After six rounds of play over two days, which took in full ring and short-handed sit-and-gos, one multi-table tournament and a series of heads-up matches, the Netherlands were the team to beat. That set up one final round of heads-up matches, which pitted the team ranked first against eighth, second against seventh and so on. These were played side by side, all team members attendance, which helped to create a thrilling and noisy crescendo to a spectacular event.

Railing, both for and against, was loud, passionate and usually involved Humberto Brenes. Little surprise given that every point scored changed the leader board. Even fourth-placed Germany could have scored a shock victory had they won all five of the matches against Tajikistan and the teams above them stumbled.

Peru, however, performed the best when it mattered and the five South American players - Luis Felipe Villaran, Daniel Banacco, Renato Lezama, Renso Renfigo and team captain Martin Sansour - beat their final round opponents, Team France, four-to-one with Banacco's fifth leg victory securing the cup ahead of the Netherlands and Japan. Their jubilation was genuine, exuberate and, dare I say it, heart-warming.

Their main opponents, the Netherlands, met stiff resistance from Team Rest of the World, captained by Team PokerStars Pro David Williams, who stopped the orange army from keeping the slender lead that they held going into the last round. That match finished three-two against the Dutch who claim the runner-up spot.

The five winning team members each pocket $22,500, the trophy and a whole stack of national pride so roll out the red carpet, get the military brass band ready and start mixing those Pisco sours - the World Cup is going to Peru.

The leader board going into the final round
1. Netherlands, 241 points
2. Peru, 237 points
3. Japan, 222 points
4. Germany, 219 points
5. Tajikistan, 215 points
6. Costa Rica, 189 points
7. France, 187 points
8. Rest of the World, 174 points

Final standing
World Champions: Peru (267 points), $90,000
Runner-up. Netherlands (251 points), $65,000
3rd. Japan (247 points), $45,000
4th. Germany (244 points), $30,000
5th. Tajikistan (225 points), $20,000
6th. Rest of the World (199 points*), $15,000
7th. Costa Rica (199 points*), $10,000
8th. France (192 points), $7,500
9th: Italy, (eliminated Day 1) $5,000

*Played off in a sudden death match with David Williams beating Humberto Brenes

Congratulations to Team Peru. If you'd like to track how the World Cup of Poker was played just click on this link that will take you to every World Cup of Poker VIII PokerStars Blog post.

Photos and images are courtesy of Joe Giron and copyright is held by www.joegironphotography.com. He's a feisty chap, I wouldn't recommend messing with him.

Germany (219) and Tajikistan (215) stand outside chances of winning but would need to dominate all five of their heads up matches to do so, and hope their rivals fail. Tajikistan have already had one sweep scored and one conceded so it's distinctly possible that takes place.

Win 0 HU: 0 points
Win 1 HU: 5 points
Win 2 HU: 10 points
Win 3 HU: 25 points
Win 4 HU: 30 points
Win 5 HU: 50 points

The leader board as it stands
1. Netherlands, 241 points
2. Peru, 237 points
3. Japan, 222 points
4. Germany, 219 points
5. Tajikistan, 215 points
6. Costa Rica, 189 points
7. France, 187 points
8. Rest of the World, 174 points

It's been a wild ride for Team Tajikistan as it's been the first time all five have played live beyond home games and they've acquitted themselves well. We caught up with their captain Angel Davidov during round six.

"The event means a great deal for all of us and Tajikistan. Like in any other post-Soviet country card games are considered gambling but we're trying to prove that it's a sport. For a country with only 50 poker players it was a big victory just to get here ahead of countries like Ukraine and Russia," said Davidov, a hulking tower of a man.

"When we walked in here yesterday we said, 'We are not going to finish in ninth place, we're shouldn't be the first to leave if we want to achieve our goal of promoting poker. Our goal today was to finish in the top four... but first or second would be great for us and Tajikistan. Ten people have asked me where it is. It was in Europe according to some, others thought Latin America!" said Davidov.

One round left to play.

