2015 GPI Global Poker Masters

All five players on Team Canada are big names and top talents in poker. You might think this would bode well for the team, but heading into the GPM only Sorel Mizzi has been in any sort of form as of late.

Ami Barer and Andrew Chen both recorded their last live tournament cash in the Aussie Millions Main Event at the end of January, and Jonathan Duhamel's last big result was a win in a side event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure that same month. Duhamel did cash in the World Poker Tour Fallsview event in the middle of February, but he seems to have taken a step back from the world of high-stakes poker tournaments in recent months. With so many of the competitors regularly involved in the world of high-stakes tournament poker, this could put Duhamel at a disadvantage.

Marc-Andre Ladouceur's last live tournament result was back in November of last year, as he's mainly been sticking to his virtual guns as a member of Team PokerStars Pro Online.

The question we can't help but ask in regards to Team Canada is, do they care about this event? With so much poker action going on in Malta involving plenty of big buy-in events and a happening party scene on the island, it wouldn't surprise us if Canada took this event a bit less seriously than the others and was eliminated after the first day.

Similar to Team Canada, Team Germany is filled with young and talented players. The team is led by arguably the most talented tournament poker player alive right now, Ole Schemion. This kid just seems to win everything under the sun, and it only seems fitting that he would lead the charge that will bring GPM gold to his home country.

Then you've got Marvin Rettenmaier and Philipp Gruissem, again two highly-talented poker players. George Danzer is also very skilled, but his strength lies with his ability to play mixed games. No-limit hold'em really isn't Danzer's forte, but what Danzer may lack in pure talent in the game he'll make up for with on-the-felt toughness and a willingness to never want to give up. Last year, when Danzer was fighting with Brandon Shack-Harris for World Series of Poker Player of the Year honors, he fought very hard in all no-limit hold'em events he played, and we expect much more of the same from him at the GPM.

You might be wondering who Christopher Frank is. Well, he's the team's unknown commodity, but the kid can play. Like Schemion, he's super young and highly talented, and will bring to the table a résumé that includes a European Poker Tour London final table and a World Poker Tour National title. With Frank likely being an unknown player to the rest of the field, we like him to really surprise people and help bolster Germany's tough roster of players.

It's often a running joke in poker circles that French players lack skill. Then you look at this team of players, and you can't help but question what people are talking about — Erwann Pecheux, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Paul Tedeschi, and Sylvain Loosli? What's there to joke about?

Maybe we'll give you Patrick Bruel, as the French singer, actor, and poker player as may a tad out of his league in this event, but even Bruel has shown he can lock horns with the best and perform. He holds a World Series of Poker gold bracelet and nearly won a second a few years later after he scored his first.

Team France is without a doubt headlined by Grospellier, who boasts nearly $11 million in live tournament earnings and is regularly talked about as one of the game's best, but it's Pecheux who currently holds the team's highest Global Poker Index country rank at No. 2. Rounding out the team is Tedeschi and Loosli, both very respected players with strong backgrounds in online poker. Tedeschi hasn't exactly broken out yet on the live scene, but Loosli certainly has thanks to reaching the WSOP Main Event final table in 2013 and finishing fourth.

Overall, this French team is underrated, and it wouldn't be a total surprise if they finished in the top three.

Like France, Italy is often referred to as a lesser-skilled country by poker circles, but this team also packs a lot of power. Where Team France may be very strong in four out of five spots, Italy is strong across the board, and we'd consider them one of the favorites to win the first GPM.

Let's start with Mustapha Kanit, the country's top ranked player. This kid can play. He packs a great combination of natural talent and aggression that should give many of the other players trouble.

The same could be said for the other players on the team — Dario Sammartino, Andrea Dato, Giuliano Bendinelli, and Rocco Palumbo. They're Italy's best talents and will likely play a high-risk, high-reward style of play.

Bendinelli should be the least known player of the pack, but he's a player we would deem on the verge of a big breakout. He recently stated that he's gunning to take down European Poker Tour Player of the Year.

"To be completely honest with you, the pleasure to say 'I won the EPT POY title in Season 11' would be much, much bigger than the one that comes from saying 'I won the EPT Main Event in Deauville,'" Bendinelli stated. "In the end, that's only a single event."

You know what would look good next to the EPT Player of the Year award? The first-ever GPM trophy.

Team Russia looks very tough on paper. They've got a solid mix of players that have plenty of accolades to back up their play. Match their experience with on-the-felt toughness, and Russia seems poised to really contend for the first GPM title.

Confidence always plays a big part in a poker player's game. Vladimir Troyanovskiy can be considered the team's leader, and he's coming off some nice results from the European Poker Tour Deauville festival. First, he won the FPS High Roller for €141,000, and then he cashed in the EPT Deauville Main Event and the €10,300 High Roller. Ivan Soshnikov is coming off a deep run in the World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic, so he will likely be in form as well.

The other three could be the achilles heel for Russia, as Alex Bilokur, Anatoly Filatov, and Vitaly Lunkin have been blanking as of late. Even so, these three players know how to buckle down and take every event they play very seriously — especially Bilokur and Lunkin. It's rare that these two play an event without giving it their all, and we can expect much more of that on Saturday at the GPM.

