After two weeks of action in the Global Poker League, the GPL Americas and the GPL Eurasia both have surprise leaders atop the tables. In the Americas, the Montreal Nationals have seized the lead from the preseason pick to win the conference in the New York Rounders, while the Eurasia’s still have the intriguing battle between the Paris Aviators and the Hong Kong Stars, with the Aviators currently on top.
In the GPL Americas, the Nationals would use a victory by Xuan Liu in the Six-Max sit and gos on Tuesday (plus another point earned by Liu in the other Six-Max match) to rack up eight points and push their way past the Rounders, who saw Kevin MacPhee blanked in the Six-Max play. That momentum was continued by the Nationals’ Pascal LeFrancois in Thursday’s match against the Sao Paulo Metropolitans and Thiago Nishijima. Over the three heads up games played, LeFrancois blanked Nishijima and took down the 9-0 victory, making it a very good week for the Nationals.
It was also a good week for the L. A. Sunset. After muddling along in fourth place after the first week of action, the Sunset saw Fedor Holz and Chance Kornuth team up in the Six-Max to pull in eight points with their finishes (Holz in third, Kornuth in second). In their heads up match against the Las Vegas Moneymakers, the Sunset’s Olivier Busquet was able to take two games against the Moneymakers’ Jonathan Duhamel and win 6-3, pushing the Sunset into third place behind the Rounders.
Heading in the wrong direction right now are the Metropolitans. The only points scored by the Mets in Week 2 came during the Six-Max play when Joao Pires Simao finished as runner up to the San Francisco Rush’s Kitty Kuo and his singular point for finishing fifth in the second Six-Max. Nishijima’s blanking at the hands of LeFrancois sealed fewer points for the Metropolitans than they scored in the first week of the season.
With Week 2 in the books, here’s how the GPL Americas lines up:
| GPL AMERICAS | POINTS | WINS |
| Montreal Nationals | 29 | 3 |
| New York Rounders | 25 | 3 |
| L. A. Sunset | 23 | 2 |
| Las Vegas Moneymakers | 21 | 0 |
| San Francisco Rush | 15 | 2 |
| Sao Paulo Metropolitans | 13 | 0 |
In the GPL Eurasia, the battle is still between two teams that many didn’t expect to do much this season in the league. The Hong Kong Stars and the Paris Aviators continued their battle atop the ladder with the Aviators coming out on top this week, but the Berlin Bears are on the march.
The Bears were led by Dominik Nitsche, who powered his way to a victory and a runner-up finish in the two Six-Max sit and gos on Tuesday to pick up a much needed 12 points for his team. Although Nitsche would lose his heads up match to the Moscow Wolverines’ Vladimir Troyanovskiy 6-3, those 15 points that Nitsche earned keep the Bears within shouting distance of the top of the conference. That battle at the top of the table proved to be one of the more interesting of the week.
Coming into Week 2, the Hong Kong Stars and the Paris Aviators were only separated by two points with the Stars holding the edge. That advantage was erased quickly as, in the first Six-Max on Tuesday, the Aviators’ Mike Leah showed some definitive skills (even down to calling his opponent’s cards over his in-game mic and video feed) in finishing as runner-up to Nitsche (for five points) while the Stars’ Bryan Huang only got two points for finishing in fourth. Leah would add on to that lead in finishing third in the second Six-Max (three points) while Guo Dong of the Stars took the bagel in being the first elimination.
The story was much the same in the heads up matches. The Aviators’ Alexandre Luneau knocked off the Rome Emperors’ Dario Sammartino 6-3 after the Stars’ Randy Lew couldn’t find the magic against the London Royals’ Sam Trickett in losing 6-3. That three-point differential – and the total of nine points between the two teams for Week 2 – puts the Paris Aviators into the lead as the second week of the GPL comes to a close:
| GPL EURASIA | POINTS | WINS |
| Paris Aviators | 30 | 3 |
| Hong Kong Stars | 23 | 3 |
| London Royals | 19 | 2 |
| Moscow Wolverines | 19 | 2 |
| Berlin Bears | 18 | 1 |
| Rome Emperors | 17 | 0 |
Week 3 of the GPL will start out with the dual Six-Max sit and gos for each conference with this lineup set for the GPL Eurasia Wednesday (April 20) and the GPL Americas on Thursday (April 21):
GPL Eurasia
Berlin Bears vs. Hong Kong Stars
London Royals vs. Paris Aviators
Rome Emperors vs. Moscow Wolverines
GPL Americas
Sao Paulo Metropolitans vs. Las Vegas Moneymakers
L. A. Sunset vs. San Francisco Rush
New York Rounders vs. Montreal Nationals
Without a doubt, the Rounders/Nationals battle will more than likely be for supremacy in the GPL Americas, while the Aviators/Royals matchup might mark the breakout for the team from the United Kingdom. It promises to be an intriguing Week 3 as the Global Poker League regular season moves along.
