The first ever Global Poker League draft is now complete, and there is plenty of excitement building up for this potential new wave of televised poker. All in all, 12 teams from around the globe will be competing in a never-before-seen form of team poker.
Best Value Pick: Dzmitry Urbanovich, Moscow Wolverines
You may not know Urbanovich yet, and that is probably because he is only 20 years old. He will turn 21 before the WSOP this summer, and it’s safe to say he will be at the top of all “best newcomer” lists. Despite his young age, Urbanovich has already amassed an incredible poker resume. He has nearly $5 million in live earnings, including a victory in the EPT Dublin Main Event just two weeks ago. At the EPT Malta last year, he won the 25,000 Euro High Roller, three side events, and finished 2nd in another event, all in the span of just two weeks.
Honorable Mention: Fedor Holz, L.A. Sunset
Largely for the same reasons as Urbanovich. Holz is a young pro who is quickly striking fear in the hearts of his opponents with his hyper-aggressive style. Holz seemed genuinely humbled with his selection here at the draft, and should be a great fit for the L.A. Sunset.
Surprise Pick: Darren Elias, Sao Paulo Mets
While Elias is one of the best No-Limit Hold’em players in the world, not many expected to see him land in Brazil for the Mets. Coming into the draft, Andre Akkari was expected to keep his team in house, but he went with the two-time WPT Champion Elias with his first pick. It will be interesting to see how the Brazilian crowd reacts to this top pick.
Best Value Pick: Tony Gregg, San Francisco Rush
Many people would have selected Vanessa Selbst for this, and you will see her mentioned just below, but for our money, Tony Gregg was the best pick of the round. Gregg’s poker resume speaks for itself, but the top highlights are his $4.8 million victory in the 2013 One Drop High Roller, and his two runner-up finishes in the PCA Main Event, including the last installment in January. He is also good friends with 2012 WSOP Main Event Champion Greg Merson, and the aforementioned Darren Elias.
Honorable Mention: Vanessa Selbst, London Royals
These two are really 1a and 1b for us. Selbst holds three WSOP bracelets, and is widely known for her aggressive style. The one potential draw back could be that she is not immune to the occasional blow-up, which could come back to hurt the Royals in this team format.
Surprise Pick: Sorel Mizzi, Berlin Bears
No one was surprised that a player as talented as Mizzi was drafted, but the team that snagged him made it a bit odd. Leading up to the draft, the Berlin Bears were considered one of the most likely to keep their picks in country with so many talented Germans. But for the second time in the draft, the Bears went out of country with Mizzi.
Best Value Pick: Jake Cody, Las Vegas Moneymakers
Many thought that Chris Moorman would be the first British pro to be selected, but that honor went to Jake Cody instead. Cody stormed onto the poker scene a few years ago, when he became the youngest player to earn the Triple Crown of poker. Perhaps most importantly, Cody’s WSOP victory came in the $25,000 Heads-Up Event, which means he should be a perfect fit for this format.
Honorable Mention: Chris Moorman, London Royals
It’s an all British affair for this category. Moorman was taken just two picks after Cody, and given his resume, it’s a surprise he lasted this long. Moorman is the all-time money leader in online poker earnings with nearly $14 million, and has plenty of great live results to boot, including a victory at the 2014 L.A. Poker Classic for a cool $1 million.
Surprise Pick: Pascal Lefrancois, Montreal Nationals
The crowd figured that the Nationals would pick another Canadian here, but most thought it would be Mike Leah. Instead, they went with Pascal Lefrancois, a 2010 bracelet winner who has been relatively quiet on the live poker scene since the end of 2014.
Best Value Pick: Justin Bonomo, London Royals
Perhaps the biggest sleeper of the entire draft, Justin Bonomo slipped all the way to the fourth round, where the London Royals snatched him up. Bonomo has competed on the biggest stages of poker, and won’t be phased by the bright lights and cameras of the GPL.
Honorable Mention: Chance Kornuth, L.A. Sunset
Kornuth is fresh off a victory in the 25,000 AUD High Roller Event at the Aussie Millions in January, and much like Bonomo, is a fixture in the biggest tournaments all around the world. He makes the perfect final addition to what is overall a very strong team for the L.A. Sunset.
Surprise Pick: Bryan Huang, Hong Kong Stars
The Hong Kong Stars clearly had a goal in mind with their picks: they wanted to take players who would draw in the Asian market, and that’s exactly what they did. However, given the immense talent that was available to them, it was still a bit of a surprise to see them go with no “big name” players for their squad.
Best Draft: London Royals
Simply put, the Royals knocked it out of the park with every selection. Starting off with High Roller regular Igor Kurganov, and then picking up studs like Vanessa Selbst, Chris Moorman, and Justin Bonomo, it will be tough to pick anyone else but this team as the favorite right now.
Honorable Mention: New York Rounders
Bryn Kenney assembled a crop of experienced, talented players, who have all accomplished virtually everything there is to do in poker. Not only that, but the whole group all seem to be good friends, and will be working very well together in the team format. If we could, we would call it a tie between these two.
Worst Draft: Hong Kong Stars
Worst draft sounds a bit harsh, as all four players selected by Hong Kong are surely talented players. Everyone in the field today are great poker players in their own rights. But as mentioned before, the Stars failed to snag a huge name that the general public can attach themselves too. Having said that, the beautiful thing about poker is that anyone can beat anyone on any given day, and the Stars could very well turn into the Cinderella story of the GPL. In addition, picking local players could be the best way to grow the game of poker, as the dominant population will be invested in this team.
That wraps up our draft breakdown. Be sure to stay tuned for interviews with all 12 managers over the next few weeks as we prepare for the start of the GPL season!
Each manager was tasked with picking four players for their teams, and we have a full breakdown of the draft below:
Rome Emperors
Mustapha Kanit
Dario Sammartino
Timothy Adams
Walter Treccarichi
Montreal Nationals
Mike McDonald
Martin Jacobson
Pascal Lefrancois
Xuan Liu
New York Rounders
Jason Mercier
Tom Marchese
Kevin MacPhee
Jason Wheeler
San Francisco Rush
Phil Galfond
Tony Gregg
Kitty Kuo
Anton Wigg
Las Vegas Moneymakers
Anthony Zinno
Jonathan Duhamel
Jake Cody
Jonathan Little
Sao Paulo Mets
Darren Elias
Byron Kaverman
Thiago Nishijima
Joao Pires Simao
London Royals
Igor Kurganov
Vanessa Selbst
Chris Moorman
Justin Bonomo
Moscow Wolverines
Dzmitry Urbanovich
Vladimir Troyanovskiy
Andrey Pateychuk
Sergey Lebedev
L.A. Sunset
Fedor Holz
Olivier Busquet
Eugene Katchalov
Chance Kornuth
Berlin Bears
Brian Rast
Sorel Mizzi
Dominik Nitsche
Jeff Gross
Paris Aviators
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier
Davidi Kitai
George Danzer
Mike Leah
Hong Kong Stars
Weiyi Zhang
Raiden Kan
Dong Guo
Bryan Huang