Initial List of Participating Countries for Global Poker Masters Revealed

9 years ago
Initial List of Participating Countries for Global Poker Masters Revealed
16:29
08 Jan

The inaugural Global Poker Masters is set to take place in March 2015 during the EPT festival in Malta. Dubbed poker’s World Cup, the competition will gather some of the best players around and position them to play against each other, fighting primarily for the pride of their respective countries.

In its latest announcement, the Global Poker Index has revealed the initial list of competitors. Eight nations will be represented in March, and they were selected using the number of players in the GPI300 for each country as of December 31, 2014.

Each of these eight nations will be represented by five players, one being the 2014 National Player of the Year, the top 3 players from the GPI300 index and one wildcard. The rules for selecting wildcard players are to follow shortly.

Countries and representatives

These are the eight competing countries and four players that will represent each national team.

  • Team USA – Dan Smith, Daniel Colman, Pratyush Buddiga, Jacob Schindler
  • Team UK – Stephen Chidwick, Jack Salter, Simon Deadman, Oliver Price
  • Team Germany – Ole Schemion, Marvin Rettenmaier, Martin Finger, George Danzer
  • Team Canada – Ami Barer, Sorel Mizzi, Mike McDonald, Andrew Chan
  • Team Russia – Anatoly Filatov, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, Ivan Soshnikov, Vitaly Lunkin
  • Team France – Erwann Pecheux, Benjamin Pollak, Sylvan Loosli, Fabrice Soulier
  • Team Italy – Dario Sammaritano, Mustapha Kanit, Andrea Dato, Giuliano Bendinelli
  • Team Ukraine – Eugene Katchalov, Oleksandr Gnatenko, Artem Metalidi, Oleksii Khoroshenin

Ukraine squeezes in, Dan Colman will not play

A three-way tie breaker was needed to determine whether Argentina, Denmark or Ukraine would be invited, as they had the same number of players in the GPI300. To reach the decision, GPI officials added the points of the top five players in each country. Ukraine, led by Eugene Katchalov, emerged victorious.

In the event that a player may be unable to attend, the next best ranked player from the country will receive an invitation. Dan Colman has already informed Dreyfus that he will not be able to participate, so Bryn Kenney will be invited in his stead.


The Global Poker Masters is a two-day event and is free to enter for qualifying players. There is no buy-in and only the best can compete on behalf of their countries. The event is part of Dreyfus’ and GPI’s efforts to ‘sportify poker.'

The qualification format ensures that the best poker player on the live tournament circuit will participate in the event, those watching will be able to see the world’s best go head-to-head in hopes of winning it all for their country." Alex Dreyfus;

The event will be live streamed, with coverage in at least five languages. There will be no delay, so the audience will be able to watch the action as it goes down. The audience at home will probably be able to place bets on their favorites as well to make the viewing experience even more enjoyable.


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Ivan Potocki is the editor in chief and one of the lead news writers for PokerTube. His natural flair and enthusiasm for journalism combined with a deep poker knowledge make him an exciting contributor for PokerTube.The experience garnered playing poker professionally for several years and the knowl...Read more

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