mind sport & game of skill in his nation. 2022 saw the first season of the National Match Poker League as well as the University Match Poker League, with both being received very well and promising bigger 2nd seasons this year!

 

This is how the national team looks for the 2023 Asian Nations Cup in Hong Kong:

 

Team Leader – PO CHUN ROSS WEN (文柏鈞)

Bio – Ross is the chairman for Taiwan Formosa Poker Sports Association and the tournament director for CTP Poker Club, and Vice Manager of the National Match Poker Team. He was first introduced to Match Poker at the Nations Cup in Dublin in 2019.

 

Coach – CJ CHEN (陳紀任)

Bio – CJ is honoured to coach the national Match Poker team this year. As a dedicated poker player, he is eager to share his knowledge and help the team achieve their goals. He believe in the power of high-level competition to sharpen critical thinking and decision-making skills, while remaining humble and open to learning from others.

 

Coach – EN CHING WU (吳恩慶)

Bio – Jack Wu moved to Macau in 2012 to play cash games and won his first live title in 2016. After three days, he won the main event and went on to become the 2016 Asia player of the year leading to being sponsored by Pokerstars in 2017. He opened his first live course in 2017, and along with some coaches established Taiwan Rounders in 2018 (the biggest coaching site in Taiwan). The site: https://reurl.cc/GzL6Z. Jack has also acted as a national team coach in 2019.

 

Team Member – HSU FENG MING (許峰銘)

Bio – His first poker approach was in 2019 in a friend’s home game, since then he’s been loving it and started to play Live MTTs in 2022 at CTP Poker Club Kaoshiung. He also joined Taoyuan poker academic in 2022 and continues to learn advanced poker strategy until today.

 

Team Member – CHOU SUN CHEN (周孫楨)

Bio – Chou Sun Chen prefers to be called by his English name, Steven. He grew up in New Taipei City and is proud to represent his nation.

 

Team Member – LIU SHU TING (劉書婷)

Bio – Shu Ting Liu also goes by Ban Ban, has been a member of the national Match Poker team in 2021 and continues her journey this year with all other members, wishing everyone the best year ahead in 2023.

 

Team Member – HUANG WUN TING (黃文廷)

Bio – Tim Huang is a 21 year old college student from Taiwan. He hopes to play well against good players from around the world.

 

Team Member – CHEN-YI, LIU (劉甄詒)

Bio – Known as Serina Liu, she holds an electronic engineering masters degree from National Taiwan University (NTU) and is currently working as an engineer in the largest IC design company – Mediatek. Serina has about 4 years of MTT experience, during the span she’s captured 8 trophies from various global poker events and made over 8 million in earnings. She’s also a poker lecturer in NTU and an ambassador of CTP poker club.

 

Team Member – WANG,CHING-CHIA (王淨加)

Bio – Coming from the south side of Taiwan – Tainan, he has been playing poker for almost one year now and was introduced to it by a friend. He has been loving this strategy game since his first poker tournament in Taipei’s CTP Poker Club, and is very excited to get selected to be a member of the national team.

 

Team Member – JUSTIN CHU (朱啟仁)

Bio – Justin is a poker enthusiast who likes to travel around the world and play poker MTTs.

Varun Goenka

Hong Kong to Host the 2023 Asian Nations Cup!

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The International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP) and the Match Poker Sports Federation of Hong Kong, China are proud to announce that the 2023 Asian Nations Cup will be held in Hong Kong from 24-27 February and promises to be the biggest and most high profile Asian Match Poker Championship to date.

With a minimum of 12 national teams competing, this tournament promises to be a thrilling showcase of Asia’s best national Match Poker teams coming together to compete for the title of Champions of Asia and seal their qualification to the Nations Cup Finals scheduled to be held in Zurich later this year. Team India will be looking to defend its title after emerging victorious in Taiwan in 2019, with the host nation ensuring a thrilling last hand finish. Top 4 finishing teams will qualify to the World Championships and will also share the guaranteed HK$100,000 prize pool!

