The Global Poker League may not have got off to the polished start that some of us were expecting but it was surely entertaining.

If you want to avoid the spoilers and watch all the action, just scroll down to the bottom where there are videos of the action and highlight reels too! There is even a short 3 minute video that explains all about the GPL.

Technical difficulties seemed to plague the coverage from the start with PokerCentral finally giving up on Day 1 and conceding that they would not be able to broadcast and of the matches.

But they came back strong on Day 2 having sorted out whatever those “difficulties” were.

The league format and scoring system seemed to suffer from technical difficulties of its own with winning points, at first, not being properly attributed to the right teams – we saw this happen between the LA Sunset & the Sao Paulo Mets.

Dan “Jungleman” Cates of the Berlin Bears made eyes roll as he called off his stack holding Jack-Eight suited as he played against Tony Gregg from the San Francisco Rush. Jungleman later admitted on twitter that he’d been playing a cash game on the side – ouch! That’s got to hurt.

An ill timed joke by Montreal Nationals manager Marc-André Ladouceur which saw him tweet a picture of him watching the GPL on an iPad whilst driving caused some backlash (the tweet has since been removed).

At the time of writing, we see that the Hong Kong Stars have stormed into the lead on the Eurasia standings and are even 8 points ahead of the leading Americas teams of the New York Rounders and Las Vegas Moneymakers.

Go Celina!

The final standings at the end of day 2 look like this:

Eurasia

Hong Kong Stars: 18 points

Paris Aviators: 16 points

London Royals: 12 points

Rome Emperors: 9 points

Moscow Wolverines: 5 points

Berlin Bears: 3 points

Americas

New York Rounders: 10 points

Las Vegas Moneymakers – 10 points

Montreal Nationals: 9 points

Sao Paulo Mets: 4 points

Los Angeles Sunset : 3 points

San Fransisco Rush: 0 points

Remember you can catch all the action (technical difficulties permitting – wink, smiley face) on GPL Twitch and PokerCentral

The people that have brought you High Times for more than 40 years are looking to take their popular cannabis-themed brand to the gaming industry, according to a recent article in the New York Times.

Partners of the company have reportedly acquired a gaming license in Nevada and their vision to expand their brand to hotels and casinos along with their announced plans to open a dispensary 150 feet off of the Las Vegas Strip, has some people (including many poker players we’re sure) dreaming about the possibilities.

Instead of bourbon-and-sodas, however, these waitresses are carrying trays full of vaporizers and water pipes. The games themselves have names that sound more like Cypress Hill songs: “Craps and Blunts,” “Roll and Roulette.”

With the Rio rumored to be one of the assets that Caesars may liquidate to get out of its financial bind, the WSOP may be looking for a new home soon, and if poker players have anything to say about it, a day may come when poker might be headed back to the smoke filled rooms from which it came.