World Cup
Day 1 Completed
2015 GPI Global Poker Masters
World Cup
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1
2015 GPI Global Poker Masters
Winner
Entries
10
Level
13
Blinds
3,000 / 6,000
Ante
1,000
Team USA Wins Playoff Round in Global Poker Masters; Team UK Out
Level 5
The day was long, the day was tough, but most of all the opening day of the first-ever Global Poker Masters World Cup was extremely exciting. When all was said and done, it was the stacked Team USA who locked up a bye into the semifinal while a very well-balanced Team UK was eliminated after finishing in eighth place.
After the highly-anticipated GPM draw party on the night before the event, all players knew the task at hand. Five heats of five eight-handed matches were set to be played on the playoff day, and each and every one of them was filled with action and lots of pressure. During the first two heats, players were openly discussing the points system, but as the day went on the action grew more intense and those open discussions turned into private conversations amongst team members.
The top four in matches from every heat would score points in the following order: 9,000 for first, 5,000 for second, 2,000 for third, and 1,000 for fourth. During the first heat, it was Team Italy (20,000) who took a 1,000-point lead over Team Russia (19,000). Team Ukraine had an abysmal first heat with only Oleksandr Gnatenko managing to score the team points with one fourth-place finish. During the second heat, things started to shape up as Team Germany and Team USA climbed the ranks into first and third place.
Team Ukraine continued its struggle, as the team only added 2,000 points in the second heat. Fortunately for them, Team UK was not far ahead with 9,000 points after two heats. Team Italy, however, maintained a very strong position in second place, but that was mainly due to one man.
The unofficial MVP title went to Italy’s Guiliano Bendinelli after his incredible performance for his team. He won his first two heats and narrowly missed out on winning the third. His pocket sixes were cracked by Ami Barer’s ten-six on the final hand of the heat. He also scored with a fourth-place finish. To put his performance in to context, he outscored the entire UK team by 6,000 points.
The third heat was dominated by Team Canada, as both Barer and Andrew Chen managed to win their heats. Marc-Andre Ladouceur finished third in his, and all of a sudden Team Canada jumped into second place. Ukraine remained miserably at the bottom, but that would all change very soon.
Bendinelli has already been mentioned as the best individual performer, but best team performance went to the Ukraine. Of course the USA performance was amazing, but Team Ukraine achieved something special today. Written off as massive underdogs by bookmakers before the event, a lack of confidence in expectations may have overcome them early as they were at the bottom of league table after three heats. Everyone likes a comeback story, though, especially if it surrounds the underdogs. Ukraine scored a staggering 24,000 points in the fourth heat after four of the team's players scored points, including two wins and one second place.
Before the final heat, it became very clear that today wasn't the Team UK's day. Olivier Price did the best he could and scored 17,000 points, but the other team members were extremely unlucky. Sam Trickett (1,000) managed to lose every all in he was involved in, while Simon Deadman (1,000) and both Salter brothers — Louis (2,000) and Jack (2,000) — could not get anything going. During the final heat, Trickett was one of the first players to get knocked out, and Team UK finished ingloriously in eighth place.
Most of the glory of the first day went to Dan Smith, the clear winner of the hand of the day. The Team USA player was chip leader three-handed in his last heat, knowing a victory would take his team to position where they couldn’t be overhauled by Germany or Italy. He was in the big blind and both opponents had moved all in blind before he looked at his hand. He peeked down and the players stood behind him erupted in laughter as they saw what he saw — he had woken up with pocket aces. He called, busted both opponents, won the heat, and confirmed the top spot for his country.
With that, the first day of the Global Poker Masters has come to a close. Team USA (68,000), Team Germany (67,000), Team Italy (62,000), Team Russia (60,000), Team France (52,000), Team Ukraine (50,000), and Team Canada (43,000) all successfully reached Day 2's quarterfinal round, which will start with teams in second through seventh places battling in a round of heads-up matches. Team USA will have a bye and has automatically advanced to the final table, which is the semifinal round. The team that finishes last during the heads-up round will be eliminated on join Team UK on the rail.
