MUMBAI: Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty and her industrialist husband, Raj Kundra will be back with the third season of the Match Indian Poker League (Match IPL). The former owners of Indian Premier League side, Rajasthan Royals had launched the tournament under their umbrella corporation Viaan Industries Ltd. which is a gaming, entertainment and licensing company.
Match IPL will be collaborating with MTV for the ‘MTV Pro Hunt’ which will help find India’s best poker players who will get to represent nine different teams of the competition. The talent hunt had already begun on 28 September and three winners have been named for Ahmedabad Hearts, Bangalore Royals and Haryana Hawks. Jaipur Jewels, Mumbai All Stars, Kolkata Diamonds, Pune Kings and UP Indians are the other teams in the lookout for more players this season and their rounds will be held from 5-14 October.
Season 3 of the MatchIPL will be held in Mumbai on October 23 and 24. The first season was won by Mumbai All Stars, who took home the winning prize amount of Rs. 12.5 million. In Season 2, the number of teams participating increased to 10 and the debutant team, Haryana Hawks emerged winners, taking home an amount of Rs. 4 million. On the other hand, this season promises to be the biggest in terms of prize money and the action that surrounds it – with nine teams vying for the coveted prize amount and the chance to represent Team India at the IFMP Nations Cup.
To add to the allure, the tournament will have a grand Bollywood style opening and an after-party that will host the who’s who of Bollywood and the poker community. Playing hosts to all the weekly MTV Pro Hunt tournaments is PokerRaj, a recently launched online poker platform and the title sponsor of the main event as well. Players from across the country can participate in the free-to-play MTV Pro Hunt tournaments that are hosted on PokerRaj that are scheduled for 8 PM on the following dates –
Date Team
5 October Jaipur Jewels
6 October Kolkata Diamonds
7 October Mumbai All Stars
13 October Pune Kings
14 October UP Indians
