Rome Emperors vs. Hong Kong Stars
Day 1 Started
2016 Global Poker League Week 9
Rome Emperors vs. Hong Kong Stars
Day: 1
What Happened Yesterday?
After a post summer break, the Global Poker League resumed action yesterday with two 6-max heats in both the Eurasia and Americas conference. Dominik Nitsche, Guo Dong, Maria Ho and Jason Mercier won matches. The Moscow Wolverines now have a 17-point lead over the London Royals in the Eurasia conference, while the Montreal Nationals lead with a difference of just 3 points over the LA Sunset in the Americas conference.
Eurasia Conference
Dominik Nitsche Wins GPL Match 117
Dominik Nitsche crowned himself the winner of the first match of Week 9 of the Global Poker League. By winning the first this 6-max heat he scored a big seven points for the Berlin Bears. Even with this win, the Bears were still in sixth and last place in the Eurasian Conference. Nitsche beat Dario Sammartino heads up turning a nine with queen-nine to beat the Italian's treys.
Results GPL Match 117
| Place | Player | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dominik Nitsche | Berlin Bears | 7 points |
| 2 | Dario Sammartino | Rome Emperors | 5 points |
| 3 | Igor Yaroshevsky | Moscow Wolverines | 3 points |
| 4 | Liv Boeree | London Royals | 2 points |
| 5 | Alexandre Luneau | Paris Aviators | 1 point |
| 6 | Guo Dong | Hong Kong Stars | 0 points |
Guo Dong wins GPL Match 118
Hong Kong Stars' Guo Dong won match 118 in the Global Poker League. He won the second 6-max heat of the day of the Eurasia Conference by beating Igor Yaroshevsky heads up. Dong recovered very well from an early exit in the first match of the day. He came back and took revanche by raking in the seven points for first place.
The second heat looked nothing like the first encounter. Dario Sammartino, second in heat one, was the first one to leave, followed quickly by the winner of the first heat, Dominik Nitsche. Liv Boeree scored her second fourth place of the day before Alexandre Luneau was eliminated in third.
Yaroshevsky started the one on one battle with 100,000 chips, against Guo Dong's 50,000 points. Dong quickly turned the tables and never looked back. The first all-in of the heads up match was the deciding one and Dong got the maximum score. Helping his team to a tied second place in the league table.
Results GPL Match 118
| Place | Player | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guo Dong | Hong Kong Stars | 7 points |
| 2 | Igor Yaroshevsky | Moscow Wolverines | 5 points |
| 3 | Alexandre Luneau | Paris Aviators | 3 points |
| 4 | Liv Boeree | London Royals | 2 points |
| 5 | Dominik Nitsche | Berlin Bears | 1 point |
| 6 | Dario Sammartino | Rome Emperors | 0 points |
The Moscow Wolverines now have a commanding 17-point lead over both, the London Royals and Hong Kong Stars.
GPL Eurasia Conference League Standings
| Place | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moscow Wolverines | 130 |
| 2 | London Royals | 113 |
| 2 | Hong Kong Stars | 113 |
| 4 | Paris Aviators | 108 |
| 5 | Rome Emperors | 101 |
| 6 | Berlin Bears | 100 |
Americas Conference
Maria Ho wins GPL Match 119
Maria Ho won the first 6-max heat in the Global Poker League Americas conference after the summer break. Ho was off to a good start which ended in her winning the tournament and scoring seven points for the LA Sunset.
Xuan Liu, playing for the Montreal Nationals, was the first one to go. She lost a lot of chips to Scott Ball early in the heat and eventually busted to Jason Mercier. The card dead Kitty Kuo was the next one to leave. She first lost a huge pot with 
against the 
from Byron Kaverman. Who eliminated her a few hands later.
Kaverman was the man in command after busting Scott Ball in fourth when he hit an eight on the river with his ace-eight against Ball's ace-ten. Still, Kaverman was next to go. He was crippled by Jason Mercier and eliminated by Maria Ho.