Action kicks off on Sunday at 12 p.m. local time, and you can follow all of the action right here on PokerNews.
Who Scored the Most Points? And Who the Least?
Level 5
According to our calculations, these are the amount of points all players scored in total. There must have been some small mistakes though, as by our calculations Team Germany has 2,000 too many points compared to the official end result for the day. It still is interesting to see, as some players have excelled today, and some not so much.
| Player | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Guiliano Bendinelli | Team Italy | 29,000 |
| Oleksandr Gnatenko | Team Ukraine | 28,000 |
| Isaac Haxton | Team United States | 23,000 |
| Ole Schemion | Team Germany | 21,000 |
| Christopher Frank | Team Germany | 21,000 |
| Patrick Bruel | Team France | 21,000 |
| Vladimir Troyanovskiy | Team Russia | 21,000 |
| Vanessa Selbst | Team United States | 18,000 |
| Erwann Pecheux | Team France | 17,000 |
| Oliver Price | Team United Kingdom | 17,000 |
| Andrea Dato | Team Italy | 14,000 |
| Andrew Chen | Team Canada | 14,000 |
| Marvin Rettenmaier | Team Germany | 14,000 |
| Olivier Busquet | Team United States | 14,000 |
| Anatoly Filatov | Team Russia | 13,000 |
| VTeam Italy Lunkin | Team Russia | 12,000 |
| Dan Smith | Team United States | 11,000 |
| Ami Barer | Team Canada | 10,000 |
| Dario Sammartino | Team Italy | 10,000 |
| Marc-Andre Ladouceur | Team Canada | 10,000 |
| Philipp Gruissem | Team Germany | 10,000 |
| Eugene Katchalov | Team Ukraine | 9,000 |
| Igor Soshnikov | Team Russia | 7,000 |
| Igor Yaroshenko | Team Ukraine | 7,000 |
| Jonathan Duhamel | Team Canada | 7,000 |
| Mustapha Kanit | Team Italy | 7,000 |
| Alex Bilokur | Team Russia | 6,000 |
| Sylvain Loosli | Team France | 6,000 |
| Alexander Dovzhenko | Team Ukraine | 5,000 |
| Bertrand Grospellier | Team France | 5,000 |
| Bryn Kenney | Team United States | 2,000 |
| George Danzer | Team Germany | 2,000 |
| Jack Salter | Team United Kingdom | 2,000 |
| Louis Salter | Team United Kingdom | 2,000 |
| Paul Tedeschi | Team France | 2,000 |
| Rocco Palumbo | Team Italy | 2,000 |
| Sorel Mizzi | Team Canada | 2,000 |
| Oleksii Khoroshenin | Team Ukraine | 1,000 |
| Sam Trickett | Team United Kingdom | 1,000 |
| Simon Deadman | Team United Kingdom | 1,000 |
Final Standings After The Playoff Round
Level 5
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
68,000 | |
|
67,000 | 9,000 |
|
62,000 | 5,000 |
|
60,000 | 9,000 |
|
52,000 | 9,000 |
|
50,000 | 14,000 |
|
43,000 | 5,000 |
|
23,000 |
Heat 5 Final Results
Level 5
| Name | Country | Place/Points |
|---|---|---|
| Table 1 | ||
| Vladimir Troyanovskiy | Russia | 9,000 |
| Marc-Andre Ladouceur | Canada | 5,000 |
| Bertrand Grospellier | France | 2,000 |
| Guiliano Bendinelli | Italy | 1,000 |
| Eugene Katchalov | Ukraine | 5th |
| Louis Salter | United Kingdom | 6th |
| Isaac Haxton | United States | 7th |
| Marvin Rettenmaier | Germany | 8th |
| Table 2 | ||
| Dan Smith | United States | 9,000 |
| Vitaly Lunkin | Russia | 5,000 |
| Andrea Dato | Italy | 2,000 |
| Philipp Gruissem | Germany | 1,000 |
| Sorel Mizzi | Canada | 5th |
| Oleksii Khoroshenin | Ukraine | 6th |
| Jack Salter | United Kingdom | 7th |
