This was a big weekend for the World Cup of Poker IV. On Sunday, the final round of national qualifying tournaments took place and determined who would have the honor of playing on their country's team.

More than 75,000 players participated in Round 1 action of this year's World Cup. All of the national, U.S. state and Canadian and German province teams are now set. Now, they will all do battle to determine who makes the trip to Barcelona to play in the live finals.



Sixteen German province teams played in four groups of four teams with the winning team of each group progressing to the Division play-offs. Group 1 was a tie between Niedersachsen and Bremen, and the captains nominated a player from their team to play a heads-up deciding match. "Tytem79" won for Niedersachsen (Group 1), who join the other group winners - Sachsen-Anhalt(Group 2), Bayern (Group 3), Hessen (Group 4)in the Divisional Play-Offs on Sunday.

Fifty-one US state teams played in 3 groups of 17. The three winning teams have now progressed to the Divisional play-offs on Sunday. These teams are Maryland(Group 1) Louisiana (Group 2) and South Dakota (Group 3).

Eleven Canadian province teams played down to 3 teams, the winning teams were: Newfoundland (Group 1), Nova Scotia (Group 2) and British Columbia (Group
3). They will play against 2 national teams on Sunday and the winning team will
progress to the live finals in Barcelona.

If you are one of the players who's made the cut, get ready for a big weekend. You will receive an email this week with details on the the Division Finals on Sunday, August 5th.

Regardless of whether you are on your country's World Cup team, be sure to stop by to support your team. You can see all the action throughout the day this Sunday by clicking on the Events > World Cup > Division Finals tabs in the PokerStars lobby.

For a complete schedule of Division Finals action, be sure to see the World Cup of Poker IV Division Finals schedule.

It's about national pride. It's about competition. It's about money. It's the 2007 World Cup. Catch all the action this weekend on PokerStars!