Global Poker League Week 9: Dominik Nitsche, Guo Dong, Maria Ho and Mercier Win Matches
After a post-summer break, the Global Poker League resumed action yesterday with two heats in both the Eurasia and Americas Conference. Dominik Nitsche, Guo Dong, Maria Ho and Jason Mercier won matches. The Moscow Wolverines now have a 17-point lead over the London Royals in the Eurasia Conference, while the Montreal Nationals lead with a difference of just three points over the LA Sunset in the Americas Conference.
Eurasia Conference
Dominik Nitsche Wins GPL Match 117
Dominik Nitsche crowned himself the winner of the first match of Week 9 of the Global Poker League. By winning the first six-max heat, he scored a big seven points for the Berlin Bears. Even with this win, the Bears were still in sixth, last place in the Eurasian Conference. Nitsche beat Dario Sammartino heads up turning a nine with queen-nine to beat the Italian's treys.
Results GPL Match 117
| Place | Player | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dominik Nitsche | Berlin Bears | 7 points |
| 2 | Dario Sammartino | Rome Emperors | 5 points |
| 3 | Igor Yaroshevsky | Moscow Wolverines | 3 points |
| 4 | Liv Boeree | London Royals | 2 points |
| 5 | Alexandre Luneau | Paris Aviators | 1 point |
| 6 | Guo Dong | Hong Kong Stars | 0 points |
Guo Dong wins GPL Match 118
Hong Kong Stars' Guo Dong won match 118 in the Global Poker League. He won the second six-max heat of the day of the Eurasia Conference by beating Igor Yaroshevsky heads up. Dong recovered very well from an early exit in the first match of the day. He came back and took revenge by raking in seven points for first place.
The second heat looked nothing like the first encounter. Dario Sammartino, second in heat one, was the first to leave, followed quickly by the winner of the first heat, Dominik Nitsche. Liv Boeree scored her second fourth place of the day before Alexandre Luneau was eliminated in third.
Yaroshevsky started the one-on-one battle with 100,000 chips against Guo Dong's 50,000 points. Dong quickly turned the tables and never looked back. The first all in of the heads-up match was the deciding one and Dong got the maximum score, helping his team to a tied second place in the league table.
Results GPL Match 118
| Place | Player | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guo Dong | Hong Kong Stars | 7 points |
| 2 | Igor Yaroshevsky | Moscow Wolverines | 5 points |
| 3 | Alexandre Luneau | Paris Aviators | 3 points |
| 4 | Liv Boeree | London Royals | 2 points |
| 5 | Dominik Nitsche | Berlin Bears | 1 point |
| 6 | Dario Sammartino | Rome Emperors | 0 points |
The Moscow Wolverines now have a commanding 17-point lead over both the London Royals and Hong Kong Stars.
GPL Eurasia Conference League Standings
| Place | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moscow Wolverines | 130 |
| 2 | London Royals | 113 |
| 2 | Hong Kong Stars | 113 |
| 4 | Paris Aviators | 108 |
| 5 | Rome Emperors | 101 |
| 6 | Berlin Bears | 100 |
Americas Conference
Maria Ho wins GPL Match 119
Maria Ho won the first six-max heat in the Global Poker League Americas conference after the summer break. Ho was off to a good start, which ended in her winning the tournament and scoring seven points for the LA Sunset.
Xuan Liu, playing for the Montreal Nationals, was the first to go. She lost a lot of chips to Scott Ball early in the heat and eventually busted to Jason Mercier. The card dead Kitty Kuo was the next one to leave. She first lost a huge pot with AxQx against the AxKx from Byron Kaverman, who eliminated her a few hands later.
Kaverman was the man in command after busting Scott Ball in fourth when he hit an eight on the river with his ace-eight against Ball's ace-ten. Still, Kaverman was next to go. He was crippled by Jason Mercier and eliminated by Maria Ho.
Mercier took an early lead in the heads up, but still ended up short. He got trapped by Ho and never managed to recover.
