After a hectic but exciting playoff day yesterday, today it's time to play down to a champion. Team United States guaranteed themselves a place in the semis, and so skip the quarter-finals stage where the format is heads up. Team United Kingdom won't return today, they performed the poorest in the playoffs yesterday, and won't return.
The Quarter-Finals (12:00 p.m. - 3 p.m.)
With Team United Kingdom already eliminated yesterday, and Team United States leapfrogging directly into the semi-finals, we are now left with the 6 remaining teams in the quarter-finals all playing each other in a series of “Best out of 3” Heads-Up matches to determine which 5 teams will move onto the semi-finals and which team will be eliminated.
Team Germany
(2nd
vs.
7th)
Team Canada
Team Italy
(3rd
vs.
6th)
Team Ukraine
Team Russia
(4th
vs.
5th)
Team France
Each Heads-Up match will be played by a different player of each competing team. This means each competing country will need to deliberate and decide which 3 of its teammates will represent them during Heads-Up play. At this stage, we don't know who will play for each country.
After a total of 9 Heads-Up matches, quarter-final points are tallied and combined with playoffs points to determine the semi-final chip count. The team with the lowest amount of point after the Playoffs & Quarter-finals is eliminated from the competition.
The Semi-Finals (3:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.)
After the Heads-Up quarter-finals are done, it's time for stage 3 of the Global Poker Masters. The Semi-Finals will start around 3:30 p.m. and play out as a 6-max sit-n-go’s, with 1 player each representing their nation & play down to a champion.
The remaining 6 Nations each select a player to represent their team in the semi-finals. Play begins as normal deep stacked 6-Max action with each team’s starting stack dictated by how many points (chips) they were able to win as a team during the Playoffs & Quarterfinals.
The semi-finals will last for 4 hours of play – or until action gets down to Heads-Up play.
TBD: Teams may be able to “tag” one another in and out of play during the Semifinals.
The Finals (9:30 - midnight)
Once semifinal play gets down to heads-up action play pauses and all 10 remaining players split off into 5 heads-up matches simultaneously, each using their teams’ stack as it was at the conclusion of the semifinals.
All remaining players participate concurrently, playing Heads-Up against opposing Team members w/ each side using their Teams’ end-of 6-Max Semifinal chip stacks to play.
The GPM Finals play out until one of the 2 remaining Teams’ players have won 3 out of 5 concurrent Heads-Up matches - this team is crowned Champion of the 2015 Global Poker Masters.
Again, there's a live stream available the entire day via Twitch.tv. Of course PokerNews.com will be on sight to give you all the updates you can ask for. Play starts in about an hour time from now.
Ole Shcemion inquired about Chen's stack before the hand, and the Team Canada player answered he played around 10,000.
Schemion then opened for 650 from the button. Chen glanced at his cards, announced all in, and was beaten into the pot by Schemion who slammed his on the table. Chen tabled .
The cameras buzzed, Schemion and Chen played around with their cards for a bit, and Schemion wished his opponetn "Bon Chance!"
"You folded a five?" Chen jokingly asked Ivan Soshnikov right next to him.
The flop came and George Danzer started singing "Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole!" from two tables over.
The on the turn made things exciting, but the on the river was a blank and Chen was eliminated.
Giuliano Bendinelli is undoubtedly the front-runner in the MVP race for the 2015 Global Poker Masters has he just won his heads-up match against Team Ukraine's Igor Yaroshevsky.
Just now Bendinelli bet 700 on a flop after Yaroshevsky had checked. Yaroshevksy check-raised to 2,200 and Bendinelli put his opponent all in. Yaroshevsky had about 8,000 total and he called all in.
Bendinelli:
Yaroshevsky:
The board ran out , and Bendinelli took down this heads up battle for Team Italy.
Bertrand Grospellier folded himself all the way down to just 1,600 chips before calling all in when Ivan Soshnikov put him at risk once more.
