Alex Dreyfus: The Poker Star Who Never Played
Alex Dreyfus: The Poker Star Who Never Played
Have you heard of Alex Dreyfus? Well, if you’re a follower of the game of poker, then you’ll already know many of the stars who have graced the tables of casinos up and down the country. Many professional players have made a name for themselves whilst at the same time making a small fortune. Then there are those players who are slightly more secretive. We all know that they make serious bank, but they tend to shy away from the spotlight. One such person was Alexandre Dreyfus. The funny thing is that he’s not a player. But during the mid-2010s he was one of the biggest shakers and movers in the poker world.
His light shone very brightly for just a few years and now, though he’s disappeared into the background, he is still very much involved with the world of jackpot poker. So how did he rise and then fade away so quickly? Let’s have a look at the life and times of Alex Dreyfus.
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So Just Who Is Alex Dreyfus?
In the early days of the poker boom, working as a digital entrepreneur, he was quick to spot the potential of the game. To that end, the Frenchman moved to Malta and set up one of the very first gaming platforms with the best online casinos with jackpots. The business was called “ChilliPoker” and was a massive success within no time, billing millions of dollars from the get-go. Though he could so easily have stuck with Chillipoker, he was restless to claim many other aspects of the online poker business. So he started the European Poker Awards, American Poker Awards, Global Poker Index (GPI), and Global Poker League (GPL).
He also snapped up the hugely popular poker website, The Hendon Mob. This specialized in showing live tournament clashes and recording them for later use. Today, Dreyfus still is the owner of both The Hendon Mob and GPI. The other interest he had, have fallen by the wayside over these last few years.
Dreyfus’ Mission to Change Poker
It’s generally thought that the demise of the online poker boom came about thanks to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) taking effect in 2006. From this point on, it was difficult for sites to accept payments from US players. There were sites that were able to circumnavigate the law, but they were few and far between. And then in 2011, Black Friday dealt another almost fatal blow to the industry. Over the following years, many poker sites struggled to regain their former customer base. But it seemed that the glory days really were over. But rather than simply hang around and wait for the changes the industry needed, Alex Dreyfus decided to create his own opportunities. He decided to “sportify” the game of poker.
He had no illusions of making poker into a sport like football or basketball. But he wanted to make it into something akin to a sport, with play-offs and leagues. He believed that this was the only way forwards. Rather like NASCAR, he wanted to play more emphasis on the players, sponsors, pints, and rankings. He wanted to create a sport whereby fans would support their favorite players and actually go and pay to see them play. It was these new ideas that went into starting the company GPL. Seeded with a $4.9 million dollar investment from various Chinese investors, Dreyfus was able to turn his dream into reality.
So he set about creating a league of the world’s best players. He also invented the controversial “Cube” a $100,000 glass structure in which to hold the GPL’s marquee events. The teams included drafted players. He managed to secure the presence of a dozen or so professional players for the inaugural season.
Alex Dreyfus: The Struggles of the Global Poker League
Though in theory the GPL concept certainly sounded great, things didn’t quite work out the way they were planned to. What the league needed was live matches, just like you’d have in any other sports. What the public got was a series of online matches. They did manage to stream around 180 games in that 1st season, but the format was just too dry. Yes, they did include some jackpot winning strategies, though they came across as long-winded. If you loved poker, then this was the way to suck all the good stuff out of it.
Another problem came with the target audience. Now it was thought that this would be a biggie in the US, and the hope was that as the gaming legislation moved forwards, then these poker games would gain in greater audience share and therefore popularity. But things didn’t pan out that way. Most states couldn’t see any benefit as far as state revenues went, more especially as the poker games were kinda ring-fenced by Dreyfus. All in all, there just wasn’t enough cash being generated in order to keep everyone happy. So it was back to the drawing board for Alex Dreyfus.
