Anne Lovmo (Team Norway)

Funny thing about Anne Lovmo. At one time, she wasn't the biggest fan of the game. In fact, she'll tell you, "I used to hate poker until I learned it." Shy and afraid of heights, the Norwegian woman isn't afraid of playing high-level poker. In her real life she's a teacher and life-love of her boyfriend Ronny. The only thing that keeps her awake at night are river suckouts. She lives by the motto. "Life is too short not to take opportunities that come your way."


Bernd Stadlbauer (Team Austria)

Bernd Stadlbauer is one high-flying poker player. Seriously. The guy flew in on the first day of the World Cup of Poker from Sri Lanka. In fact, he didn't just fly, he piloted the plane. At just 30 years old, the tennis player and runner knows his way around the poker felt as well as he does the friendly skies.

***

As the first Tuesday match began, all the talk in the bar area was about the long and drawn-out heads up matches from the day before. There had been some marathon sessions and many people were predicting we'd eventually see a short match. The prophecy was not far from true.

In the second heat between Teams Austria and Norway, Norwegian Anne Lovmo moved out to an early lead. She played unafraid and refused to back down against her Austrian rival.

The worm began to turn (seriously, they have worms here...perhaps more on that later) when Lovmo found pocket sevens in the small blind. She smooth called and Austrian Bernd Stadlbauer checked his option. The flop was little, 235. Lovmo smartly bet out and Stadlbauer called. The turn, a king of clubs, might have scared Lovmo but she didnn't show it and was willing to call a Stadlbauer bet. The problem, she would soon find, was that king of clubs put two clubs on the board giving Stadlbauers 86 of clubs a lot more outs. Tragically for the Norwegian team, the four of clubs came on the river. Lovmo was smart not to call a huge bet from Stadlbauer on the river. Still, her chip lead had been erased.

Within a few hands, Lovmo got trapped into a hand that ended up giving Stadlbauer a straight. The hand crippled her. Although she doubled through after spiking a king with K9 versus Stadlbauer's AQ, she would later get in trouble after pushing all-in with KQ and running into Stadlbauer's A7. Two aces on the flop and the Norwegian school teacher was finished.

The Austrian win means Heat #4 could be the deciding match between the two teams. If Austria wins, it advances to the finals and leaves Norway to fight it out for third place.

Team Austria: 2, Team Norway: 1