Results GPL Match 119
| Place | Player | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maria Ho | LA Sunset | 7 points |
| 2 | Jason Mercier | New York Rounders | 5 points |
| 3 | Byron Kaverman | Sao Paulo Metropolitans | 3 points |
| 4 | Scott Ball | Las Vegas Moneymakers | 2 points |
| 5 | Kitty Kuo | San Francisco Rush | 1 point |
| 6 | Xian Liu | Montreal Metropolitans | 0 points |
Jason Mercier wins GPL Match 120
This first day of Week 9 of the Global Poker League was a very good day for Jason Mercier. The New York Rounders player finished second in heat one of the Americas conference, before taking home the victory in the second match.
It looked like the second heat would start in the same fashion as the first one did. Xuan Liu was crippled in the beginning of the match, but unlike the heat before, she wasn't the first one to go. She had some luck and doubled up a couple of times before Scott Ball finished in sixth position. It wasn't really Ball's day and his final hand was an example of that. He made the right decision calling Kaverman's all in with queen-five, but still lost to the jack-six of his opponent. Ball only scored two points for the Las Vegas Moneymakers, leaving them dead last in the Americas conference, far away from the playoff spots.
Like Ball, Kitty Kuo couldn't get much going today. She scored her second fifth place finish of the day when her sixes couldn't hold up against Maria Ho's queen-ten. Ho flopped quad tens and Kuo was on her way out. Ho also eliminated Xuan Liu in fourth place. Liu called all in with nine-ten but couldn't beat the queens Ho was holding. Like Ball and Kuo, Liu also scored two points today, but it was just enough to keep her Montreal Nationals on top of the leaderboard.
Maria Ho ended up third after losing two big pots against Jason Mercier. In the last hand, her 5♥4♥ was no competition for Mercier's A♦8♣ when the board ran out A♥K♣10♥K♠3♦.
Mercier was heads up for the second time today. This time, he took home the full seven points by beating Byron Kaverman thanks to a seven on the river. Kaverman got it all in on a 6♦2♣5♦ flop while holding four-five. Mercier had four-eight and rivered a straight for the win.
Got 1st and 2nd in my GPL 6 max matches while 3 tabling 2/400 mixed on @pokerstars and grinding #WCOOP events #
— Jason Mercier (@JasonMercier)
Results GPL Match 120
| Place | Player | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jason Mercier | New York Rounders | 7 points |
| 2 | Byron Kaverman | Sao Paulo Metropolitans | 5 points |
| 3 | Maria Ho | LA Sunset | 3 points |
| 4 | Xian Liu | Montreal Metropolitans | 2 points |
| 5 | Kitty Kuo | San Francisco Rush | 1 point |
| 6 | Scott Ball | Las Vegas Moneymakers | 0 points |
There are no position changes in the Americas conference after today, but the top four teams are a lot closer together now. The Montreal Nationals hold on to their first position, but only with a three point lead on the LA Sunset. The Sunsets are closing in on the top position, thanks to Maria Ho's 10 points.
Jason Mercier helped his New York Rounders to a tied third place with Byron Kaverman's Sao Paulo Metropolitans. The San Francisco Rush and Las Vegas Moneymakers are falling behind. They have to score big in the upcoming weeks to make it into the playoffs.
GPL Americas Conference League Standings
| Place | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montreal Nationals | 147 |
| 2 | LA Sunset | 144 |
| 3 | Sao Paulo Metropolitans | 120 |
| 3 | New York Rounders | 120 |
| 5 | San Francisco Rush | 107 |
| 6 | Las Vegas Moneymakers | 97 |
The Global Poker League will be back today with three heads-up matches from the Eurasia conference. Play will commence at 12 p.m. EDT (6 p.m. CEST) with the heat between the Rome Emperors and the Hong Kong Stars, followed by the Paris Aviators against the Moscow Wolverines, and the battle between the London Royals and the Berlin Bears. You can follow along with Week 9 coverage of the GPL right here on PokerNews.com.
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