Italy Triumphs in Global Poker Masters

Italy Triumphs in Global Poker Masters

Monday, 23 March 2015

The first ever Global Poker Masters came and went over the weekend and when the betting was over it was team Italy that defied the odds to clinch the inaugural title.

Despite being flanked by the best MTT players the US, Germany and the UK had to offer, it was the unassuming Italians that powered through in the final stages to take the championship.

Day 1 started with a series of five SNG style matches between representatives from eight poker nations (UK, US, Germany, Italy, France, Russia, Canada and the Ukraine). Hotly tipped to take the title during the early rounds was Canada; however, a disappointing set of results left the team languishing towards the bottom of the leaderboard.

Fortunately, team Canada was able to lock up 43,000 points which allowed them to finish comfortably ahead of the UK who eventually found themselves being eliminated after Day 1. After axing the likes of Sam Trickett, Jack Salter, Louis Salter, Oliver Price and Simon Deadman, the seven remaining teams played for their seeding in Day 2 and when the chips had fallen team US received the all important by to the finale.

Day 2 saw six teams whittle away at each other until only team Italy and team Russia remained. Thanks to their dominance over the US, team Italy's players enjoyed a commanding chip lead over their Russian counterparts in the final series of heads-up matches.

That advantage was enough to virtually seal the deal for the Italians as they won every heads-up match to close out the Global Poker Masters in style. The impressive performance was not only a huge moment for Italian poker, but for the industry in general. Over the course of the event the official Twitch channel received more than 100,000 views and many thousands were reportedly glued to their stream from start to finish.

Global Poker Master Final Standings

1 - Team Italy
2 - Team Russia
3 - Team US
4 - Team Germany
5 - Team Canada
6 - Team Ukraine
7 - Team France
8 - Team UK



Tags: Global Poker Masters, Italy