The payouts
1st. $90,000 ($22,500 per person)
2nd. $65,000 ($16,250 per person)
3rd. $45,000 ($11,250 per person)
4th. $30,000 ($7,500 per person)
5th. $20,000 ($5,000 per person)
6th. $15,000 ($3,750 per person)
7th. $10,000 ($2,500 per person)
8th. $7,500 ($1,875 per person)
9th: Italy, $5,000 ($1,250 per person)

Where play was carefree yesterday with players just enjoying the experience as much as anything else (maybe too much in Italy's case) then today has seen a marked increase in passion. Every few minutes there's a roar from one of the tables, albeit mostly from Humberto Brenes and his Costa Rican Team. We have two further rounds of round-robin heads up play before the final seeded heads up matches settle the tournament and crown a winning nation.

1. Tajikistan, 205 points
2. Netherlands, 192points
3. Peru, 182 points
4. Germany, 179 points
5. Japan, 167 points
6. France, 157 points
7. Rest of the World, 154 points
8. Costa Rica, 154 points

Tajikistan have moved ahead but swings can and will take place at this juncture. Stay with us to find out the pre-final round results.

Tajikistan
Angel Davidov (c): 8 + 5 + 8 + 6 (27)
Ildar Faizakhmanov: 7 + 6 + 8 + 8 (29)
Yaukb Imamov: 2 + 6 + 5 + 4 (17)
Makisimov Dmitrievich: 2 + 6 + 6 + 6 (20)
Akmal Sultanov: 7 + 8 + 6 + 6 (27)
MTT: 3rd (35)
Heads up rounds: 50
Team total: 205

Netherlands
Noah Boeken (c): 4 + 5 + 5 + 10 (24)
Johan 'bustosoon' van Til: 6 + 7 + 10 + 10 (33)
Andries Swart: 2 + 8 + 2 + 10 (22)
Peter Roeleveld: 3 + 7 + 6 + 10 (26)
Giel van Doorn: 8 + 5 + 2 + 4 (19)
MTT: 2nd (40)
Heads up rounds: 25
Team total: 191

Peru
Martin Sansour (c): 1 + 10 + 2 + 4 (17)
Renato Nunez: 10 + 10 + 7 + 8 (35)
Luis Felipe: 6 + 6 + 10 + 10 (32)
Renso Renfigo: 7 + 7 + 5 + 10 (29)
Daniel Adrianzen: 4 + 7 + 10 + 8 (29)
MTT: 4th (30)
Heads up rounds: 10
Team total: 182

Germany
Jan Heitmann (c): 3 + 10 + 4 + 10 (27)
Christian Rudolph: 5 + 8 + 7 + 8 (28)
Dennis Wiedenbruck: 2 + 10 + 8 + 6 (26)
Klaus Hornschurch: 3 + 5 + 4 + 6 (18)
Michael Stobbe: 1 + 8 + 5 + 6 (20)
MTT: 1st (50)
Heads up rounds: 10
Team total: 179

Japan
Masaaki Kagawa (c): 7 + 7 + 8 + 10 (32)
Kosei Ichinose: 4 + 10 + 4 + 4 (22)
Atsushi Iwasa: 10 + 5 + 6 + 4 (25)
Yuichi Andoh: 10 + 10 + 3 + 6 (29)
Makoto Fukuta: 10 + 6 + 8 + 10 (34)
MTT: 5th (25)
Heads up rounds: 0
Team total: 167

France
Arnaud Mattern (c): 5 + 6 + 6 + 8 (25)
Anthony Monestes: 2 + 8 + 3 + 6 (19)
Guillaume Lebosse: 8 + 7 + 7 + 6 (28)
Philippe Lucas: 10 + 7 + 10 + 4 (31)
Sami Ben Ahmed: 8 + 5 + 7 + 4 (24)
MTT: 6th (20)
Heads up rounds: 10
Team total: 157

