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.