Team Ukraine would be a complete dark horse if they were to come out on top. If they were to win, it would be our best estimation that it would be on the heels of great performances from Oleksii Khoroshenin and Igor Yaroshevsky. Although Eugene Katchalov has a higher country ranking and may be a better all-around poker player, Khoroshenin and Yaroshevsky are two top no-limit hold'em tournament players right now.

Khoroshenin is strong, aggressive, and relentless, and Yaroshevsky brings much of the same to the table. Yaroshevsky is also coming off a big result at the recent World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic, so his confidence will likely be high.

Alexander Dovzhenko is an older grinder, but we're not so sure his style will adapt well to the format of the GPM and against younger, aggressive players. Oleksandr Gnatenko is a fairly unknown younger player, but don't let his $532,554 in live earnings fool you too much. He also brings over $800,000 in online tournament earnings to play.

We just cited confidence as a big factor for poker players and something that plays a pivotal role in current success. Team U.K.'s Jack Salter should have plenty of confidence right now after recording two final tables at the 2015 Aussie Millions and then finishing fifth in the L.A. Poker Classic $50,000 Turbo High Roller. His brother, Louis Salter, is slowly following in his footsteps and we're sure they will be a tough tandem to deal with for the other countries.

Another tough and talented player from the U.K. will be Oliver Price, and he's also been on some good form as of late. Simon Deadman has been quiet recently, but he's a solid player in his own right who should take this event seriously and bring his best to the table. Sam Trickett could likely be the complete opposite.

Over the years, Trickett has put up many big results, but it goes without question that his heart must be in it. If it's not and he doesn't care too much on that particular day, he could be off to the rail very early. He also recently tweeted about coming down with a fever, and that could play into how well he's able to perform.

One thing is for sure, though, and that's U.K.'s pride in their country. Knowing how much they want to compete well on all international stages around the world should help bring this team together.

Here are your favorites, Team U.S. Looking at the list of these five players, there isn't a weak spot to be found. Even the lowest country ranked player — Isaac Haxton — is widely considered one of the greatest minds in the game.

Vanessa Selbst was a late addition to the team and certainly will be welcomed by the other four team members. Selbst is one of the best tournament poker players ever, and she's not someone to take an event lightly. Expect her to bring her top game to Malta.

Along with Haxton and Selbst, you've got Bryn Kenney, Olivier Busquet, and Dan Smith rounding out the squad. These are three of the best players the poker world has to offer. Kenney can get a little wild and crazy sometimes with his style, but having a looser, open-minded, aggressive player can be a good thing in this format. You definitely don't want an entire team made up of Kenney-like players, but he'll complement the others very well. Busquet and Smith are very calculated players and will be extremely difficult players for other teams to deal with.

If we were able to grade each and every decision made by teams in the GPM, we'd expect Team U.S. to have the most consistently high score.

Today at 12 p.m. local time (in 90 minutes), the first edition of the Global Poker Masters (GPM) will begin. The event is deemed the "World Cup of Poker" and will see eight national teams compete against one another in a very uniquely formatted event. Each nation will be battling for the right to be crowned poker's world champion.

Taking place this weekend (March 21-22), the event will be promoted and broadcasted live on Twitch.

Today will see the first five heats of action play out before the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals take place tomorrow, Sunday March 22nd. Not only will you be able to watch the event live on Twitch, but PokerNews will be providing live coverage from the tournament floor for the entire event.

Here's how it works, quoting the Global Poker Masters website:

THE PLAYOFFS (day 1 – March 21st)

GPM’s 40 Players Are Broken Up Into 5 Separate 8 Player Sit-n-Go’s:

• Each table features 1 player from each Team, and all tables are drawn to have balanced competition

The Playoffs Feature 5 Heats Running Simultaneously Per Round:

• Between rounds, teams will re-draw for new seats, ensuring that each player is able to compete against all or most of the other competitors with equal opportunity for players to play at the feature table. Each heat will be time capped, with teams only having 2.5 hours to finish all the action.

Player Points are then Compiled By Team & The 8 National Teams are Ranked From 1st till 8th Place:

• The team that places 1st in the Playoffs wins a pass directly into the Semifinals. This leading team also receives a Winner’s Bonus of 50K in chips that is added automatically to their Semifinals starting stack.
• The 8th place team is eliminated from competition and does not progress on to the Quarterfinals.

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THE QUARTERFINALS (day 2 – March 22nd)

With the 8th place team already eliminated and the Playoff winner leapfrogging directly into the Semifinals we are now left with the 6 remaining teams in the Quarterfinals all playing each other in a series of “Best out of 3” Heads-Up matches to determine which 5 teams will move onto the Semifinals and which team will be eliminated.

• Heads-Up Quarterfinals

  2th Seeded Team	vs.	7nd Seeded Team
  3rd Seeded Team	vs.	6th Seeded Team
  4th Seeded Team	vs.	5th Seeded Team

• 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.
• After a total of 9 Heads-Up matches, Quarterfinal points are tallied and combined with playoffs points to determine the Semifinal chip count. The team with the lowest amount of point after the Playoffs & Quarterfinals is eliminated from competition.

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THE SEMIFINALS (day 2 – March 22nd)

The Semifinals 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 Semifinals. 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 Semifinals 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.

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THE FINALS (day 2 – March 22nd)
Once Semifinal Play Gets Down To Heads-up Action Play Pauses & 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.

The eight teams involved are from Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, U.K., Ukraine, and the U.S. Each team will consist of five players. Let take a look at each one of the nations involved.