London-based commentator Sam Razavi is excited to be part of Final Table Series- India’s first ever live streamed poker series and says that “It is always a great experience on many levels for me, but this time around it is even more exciting since I have been out of anything poker-related for so long.”

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“I do not really play online seriously anymore so I haven’t played a live tournament now in nearly two years. I always look forward to seeing new talents burst onto the scene during the FTS as well as sweating the players I am more familiar with,” he told Opoyi.

One of the flagship tournament series of Spartan Poker, Final Table Series (FTS) commenced on September 10. It is a grand virtual poker series, launched in November 2020 with Rs. 8 crore, that was crushed by a crore, putting the total prize money at Rs. 9 crore. Razavi has taken charge of it along with another International commentator Kevin Mcphee.

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Razavi secured a sponsorship with Black Belt Poker under the mentorship of Neil Channing and played first major tournament with 2011 Aussie Millions main event, where he went on to finish 6th. He has since gone on to amass $2.7 million in live tournament earnings, most notably finishing second in the Millionaire Maker at the 2018 WSOP.

Of his 224 live tournament cashes, he has won 42 outright, placing him 15th in the world for number of live tournaments won and number 1 in the UK for number of live tournament cashes.

Razavi says “Poker is an exciting game when you are playing it yourself…”

“…it is also exciting to watch online but a lot of that excitement is diluted for a viewer that is not financially or emotionally invested. I think this needs to be countered with a strong commentary team that can provide a good combination of wit, entertainment, and top-class analysis.

“I think that is always achieved with the FTS and there is always a great balance between commentators. I have never been one to take poker too seriously, and I think my acting background helps me to bring a bit of entertainment to the party,” he said.

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He also says that “with the commentary, of course, we want to entertain and keep our audience engaged. But if we take that too far then we start moving away from our job which for me is to analyze the game, to keep experienced viewers interested, and for those viewers that are new to poker, to promote the game and present it in a way that is as least daunting as possible.”

He also says that he has seen the monumental rise in the game of poker over the last decade, none more so than across India.

So does he follow any Indian commentators?

“I have worked with Aditya Wadhwani in the past, and I love the guy. He’s a lovely human being and a blast to work with in the commentary booth. It would be unfair to pick out any particular commentators from the league, but it is always a pleasure to work with Peter Abraham also, and I always make an effort to listen to commentary from any well-known Indian poker players as, like everything in life, you are always learning, and I like to keep learning,” he sums up.