The Four European Managers of the Global Poker League 2016

Early in January, Mediarex Sports & Entertainment CEO Alex Dreyfus announced twelve managers for the Global Poker Index’s international teams to participate in the upcoming Global Poker League. The League is split into two regions: North America, covered in a previous article, and Eurasia. This article will profile only those managers from the EU.

Here are the four European continent franchise managers that Dreyfus has revealed.

Philipp “Philbort” Gruissem of the Berlin Bears. Gruissem has won two World Poker Tour Alpha8 titles, and has over $11 million in career winnings, $9 million of it in live events and $2.7 million in online events. But aside from living the life of a professional poker high roller, Gruissem lives by a philosophy of “effective altruism;” that is to say, he justifies his career as a top level poker player as a way to earn funds to help others. He is one of the founders of Raising for Effective Giving, and has notably donated to health initiatives in Uganda as a way to make the most of the money he has earned professionally.

Liv “Iron Maiden” Boeree will lead the London Royals. As of November, Liv was the #1 female player in the world, another member of Raising for Effective Giving, and holds a degree in Astrophysics from the University of Manchester. She has also spoken for the Effective Altruism Global Summit at Google HQ, and like Gruissem, encourages other professional poker players to donate a percentage of their winnings to altruistic causes.

Max Pescatori is the manager of the Rome Emperors. Pescatori is an Italian born resident of Las Vegas with a twelve year career and over $4 million in winnings. His moniker is “The Italian Pirate.” In addition to being a professional poker player, Pescatori has co-written two Italian language books on the subject of poker: they are Giocare e vincere a poker online, written with Dario De Toffoli, and A scuola di poker with Giorgio Sigon.

Fabrice Soulier will be the manager of the Paris Aviators (“fabsoul” on PokerStars). Sixteen years ago, Soulier quit his job as a TV producer (producing such shows as Farce Attaque, “Farce Attack” in English, and Un gars, une fille, “A Guy, A Girl”). Since thin, his tournament winnings total just shy of $6 million.

The Global Poker League draft will take place on February 25. Don’t miss it!

Related articles:
The Last Three Team Managers of the Global Poker League 2016
The Four European Managers of the Global Poker League 2016
The Five North American Managers of the Global Poker League 2016
Alex Dreyfus Brings Competitive Poker into the Digital Age