Rest of the world
David Williams: 4 + 5 + 3 + 8 (20)
Jake Schwartz: 7 + 8 + 10 + 4 (29)
Wu Shuk Man: 6 + 8 + 5 + 8 (27)
Carl Slate: 6 + 10 + 2 + 4 (22)
Pierre Lambert: 4 + 6 + 3 + 8 (21)
MTT: 8th (10)
Heads up rounds: 25
Team total: 154

Costa Rica
Humbertop Brenes (c): 1 + 10 + 4 + 8 (23)
Ibuki Fukui: 1 + 8 + 7 + 10 (26)
Paul Cukier: 6 + 6 + 2 + 4 (18)
Onofre Sade: 3 + 5 + 3 + 6 (17)
Adrian Varela: 8 + 10 + 4 + 8 (30)
MTT: 7th (15)
Heads up rounds: 25
Team total: 154

Johnson explains: "We've made a couple of adjustments. We were going to break them one to four and five to eight and that's all they could win but that's changed. We're going to take the eight teams and randomly draw them into two pods of four, no longer seeded but still a round robin, then we'll seed them then so five plays four, six plays threes, seven plays two and at the end wherever the points fall that's where they finish.

"Captains play captains and the TLB guys play the TLB guys. They score points all the way through... We should finish 8.30-ish. I'm hoping that if we get cards in the air we should be able to do all three round robins between five and seven. We should be able to get that done because by the time half-an-hour is done they'll be 25 big blinds on the table. They'll still be able to play that but not by much. We should be able to start the final round of heads up at 7.30pm."

Okay, I think I understand how this is going to work out. Results for the last round are getting calculated now and will be posted up as soon as we get hold of them.

It was a strong round for Peru (34), France (33) and Tajikistan (33), allowing Peru to catch up with league leaders Germany (28) and Japan (29), and France to drag themselves near level with the Netherlands (25). Things are looking pretty bad for both Costa Rica (20) and Team Rest of the World (23).

1. Germany, 133 points
1. Japan, 133 points
3. Peru, 132 points
4. Tajikistan, 125 points
5. Netherlands, 123 points
6. France, 119 points
7. Rest of the World, 97 points
8. Costa Rica, 93 points

France, who are now back within spitting distance of the top teams, have Philippe Lucas to thank who opted to inexplicably call all-in with [9c][3d]. But this was no random call, no sir, something else was obviously at play. Not being able to speak French the only thing I could understand was the shouts of 'Neuf trois! (that's nine three) and upon further investigation it was then explained to me that '93' is the department number for the area that Lucas is from, a suburb north-east of Paris called Seine-Saint-Denis. Somehow this tactic of calling off your stack based on home location paid off: Lucas went on to win his sit-and-go, beating Masa Kagawa heads up to book full points for France. It's classic World Cup action.

Round five, short-handed sit-and-gos, is under way.

Germany
Jan Heitmann (c): 3 + 10 + 4 (17)
Christian Rudolph: 5 + 8 + 7 (20)
Dennis Wiedenbruck: 2 + 10 + 8 (20)
Klaus Hornschurch: 3 + 5 + 4 (12)
Michael Stobbe: 1 + 8 + 5 (14)
MTT: 1st (50)
Team total: 133

Japan
Masaaki Kagawa (c): 7 + 7 + 8 (22)
Kosei Ichinose: 4 + 10 + 4 (18)
Atsushi Iwasa: 10 + 5 + 6 (21)
Yuichi Andoh: 10 + 10 + 3 (23)
Makoto Fukuta: 10 + 6 + 8 (24)
MTT: 5th (25)
Team total: 133

Peru
Martin Sansour (c): 1 + 10 + 2 (13)
Renato Nunez: 10 + 10 + 7 (27)
Luis Felipe: 6 + 6 + 10 (22)
Renso Renfigo: 7 + 7 + 5 (19)
Daniel Adrianzen: 4 + 7 + 10 (21)
MTT: 4th (30)
Team total: 132

Tajikistan
Angel Davidov (c): 8 + 5 + 8 (21)
Ildar Faizakhmanov: 7 + 6 + 8 (21)
Yaukb Imamov: 2 + 6 + 5 (13)
Makisimov Dmitrievich: 2 + 6 + 6 (14)
Akmal Sultanov: 7 + 8 + 6 (21)
MTT: 3rd (35)
Team total: 125

