Nikhil “Nik Airball” Arcot

Nik Airball, whose real name is Nikhil Arcot, is a New York native born in 1996. He is a relatively new to the high stake poker scene. Nik completed his tertiary studies in China, attending New York University in Shanghai for 3 years. When he returned from China he started working in investment banking. Arcot transferred a few times between New York and L.A. for the next 4 years before starting to play high-stakes poker. 

Nik Airball Early Poker Days

Nik was first introduced to poker in high school, watching his dad and friends play. His dad was also featured in a main event once. Arcot played some family poker games while in school and when he was in college he’d watch Live At The Bike. By 2nd semester in college Nik discovered that there was a lot of underground poker action in Shanghai. Nik started playing micro-stakes and slowly building a bankroll.  Upon moving back to New York in 2017, Nik stumbled onto more underground poker action and continued to hone his skills and understanding of the game. Nik’s first introduction to official live poker was at The Bike.

Poker Results

Nik’s HendonMob page only shows a cash in one tournament due to him being exclusively a cash-game player. Nevertheless, he cashed $20,700 in the WPT World Championship $9,800 + 600 Event. For a short amount of time in 2022, Airball set and held the record for the biggest pot won on Hustler Casino Live, which at the time was $870k. 

Conclusion

Nik’s come-up onto the high roller scene has been controversial as he’s been known to say what he thinks with a little bit of passion added to it, thus garnering some critics. But like him or not, Nik is making a name for himself in high-stakes poker, regularly appearing on Hustler Casino Live and playing with the biggest highrollers in the world.