The Global Poker Index have announced further details regarding the inaugural Global Poker Masters, including the participating countries and the 32-players who will be invited to play in the most prestigious freeroll of the year.
The Global Poker Index (GPI) have released further details regarding their forthcoming Global Poker Masters (GPM) and I must admit, I am getting a little turned on.
With the 2014 GPI data all sifted, sorted and sussed out, Alex Dreyfus and his gang of merry men and women are able to start putting some of the pieces together, and I must say, this mosaic is starting to look mighty fine.
Eight nations will compete for the inaugural GPM. The Americans were the number one nation by the usual landslide, and they were followed into the competition by the UK, Germany, Canada, Russia, France, Italy and after a three way tie-break with Argentina and Denmark – Ukraine took the last slot courtesy of their Top 5 ranked players having a higher combined score that the other two nations.
#1 Team USA: 140 players in GPI300 (46.67%)
#2 Team UK: 25 players in GPI300 (8.33%)
#3 Team Germany: 18 players in GPI300 (6%)
#4 Team Canada: 17 players in GPI300 (5.67%)
#5 Team Russia: 16 players in GPI300 (5.33%)
#6 Team France: 7 players in GPI300 (2.33%)
#7 Team Italy: 6 players in GPI300 (2%)
#8 Team Ukraine: 5 players in GPI300 (1.67%)
32 players have already qualified for their place in the team. The mix has been arranged with each countries Player of the Year joined by the next three top ranked players and a fifth player yet to be determined. The fifth player will be a wildcard entry, the names of which have yet to be released.
The only downer – and it’s a big downer – is the man who topped all of the 2014 Player of the Year charts will not be available to play. GPI CEO, Alex Dreyfus, has confirmed that Dan Colman will not be visiting Malta during the European Poker Tour (EPT) Festival and therefore an invitation has gone out to Bryn Kenney to take his place.
Dreyfus told PokerNews that he expects 70-80% of the invited players to come through, and the hosting of the event – right in the midst of one of the largest poker festivals of 2015 – will ensure there will be no shortage of top quality players wanting to play in this remarkable freeroll.
The event will take place 21 & 22 Mar 2015, meaning it will not interfere with the EPT Main Event, and the GPI have given us a little insight as to how the action will unfold.
Day 1 will feature a mix-max format where players from each country will compete against each other in a series of Sit n Go type contests. Players will accumulate points based on their positioning, and the team with the least amount of points at the end of the day will be eliminated.
Day 2 will begin with a series of heads-up encounters, where the team with the least amount of points will once again be eliminated, leaving the final six countries to battle it out for the title of Global Poker Masters.
“GPI’s vision is to Sportify the game of poker and the presentation of this innovative event will go a long way towards accomplishing that goal,” revealed Global Poker Index Chief Executive Officer Alexandre Dreyfus. “There is no buy-in for the event, we want to create an international competition where players are playing for pride, country and for the love of the game in hopes to showcase the game’s best. Through the GPI, it will create a solid platform for poker to be promoted through new distribution channels and mainstream partners.”
All that remains is to announce the teams, and I have decided to be a little cheeky by nominating the players I believe could well be the wildcard entrants.
Team USA
Dan Smith (GPI#2)
Pratyush Buddiga (GPI#6)
Jacob Schindler (GPI#7)
Bryn Kenney (GPI#8)
Wildcard Guess: Phil Hellmuth
Team UK
Stephen Chidwick (GPI#11)
Jack Salter (GPI#29)
Simon Deadman (GPI#34)
Oliver Price (GPI#36, National Player of the Year)
Wildcard Guess: Liv Boeree
Team Germany
Ole Schemion (GPI#1, National Player of the Year)
Marvin Rettenmaier (GPI#25)
Martin Finger (GPI#46)
George Danzer (GPI#48)
Wildcard Guess: Philipp Gruissem
Team Canada
Ami Barer (GPI#4, National Player of the Year)
Sorel Mizzi (GPI#13)
Mike McDonald (GPI#16)
Andrew Chen (GPI#21)
Wildcard Guess – Daniel Negreanu
Team Russia
Anatoly Filatov (GPI#32, National Player of the Year)
Vladimir Troyanovskiy (GPI#55)
Ivan Soshnikov (GPI#63)
Vitaly Lunkin (GPI#77)
Wildcard Guess – Ivan Demidov
Team France
Erwann Pecheux (GPI#59, National Player of the Year)
Benjamin Pollak (GPI#61)
Sylvain Loosli (GPI#155)
Fabrice Soulier (GPI#174)
Wildcard Guess – Bertrand Grospellier
Team Italy
Dario Sammartino (GPI#17)
Mustapha Kanit (GPI#41, National Player of the Year)
Andrea Dato (GPI#54)
Giuliano Bendinelli (GPI#170)
Wildcard Guess – Max Pescatori
Team Ukraine
Eugene Katchalov (GPI#53, National Player of the Year)
Oleksandr Gnatenko (GPI#207)
Artem Metalidi (GPI#218)
Oleksii Khoroshenin (GPI#283)
Wildcard Guess – Yevgeniy Timoshenko
If you can’t get to Malta, to witness history, then don’t fret. The GPI plan to live stream the entire event in five different languages LIVE! That means there will be no hole-card delay, so keep your eyes peeled for a potential partnership with a sports betting firm in the upcoming months.
“We hope this will become an annual “must-watch” event in sports,” added Dreyfus. “The qualification format ensures that the best poker player on the live tournament circuit will participate in the event, those watching will be able to see the world’s best go head-to-head in hopes of winning it all for their country.
Prizes for the winning team will be announced at a later date.
