Poll: Will âsportifying' poker breathe life into the vertical?
Can formats like the Global Poker League learn from and flourish like eSports and the UFC?
The mission to sportify poker was given a boost last week with the news that PokerStars would become the lead sponsor of the Global Poker League (GPL), with events to be live streamed three times a week through PokerStars TV.
The GPL is the brainchild of Alex Dreyfus, who says he took inspiration from several traditional sports like NBA, UFC and F1, but also from the booming industry of eSports.
The GPL, which restarts on Tuesday, features 12 pro teams each playing 45 regular season games with live matchups in Vegas as well as online tournaments.
Dreyfus says the new approach, with an eSport-style focus on live streaming, is needed to attract media attention and appeal to a younger generation of fans. The concept is certainly working in eSports, with the market expected to exceed $1bn sometime in 2017, from almost nothing five years ago.
And the PokerStars stamp of approval on the GPL is also significant, as the Amaya owned operator has been trying to appeal to a new audience for years and appears to agree that sportification might have some legs.
However, there are also some indications that the GPL might not be the panacea for poker’s problems.
The tournament ran into significant problems in its opening act, with a cancelled event at Wembley stadium and reported major cash flow problems.
And indeed some will argue that the traditional version of poker being played in the GPL is simply too slow for the modern generation, with operators better served investing in more recreational versions of the game like PokerStars’ Sit and Go, or 888’s Blast Poker.
With that in mind, we want to know whether you think the sportification of poker, with live player drafts, pro teams and league tables, is the best way to rejuvenate the vertical. Have your say on the right hand side of the page.