Global Poker League Releases Official Schedule, Announces Grand Final at Wembley

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Mar 31, 2016 12 min read

With only six days to go before the first-ever Global Poker League kicks off, Mediarex Entertainment — parent company of the event and of other international brands like the Global Poker Index and the Hendon Mob — finally released the league's official schedule, and it includes a league final to be held at Wembley Arena in London, England.

"While the bulk of the league's content distribution will be via GPL.tv and its own mobile applications (set to be launched during the summer of 2016), Mediarex Sports & Entertainment — GPL's parent company — has built an extensive distribution network distribution to ensure maximum exposure for the league across outlets such as USA Today Sports," the press release said. "We also recently signed a deal with DouyU.com, a Chinese platform that will allow us to penetrate the Chinese market and reach a user base that has no access to Twitch."

The inaugural GPL season will take place from April 5 through November 23, 2016. The first season of the GPL is a large one and split into four different phases.: the Regular Season, Summer Series, Playoffs, and Finals.

GPL Regular Season: April 5-Sept. 22

The GPL Regular Season officially kicks off at 9 a.m. PST on Tuesday, April 5, with the first of four six-max events involving players from all 12 franchises that compose the league. The 12 franchises are divided up into two conferences, America and EurAsia, and this first part of the season will take place online.

Then, with three match days every week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, the Regular Season will feature three games a day until May 26, which means eight weeks of GPL action.

According to GPL's official schedule, both conferences will play six-max events on Tuesdays. The teams in the EurAsia Conference will then play heads-up matches on Wednesdays while the ones from the Americas will do the same on Thursdays.

Starting on May 27, the Regular Season will go on a two-month break to leave the schedule open for the Summer Series stage that will run in Las Vegas alongside the 2016 World Series of Poker. These events will be played at Mexiarex new studio in Las Vegas.

Then on August 16, the second half of the Regular Season will hit the virtual felt again with three matches a day on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays until Sept. 22.

"When you launch a new sport or a new content proposition like the GPL, you want to avoid competing with everybody else," Alex Dreyfus, CEO of Mediarex, told PokerNews. "Most big sporting events happen during the weekend already, so we decided to aim for less competitive days like Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. This also creates more appetite for the sports books, since that's when their live-betting offer usually has a smaller choice."

With all the matches part of the GPL Regular Season taking place online, people will be able to follow on different platforms.

"We will be everywhere, from Twitch.tv to Poker Central," Dreyfus continued.

Additionally, the press release regarding the schedule added that the GPL "signed a deal with DouyU.com, a Chinese platform that will allow us to penetrate the Chinese market and reach a user base that has no access to Twitch."

Dreyfus also anticipated that commentary of the matches will be left in the hands of some of the best poker players in the world.

"Griffin Benger and Sam Grafton will be the commentators of the matches during the first half of the Regular Season," he shared. "There's going to be a lot of content about each match, that's why all the live streams will start 30 minutes before the beginning of the actual matches."

Summer Series: June 6-July 8

The summer is when poker players from all across the globe will be in Southern Nevada for the 2016 WSOP, and it's also when the GPL will launch its GPL Summer Series. This part of the season will be a series of heads-up battles to be filmed live in Mediarex studio in Las Vegas.

During these 33 days of action, players from all 12 franchises in the GPL will engage in a battle that will start every day at 11 a.m. PST that will be streamed online via Twitch and Poker Central, and available of other platforms and outlets.

GPL Playoffs: To Be Announced

The GPL Playoffs will consist of the top eight teams from the 12-team league. The bottom four will be eliminated from post-season play.

"At the end of the Regular Season, we will lose four teams," Dreyfus explained. "This means that the eight teams left will join the playoffs".

The 2016 GPL Playoffs are sent to take place in a two-day event that will fall in a location to be announced soon. It is likely that this location will be in North America. During the two-day event, the eight playoffs teams will play down to four.

The GPL Finals: November 22-23

The GPL Finals will take place at the iconic SSE Arena, Wembley in London, United Kingdom. This portion of the season promises to be not only a great poker event where four franchises still in the game will play down to a winner, but also an amazing show.

"We want fans to connect with players and with each other, and that's why are preparing a great show for this event," Dreyfus said.

The finals are to be played in The Cube, a 20-foot, one-way soundproof glass box. Players from the top four teams in the GPL will battle for the inaugural title in front of what Dreyfus hopes is a full Wembley Arena.

"While the playoffs are likely to take place in North America, we decided to have the finals at Wembley because that's a great opportunity for us," Dreyfus said. "Not only is it an amazing venue that has been used to host some of the world's biggest events, but London is a true cosmopolite city where we have a large presence thanks to the Hendon Mob, also part of the MediaRex family. This can help us fill up the arena."

And that's not all, because the French entrepreneur explained another reason why Wembley was selected.

"The gambling regulation in the U.K. helps us to create more innovative experiences and a real show for our fans," he said. "The experience is more than just sit and watch — its full engagement."

Regular Season Schedule, First Half

Summer Series Schedule

Regular Season Schedule, Second Half

Playoffs Schedule

Finals Schedule

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