Netherlands
Noah Boeken (c): 4 + 5 + 5 (14)
Johan 'bustosoon' van Til: 6 + 7 + 10 (23)
Andries Swart: 2 + 8 + 2 (12)
Peter Roeleveld: 3 + 7 + 6 (16)
Giel van Doorn: 8 + 5 + 2 (15)
MTT: 2nd (40)
Team total: 123

France
Arnaud Mattern (c): 5 + 6 + 6 (17)
Anthony Monestes: 2 + 8 + 3 (13)
Guillaume Lebosse: 8 + 7 + 7 (22)
Philippe Lucas: 10 + 7 + 10 (27)
Sami Ben Ahmed: 8 + 5 + 7 (20)
MTT: 6th (20)
Team total: 119

Rest of the world
David Williams: 4 + 5 + 3 (12)
Jake Schwartz: 7 + 8 + 10 (25)
Wu Shuk Man: 6 + 8 + 5 (19)
Carl Slate: 6 + 10 + 2 (18)
Pierre Lambert: 4 + 6 + 3 (13)
MTT: 8th (10)
Team total: 97

Costa Rica
Humbertop Brenes (c): 1 + 10 + 4 (15)
Ibuki Fukui: 1 + 8 + 7 (16)
Paul Cukier: 6 + 6 + 2 (14)
Onofre Sade: 3 + 5 + 3 (11)
Adrian Varela: 8 + 10 + 4 (22)
MTT: 7th (15)
Team total: 93

As the team captains arrived today they were corralled in by tournament host Neil Johnson to discuss a change in the point scoring system. Now, the World Cup of Poker is tweaked every year, and by tweaked I mean entirely changed, so we're working on somewhat of a blank canvas. Changes are to be expected but, of course, must be agreed upon. Despite some reservations both Germany's Jan Heitmann and Japan's Masa Kagawa agreed, the key quarter given that the changes would allow those out in front to be caught up more easily.

It sounds like the consensus was that the changes were fair, a tinkering of points rather than wholesale change. Team Rest of the World captain David Williams who looks a little bleary eyed, after a late night nautical cash game if Twitter is to be believed, seemed particularly happy with the result: "We need to be able to affect our own destiny," he said.

That's more like it. This is the World Cup, let's all get talking like action heroes.

Round four has just begun with a round of eight-handed sit-and-gos. Results will be posted when we have them. In the meantime you can catch up with yesterday's wrap of the action by clicking on this link, Day 1 ends hopes of Italy double, Germany top.

1. Germany, 105 points
2. Japan, 104 points
3. Peru, 98 points
4. Netherlands, 97 points
5. Tajikistan, 92 points
6. France, 86 points
7. Rest of the World, 74 points
8. Costa Rica, 73 points

9. Italy, 55 points (RELEGATED)

Who would have thought it? Reigning champions Italy out with barely a whimper. After round one and two performances that left them languishing in ninth position on the leader board, Italy limped out of their title defence with a ninth-place exit in the multi-table madness of round three. An ignominious end to a disappointing day for Captain Luca Pagano, an experience somewhat different from last year's finale.

Italy were first to depart (5 points) and they were followed by Team Rest of the World (10) and Costa Rica (15) before an impressive one-man survival show from Anthony Monestes booked France 20 points for a sixth place finish. That left five nations with Japanese captain Masaaki Kagawa the player shoving but after a solid day they fell in fifth (25) leaving Peru to grind on before falling in fourth (30).

Three nations battled on past midnight, more than six hours after round three began, with the Netherlands in control but Boeken doubled up Heitmann as plucky Tajikistan fought on. Tajikistan were the next to go (35) losing a flip to Germany setting up a Dutch-German heads up. The captains battled for a short while before Klaus Hornchurch despatched Johan van Til to take the full 50 points completing an epic comeback for Germany who had finished the first round in last place. They now lead Japan by one point.