Mercier took an early lead in the heads up, but still ended up short. He got trapped by Ho and never managed to recover.
Results GPL Match 119
| Place | Player | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maria Ho | LA Sunset | 7 points |
| 2 | Jason Mercier | New York Rounders | 5 points |
| 3 | Byron Kaverman | Sao Paulo Metropolitans | 3 points |
| 4 | Scott Ball | Las Vegas Moneymakers | 2 points |
| 5 | Kitty Kuo | San Francisco Rush | 1 point |
| 6 | Xian Liu | Montreal Metropolitans | 0 points |
Jason Mercier wins GPL Match 120
This first day of Week 9 of the Global Poker League, was a very good day for Jason Mercier. The New York Rounders player finished second in heat one of the Americas conference, before taking home the victory in the second match.
It looked like the second heat would start in the same fashion as the first one did. Xuan Liu was crippled in the beginning of the match, but unlike the heat before, she wasn't the first one to go. She had some luck and doubled up a couple of times before Scott Ball finished in sixth position. It wasn't really Ball's day and his final hand was an example of that. He made the right decision calling Kaverman's all-in with queen-five, but still lost to the jack-six of his opponent. Ball only scored two points for the Las Vegas Moneymakers, leaving them dead last in the Americas conference, far away from the playoff spots.
Like Ball, Kitty Kuo couldn't get much going today. She scored her second fifth place finish of the day when her sixes couldn't hold up against Maria Ho's queen-ten. Ho flopped quad tens and Kuo was on her way out. Ho also eliminated Xuan Liu in fourth place. Liu called all-in with nine-ten but couldn't beat the queens Ho was holding. Like Ball and Kuo, Liu also scored two points today, but it was just enough to keep her Montreal Nationals on top of the leaderboard.
Maria Ho ended up third after losing two big pots against Jason Mercier. In the last hand, her 
was no competition for Mercier's 
, when the board ran out 
.
Mercier was heads-up for the second time today. This time, he took home the full seven points by beating Byron Kaverman thanks to a seven on the river. Kaverman got it all-in on a 
-flop while holding four-five. Mercier had four-eight and rivered a straight for the win.
Got 1st and 2nd in my GPL 6 max matches while 3 tabling 2/400 mixed on @pokerstars and grinding #WCOOP events #
— Jason Mercier (@JasonMercier)
Results GPL Match 120
| Place | Player | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jason Mercier | New York Rounders | 7 points |
| 2 | Byron Kaverman | Sao Paulo Metropolitans | 5 points |
| 3 | Maria Ho | LA Sunset | 3 points |
| 4 | Xian Liu | Montreal Metropolitans | 2 points |
| 5 | Kitty Kuo | San Francisco Rush | 1 point |
| 6 | Scott Ball | Las Vegas Moneymakers | 0 points |
There are no position changes in the Americas conference after today, but the top four teams are a lot closer together now. The Montreal Nationals hold on to their first position, but only with a three-point lead on the LA Sunset. The Sunsets are closing in on the top position, thanks to Maria Ho's ten points.
Jason Mercier helps his New York Rounders to a tied 3rd place with the Sao Paulo Metropolitans of Byron Kaverman. The San Francisco Rush and Las Vegas Moneymakers are falling behind. They have to score big in the upcoming weeks to make it into the playoffs.
GPL Americas Conference League Standings
| Place | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montreal Nationals | 147 |
| 2 | LA Sunset | 144 |
| 3 | Sao Paulo Metropolitans | 120 |
| 3 | New York Rounders | 120 |
| 5 | San Francisco Rush | 107 |
| 6 | Las Vegas Moneymakers | 97 |
The Global Poker League will be back today with three heads-up matches from the Eurasia conference. Play will commence at 12pm EDT (6pm CEST) with the heat between the Rome Emperors and the Hong Kong Stars, followed by the Paris Aviators against the Moscow Wolverines match and the battle between the London Royals and the Berlin Bears. You can follow along with Week 9 coverage of the GPL right here on PokerNews.com.
