The Global Poker League has released further details of their inaugural season including the additions of Sam Grafton and Griffin Benger to the commentary team and news of a Wembley showdown.
The Global Poker League (GPL) is heading to Wembley.
“3 years ago it was an idea, 2 years ago it was a Word Document, 1 year ago it was a PowerPoint, next week it’s going live.” Said the brains behind the GPL: Alex Dreyfus.
Que sera sera.
So how are we going to get from the PowerPoint to Wembley? Let me fill you in on the missing pieces.
The first season Consists of a 14-week regular season, a 5-week summer series, playoffs, and finals in what Dreyfus believes is one of the ‘most ambitious, aggressive and innovative initiatives within the poker industry for the last 12 years.’
GPL Regular Season
The GPL Regular Season will operate 5 April – 22 Sep and will consist of online 6-max action, played out three times per week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The 12 teams will be broken down into two conferences.
Eurasia
Moscow Wolverines
Berlin Bears
Paris Aviators
London Royals
Americas
LA Sunset
Sao Paulo Metropolitans
Montreal Nationals
Las Vegas Moneymakers
San Francisco Rush
The Eurasia conference games take place noon (EST) and 13:40 (EST). The American conference games take place 15:30 (EST) and 17:10 (EST).
The GPL’s online platform will host the games.
GPL Summer Series
The GPL Summer Series will take place between 6th June and 8th July. The action will consist of 33 days of daily heads-up encounters. The GPL is building a Las Vegas studio to host the games.
GPL Playoffs & GPL Finals
At the end of both seasons, the best eight teams will compete in the GPL Playoffs. Details on this one are a little sketchy with neither dates or venue available at the time of writing.
The final four teams will head to Wembley Arena for a two-day final 22-23rd November, where a winner will be crowned.
*The point system for the matches will be released next week.
The inaugural GPL Season plans to show more than 400 hours of broadcasting, with multi-lingual commentary available throughout. Most of the action will be shown live on the GPL’s Twitch stream, but USA Today Sports, DouyuTV, and PokerCentral will also air coverage.
Tickets for the Wembley dates will go on sale in May.
Click here for the full schedule.
Grafton and Benger to Commentate
The other GPL announcement released today was the news that Sam ‘samsquid’ Grafton and Griffin ‘Flush_Entity’ Benger will be calling the action.
It’s another well thought out and inspired move. Grafton is one of the most entertaining voices in poker. Benger is a former PocketFives World #1 and Counter Strike World #1. Between them, they have won over $13m in online and live tournament earnings.
I think they will need a little time to gel, but once they get into their stride, I believe they will improve the final product no end. Make sure you tune in on April 5, 2016, at noon (EST) to see them make their debut.
Happy to announce that @GriffinBenger and @SquidPoker will be @GPL‘s Live Commentators, starting next week. pic.twitter.com/ZtJZDI8p4h
— Alexandre Dreyfus (@alex_dreyfus) 30 March 2016
