The long awaited wild card picks for L.A Sunset have finally arrived, and alongside the expected choice of Maria Ho who is also team manager, a more unexpected name was picked to join the Los Angeles franchise. Aaron Paul is an actor who quickly rose to fame after his portrayal of Jesse Pinkman helped to make AMC television show “Breaking Bad” a huge success. His interest in poker has been documented in recent years, and he travelled to Las Vegas last year to participate in the WSOP Main Event. He joins an already exciting team which includes Maria Ho, Olivier Busquets, Fedor Holz, Eugene Katchalov, and Chance Kornuth. After his selection, Paul made the following statement: “I love Poker as a game and mind sport, so I’m excited to be part of this new eSports League. Representing the L.A. Sunset together with some of the best players in the world should be a blast.”
I’ve been drafted by @mariaho to play with the pros in the @GPL. #TeamLASunset #SecretWeapon #SportifyPoker pic.twitter.com/rpKVFNxGcz
— Aaron Paul (@aaronpaul_8) April 11, 2016
Best of the rest – looking back at the first week
The Hong Kong Stars were seen by many as underdogs after the initial draft, and while it’s important to remember that the season is still young – they are already proving the doubters wrong. The team has taken the lead in the Eurasia conference, and are currently on 18 points, with Paris Aviators in close proximity with 16.
While there are many developing stories in the GPL to capture the interest of the masses, there have been a few early glitches along the way. Sound issues were a problem for some viewers on day 1, and in a bizarre 30 seconds on day 3, one of the commentators appeared to click a button which added a 6th card to the board. Incredulous questions about the 6th card combined with mass laughter flooded the chat box, and while it may not have looked professional, it certainly wasn’t boring.
There have been more conventional moments which have lifted the audience off their seats though, as the Jungleman vs Elky heads up match offered up a highly entertaining look inside the tortured angry mind of Daniel Cates when he plays online. Cursing bad run outs and mocking Elky at various points in the match, Jungleman will be the star attraction heading into week 2.
The first extra cost of @GPL.Daniel @junglemandan Cates computer after last night matches. Today he is playing @elky pic.twitter.com/8mJ3Q6ZY0S
— Alexandre Dreyfus (@alex_dreyfus) April 6, 2016
Replays of the first matchs are available on the GPL Channel
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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