Global Poker League Names Its Team Managers

The inaugural Global Poker League (GPL) is scheduled to get underway in a spectacular fashion this year, and ahead of 12 teams from 12 cities competing against one another in a series of tournaments lasting 14 weeks, there is still the question of choosing players from the Global Poker Index’s (GPI) top 1,000 to represent each team.
Those players wishing to put their names forward will be able to do so on January 18th, before a live draft is finalized at the SLS Hotel Beverly Hills on February 25th. In addition, a number of top players have also been given the opportunity to also put their names forward, including Chris Moorman, Darren Elias, Fedor Holz, and Anthony Zinno.
While each team will consist of five players, one of those will be a specially chosen Team Manager, with Chris Moneymaker having already been named as the head of Las Vegas, last week. This week, the Global Poker League has now decided to release the rest of its Team Managers, with the line-up as follows:
Americas Conference Teams
Las Vegas Moneymakers: Chris Moneymaker
Los Angeles Sunset: Maria Ho
Montreal Nationals: Marc-Andre Ladouceur
New York Rounders: Bryn Kenney
San Francisco Rush: Faraz Jaka
Sao Paulo Metropolitans: Andre Akkari
Eurasia Conference Teams
Berlin Bears: Philipp Gruissem
Hong Kong Dragons: Celina Lin
London Royals: Liv Boeree
Moscow Wolverines: Anatoly Filatov
Paris Aviators: Fabrice Soulier
Rome Emperors: Max Pescatori
Once the Global Poker League gets started, each of the games will take place within a 20-foot see-through, sound proof arena called “The Cube”, which will also allow the surrounding audience to view the players hole cards, and enjoy all the live action. The Global Poker League is the brainchild of Alex Dreyfus, and talking about what the future holds for his innovative new concept, the French entrepreneur explained:
“I think we want to make a statement, and we’ve managed that in starting the league. Let’s be realistic, it took 15 years for esports to take off and become what it is today — GPL is not gonna be perfect in Year 1. We are building a foundation, a platform that will evolve over the years. It’s based on the legitimacy of GPI, it’s based on the support of the large majority of top-tier poker players. We are experimenting, and we”ll adjust over the months and years. There are 100 million poker fans in the world and 51 million in the US alone — that audience needs new content, and that’s what we aim to do.”