The most comprehensive Global Poker League online guide – GPL Season 1 kicks off today at 6 pm CET!
What is the Global Poker League and how does it work?
The Global Poker League (GPL) is the first professional poker league. It follows the example of big sports leagues like the NBA or NFL, but in an eSports setup.
Global Poker League Season 1 starts today at 6 pm CET!
The GPL consists of 12 teams from all around the world with 6 players each (a team manager, three draft picks and two wildcards).
There are two conferences Eurasia and Americawith 6 teams each. The first one plays its matches in Europe and Asia, the second one in the USA.
Global Poker League Season 1 consists of 4 different phases
The inaugural season of the GPL consists of 4 different phases: The Regular Season, the Summer Series, the Playoffs, the GPL Finals.
The GPL Regular Season: From the 5th of April – 22nd September 2016: There are online matches three days per week every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. All of them will be streamed live on Twitch.
The GPL Summer Series: In the second phase from the 5th of June – 8th July 2016 there will be 33 Days of daily Heads-Up battles filmed and streamed live from Las Vegas.
The GPL Playoffs: (Dates TBA) – The Global Poker League’s “Final 8” determine the four finalists of the first season for the Grand Finale, which takes place in the SSE Arena Wembley in London.
The GPL Finals will be played in the Cube in the SSE Arena Wembley London
The GPL Finals: 22nd-23rd November 2016 – Venue of the GPL Finals will be the the SSE Arena Wembley in London next to the legendary Wembley Stadium.
The SSE Arena is London’s most iconic concert and events hall located in the heart of Wembley Park and seems to be the perfect venue for the Grand Finale of Season 1.
The Finals will be played in the revolutionary Cube. This is one of the most remarkable and unique features of the GPL and was exclusively built for it. It can be installed everywhere from the pyramids of Giza to the Eiffel Tower to a football stadium.
The Cube is one of the most remarkable features of the Global Poker League.
“The Cube is a portable, 20-foot- one-way soundproof cube that will offer spectators the first-ever immersive poker event in the world”, explains GPL boss Alex Dreyfus.
This is where the first ever Global Poker League Champion will be crowned.
As mentioned above there will be 12 teams with 6 players each led by a team manager.
The teams of the inaugural season of the Global Poker League:
Berlin Bears with team manager Philipp Gruissem
Los Angeles Sunset with team manager Maria Ho
Moscow Wolverines with team manager Anatoly Filatov
New York Rounders with team manager Bryn Kenney
London Royals with team manager Liv Boeree
Paris Aviators with team manager Fabrice Soulier
Rome Emperors with team manager Max Pescatori
Sao Paulo Metropolitans with team manager André Akkari
Hong Kong Stars with team manager Celina Lin
Montreal Nationals with team manager Marc-Andre Ladouceur
San Francisco Rush with team manager Faraz Jaka
Las Vegas Moneymakers with team manager Chris Moneymaker
On the 25th of February the first ever GPL Draft took place in Los Angeles, where the managers had the chance to pick three players from the TOP 1000 of the Global Poker Index (GPI).
Watch the roundup of the Global Poker League Draft Day here:
As well as the great Draft Recap Highlights here:
The Global Poker League Wildcards
After that each manager had to select two wildcards to complete the team. Here they had the opportunity to choose whoever they want, means also themselves.
Here are the selected Global Poker League Wildcards:
London Royals — Liv Boeree and Sam Trickett
Paris Aviators — Fabrice Soulier and Alexandre Luneau
Moscow Wolverines — Analtoly Filatov and Igor Yaroshevsky
Rome Emperors — Max Pescatori and Todd Brunson
Berlin Bears — Bill Perkins and Dan Cates
Hong Kong Stars — Celina Lin and Randy Lew
Las Vegas Moneymaker — Chris Moneymaker and Scott Ball from Twitch
Montreal Nationals — Marc-Andre Ladouceur and Jason Lavallee
New York Rounders — Bryn Kenney and Tyler Kenney
San Francisco Rush — Faraz Jaka and Jonathan Jaffe
Sao Paulo Metropolitans — Felipe Ramos and João Bauer
