Former CEO ChiliGaming Alex Dreyfus has just launched his new venture, the Malta-based Zokay Entertainment, and before the ink had even dried out, the company has already announced that it has purchased the Global Poker Index from Pinnacle Entertainment.
The GPI was originally owned by Federated Sports + Gaming (FS+G) who also happened to call the ill-fated Epic Poker League as one of its babies. But when FS+G filed for bankruptcy, Pinnacle was awarded the GPI through a court-supervised bankruptcy auction held two months ago. Pinnacle then turned its new acquisition around by selling it to Dreyfus’ newly-created Zokay Entertainment. Crazy action in the business, indeed.
Now, the popular tournament poker ranking system that aggregates a player’s overall performance in qualifying tournaments in the past 36 months is now in the hands of the French operator who proclaimed of big plans for his new acquisition. “The GPI is the best poker ranking system in the world, and we plan to make it even better,” Dreyfus said.
Among the expected additions to the Global Poker Index include the implementation of a National Rankings system that will take players from as many as 17 different countries and rank them by their standings respective of their nationalities. In addition, Dreyfus also said that the GPI leader board will have enhanced perks, one of which will be the opportunity to become members of the GPI VIP Club. According to Dreyfus, the GPI VIP Club will have “a variety of membership perks and discounts useful for the GPI 300 Elite globally and locally”.
But the biggest and arguably most ambitious addition to the Global Poker Index is the build-up of an actual awards ceremony – think along the lines of Hollywood but with less pizzazz – where the company will be presenting and awarding “a variety of accomplishments in the live tournament poker world”. The categories being thrown out for this award show includes Poker’s Rising Star, Best Venue, Best Event, Best Tournament Director, and most important of them all, Player of the Year.
