The Global Poker League Draft is in the books and what a night it was with Antonio Esfandiari dropping out at the last minute, Chris Moneymaker gazumping Marc-Andre Ladouceur and more.

If that’s what ‘sportifying‘ poker looks like, then I am hungry for more. The Global Poker League (GPL) Draft is in the books. The Team Managers now have a fortnight to fill in the missing pieces. Here is a full rundown of events.

A panel of Joe Stapleton, Eric Danis, Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Hellmuth orchestrated the event. The lineup was pure genius. Danis played the part of the stat geek to perfection, and Stapleton did an excellent job with the conductors baton.

I initially wanted to see both Negreanu and Hellmuth in the draft, but I’m glad they weren’t. Not only did they bring credibility to the table, but the wisecracks and ‘professional’ disagreements were hysterical.