Jason Lavallee is officially replacing Manager Marc-Andre Ladouceur in the Montreal Nationals lineup and his first game couldn't be tougher. Brian Rast has been undefeated so far throughout the playoffs, winning all five of his matches so far. However, Lavallee was a heads up all-star for his team this season, so the change makes a lot of sense regardless of who his opponent is.
Pascal Lefrancois took a big lead when he rivered a straight with pocket aces a few hands before he finished off Bill Perkins. Perkins had and got all in preflop, but Lefrancois had another big hand, holding pocket kings.
Pascal Lefrancois limped the small blind with pocket aces and Bill Perkins checked his option with .
The flop came and Perkins checked. Lefrancois bet 10,000 and Perkins called.
Perkins check-called again when the turn gave him two pair with the . The river put Lefrancois back in the lead when the gave him a broadway straight. Perkins checked and Lefrancois bet 61,000. Perkins called and lost the pot.
Mike McDonald had a strong run of good hands and good play, and used it to get out in front of Sorel Mizzi pretty quickly in game #1.
However, Mizzi hung in there and eventually rivered the nut flush, with McDonald first to act. McDonald went all in on the river and put Mizzi at risk and Mizzi took a second, clearly trying to slowroll McDonald.
The hand started with Mizzi raising to 73,000 preflo and McDonald called with . The flop came and both players checked. McDonald led the turn when the hit and Mizzi called. The river was the and McDonald shoved to put Mizzi all in. Mizzi called and took a huge lead. He would eliminate McDonald a few hands after that to take game #1 for the Berlin Bears.
Mike McDonald is an intimidating figure stand opposite any opponent in the cube. Sorel Mizzi has already made a couple references to the "Mike McDonald Death Stare."
On one hand, he made a flush and confidently declared he was "not afraid."
"Of course you're not when you have a good hand," said McDonald as he folded.
Mike McDonald is running very hot so far in the heads up match between himself and Sorrel Mizzi. He seems to be unable to make anything less than two pair and has already gotten several premium hands.
The Montreal Nationals play the Berlin Bears today at 2 p.m. to determine the first-ever champion of the Global Poker League.
The two teams earned their spots in the final after a season that began in Los Angeles with the GPL Draft. Twelve managers picked teams of four and then two wildcards before play began in April. Through a season of six-max sit-and-gos and several heads up matches, eight of those teams made the playoffs.
Day one of the playoffs was for the Americas Conference champion. The Montreal Nationals entered the day as the GPL's overall points leader. They beat the San Francisco Rush, despite falling to 0-2 and then defeated the LA Sunset in six games.
Day two determined the Eurasia Conference champion and the Berlin Bears entered as the third seed in the Conference. If they Bear had been in the Americas division they would not even have made the playoffs. That didn't stop the Bears from taking out the higher seed Hong Kong Stars in their first playoff match. Brian Rast went through the entire day undefeated, but the Bears also picked up key wins from the other members, including Bill Perkins who closed out the round one matchup. They then defeated the Eurasia Conference's top-seeded Moscow Wolverines in seven games.
Rast continued his dominant day and eventually took out Wolverine manager Anatoly Filatov in the deciding game to put the Bears into the Final.
The final will be a best of 11 match, with teams selecting each player in secret. Each player on the three-person roster will have to play a game before they can play another game. It all goes down in the GPL cube today at 2 p.m.
and got all in preflop, but Lefrancois had another big hand, holding pocket kings.
.
and Perkins checked. Lefrancois bet 10,000 and Perkins called.
. The river put Lefrancois back in the lead when the 
gave him a broadway straight. Perkins checked and Lefrancois bet 61,000. Perkins called and lost the pot.
. The flop came 
and both players checked. McDonald led the turn when the 
hit and Mizzi called. The river was the 
and McDonald shoved to put Mizzi all in. Mizzi called and took a huge lead. He would eliminate McDonald a few hands after that to take game #1 for the Berlin Bears.