1. Germany, 105 points
2. Japan, 104 points
3. Peru, 98 points
4. Netherlands, 97 points
5. Tajikistan, 92 points
6. France, 86 points
7. Rest of the World, 74 points
8. Costa Rica, 73 points
9. Italy, 55 points (RELEGATED)

You can catch up with how Day 1 panned out by clicking on the links below. Play resumes at noon tomorrow. In the meantime spare a thought for WCP floorman John Keegan who is running a 5k charity run in less than five hours time.

The World Cup begins, Italy defends its title
How it works, how you win
Japan bossing it, first round dominated by the rising sun
Water boy Jake Schwartz takes on Humberto Brenes
Round two results, another blistering performance from Japan
Multi-table madness as round three begins and Italy busts
The final table tussle for Day 2 dominance

Photos are copyright of Joe Giron (in play) and Neil Stoddart (with black backdrop). Credit and copyright is reserved by them respectively.

Italy had lagged behind in rounds one and two and a premature team exit in this multi-table round had guaranteed that all eight other teams had made it through. Those last six nations take the following stacks to the final table with the blinds set at 400-800, 100 ante.

Seat one: Germany, 11,000
Seat two: Japan, 24,000
Seat three: France, 7,000
Seat four: Netherlands, 32,000
Seat five: Peru, 22,000
Seat six: Tajikistan, 20,000

Points carry through to tomorrow, Japan still lead, and look likely to be the first team to break the 100-point barrier.The league table

1. Japan, 99 points*
2. Peru, 88 points*
3. France, 86 points*
4. Tajikistan, 77 points*
5. Rest of the World, 74 points
6. Germany, 75 points*
7. Netherlands, 75 points*
8. Costa Rica, 75 points
9. Italy, 55 points (RELEGATED)

* The 20 points guaranteed for a sixth-place finish have been added.

So, as it happens, the multi-table format actually pays out to all nine teams, not just the top five. This changes things entirely with Germany having just two players left in, and France just one, a swift turnaround in the league points is distinctly possible.

1. 50 points
2. 40 points
3. 35 points
4. 30 points
5. 25 points
6. 20 points
7. 15 points
8. 10 points
9. 5 points

One table has broken so far with three team captains being sent to the rail; David Williams (Rest of the World), Arnaud Mattern (France) and Humberto Brenes (Costa Rica). Another team captain, Noah Boeken, was the player to dispatch Brenes getting there with [qc][tc] against a raggy ace.

This is about survival, not just chip accumulation so things are looking good for Japan, the Netherlands and Tajikistan (three players left), very wobbly for France (one player left) and can go either way for the remaining teams (two players left). Should France bust first they would end the day on 71 points and as long as one of Costa Rica, Tajikistan, Germany, the Netherlands or Italy come seventh they'll be guaranteed to go through. That's if they do bust first.

The team points at the beginning of this third and final round of the day are listed below. You can do the arithmetic yourself but suffice to say Japan will not be the team eliminated. We'll bring you the news as we get to the final table.

1. Japan, 79 points
2. Peru, 68 points
3. France, 66 points
4. Rest of the World, 64 points
5. Costa Rica, 58 points
6. Tajikistan, 57 points
7. Germany, 55 points
8. Netherlands, 55 points
9. Italy, 50 points

Breaking news: Italy are the first team out in round three confirming their exit from the World Cup. The reigning champions are out.

Plaudits should go to Yuichi Andoh of Japan and Renato Nunez of Peru who have both managed to score a perfect 20 points by taking top spot in both of the first two rounds.

