World Cup of Poker: Canada's father and son team

If you never realized how small a world we live in, check out Team Canada. Thousands of people across the entire country played for a spot on the team. Out of the five people who will eventually make their way to Barcelona, Spain, two of them are a father and son. They introduce themselves below in our continuing look at the finalists.

The Father

My name is Otto Byrne. I'm 62 years old and a semi retired-electrician. I have three children and five grandchildren. My son is also on this team! I've been playing poker recreationally for 50 years and started playing online about 2 years ago. Qualifying for this event is my biggest poker achievements to date. I felt I could have played better in the first team score round that we played, but I'm very pleased with my performance in the divisional final.

I was short stacked and moved all in with an AT, and hit my A on the river. This moved me to 2nd position and took lots of pressure off. At that point, if I finished either 2nd or 3rd we were assured the win. Since then, as "Tony the Tiger" says it's been G-R-E-A-T!!

I'm hoping to play my best and for the team to finish in the top 4 for the team score round. I'm also looking forward to seeing Spain with my son. This has been a great tournament, and an awesome experience. It's been fun to be able to take part in an event like this, especially with my son.

The Son

My name is Ed Byrne, I'm 37 years old. I'm an IT instructor for the College of the North Atlantic. I'm married and have two children. I've been playing poker online for about 2.5 - 3 years.

I've had a couple of good results in some freeroll tournaments on PokerStars (finishing 9th in a first round of a Moneymaker freeroll, 2nd in a 10 Billionth hand freeroll, and made it to the weekly Round 2 from the Hubble) but qualifying for the World Cup of Poker is my biggest accomplishment so far.

I'm pleased with the way I played in the World Cup match. I finished first in both team score rounds and hope to continue to be effective for my team. The most pivotal hand for me was when I was down about 500 chips to the average table stack. I was in the BB and was dealt pocket 2's. Two players limped into the pot. The flop came up 8 2 A rainbow so I made a small raise, and was re-raised so I went all in. My trip 2's held up and then the momentum at the table went my way from that point on.

My World Cup of Poker experience has been awesome. The team format is great! It adds so much pressure to the game. One bad play can impact the entire team. I also
love the fact that both my father and I qualified for this tournament and are on the same team. We get to have this very unique poker experience together.

I've only ever played tourneys online, so getting to play with people from around the world in a televised final is pretty awesome. Getting to travel to Spain and share it with my Dad just makes the whole thing that much better.