Global Poker League’s “Cube” Draws Mixed Reaction from Poker Fandom

The inaugural season of the Global Poker League resumes on Tuesday as the 12 teams in the league get back together for online play in the Six-Max format. But a recent release from the GPL regarding the “Summer Series” during the 2016 World Series of Poker – and the usage of “The Cube” in those matches – has presented mixed results from those that the GPL is looking to tap into – poker’s fandom.

During this summer’s play, the GPL conducted a survey of visitors to the GPL website and has released the raw data of that survey. In total, 279 people responded to the survey (the GPL admits that it has removed “double entries” from the results) which asked one simple question: “What do you think of The Cube and the live format?” The answers given by a sampling of respondents indicates that the jury is still out regarding the GPL and its format.

In a highly unscientific examination of 102 of the replies, Poker News Daily found that, on a scale of one (for awful) to five (for excellent), the average reply came in almost exactly in the center. That average, 3.18 per respondent, could be seen throughout the remainder of the replies in the survey results.

On the good side, a respondent from Poland stated, “I think it’s a very interesting and good combination of a live and online poker experience.” Additionally, a United States viewer commented, “I loved the online made for TV format…I don’t understand young pros who have poopoohed the concept.” A viewer from the United Kingdom piped up in saying, “Love everything about the design of The Cube and the fact that tense music is pumped into headphones. Everything about it takes broadcasted poker to the next level.”

For all the kudos handed out to the GPL by this segment of fans, there were those that weren’t as enamored with the production. A Canadian viewer stated, “Don’t care for it. Difficult to follow. Can’t hear the players talking. prefer the Skype for heads up,” but also admitted they would still watch. One British viewer said, “I was not entertained by your format. I saw the three-plus hour YouTube but survived only three minutes. Next time, start releasing water into the Cube and that way I can watch them fight for air over time,” while another came up with perhaps the most scathing comment of the entire lot: “Shite totally gimmicky shite.”

GPL founder Alexandre Dreyfus is also high on the end of the 2016 season and looking forward to the 2017 campaign. “The GPL will be present during TwitchCon 2016 in San Diego from October 30 through November 2,” Dreyfus noted. “The GPL Playoffs and Finals will be hosted in our Las Vegas television studios from November 29 through December 1.” When it comes to the 2017 season, Dreyfus explains that it will start in the first quarter of the year and have “an improved format, a new draft…new teams, player changes and the introduction of trades between teams.”

Dreyfus also recognizes that the fan involvement has to improve to ensure that the GPL will be in for the long haul. “We believe the future of GPL and “pokertainment” will be driven by fan-fueled initiatives,” Dreyfus explained. “After surveying our audience, we found that 40% of fans would play real money fantasy games based on poker and 49% would like to “stake” live poker players. With almost four million unique combined visitors, the GPL, GPI and The Hendon Mob (another segment of the empire) are the perfect platforms to do so.”

In wrapping up his look at the immediate and near future for the GPL, Dreyfus seems to have his eyes on a specific goal. “The basics for the GPL are built, our next step is focusing on expanding “fan engagement” through the end of 2016 and into 2017, testing new fan monetization models based on GPL content and unique fan-centric experiences,” Dreyfus concluded. With hope, Dreyfus and the GPL can stay on this course and not deviate further into some of the difficulties of the inaugural season.