1. Japan, 79 points
2. Peru, 68 points
3. France, 66 points
4. Rest of the World, 64 points
5. Costa Rica, 58 points
6. Tajikistan, 57 points
7. Germany, 55 points
8. Netherlands, 55 points
9. Italy, 50 points

Japan
Masaaki Kagawa (c): 7 + 7 (14)
Kosei Ichinose: 4 + 10 (14)
Atsushi Iwasa: 10 + 5 (15)
Yuichi Andoh: 10 + 10 (20)
Makoto Fukuta: 10 + (16)
Team total: 79

Peru
Martin Sansour (c): 1 + 10 (11)
Renato Nunez: 10 + 10 (20)
Luis Felipe: 6 + 6 (12)
Renso Renfigo: 7 + 7 (14)
Daniel Adrianzen: 4 + 7 (11)
Team total: 68

France
Arnaud Mattern (c): 5 + 6 (11)
Anthony Monestes: 2 + 8 (10)
Guillaume Lebosse: 8 + 7 (15)
Philippe Lucas: 10 + 7 (17)
Sami Ben Ahmed: 8 + 5 (13)
Team total: 66

Rest of the world
David Williams: 4 + 5 (9)
Jake Schwartz: 7 + 8 (15)
Wu Shuk Man: 6 + 8 (14)
Carl Slate: 6 + 10 (16)
Pierre Lambert: 4 + 6 (10)
Team total: 64

Costa Rica
Humbertop Brenes (c): 1 + 10 (11)
Ibuki Fukui: 1 + 8 (9)
Paul Cukier: 6 + 6 (12)
Onofre Sade: 3 + 5 (8)
Adrian Varela: 8 + 10 (18)
Team total: 58

Tajikistan
Angel Davidov (c): 8 + 5 (13)
Ildar Faizakhmanov: 7 + 6 (13)
Yaukb Imamov: 2 + 6 (8)
Makisimov Dmitrievich: 2 + 6 (8)
Akmal Sultanov: 7 + 8 (15)
Team total: 57

Germany
Jan Heitmann (c): 3 + 10 (13)
Christian Rudolph: 5 + 8 (13)
Dennis Wiedenbruck: 2 + 10 (12)
Klaus Hornschurch: 3 + 5 (8)
Michael Stobbe: 1 + 8 (9)
Team total: 55

Netherlands
Noah Boeken (c): 4 + 5 (9)
Johan 'bustosoon' van Til: 6 + 7 (13)
Andries Swart: 2 + 8 (10)
Peter Roeleveld: 3 + 7 (10)
Giel van Doorn: 8 + 5 (13)
Team total: 55

Italy
Luca Pagano (c): 5 + 8 (13)
Luca Bonvicini: 3 + 6 (9)
Enrico Trainotti: 1 + 5 (6)
Niccolo Seccafieno: 3 + 7 (10)
William Olivieri: 5 + 7 (12)
Team total: 50

"OOOOOOeeeeee, la sharkeeeeee. AAAAAaeeee, la Cucaracha," cried Brenes, arms aloft as if he'd already won the World Cup for Costa Rica.

Okay, they may not have been his exact words - I admit, my Spanish no es bueno - but I get the feeling the words are less important than the volume, and there was plenty of that.

The Costa Rican captain had called a shove from America Jake Schwartz after looking at just one card, the [jc]. Schwartz had tabled [td][th] and was in good shape to be a long way ahead - the right side of a flip at worst - to win the short-handed sit-and-go and score some more vital points of his team representing 'Rest of the World'.

"Let's see," Brenes had said before squeezing out the second card, the [jd]. Cue the Brenes eruption...

Schwartz shook his head as the rowdy crowd closed in around him: "How does he wake up with Jacks?"

It's been a strange day for Schwartz so far, he wasn't even slated to play the event. He'd bumped into David Williams just moments before a PokerStars rep had informed the Team Rest of the World captain that they had a no-show. Williams had turned to Schwartz and told him: "You know that means you're playing, right?"

Schwartz snapped off the opportunity to take part in the World Cup of Poker and as he's quickly finding out, it is is a truly unique event, an experience of a lifetime. Now, don't get me wrong, this isn't exactly the first time Schwartz has played poker, he had been en route to register for the $5,000 heads up when he bumped into Williams this morning, but the World Cup of Poker is spectacular in the truest sense of the word.

That tens versus jacks brought the stacks back to equal and shortly after Schwartz shoved [qh][9c] into Brenes' [ac][jc] to give the Costa Rican a dominating lead.

