The Global Poker League (GPL) had a mission to sportify the game of ‘poker’ and change its reputation from being a game of chance to a game of skill. Mediarex Entertainment decided to launch the GPL in 2016 and held a GPL Draft that brought together over 200 of the world’s best poker players.

GPL Drops Global Strategy

The GPL decided to have 12 teams from across the world featuring in its inaugural edition and the teams were expected to face each other to determine the best poker team in the world. One of the key objectives of Mediarex CEO Alex Dreyfus was to generate global interest in the game of poker via the GPL and create a new market base in different countries. The GPL only allowed poker players who were ranked within the top 1000 poker players in the world to be a part of the draft.

The GPL draft was well represented as poker players from 33 countries participated and together they had more than $500 million in career prize money. Teams from Europe, Asia and the Americans took part but in the end the first edition of the GPL did not have as much success as expected. Dreyfus decided that the company would not proceed with the second edition of the GPL this year as changes had to be made to the format and structure.

GPL Announces GPL Brazil

Mediarex decided to put on hold the global GPL format in 2017 and instead decided to move ahead with a regional push. The company has already announced the launch of GPL China and GPL India editions which is expected to take place before the end of 2017. Now the GPL has confirmed that it will launch GPL Brazil which is expected to target the Latin American market.

The GPL has carried out a major revamp of its website and has introduced landing pages for GPL China, GPL India and GPL Brazil. The landing page for GPL Brazil has very little information and currently features top Brazilian poker pro Thiago Nishijima with the caption ‘Vamooo’. The company has promised to release more information about GPL Brazil in the coming weeks.

GPL Focuses On LATM

Brazil has already had a taste of the GPL as the inaugural edition did feature a Brazilian team called the Sao Paulo Mets. Some of Brazil’s top poker pros like Felipe Ramos, Thiago Nishijima, Joao Simao and Joao Bauer represented the Sao Paulo Mets and generated a lot of interest amongst Brazilian poker pros.

While the GPL is yet to confirm the format and strategy for GPL Brazil, it is highly likely that it will follow a similar model as GPL China and GPL India. This would mean that the top Brazilian poker pros would get the opportunity to feature in GPL Brazil and online qualifiers will allow upcoming Brazilian poker pros to qualify for GPL Brazil. The GPL is expected to bring the top teams from GPL China, GPL India and GPL Brazil editions to compete in the World Championships which it is expected to launch in the near future.

Tags: Alex Dreyfus, Brazil, Global Poker League, GPL, GPL Brazil, GPL China, GPL India, Latin America

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