Rome Emperors vs. Hong Kong Stars
After yesterday's 6-max heats, it's time for heads-up action today.
The second day of Week 9 of the Global Poker League is kicked off by Timothy Adams representing the Rome Emperors, heads-up against Hong Kong Stars' Weiyi Zhang.
Action underway at 12pm EDT (6pm CEST).
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
50,000 | 50,000 |
|
50,000 | 50,000 |
The Heads-up Format
What can you expect from the Global Poker League today? Every heads-up match will be played over three heats between the same players. They start each heat with 50,000 chips a piece.
Levels last 4 minutes and they will start with 200/400-blinds and an ante of 40. Both players start each heat with an 18-minute game clock. Meaning they have a total of 18 minutes to make all their decisions. If a player runs out of time, he will be put in the so called 'hot seat'. He then has 4 seconds to act, if he fails to act he will automatically fold or check his option.
Winning a heat gives the players team three points for the Global Poker League conference standings. So there is a total of nine points for grabs in every match.
Both Won Once
We are moments away from the start of the match between Rome Emperors' Timothy Adams and Hong Kong Stars' Weiyi Zhang.
Both haven't been very successful in the heads-up matches they played in the Global Poker League so far. Adams played five matches and only defeated Phil Galfond by winning two of the three heats.
Against Justin Bonomo, Sergey Lebedev, Sorel Mizzi and Kevin MacPhee, he won just one of the heats, raking in three points for each match.
Zhang played three heads-up battles so far. He won 2-1 against Andrey Pateychuk, scoring six points, but lost with the same result against Max Pescatori and Olivier Busquet.
First Match Started
This heads-up battle between the Rome Emperors (Timothy Adams) and Hong Kong Stars (Weiyi Zhang) just started. It's the first of three heads-up matches of the day. All played over three heats.
First Blood for Adams
Weiyi Zhang took a small lead in the first six hands of this match, but Timothy Adams hit back right away, winning the first big pot of the night.
Preflop Adams made it 1,500 to go with 
and was dominating the 
of Zhang, who made the call.
The flop gave both of the players two pair with 
. Zhang checked, Adams continued for 875, only to see Zhang check-raise to 2,450. Adams made the call.
The turn brought the and Zhang check-called a 6,250 bet after some moments of thought. The river was the 
and Zhang checked again. Adams fired out a bet of 15,600 in a 20,000 pot. Zhang gave it a thought, before he made the call.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
67,000 | 17,000 |
|
|
33,000 | -17,000 |
Zhang Levels the Match
The stacks are almost back to even after a sizeable pot, won by Weiyi Zhang.
After the turn, the board was 
and Timothy Adams, who held 
led out for 2,380 chips. Zhang raised from the button to 6,000 with 
and Adams called.
The -river was the money card for Zhang giving him a straight. He put out a bet of 13,650 and after some tanking Adams gave it up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
50,500 | -16,500 |
|
|
49,500 | 16,500 |
Rome Emperors Need the Points
Timothy Adams has to score well for the Rome Emperors today, to keep his team in contention for the playoff spots. The Emperors are currently in fifth in the Eurasia conference with 101 points. Only the first four teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs in Las Vegas.
Even with a 3-0 sweep in this match, Adams won't be able to help his pass the Hong Kong Stars represented by Weiyi Zhang. The Stars are at the moment tied for second in the league with 113 points. Well behind the Moscow Wolverines, who are on top of the table with 130 points.
There are nine points to distribute in this heads-up match, three for the winner of each heat.
Zhang Crippled, but Doubles Up
Timothy Adams had Weiyi Zhang on the ropes in this first heat, but Zhang immediately doubled back up.
Adams fired out a bet of 15,000 points with 17,000 already in the middle. The board was 
and that gave Adams a straight with his 
. Zhang had 
for a pair of fives and made the call.
He was down to 20,000 chips in the 1k/2k-level and got it all-in the next hand with 
. Adams called holding . The board ran out 
and Zhang was back in business.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
60,000 | 9,500 |
|
|
40,000 | -9,500 |