Global Poker League: A Few Ideas to Stir Up Some Emotion

Global Poker League: A Few Ideas to Stir Up Some Emotion

With the Global Poker League heading directly for centre stage, Lee Davy offers an opinion on why he believes they will have to move away from the city-wide franchise to provide the main course of all sporting events: passion.

When I saw the first punch my foot stepped onto the pitch. When I saw the referee was in over his head, I broke into a gentle trot. When I saw 11 players converge angrily into my son’s space with fireworks of fists exploding around his head, I have never run so fast in my life.

Global Poker League: A Few Ideas to Stir Up Some EmotionAs a coach of an Under 16 football side you should never be proud of violence but I was that day. All season I had worried over our inability to create the fever needed to compete. There was more oomph in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory United.

When I was a kid, I played for a team called Wyndham Boys Club and we despised a team called Bettws. When I played senior football, I played for the Cafe Royals and we hated a team called Lewistown. As a Manchester United fan, I despised Liverpool. As an England fan, I hated Germany.

I believe this kind of intensity in a rivalry is an essential aspect of all of sport. I believe it is why we love to watch a local derby irrespective of whatever game we are watching. We love the symphony of emotion that flies out of the changing rooms. We like to see the veins bulging along those arms. We like the sickening suspense of it all.

And this is why I would like to see the Global Poker League (GPL) one day move away from the city-wide franchise that it currently employs.

My thoughts around this premise surfaced after a business contact asked me to write an article carrying the headline: 5 Cities That Should Have a Global Poker League Franchise (and who should play for them). I am very passionate about the approach Alex Dreyfus and his team are taking. I am a big supporter of the league. It is the most exciting thing to come out of poker since the deck of cards.

During my discussions with Alex Dreyfus over his recent deal with Sina Sports, I knew he was planning to launch a Beijing franchise sometime in 2017. Let’s imagine this experiment turns into a fully fledged enterprise, the introduction of a Beijing franchise would allow the GPL to introduce even more.

So who should they choose?

The GPL would be stronger with a Spanish city in the league. It is a country that contains some of the most exciting players in the world. I can imagine Carlos Mortensen or Adrian Mateos managing a team from Barcelona or Madrid. The recent explosion of interest in Latin America leads me to believe that a team from Buenos Aires would work, and I see no one more suited that Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero to run that one.

We would also need a team from Australasia. I can see Shane Warne or Joe Hachem managing a team from Melbourne. How about a group based in Macau? And should we have a franchise representing the GPL in Africa? How about Raymond Rahme, Jarred Solomon, or Ronit Chamani managing a team from Joberg?

And then I started thinking about passion.

How could that work?

What matchups would create natural emotion?

Could we have Roberto Romanello managing a franchise from Swansea? We all know the Welsh hate the English. Or what about David Vamplew leading a team from Edinburgh? And Donnacha O’Dea leading one from Dublin? The Scots and the Irish also hate the English.

Then I realised that everyone hates the English and the London Royals would be getting pelters from all sides.

I needed to find more natural antipathy.

It seems that PokerStars are the punching bags of many professional poker players presently. What about moving away from the city franchise entirely and allowing brands to compete? Wouldn’t it be great to see the PokerStars Team Pros squaring off against the ambassadors from partypoker with Cristiano Ronaldo taking a beating from Carl ‘The Cobra’ Froch, and Daniel Negreanu going finger to finger with Patrick Leonard.

We could have teams from PokerStars, Unibet, 888Poker, Full Tilt, iPoker, and the Microgaming Poker Network. While we are at it why not throw in a team from the World Poker Tour (WPT) and the World Series of Poker (WSOP)? How about a team from RunItOnce? What about Evan Jarvis giving everyone the downward facing dog with his group of super fit, green smoothie munchers over at Gripsed Poker?

And the characters?

Thus far Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates has been the star of the show. Let’s expand upon this.

Jason Mo and his gang have a lot to say about the world of poker. Let them create a team that everyone can love to hate. Let their lips run wild. While we are at it, let’s bring Dan Bilzerian into the mix and give him a franchise.

And let’s not forget the old school.

The Hendon Mob died when Dreyfus bought the website, but who cares about all of that old nonsense. I think the GPL is perfect for the likes of Ram Vaswani, Joe Beevers, and the Boatman Brothers. Bring back the Hendon Mob and let’s see them facing off against Rob Yong, Simon Trumper, and Jon Kalmar from Dusk till Dawn (DTD).

As I rub my crystal balls, bend over, and stare at them through the mirror on the back of my door I can see the GPL stars taking their place on centre stage in front of 60,000 screaming fans.

They will want to see action – Tick.

They will want to see stars – Tick.

They will want to see metaphorical leg breakers between the Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira of the poker world – I’m not so sure.