The inaugural Global Poker League draft, GPL Draft Day, took place on Thursday afternoon at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills California. Over the course of several hours, 48 of the top poker talents from around the globe were selected by the GPL's 12 franchise managers.
GPL Draft Day was the culmination of several years of hard work by Alex Dreyfus and his team, and their hard work was rewarded as nearly 200,000 unique viewers watched the GPL draft live on Twitch.tv. Yes, you read that right, 200,000 people watched poker players selected in a draft.
MORE: GPL Draft Day grades for Eurasia Conference
Below are my grades for each of the six franchises in the GPL Americas Conference, based on three categories:
- Overall skill
- Marketability
- Host city ties
Montreal Nationals
Draft grades:
- Skill - A-
- Marketability - B-
- Host city ties - B
- Overall draft grade - B
Montreal manager Marc-Andre Ladouceur put together a strong lineup with his selections of Mike "Timex" McDonald, 2014 WSOP Main Event Champion Martin Jacobson, Pascal LeFrancois, and Xuan Liu.