Kanishka Samant

More about Kanishka Samant

One of the early stalwarts of the Indian poker industry, Kanishka Samant, has played poker professionally from 2012. Samant is considered to be among the best Indian poker players, Samant has come a long way. A former technical analyst in equity research, the Mumbai-based player made remarkable headway in the Indian poker fraternity with numerous victories and deep runs. 

He picked up the game in the US from a cousin in Jersey by playing 25/50 cent stakes and found a sudden liking for the game in 2010. Later, he began playing some cash games and home games.

Featuring in the Aces Unlimited tournament series, Samant earned a payout of ₹2 Lakh for a third place finish and followed it with another good run by winning the India Poker Pros series Main Event in 2011 to earn ₹5 Lakh.

In early 2012, Samant decided to make the switch and took poker up professionally. His envious record of triumphs in the domestic circuit includes multiple final table FT finishes, two India Poker Championship (IPC) Main Event titles (2012 and 2015).The list includes other titles like World Poker Tour (WPT) India 2017 Kick-Off and Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) High Roller in 2019.  

It is worth noting that he has also played at events like the Asian Poker Tour (APT), Macau Poker Cup, PokerStars Festival Manila, Manila Megastack and Spanish Poker Festival, among others.  

Apart from establishing himself in the live circuit, Samant also carved a place for himself in the online world by winning the PokerBaazi Premier League V Edition Main Event. He plays under the alias ‘kanishka27’ on PokerStars and has several impressive scores. 

Samant has been a consistent performer in online tournaments, having won an India Online Poker Championship (IOPC) Main Event (ME) title while recording numerous scores and winning the Destiny 8.0 SnG for a ₹10 Lakh Europe package. Going by his performances in the live and online circuit, it would be interesting to see how Samant’s poker journey pans in the coming future.