His next idea was to formulate a way whereby the fans could become stakeholders in the Teams for season 2. In the end, mounting legal concerns meant he had no other option than to throw the whole stakeholder idea under the bus. Interestingly enough, GPL still exists in India of all places. PokerStars wanted to use it as a vehicle to push it’s own ventures. But, in truth, the league is but a mere shadow of itself and nothing of the dreams that Dreyfus was pushing for.
Drama With German Poker Pros
Unfortunately, Dreyfus was to see his reputation dragged through the mud in 2016. The whole story was a little unfair for him and it really was nothing more than a storm in a teacup. But the poker media grabbed it and ran. The story concerns a simple cash swap gone wrong. In late 2016, Dreyfus approached two German players, Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz and Hendrik “ValueH” Latz, and asked for a loan of $20,000 and $10,000 respectively as a favor. These types of cash swaps are common among poker players who play internationally, so it was no biggie to ask. Dreyfus promised to transfer the amounts back to them later that same day.
Both players, being very wealthy in their own rights, never gave the money a second thought. Well, that was until at least 5 weeks later. Latz realized that he was still yet to receive his $20,000. Holz didn’t even notice that the monies were still outstanding until he received a timely apology from Dreyfus. The letter of apology also said that GPL was in a bit of a financial bind, and requested whether the two players could wait until the end of the following month for their payments. He also offered to pay a 5% interest on top. However, the two poker professionals thought they should alert others to this predicament just so no one else should fall into lending monies to Dreyfus. They posted up the story on the Poker forum, TwoPlusTwo.
These deals were trades, not short term loans. For his part, Alex Dreyfus did apologize on multiple occasions for his tardiness in making the payment. The problem was that this sort of behavior wasn’t befitting that of a trusted poker entrepreneur. The whole episode was to taint Dreyfus and probably still does today.
Alex Dreyfus: Move to the Cryptocurrency World
Eventually, Dreyfus was able to make a deal with PokerStars and off-load GPL. They are now being used as a marketing tool in India to help customers win the jackpot online. In spite of making good business and having cash at hand, his reputation had taken a nasty knock with both the perceived failure of GPL and the money dealings with Holz and Latz. Ever the one to change direction, Dreyfus transitioned away from poker casino games and started a venture using crypto-currencies. He revived his ChilliZ brand and developed a sports/eSports/block-chain project.
If you take a look at Spanish Football, you’ll find that many of the larger teams have what is called “socios”. These are organizations of fans who are actively encouraged to have a voice in the decisions made by the club. They actually have meaningful input into how these giant football clubs are run. Dreyfus wanted to use the same model but for eSports. For example, fans can choose the skins used in the match, which pros will start and which pros will be benched. The actual crypto-currency is tokenized, meaning that you can buy tokens and use them to perform various functions. These tokens are known as ChilliZ Token (CHZ).
It follows that those with the most tokens will have a larger say over the proceedings. The pros use the tokens for funding. Right now the project is in it’s infancy. We all know that the public is still very much behind the curve when it comes to crypto-currencies. And it’s going to take a while for them to catch up. But whatever way you look at it, you have to take your hat off to Alex Dreyfus. He’s never standing still and this new venture may well go the way of GPL. But on the other hand, ChilliZ has recently netted such prestigious partners as Paris Saint Germain football club, Roma football club and OG eSports Squad.
Conclusion: Alex Dreyfus: The Poker Star Who Never Played
Alex Dreyfus is certainly a dynamic mover and shaker and has made a huge impact on the world of poker. From his original online poker rooms to the world’s largest poker database, he has certainly covered some ground. His best-known effort was the Global Poker League,. This was a truly ambitious effort to bring poker out of the casino and into the public’s front room. But the vision and the actuality haven’t managed to come together as much as previously hoped. The format didn’t quite work and the online games didn’t match expectations.
And then we have that unfortunate cash swap debacle. having borrowed $30,000 and being so slow to return it, meant he suffered a massive wound to his pride and reputation. It’s a difficult matter to truly recover from. We guess that’s why we are now seeing this more lateral move towards crypto-currencies. But whatever he’s up to, you can be sure it’s something new and exciting. We wish him well.
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