Alexandre Dreyfus, the controversial creator of the Global Poker Index player ranking system, has announced a plan to create a professional poker league. The Global Poker League (GFL) would operate as a sports league, with 12 teams representing different cities, and conferences representing the Americas and Eurasia, to start.
Poker players in Dreyfus’ GFL would be paid salaries, with bonuses for winning matches, rather than gambling against each other. Under the impresario’s plan, players would square off inside “The Cube,” a soundproofed glass chamber modeled after a squash court, with a view in but no view out. Arena audiences would watch on large TV screens that would display digital cards, and fans would be able to stream matches online as well.
The focus would be on players’ strategy and tactics, rather than the wagering, and the sports setup, according to Dreyfus, would allow it to be played anywhere in the U.S. as a sport rather than gambling, even if in a state where for-money poker is illegal. “We want to disrupt the image of the game,” he told the Quartz news website, “and in order to do that, we must change the game.”
The legality of the league—and what Dreyfus calls the “sportification” of poker—no doubt will be the subject of much debate in the coming weeks. He plans to launch the first season of competition in February, and claims he has already raised $5 million from private investors in the GPL through his company, Mediarex Sports & Entertainment.
Under Dreyfus’ plan, the GPL would be comprised of 12 teams, The Americas Conference would include New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Toronto and Sao Paolo. The Eurasia Conference would include London, Paris, Prague, Barcelona, Moscow and Hong Kong.
