Nikhil Arcot
Nikhil “Nik Airball” Arcot is an American high-stakes cash-game player who became one of the most recognizable personalities on Hustler Casino Live. His reputation is built around large pots, outspoken table talk and public rivalries, most notably his heads-up match against Matt Berkey.
Airball has only three recorded live tournament cashes, with his best coming at the 2025 WSOP when he finished 14th in the $100,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller for $209,457.
Airball has only three recorded live tournament cashes, with his best coming at the 2025 WSOP when he finished 14th in the $100,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller for $209,457.
Main Info
Nickname
Nik Airball
Residence
United States
Instagram
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Born
1988-05-12
Youtube
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Age
38
Twitch
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| Rank | Event | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 WSOP Pot-Limit Omaha 2025 | 14th | $209,457 |
| 2 | $10,400 WPT World Championship 2022 | 214th | $20,700 |
| 3 | $1,100 WPT World Championship 6-Max 2023 | 41st | $2,252 |
Biography
Nikhil Arcot, better known in poker as “Nik Airball,” is an American professional poker player and former investment banker who became one of the most recognizable personalities on Hustler Casino Live.
Arcot studied at NYU Shanghai before moving into finance. He later worked in investment banking and M&A, including a role with KAL Capital Markets, a firm focused on aerospace and defence transactions.
Airball's public poker career began in earnest on Hustler Casino Live on February 1, 2022. He won $14,925 in that first recorded session and soon became a regular fixture in the Los Angeles livestream games.
His loose table talk, willingness to play enormous pots and confrontational personality made him a natural fit for HCL. By early 2023, Airball had built more than $1 million in tracked profit on the stream, although that run took a major hit on St. Patrick's Day when he lost more than $750,000 in a single session.
Those swings became a defining part of his poker identity. Airball went on to play increasingly larger HCL games, including Million Dollar Game lineups, where winning or losing several hundred thousand dollars in one sitting became entirely normal.
His public profile grew even further through a feud with Matt Berkey. After appearing on Doug Polk's podcast in March 2023, Airball criticized Berkey and his Solve For Why training business. The back-and-forth eventually turned into a heads-up challenge at Resorts World Las Vegas.
Doug Polk helped coach Airball for the match, but Berkey ultimately won approximately $1 million after around 60 hours of play. The contest ended when Berkey reached the agreed stop-loss.
Despite being one of the better-known high-stakes poker personalities of his generation, Airball has rarely played tournament poker.
His first recorded live cash came in the 2022 WPT World Championship, where he finished 214th for $20,700. A smaller WPT cash followed in 2023.
His biggest tournament result arrived at the 2025 WSOP, when he finished 14th in the $100,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller for $209,457. That single result accounts for most of his current $232,409 in recorded live tournament earnings.
Those numbers, however, say very little about Airball's actual poker career. His reputation has been built almost entirely in high-stakes cash games, particularly on Hustler Casino Live, where individual pots can exceed his entire recorded tournament résumé.
Trivia
Airball's real name is Nikhil Arcot, although his poker nickname has become far more recognizable than his full name.
Before becoming a full-time poker player, he worked in investment banking and M&A after graduating from NYU Shanghai.
His first recorded Hustler Casino Live appearance came on February 1, 2022, when he finished the session $14,925 ahead.
Airball became one of HCL's most prominent personalities within little more than a year, building more than $1 million in tracked profit before suffering a $750,000-plus loss during a March 2023 session.
