After nearly seven months of action (counting delays), the Global Poker League has reached its playoffs. While one conference had nearly set its four-team roster for the postseason, the other conference had plenty of jostling for position with none of the six teams eliminated as of the start of the final week of the regular season.
The conference with the least work to do, the GPL Americas, kicked off the week’s action with their three heads up matches. With the Montreal Nationals, the L. A. Sunset and the Sao Paulo Metropolitans all assured of a playoff spot – and the Las Vegas Moneymakers eliminated from contention – the final slot would come down to either the San Francisco Rush or the New York Rounders.
The Moneymakers’ Scott Ball would prove to be the proverbial thorn in the side of Manager Bryn Kenney of the Rounders, thumping Kenney by a 3-0 margin (a 9-0 rout by points). In getting zero points, Kenney essentially eliminated his squad from playoff contention as the Rush’s three-point margin before they even took to the virtual baize was enough to lock up the final playoff spot for them; the Rush gathered in six points from Phil Galfond via his 2-1 victory over the Metropolitans’ Felipe Ramos to ensure their position.
On Wednesday, the GPL Eurasia put the cards in the virtual air to determine their entire lineup for the upcoming playoffs. With both the Hong Kong Stars and the Berlin Bears playing before them (and against each other nonetheless), the Moscow Wolverines would know after the Stars/Bears match what they would need to do to take the GPL Eurasia championship. The answer? Nothing, as the Stars’ Randy ‘Nanonoko’ Lew took the first two games against the Bears’ Dominik Nitsche to win the match, but he couldn’t pull off the sweep to put the pressure on the Wolverines by passing them in the standings and handing the Wolverines the championship.
By that singular match between the Stars and the Bears, the first three positions were set for the GPL Eurasia playoffs. The Wolverines were assured of the #1 seed and, because of their performance, the Stars eclipsed the Bears for the #2 seed. All that was left was for the London Royals, the Paris Aviators and the Rome Emperors to decide who would take the final slot.
In the second match on Wednesday, the Emperors’ Mustapha Kanit got off to a good start with a win, but the Royals’ Justin Bonomo would strike back and take the next two games to win the entire match 2-1 (6-3 on points). With the win, the Royals officially eliminated the Emperors from contention, but they had to sweat out the final match of the day between the newly-crowned champion Wolverines and the Aviators.
With nothing to play for, Wolverines manager Anatoly Filatov could have simply “taken a knee” (given up the game) and allowed the Aviators’ Alexandre Luneau to have a walk. Instead, Filatov came out firing, winning the first game, before dropping the second to Luneau. In the penultimate game, Filatov pulled out the win to take the best of three set 2-1 (6-3 on points). Despite having the same point total as the Royals, the Aviators didn’t have as many wins (15-14) during the regular season, relegating them to the fifth-place slot and missing the playoffs.
After the dramatic regular season finale, it was almost anti-climactic to learn the brackets for the GPL playoffs. Beginning on November 29, the teams will line up like this (with the chips they will bring to the table):
GPL Americas
#1 Montreal Nationals (130,000) vs. #4 San Francisco Rush (100,000)
#2 L. A. Sunset (120,000) vs. #3 Sao Paulo Metropolitans (110,000)
GPL Eurasia
#1 Moscow Wolverines (130,000) vs. #4 London Royals (100,000)
#2 Hong Kong Stars (120,000) vs. #3 Berlin Bears (110,000)
The difference in the chip counts is a bonus for the teams who earned the higher seed to have an advantage over their competition. Once the semi-finals are set, the team with the better seed will receive a 40,000 bonus over the 200,000-starting stack. For the Finals, the champions of the GPL Americas and GPL Eurasia will both start with 500,000 in chips.
At issue for many is why is there a delay in the play of the GPL Playoffs and the Championship Final. The playoffs are scheduled to start on November 29 with the GPL Americas determining its eventual champion and, on November 30, the GPL Eurasia will figure out their champion. The weekend of action will culminate with the crowning of the inaugural Global Poker League champion on December 1.
The delay works out well for the players as, at that time of the year, the tournament calendar is beginning to slow down (the traditional calendar year finale, the World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic, begins on December 5). For those competing in the playoffs, it gives them the opportunity to get to Las Vegas to be able to participate at the GPL Arena (especially if they are overseas) and perhaps make some more out of their time by having the WPT event soon afterwards. It also allows for the managers of the teams competing for the title a chance to do some scouting and analysis of their opposition to be at max preparation for their matches.
Whatever the reason, the GPL’s inaugural season will end at the start of December. Who will take the title? We’ve got plenty of time to analyze that, but congratulations to the teams who will vie for the crown.
