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Team captain Maria Ho announced that she has chosen herself and actor Aaron Paul as the two wildcard members of the Los Angeles Sunset GPL team.
As we have previously reported, the battles of the Global Poker League (GPL) kicked off on April 5. The first week brought plenty of surprises, Hong Kong Stars, a team considered by many as underdogs managed to gather 18 points which put them on top spot in the Eurasian conference.
The Americas conference is currently led by the New York Rounders who have gathered 16 points.
The only team which didn't have a full roster at the time of the start of the GPL was the Los Angeles Sunset. Despite the two wild card players not being announced yet, many already considered the team to be one of the favorites with the team including superstars Fedor Holz, Olivier Busquet, Eugene Katchalov and Chance Kornuth.
The poker community suspected that the reason team captain Maria Ho didn't announce the wildcard players yet because she was negotiating with someone for whom it might be harder to fit the commitments of the GPL in their schedule.
This turned out to be true, Ho announced that the two wildcard players are herself and three-time Emmy winning actor, Aaron Paul from the popular series Breaking Bad.
Paul is an avid poker player who has participated in several WSOP events and according to Ho, he is very motivated to improve himself and hold his own against the professionals in the League. Paul's presence will of course bring plenty of spotlight from the mainstream media to the GPL which is just what this great initiative needs.
Maria Ho is one of the most accomplished female players with $1,888,514 in live tournament earnings and she is also well-known in the mainstream media.
The second week of the GPL will kick off on April 12 with 6-max Sit & Gos from 18:00 (CET) and can be followed on the GPL Twitch channel.
The GPL 2016 teams
Paris Aviators: Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Davidi Kitai, George Danzer, Mike Leah, Fabrice Soulier (Team Captain), Alexandre Luneau
Moscow Wolverines: Dzmitry Urbanovich, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, Andrey Pateychuk, Sergey Lebedev, Anatoly Filatov (Team Captain), Igor Yaroshevsky
London Royals: Igor Kurganov, Vabessa Selbst, Chris Moorman, Justin Bonomo, Liv Boeree (Team Captain), Sam Trickett
Rome Emperors: Mustapha Kanit, Dario Sammartino, Timothy Adams, Walter Treccarichi, Max Pescatori (Team Captain), Todd Brunson
San Francisco Rush: Phil Galfond, Anthony Gregg, Kitty Kuo, Anton Wigg, Faraz Jaka (Team Captain), Jonathan Jaffe
Berlin Bears: Brian Rast, Sorel Mizzi, Dominik Nitsche, Jeff Gross, Daniel Cates, Bill Perkins
Las Vegas Moneymakers: Anthony Zinno, Jonathan Duhamel, Jake Cody, Jonathan Little, Chris Moneymaker (Team Captain), Scott Ball
Sao Paulo Metropolitans: André Akkari (Team Captain), Darren Elias, Byron Kaverman, Thiago Nishijima, Joao Pires Simao, Felipe Mojave Ramos, Joao Neto
Montreal Nationals: Mike "Timex" McDonald, Martin Jacobson, Pascal LeFrancois, Xuan Liu, Marc-Andre Ladouceur (Team Captain), Jason Lavallee
New York Rounders: Jason Mercier, Tom Marchese, Kevin MacPhee, Jason Wheeler, Bryn Kenney (Team Captain), Tyler Kenney
Hong Kong Stars: Weiyi Zhang, Raiden Kan, Dong Guo, Bryan Huang, Celina Lin (Team Captain), Randy Lew
Los Angeles Sunset: Fedor Holz, Olivier Busquet, Eugene Katchalov, Chance Kornuth, Maria Jo (Team Captain), Aaron Paul