With only three weeks to go until the mid-season break in the Global Poker League schedule, two different courses have become evident for the two divisions. In the GPL Eurasia, two teams have pulled away from the pack and seem to be in position to settle the playoff seeds between themselves, while the GPL Americas has become a free-for-all with all six squads separated by only ten points.
After Week 5, the GPL Eurasia leaderboard has two teams at the top, the Paris Aviators and the Moscow Wolverines, who have separated themselves away from their brethren in the conference. The two teams went to battle this week as, in the Six Max events on Tuesday, the Aviators’ Mike Leah and the Wolverines’ Igor Yaroshevsky played to a stalemate. Leah was able to pull out a slight edge overall, taking a victory (which would be used in a potential tiebreaker) for Paris on his way to eight total points, but Yaroshevsky was able to match Leah’s eight overall points with a second and third place finish in the two sit and gos. Where the difference came was in the heads up match on Wednesday between the two teams.
With conference supremacy on the line, Leah was once again tapped by manager Fabrice Soulier to carry the banner for the Aviators, while Wolverines manager Anatoly Filatov called his own number for the Moscow squad for Wednesday’s showdown. Leah would wear down Filatov in the first match, extending it out to 36 grueling hands, before Leah would take the first game. Leah would use that same “slow and steady” approach in the second game, taking 33 hands to knock off Filatov to take the overall match and second victory of the week for Leah. Filatov made short work of Game 3, taking only 13 hands to best Leah to salvage three points for the Wolverines.
Leah’s efforts have pushed the Aviators into a slim one-point lead over the Wolverines, while the remainder of the GPL Eurasia is in danger of losing touch with the two leaders:
| GPL EURASIA | POINTS | WINS |
| Paris Aviators | 65 | 7 |
| Moscow Wolverines | 64 | 6 |
| Hong Kong Stars | 51 | 4 |
| London Royals | 49 | 5 |
| Berlin Bears | 45 | 2 |
| Rome Emperors | 41 | 1 |
It was another week of total chaos for the GPL Americas, which has begun to be reflected in the standings for the division. Just as someone looks to be in position to take control of the GPL Americas, there is a complete reshuffle that brings the pack closer together. Week 5 of the GPL’s inaugural season was another period of complete and utter turmoil in the GPL Americas as no one can seemingly take control of the conference.
The star of the week in the GPL Americas had to be the Sao Paulo Metropolitans’ Felipe Mojave. Mojave didn’t win either of the two Six Max sit and gos he played on Tuesday, but he was able to pull off two runner-up finishes. Those ten points were matched only by the New York Rounders’ Tyler Kenney, who earned an important victory and a third place finish towards earning ten points himself. As it occurred in the GPL Eurasia, it just so happened that the battle would be carried over to the heads up matches, with the Rounders and the Metropolitans taking each other to the felt on Thursday.
In that matchup, the Metropolitans’ Thiago Nishijima drew first blood in knocking off Tom Marchese in a tense 29-hand battle. Marchese wasn’t going away easily, however, fighting back to take Game 2 in a rapid 23 hands. Knowing that every point was going to be valuable, Nishijima and Marchese fought tooth and nail over 38 hands for the final three points, with those precious counters and the mark in the victory column going to Nishijima and the Metropolitans to draw them within four points of the conference leaders.
The problem for both the Rounders and the Metropolitans is that they cannot sit back and just worry about each other. New York’s lead over the last place squad, the San Francisco Rush (showing signs of life after a horrendous start) is only ten points and Sao Paulo only has a six-point edge on the Rush. The other three GPL Americas teams are also well within range of doing damage against the leaders:
| GPL AMERICAS | POINTS | WINS |
| New York Rounders | 59 | 5 |
| Sao Paulo Metropolitans | 55 | 3 |
| Montreal Nationals | 51 | 5 |
| L. A. Sunset | 51 | 5 |
| Las Vegas Moneymakers | 50 | 2 |
| San Francisco Rush | 49 | 5 |
Week 6 of the GPL will kick off with its usual dual Six Max matches – two for the GPL Eurasia, two for the GPL Americas – before heading off to intra-conference play. On Wednesday, the two bottom dwellers of the GPL Eurasia – the Berlin Bears and the Rome Emperors – will look to derail the runs of Moscow and Paris, respectively. On Thursday, the Rush will have a chance to cut into the Rounders’ lead in a heads up battle, while the Nationals look to overtake the Metropolitans and the Sunset and Moneymakers battle to reach the top half of the GPL Americas table.
There’s only three weeks left until the midseason pause for the World Series of Poker, so position is quite important for these teams. It will lead to the live matches that will take place after the WSOP and could push a team eventually into the playoffs.
