Indian Poker Pros (IPP) and Euphoria are the well-known names for the poker community at large. Both of IPP and Euphoria have been respected staking and coaching platforms for Poker in various formats such as Multi Table Tournaments (MTTs) and Cash Games, both No Limit Hold’em(NLHE) and Pot Limit Omaha (PLO).
In a major move today, IPP and Euphoria made the big revelation announcing the merger of IPP and Euphoria on IPP Facebook page.
IPP and Euphoria are now one stable for its MTT wing backing, staking and coaching players for MTTs on Indian sites.
OPN India got an exclusive candid conversation with Anup Palod of IPP and Kanishka Samant of Euphoria and here are the excerpts of it:
OPN: Both of your stables being such remarkable entities, why did you decide to merge?
Kanishka Samant: The merger was strategically the best decision in the current poker environment, and having common goals and combining resources to achieve them felt like the optimal way going ahead in the future.
OPN: Who came up with this idea? To be really honest, this is really a ground-breaking decision you guys have taken.
Anup Palod: Danish called me a few days back to discuss something and gradually we started discussing how our players are doing and what the future plans are, etc. Suddenly, an idea struck us that why don’t we work together! We discussed the idea with our respective partners and after brainstorming for a few days we concluded that stable entities will be more valuable together than they are being separate. So, to answer who proposed it — it was a common idea of me and Danish and we executed it together with our respective partners.
OPN: How did the players take it? Were there any difficulties in convincing players in any way?
Kanishka Samant: More than anything it has been particularly beneficial to the players as not just they have Abhishek Rathod, Sahil Agarwal, and Andrew to coach them now apart from Danish and me, but the study groups just have more like minded players all eager to get better as well. So, the atmosphere is inspirational and motivational within the stable for the players, which is what any stable would work towards establishing.
OPN: Now that IPP and Euphoria are together, what is the combined vision?
Kanishka Samant: The core team being old friends with similar visions now have combined their resources, which is something the entire team is excited about and something the management is driven and motivated to achieve.
OPN: What is the roadmap for the future henceforth?
Anup Palod: We are backing and coaching for No-Limit Texas Hold’em cash games and MTT’s on Indian sites along with Pot Limit Omaha. We are even looking at diversifying into live staking and coaching in near future and a few other ventures which are too early to be pinned at this point. The merger will not only enable us to collaborate, but it will also help us to breathe new air in our upcoming projects.
On a closing note, I just want to add that Poker is a beautiful game and a mind sport with a great future in India. With this merger, the responsibilities on us as Stable Owners & Coaches or should I say, Poker School Operators, have increased. We are keen on finding more and more promising poker talent, nurture them and make them crushing players in the games they are good at. Be it MTTs or Cash Games for both, NLHE or PLO!
OPN: We thank both of you for sparing your valuable time. We wish you the best!
About IPP & Euphoria
IPP started off in January 2016 as a backing and coaching stable under the Management of Anup Palod, Abhishek Rathod and Sahil Agarwal for NL cash game players and gradually expanded to PLO cash games and MTTs too with. Over a period of time, IPP building a name in the Indian Poker community has a very structured and systematic forum for their players to reach out to fellow players, mentors for any assistance in their game, resources and more.
Euphoria has a vision of mentoring upcoming poker talent in the country and provides them all the resources to achieve their poker goals. Danish Sheikh and Kanishka Samant are the brains behind Euphoria. They started with Cash backing and coaching and expanded to MTTs and have been on track with the vision they had.