Following the completion of the inaugural international Global Poker League Season last December, and the launch of the League’s first regional tour in China, GPL is now planning a second regional initiative in India.
In a statement Tuesday, the League revealed that the Indian GPL will involve six teams from India’s “largest and most poker-friendly” cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.
Each team will have a mix of professional and less experienced players, and the action will start sometime in the first quarter of 2018.
India is no stranger to poker team competitions; local online poker operator Adda52 offered a very successful league event earlier this year titled Poker Sports League. Live streamed on Facebook, the event attracted enthusiastic attention from poker fans, as did the announcement that the Match Poker League will be offering competitions involving eight local franchises, backed by the International Federation of Poker.
The pace appears to be picking up in Indian poker, with the World Poker Tour’s recent announcement that its WPTDeepStacks brand is destined for Indian action in a partnership with Adda52.
Several local online poker operators have been reporting significant interest and activity, whilst Microgaming has been active in the market since 2015 through its MPN India arm, a ring-fenced poker network dedicated to the Indian market and operating exclusively in Indian Rupees.
The poker activity in India has been sufficiently high to capture the attention of online giant PokerStars as well – recent corporate statements indicate that discussions with potential local partners are continuing, and a launch before the end of 2017 is a possibility.
Local partners are also on the agenda of Alex Dreyfus, the entrepreneur behind the GPL, which is a subsidiary of his Mediarex group. Dreyfus has confirmed reports that he has held “active” discussions with “…several key partners from the regulated online poker space in India.”