Global Poker League Now Sponsored by PokerStars

The Global Poker League (GPL) launched back in April of 2016, but already into Week 10 the competition intended to “sportify” poker has thus far failed to attract the level of excitement originally anticipated by its owner Mediarex Sports & Entertainment (MSE). That may all change soon, however, after PokerStars was named as the GPL’s exclusive sponsor, and as the online poker room’s director of corporate communications Eric Hollreiser explains:
“The Global Poker League brings an innovative team-based twist to poker and we are happy to support Mediarex in their quest to bring poker to new audiences.”
PokerStars is the world’s biggest and most recognizable poker site, with the Amaya owned company controlling around 70% of the global iPoker market. Although details of the sponsorship deal are still sketchy, it is known that a live stream of the GPL will be available on PokerStars TV when the competition resumes on October 4th. Commenting on further implications of the deal, Global Poker League CEO Alex Dreyfus said:
“PokerStars offers us a multitude of opportunities to grow our platform and continue developing our two-fold strategy of connecting the League to the poker community and genuinely connecting poker to the mainstream entertainment sector on a large scale.”
The GPL consists of 12 teams with 6 pros each, and is split into an American league and a Eurasian league. The competition takes place over 14 separate weeks, after which the Playoffs (Nov 29/30), and the Finals (Dec 1st) will take place in Las Vegas. PokerStars already has a number of its sponsored pros taking part in the GPL, including Liv Boeree, Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier and Bertrand Grospellier. The inaugural GPL’s overall standings thus far is as follows:
GPL Americas
1: Montreal Nationals 174
2: LA Sunset LA Sunset 165
3: Sao Paulo Mets 136
4: New York Rounders 126
5: San Francisco Rush 121
6: Las Vegas Moneymakers 103
GPL Eurasia
1: Moscow Wolverines 143
2: London Royals 130
3: Paris Aviators 122
4: Berlin Bears 120
5: Hong Kong Stars 120
6: Rome Emperors 119