"Boy, boy, boy, boy," mocked Brenes, playfully wafting his hand in Schwartz's face.

Schwartz smiled knowing that hand pretty much settled the matter but a second-place finish in round two and a third-place finish in round one have made Schwartz one of the higher scoring players so far. As water boy replacements go, Schwartz is performing more than admirably. End of round two results to come shortly.

The league table shows that Japan and France are currently the teams to beat while defending champions Italy and poker powerhouse Germany are most in need for a good round two performance. These scores come fresh from the completion of the first round so there's plenty of time yet, but Japan will have to do some serious backpedalling now to be the one team that gets eliminated at the end of Day 1. Remember, only eight of the nine teams go through to Day 2 and the points carry.

1. Japan, 41 points
2. France, 33 points
3. Peru, 28 points
4. Rest of the World, 27 points
5. Tajikistan, 26 points
6. Netherlands, 25 points
7. Costa Rica, 19 points
8. Italy, 17 points
9. Germany, 14 points

Individual player breakdowns are as follows, and we'll keep those updated each round to find a MVP. Round two, five-handed turbos, has begun. The multi-table tournament is slated to start at 6.30pm. It should be a lot of fun.

Japan
Masaaki Kagawa (c): 7
Kosei Ichinose: 4
Atsushi Iwasa: 10
Yuichi Andoh: 10
Makoto Fukuta: 10
Team total: 41

France
Arnaud Mattern (c): 5
Anthony Monestes: 2
Guillaume Lebosse: 8
Philippe Lucas: 10
Sami Ben Ahmed: 8
Team total: 33

Peru
Martin Sansour (c): 1
Renato Nunez: 10
Luis Felipe: 6
Renso Renfigo: 7
Daniel Adrianzen: 4
Team total: 28

Rest of the world
David Williams: 4
Tbc : 7
Wu Shuk Man: 6
Carl Slate: 6
Pierre Lambert: 4
Team total: 27

Tajikistan
Angel Davidov (c): 8
Ildar Faizakhmanov: 7
Yaukb Imamov: 2
Makisimov Dmitrievich: 2
Akmal Sultanov: 7
Team total: 26

Netherlands
Noah Boeken (c): 4
Johan 'bustosoon' van Til: 6
Andries Swart: 2
Peter Roeleveld: 3
Giel van Doorn: 8
Team total: 25

Costa Rica
Humbertop Brenes (c): 1
Ibuki Fukui: 1
Paul Cukier: 6
Onofre Sade: 3
Adrian Varela: 8
Team total: 19

Italy
Luca Pagano (c): 5
Luca Bonvicini: 3
Enrico Trainotti: 1
Niccolo Seccafieno: 3
William Olivieri: 5
Team total: 17

Germany
Jan Heitmann (c): 3
Christian Rudolph: 5
Dennis Wiedenbruck: 2
Klaus Hornschurch: 3
Michael Stobbe: 1
Team total: 14

Let's try to lay it out as clearly and simply as I can.

Day One

1. Five nine-handed sit-and-gos with points allocated according to finishing position
2. Nine five-handed sit-and-gos with points allocated according to finishing position
3. A 45-man multi-table

The sit-and-gos will operate with a 3,000 starting stack and a 15-minute clock, which should get things ticking off pretty quickly. In fact, Costa Rican captain Humberto Brenes is already out. We know this as we could hear him roaring out the keening wail of dying shark.

Single table points
1. 10 points
2. 8 points
3. 7 points
4. 6 points
5. 5 points
6. 4 points
7. 3 points
8. 2 points
9. 1 point

The multi-table tournament has a couple of interesting features. Each team will be allowed one timeout at the final table, assuming you have a player reach it, where you have 60 seconds to confer with your team - under the watchful eye of the tournament director - before returning to the table. Big chunks of points can be earned or lost here with only five teams scoring.

Also, only one player per team is allowed at a table so if you get moved to join a team mate your chips will combine, they will mega-stack, and the players will take turns to play, an orbit at a time.

