Next month the Global Poker Masters, the brainchild of Global Poker Index owner and Chief Executive Officer Alexandre Dreyfus, will take to the stage in Malta. Earlier this week, however, one of the first issues popped up for the Global Poker Masters as two players were removed from the tournament.
Team France, which qualified sixth in the eight-team inaugural event, was expected to have a strong list of players for the Global Poker Masters. Helmed by Erwann Pecheux (France’s Player of the Year according to the GPI rankings), other pros such as Benjamin Pollak, Sylvain Loosli and Fabrice Soulier were supposed to join Pecheux on the five-player squad (the fifth player would be a ‘wild card’ choice). Due to an issue with their sponsor, however, two of those men – Pollak and Soulier – have been pulled from the tournament.
Apparently Betclic Everest Group, the online poker site that sponsors Pollak and Soulier in live events around the world, wasn’t pleased with the factor that players would not be allowed to wear any sponsorship logos to promote the site. Under the Global Poker Masters guidelines, the players aren’t there to promote their respective companies but compete under the flag of their country and, as such, wouldn’t be wearing their normal sponsorship patches during play. When Betclic Everest and Dreyfus failed to reach a compromise on the issue, the company pulled the two players from the inaugural tournament.
Dreyfus took to Twitter to denounce the decision by Betclic Everest, stating, “I am frustrated and sad that a French company won’t allow two of their players to represent Team France at poker’s World Cup, especially when the organizer is French!” Dreyfus was undaunted by the Betclic decision, however, noting that another French online site, Unibet France, was more than willing to put one of their players on the French team. “(Unibet) said they could send Quentin Lecomte to represent France without stickers, shirts or pants,” Dreyfus jokingly noted.
With Pollak and Soulier out, Team France has found replacements and it is arguable that they make the Tricolore unit a stronger one. Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier has stepped up to take one of the slots and he will be joined by Patrick Bruel, who has built quite a career on the felt (owner of a World Series of Poker bracelet) and away from it as an actor. Team France has already moved to fill their ‘wild card’ slot, selecting Paul Tedeschi as the final man to fill out their five-player roster. Alongside Loosli and Pecheux, Team France will be well represented on the felt of the Global Poker Masters. At this time, Team France is the only squad to fill out their entire roster as the other countries competing have yet to choose their ‘wild card’ players.
For the record, this isn’t the first team to have a player either opt out of the tournament or to be removed. Almost as soon as the Global Poker Masters teams were announced last month, Team USA’s Player of the Year, Dan Colman, informed Dreyfus that he wouldn’t be taking part in the event. There was little controversy over this decision, however, as it was evident that Colman’s decision was a personal one and wasn’t motivated by any strong disagreement between him and Dreyfus or the Global Poker Masters event (Olivier Busquet has stepped in to take over Colman’s slot on Team USA).
The Global Poker Masters is set to take place from March 21-22 during the European Poker Tour’s first-ever festival in Malta. The eight teams – Team USA, Team Canada, Team United Kingdom, Team Germany, Team Russia, Team Italy, Team Ukraine and Team France – will compete in a series of Sit and Go No Limit Texas Hold’em tournaments that will award points for the players’ finishes. The team that compiles the most points will win the event. It will be streamed over the internet on PokerStars.tv for viewers from around the world.