The Five North American 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.

Here are the five North American continent franchise managers that have been revealed.

Chris Moneymaker, who will lead the Las Vegas Moneymakers. Moneymaker (and his incredibly buzzworthy last name) is one of the most famous names in poker as an online sport. Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003. At the time, he was not a noteworthy player--he worked as a comptroller for a bank, and was also employed by a restaurant part time on the side. After winning entrance into the World Series through an online satellite tournament on PokerStars.com, Moneymaker’s dark horse tournament run to victory was said to have galvanized the entire online poker industry. It was his story as an online qualifier turned grand champion that caused the “Moneymaker Effect,” or the popularization of satellite tournament entry as a way for anyone working a boring desk job to get a shot at fame and fortune.

Bryn Kenney, leader of the New York Rounders, is a 29 year old American player who recently won over $1.6 million in the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure Super High Roller, and having over $8 million in career winnings. Bryn is known for his incredible intelligence (thought to be one of the best minds in poker today) and phenomenal memory.

Maria Ho will head the Los Angeles Sunset. Born in Taiwan, Ho is the second highest ranked female player in the world. She is also one of the celebrity spokespeople for the WinStar World Casino, a co-host for Poker Night in America: the Tour, and has won over $2.6 million in earnings, $1.7 million of that amount being from live events.

Faraz Jaka will manage the San Francisco Rush team. His live event winnings exceed $5 million, and in the 2009-2010, Jaka was named the World Poker Tour Player of the Year for Season VIII. Other facts about Jaka: he is of Pakistani descent, his nickname “the Toilet” comes from his habit as an inexperienced player of quickly attempting to draw to a flush from any two seated hole hards, and he is the co-founder of a caster board company in California called Axis CasterBoarding.

The Montreal Nationals’ team manager will be Marc-Andre “FrenchDawg” Ladouceur. A lesser known name to head North America’s sole Canadian team, Ladouceur is a Team Online player for PokerStars with over $1.7 million in career winnings. He also owns a nightclub in North Carolina, the state where he first got his start in professional poker.

The Global Poker League draft starts on February 25, where you’ll see these five teams pick their five players each--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