In what has seemingly become a normal occurrence for him and the organization he represents, the Global Poker League’s top honcho, Alexandre Dreyfus, continues to have financial issues surrounding the league. The latest issues involve a player that is playing with one of the GPL franchises and money that was supposed to have been an exchange but turned into a short term loan.
According to a thread on Two Plus Two, German poker superstar Fedor Holz was approached by Dreyfus during this year’s World Series of Poker regarding an undesignated financial situation he was facing. “He (had) spend (sic) $50,000 in the last few days for the studio (where “The Cube” was broadcasting the GPL Summer Series),” Holz wrote in his post, and had no other liquid funds available. Allegedly Dreyfus asked Holz for $10,000 and asked for Holz’s bank information so as to put through a wire transfer the following week.
Holz admits that, due to the whirlwind of activity he was facing in Las Vegas, he didn’t get around to balancing his accounts until early August and found that Dreyfus had not paid back the money as the deal had been set. Holz allegedly stated an e-mail from Dreyfus explained the delay and said that it would be late August or early September before he would be able to repay “with interest.” “I am in the middle of a strategic/financing deal which – if you allow me – to have a few weeks more…would be highly appreciated.” Dreyfus writes the situation off as “just Entrepreneur (sic) life.”
By this time, however, Holz had found out that Dreyfus also had an outstanding loan with another high stakes poker player. Hendrik Latz, who plays under the name ‘ValueH,’ recounted his own tale of how Dreyfus and he had organized a money swap which turned into a three-month loan for the head of the GPL. In Latz’s case, $20,000 changed hands and, instead of getting the Euros promised that same day, had to wait until August 31 (as Holz did) to receive the money (plus a little interest payment).
Dreyfus would remove the previous “allegedly” statements by commenting on the thread himself. “I’ve apologized to (both of them) for having failed in respecting the original repayment deadline as it was intended,” Dreyfus begins. “I’ve also apologized to them both for the lack of communication and the non-professionalism that was inherent in this on my part.”
Dreyfus explains that the summer for the GPL was “tough” and “a lot of things didn’t work out as planned.” Regarding the situation with the players, Dreyfus holds to a statement that “there was never any malicious intent” and that “I’m not immune from making errors like this.” He also states that “this matter is settled and I’m not intending to add any comment publicly on this as I believe it to be a private matter.”
That statement seems to be what is bothering a large segment of the poker populace. Many poker news sites (including this one) would like to ask Dreyfus about the impropriety of borrowing money from a player in your own league, not to mention how the GPL has reached such a point that it doesn’t have operating capital of its own. Upswing Poker’s David Huber notes that plenty of players, including Doug Polk, Ryan Fee and Jason Mo, are all asking questions of Dreyfus in the Two Plus Two thread, but Dreyfus isn’t talking.
This is just the latest dirty marks on the inaugural season of the GPL. The second half of the season was supposed to have begun back in August, but it will not resume play until September 20 with online matches. The GPL Playoffs and the GPL World Championship were supposed to have been played at high profile locations – TwitchCon 2016 in San Diego, CA, for the playoffs at the end of September, SSE Arena at Wembley Stadium in London, the United Kingdom, for the GPL World Championship in November – but those dates were unceremoniously canceled and the entirety of the playoffs and the World Championship will take place at “GPL Arena” and “The Cube” in Las Vegas.
Holz perhaps said it best when he commented on why he came forward with telling the story of his interaction with Dreyfus. “He represents poker to the outside (world), so he represents us as a community to the outside,” Holz stated in his Two Plus Two post. “I think the story above is very questionable as a serious entrepreneur and a showing of missing integrity. I really do hope that this was a single misstep.”