Grospellier:
Soshnikov:
Grospellier shook his head, as he couldn't get anything going all match, and the board ran out to give Team Russia the victory. Team France is now in trouble, as they are near the bottom of the standings.
Team France is now officially in trouble, as Paul Tedeschi just lost against Anatoly Filatov. France has now lost two matches and the pressure is now on Sylvain Loosli who's playing against Vladimir Troyanovskiy.
On the final hand of the match Tedeschi was all in before the flop for 12,550 and Filatov had him dominated.
Filatov:
Tedeschi:
Filatov put his sunglasses on before the dealer brought out the flop and said, "If the seven comes you will not see how I cry," and everybody watching cracked up laughing.
The flop brought and Filatov maintained his lead.
"Let me take a selfie," Filatov joked, as he took a selfie with the board in the background when the dealer put the on the turn.
The river was the and that secured another win for Team Russia against Team France.
All the pressure is now on Marc-Andre Ladouceur in his match up against Marvin Rettenmaier after Jonathan Duhamel lost against George Danzer. Andrew Chen had already lost against Ole Schemion and so far Canada remains at the bottom of the standings.
Duhamel moved all in before the flop for 9,550 and Danzer made the call.
Danzer:
Duhamel:
The board ran out and Duhamel was knocked out.
Ladouceur has to win and Sylvain Loosli has to lose against Vladimir Troyanovskiy in order for Team Canada to advance.
Team Canada's hopes of winning the first ever Global Poker Masters World Cup are still alive! Marc-Andre Ladouceur has just pulled off a very impressive victory over Marvin Rettenmaier and that means that all eyes are now on Sylvain Loosli.
On the last hand of the match Rettenmaier moved all in for 14,850 and Ladouceur called.
Ladouceur:
Rettenmaier: .
The flop brought and while Team Germany hit an eight it was Team Canada who remained in the lead after hitting top pair. The turn was the and the river the knocking out Rettenmaier.
The match between Eugene Katchalov and Dario Sammartino had gone back and forth, with both doubling up and doubling down more than once. Just now the match ended though, with another lucky turn to make the difference.
Katchalov had a slight advantage in chips, and pushed all in from the button. Dario Sammartino made the call from the big blind.
Eugene Katchalov:
Dario Sammartino:
The flop came and didn't do anything for anyone. The on the turn made all the difference, giving Katchalov a huge edge going to the river. The on the river was a blank and Katchalov and Sammartino shook hands.
It's over! Team France has been knocked out after losing all three heads-up matches in the quarter finals and Team Russia will come into the semifinals in second position.
The final two hands of the match between Sylvain Loosli and Vladimir Troyanovskiy were riveting, and went as following. First Loosli shoved for 9,300 and Troyanovskiy called.
Loosli:
Troyanovskiy:
The board ran out and the entire French team erupted in a celebration as their hopes of advancing to the next round were still alive. On the very next hand however Loosli was all in again, and that showdown went as following while he was still the short stack.
Loosli:
Troyanovskiy:
The flop brought and that triggered a huge cheer from Team Canada who now had a virtual lock on making the next round. The turn was the and with that it was all over. The river was the and Team France was knocked out of the Global Poker Masters.
on the table. Chen tabled 
.
and George Danzer started singing "Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole!" from two tables over.
on the turn made things exciting, but the 
on the river was a blank and Chen was eliminated.
flop after Yaroshevsky had checked. Yaroshevksy check-raised to 2,200 and Bendinelli put his opponent all in. Yaroshevsky had about 8,000 total and he called all in.
, 
and Bendinelli took down this heads up battle for Team Italy.
to give Team Russia the victory. Team France is now in trouble, as they are near the bottom of the standings.
and Filatov maintained his lead.
and Duhamel was knocked out.
on the turn gave Dato a straight draw and Gnatenko litteraly held his breath.
knocking out Rettenmaier.
and that triggered a huge cheer from Team Canada who now had a virtual lock on making the next round. The turn was the 
and Team France was knocked out of the Global Poker Masters.