Week 2 of the 2016 Global Poker League begins today with another four six-handed Sit-and-Go’s on tap. As will be the case every week of the regular season, the Eurasia Conference will go first with tourneys at noon ET and 1:40pm ET, followed by the Americas Conference at 3:30pm ET and 5:10pm ET.
The New York Rounders and Hong Kong Stars lead their respective conferences after the first week, but it is a long season, so it would be shocking if either led wire-to-wire. The San Francisco Rush and Berlin Bears will be on a mission in Week 2, as they are in last place in their conferences, both getting shutout in Week 1’s Sit-and-Go matches.
The team managers have kept their lineups largely the same from the first Sit-and-Go to the second today. The exceptions Celina Lin, who has Bryan Huang going first for Hong Kong and then Dong Guo in the second match, Maria Ho, who is going with Fedor Holz and then Kevin MacPhee for the LA Sunset, and the Las Vegas Moneymakers’ Chris Moneymaker, who is sending Jonathan Duhamel into the first match and Jake Cody into the second.
On Wednesday, the Eurasia Conference will play their heads-up competitions; the Americas Conference will play theirs on Thursday.
And on a side note, you may remember that as of the start of GPL play last week, Maria Ho still had yet to name her Wild Card picks. Well, it was one hell of a slow roll as in addition to choosing herself, she selected actor Aaron Paul of “Breaking Bad” fame. Nobody really knows how good of a poker player he is, but it should be fun to find out. And if he is significantly outclassed by the pros (which he likely will be, even if he is a good player – they are poker pros, after all), it shouldn’t hurt Ho’s team too much, as each player is only required to play in a minimum of six matches during the season.
GPL Eurasia Conference Week 2 – Sit-and-Go 1 Lineup
London Royals – Justin Bonomo
Rome Emperors – Mustapha Kanit
Berlin Bears – Dominik Nitsche
Paris Aviators – Mike Leah
Moscow Wolverines – Vladimir Troyanovskiy
Hong Kong Stars – Bryan Huang
GPL Eurasia Conference Week 2 – Sit-and-Go 2 Lineup
London Royals – Justin Bonomo
Rome Emperors – Mustapha Kanit
Berlin Bears – Dominik Nitsche
Paris Aviators – Mike Leah
Moscow Wolverines – Vladimir Troyanovskiy
Hong Kong Stars – Dong Guo
GPL Americas Conference Week 2 – Sit-and-Go 1 Lineup
New York Rounders – Kevin MacPhee
LA Sunset – Fedor Holz
San Francisco Rush – Kitty Kuo
Las Vegas Moneymakers – Jonathan Duhamel
Montreal Nationals – Xuan Liu
Sao Paolo Mets – Joao Pires Simao
GPL Americas Conference Week 2 – Sit-and-Go 1 Lineup
New York Rounders – Kevin MacPhee
LA Sunset – Chance Kornuth
San Francisco Rush – Kitty Kuo
Las Vegas Moneymakers – Jake Cody
Montreal Nationals – Xuan Liu
Sao Paolo Mets – Joao Pires Simao
Wednesday, April 13th – Eurasia Conference Heads-Up Matches
Hong Kong Stars (Randy Lew) vs. London Royals (Sam Trickett)
Paris Aviators (Alexandre Luneau) vs. Rome Emperors (Dario Sammartino)
Moscow Wolverines (Vladimir Troyanovskiy) vs. Berlin Bears (Dominik Nitsche)
Thursday, April 14th – Americas Conference Heads-Up Matches
Sao Paolo Mets (Thiago Nishijima) vs. Montreal Nationals (Pascal LeFrancois)
San Francisco Rush (Phil Galfond) vs. New York Rounders (Jason Mercier)
Las Vegas Moneymakers (Jonathan Duhamel) vs. LA Sunset (Olivier Busquet)