| Sylvain Loosli | France | 8th |
| Table 3 | ||
| Ole Schemion | Germany | 9,000 |
| Mustapha Kanit | Italy | 5,000 |
| Paul Tedeschi | France | 2,000 |
| Igor Soshnikov | Russia | 1,000 |
| Vanessa Selbst | United States | 5th |
| Simon Deadman | United Kingdom | 6th |
| Andrew Chen | Canada | 7th |
| Igor Yaroshenko | Ukraine | 8th |
| Table 4 | ||
| Erwann Pecheux | France | 9,000 |
| Alexander Dovzhenko | Ukraine | 5,000 |
| Olivier Busquet | United States | 2,000 |
| Anatoly Filatov | Russia | 1,000 |
| Rocco Palumbo | Italy | 5th |
| Oliver Price | United Kingdom | 6th |
| George Danzer | Germany | 7th |
| Jonathan Duhamel | Canada | 8th |
| Table 5 | ||
| Oleksandr Gnatenko | Ukraine | 9,000 |
| Dario Sammartino | Italy | 5,000 |
| Patrick Bruel | France | 2,000 |
| Bryn Kenney | United States | 1,000 |
| Alex Bilokur | Russia | 5th |
| Ami Barer | Canada | 6th |
| Christopher Frank | Germany | 7th |
| Sam Trickett | United Kingdom | 8th |
Updated Standings
Level 5
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
68,000 | |
|
|
58,000 | |
|
|
57,000 | 5,000 |
|
|
51,000 | |
|
|
43,000 | |
|
|
38,000 | |
|
|
36,000 | |
|
|
23,000 |
Dan Smith Wins Heat 5 Table 2 in Spectacular Fashion
Level 5
With just a few minutes remaining in the penultimate level of the last heat of day, Dan Smith was calculating if he could win it just then and there by not playing too many hands anymore. He used several time banks, giving his both opponents fewer options to gain chips.
And then this happened.
Andrea Dato announced he was all in blind from the button. "Ok, ok, I too all in" Lunkin said.
With two players all in blind, the two triangles were tossed in front of them and the cards were dealt.
Dan Smith glanced at his cards, and the rail behind him erupted in laughter as they got a sneak peek as well. Smith called.
Andrea Dato: 
Vitaly Lunkin: 
Dan Smith: 
Smith got just about good a flop as he could ask for: 
. The 
on the turn gave Lunkin some outs, but the 
on the river wasn't one of them.
"King Dan! Long live the king!" shouted the just busted Bryn Kenney.
Smith knocked out both his opponents in the same hand, and guaranteed the win for Team United States. Smith and the rest of Team United States have the first half of the day off, they go straight through to the semi finals.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
68,000 | 9,000 |
|
|
58,000 | |
|
|
52,000 | 2,000 |
|
|
51,000 | 5,000 |
|
|
43,000 | 2,000 |
|
|
38,000 | |
|
|
36,000 | |
|
|
23,000 |
Points For Everyone
Level 5
With Alexander Dovzhenko being heads-up on Table 4 every player in the entire competition now has at least one fourth or better finish.
Updated Standings
Level 5
For the first time in a long time Team Germany is not in the lead, but a lot can change in these last minutes of the night!
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
59,000 | 3,000 |
|
|
58,000 | 1,000 |
|
|
50,000 | |
|
|
46,000 | |
|
|
41,000 | |
|
|
38,000 | |
|
|
36,000 | |
|
|
23,000 |
Lunking Vibes, Gruissem Gone
Level 5
Philipp Gruissem has just finished in fourth place after he got knocked out by Vitaly Lunkin.
Lunkin: 
Gruissem: 
The board ran out 
and Gruissem hit the rail leaving this table for Andrea Dato, Dan Smith and the aforementioned Lunkin.