Match Poker events don’t involve any ‘buy-ins’ as national teams compete based on qualifying to the event. The individuals representing their national teams are selected by their national federations, who have their own processes for team selection usually based on tracking the performance of their player database over the course of a calendar year in the regular national federation events and tournaments.

This tournament boasts a prize pool, and unlike conventional poker tournaments, it is not made up of the ‘buy-ins’ from the participants themselves, and keeping in line with conventional sports and eSports it is infact a sponsored prize pool. This is a big step toward Match Poker’s recognition and acceptance globally as a mind sport and digital sport, moving it further away from the link with gaming and gambling.

Teams are made up of 6-10 individuals, with a mandate to include both male and female athletes. There are no restrictions based on age, gender or physical ability. Being a mind sport, Match Poker ensures a level playing field for all. The tournament will take place from 24-27 February at the Match Poker eSports Arena in Central, Hong Kong – a unique and first-of-its-kind venue catered to eSports, digital gaming & poker.

The event will be streamed live globally with multi-language commentary, broadcast to 60+ nations through IFMP’s global network, along with post-produced material to be circulated and broadcast on major channels and media across the member federation community.

“We are thrilled to bring the 2023 Asian Nations Cup to Hong Kong and have the support of the Match Poker Sports Federation of Hong Kong, China,” said IFMP President Patrick Nally. “The growth of Match Poker in Asia and in particular in Hong Kong has been incredible to see over the past couple of years. Our first national league and university league were both launched in Asia and Hong Kong has been integral to the adoption of the sport of Match Poker. We have no doubt that Hong Kong will provide the perfect stage for Asia’s best teams to showcase their talents and for fans from all over to come together and celebrate the exciting sport of Match Poker.”



Varun Goenka

Match Poker Online World Cup Features Diverse Group of Players Chasing a Championship and Cash Prizes

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Players from around the world are set to battle it out in the Match Poker Online World Cup in the coming days – with plenty of bragging rights and cash prizes on the line. The event brings some international prestige to the popular poker app and features players who have competed in Match Poker Online throughout the year.

A few hundred players are now eligible to compete with the Playoffs set for Dec. 3-4 with the Finals on Dec. 10-11. U.S players compete Dec. 2-3 with the Finals on Dec. 9-10. The winner of the Ruby division, the top competition, will be crowned the overall World Cup champion and takes home $625 in cash. The top three competitors in all four divisions also receive cash prizes.

Match Poker features competitors playing the same hands across the platform. Players can work on their skills by comparing their own play and decisions to others around the world who have played exactly the same hand.

When playing Match Poker, you’re not just competing against the players at your table, but against players seated at other tables in the same seat you are. The app is cutting edge and packed with high-tech features, statistics, excellent graphics, and exciting gameplay.

A Look at Some of the Top Competitors

After plenty of betting and bluffing, qualifying players now have a chance to prove their mettle against some of the best. The World Cup action will feature players from around the world. Here’s a look at a few of the top qualifiers.

  • Avishek Behera (Odisha, India) – The 20-year-old loves to work on his poker skills using the app.
  • Peter-John Rodriguez (Barbados) – This player ranks No. 3 overall on the Match Poker Online platform.
  • Michael Cheung (Hong Kong) – He loves the Battle Royale and believes his play on the site has helped with his game at the live poker tables.
  • Terry Fitzgerald (Sydney, Australia) – The 55-year-old loves the game’s quick pace and is ready for the World Cup to get started.

Those who haven’t qualified can still get in the action via the app with the hope of qualifying for the 2023 World Cup!

 

** Match Poker Online is available in the App Store and Google Play Store. Players can also simply click here to take them right to the download option.  For more details on the Match Poker Online World Cup, click here.

*** Editors, for more information or to test drive the new Match Poker Online app, please reach out. We’re also happy to provide more information and answer any questions regarding the World Cup and new features. Please find relevant links and contact information below.

WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Website – https://matchpoker.com

Facebook – https://www.instagram.com/matchpoker/

Instagram – https://facebook.com/MatchPokerOnline/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/matchpoker

MEDIA CONTACT: Sean Chaffin, [email protected]