The Global Poker League (GPL) announced its plans on entering the Chinese market in early 2017 by introducing a new Asia-exclusive poker tournament. The launch of GPL China is expected to take place after the 2017 Spring Festival in the country comes to an end in February. Plans for the introduction of the tournament were announced after the recent finish of the GPL’s Championship where the Montreal Nationals defeated rival poker team the Berlin Bears, scoring their first champion title.
The launch of the new poker league might be interpreted as an attempt to take advantage of the thriving eSports scene which enjoys a great popularity in China. The inaugural season of GPL China will reportedly feature a total of eight competing teams and each one will be from a different Chinese city.
The eight introductory teams which are to participate in GPL China are as follows – Beijing Great Dragons, Shanghai Golden Tigers, Guanghzou Pioneers, Shenzhen Eagles, Hangzhou Legends, Xi’an Warriors, Chengdu Pandas, and Tianjin Guardians. The make up of each team will be determined by its managers as usual.
The GPL currently is in the process of reviewing applications for the eight teams’ manager positions. The names of the managers are to be announced in the next two months. Shortly after, fans can expect the announcements for the players who made it on the each of teams.
The new league will be distinct from its international counterpart, but the two will still share a number of similarities. Alexandre Dreyfus, Chief Executive of the organization disclosed in a press release GPL China will operate separately from the main league, but nevertheless, will be in the established No-Limit Hold’em format. Similarly to the central league, GPL China will feature a real-time stream of live events.
Dreyfus had been talking about his wishes to “sportify” the game of poker in the past. The launch of GPL China poses as a suitable course of action as it would considerably boost GPL’s reputation, not to mention it would contribute to the popularity of poker as a sport and a game of skill. As a matter of fact, the eight competing teams will feature pros, qualifiers and celebrities in an attempt to ensure the GPL is viewed as an eSports competition.
Despite the similarities the Chinese league shares with its international counterpart, hopefully, it will build on the lessons the organization learned during the first GPL season. The latter was generally well-received by the poker community but there were a number of issues to be addressed, such as technical problems with the live streaming and small mistakes in the overall production as well as some criticism of the commentary. The inaugural season of the Chinese league will give the GPL an opportunity to rectify the said issues.