Multi-table points
1. 40 points
2. 30 points
3. 20 points
4. 15 points
5. 10 points

At the end of Day 1 we will wave goodbye to the lowest ranking team. But they won't leave empty-handed, they take away $1,250 each and a World Cup of Poker goodie bag.

Day Two

Play resumes tomorrow with the eight remaining teams which will compete to establish their final rankings

1. Five eight-handed turbo sit-and-gos
2. Ten four-handed deep stack tournaments

At this point the eight teams will split into two brackets.

3. The top four teams and bottom four teams will play a heads up tournament to determine their places within the 1st to 4th bracket and the 5th to 8th bracket.
4. The final round will pitch 1st versus 2nd, 3rd versus 4th etc to determine their final standing.

Team payouts

1st. $90,000 ($22,500 per person)
2nd. $65,000 ($16,250 per person)
3rd. $45,000 ($11,250 per person)
4th. $30,000 ($7,500 per person)
5th. $20,000 ($5,000 per person)
6th. $15,000 ($3,750 per person)
7th. $10,000 ($2,500 per person)
8th. $7,500 ($1,875 per person)
9th. $5,000 ($1,250 per person) (knocked out at the end of Day 1)

It's going to be an epic event and no-one will want to be that first team out. As the captain of France, Arnaud Mattern, just said to me, after locking up a mid-table 5th place finish: "One team goes out. It would suck to be them."

Indeed it would. The full ring sit-and-gos play on (now with plenty of empty seats).

Each team is made up of four players chosen through Tournament Leader Board rankings and online qualifier events topped off with a celebrity pro, chosen by PokerStars, to lead the team. They are as follows:

Costa Rica (led by Humberto Brenes, Team PokerStars Pro)
France (led by Arnaud Mattern, Team PokerStars Pro)
Germany (led by Jan Heitmann, Team PokerStars Pro)
Italy (led by Luca Pagano, Team PokerStars Pro)
Japan (led by Masa Kagawa (High stakes poker player)
Netherlands (led by Noah Boeken, Team PokerStars Pro)
Peru (led by Martin Sansour, LAPT3 Grand Final Champion)
Tajikistan (led by Angel Davidov, top Tajiki poker player)
Rest of World (led by David Williams, Team PokerStars Pro)

The format for today is nine player sit and gos followed by five player short-handed sit and gos before all 45 players get involved for a team event multi-table tournament. That tournament is going to be an interesting one where if you get shifted from your starting table to one with a team mate your chip stacks merge, potentially creating a mega-stack*, and the players take turns playing the stack, changing each time. More details about the teams and formats to come. The nine-handed SNGs have just begun. Results to come when we get them.

*I'm claiming the trademark on that one.

Only the final event remained and it was up to Japan's winner from the TLB division, "shinbunshi".

But, when the fourth qualifier began, shinbunshi was nowhere to be found. After all the work Japan had done, placing in the top three every time, was the dream over?

Even desperate calls over twitter by this humble blogger proved no avail and shinbunshi was unknown to most of the Japanese poker community. Until now.

Shinbunshi finally took his seat and Japan was back in the running. Japan not only needed to place better than Indonesia in the event, with a seven-point point difference, the specific placings would decide the final results and Japan needed to place at least two places above Indonesia. This was the task set for shinbunshi. Even if he won the qualifier, Indonesia would have to place third or lower for Japan to advance. There were players from all over Japan cheering for shinbunshi in the chat. Something never seen before on PokerStars.

By some miracle Indonesia took third place. The only two players left were Vietnam and Japan. Vietnam had no chance to advance to the final, but the player was on his way to taking down even just this final event. With Vietnam holding a 6-1 chip lead, it looked like Japan was going to lose. Somehow shinbunshi overtook that lead and took down the event. This is what a Supernova Elite does. This is the title held by the best in the world. They play more than anyone. They work harder than anyone. And then, they win more than everyone.

But the puzzle still remained. This Supernova Elite from Japan seemed to be completely unknown by anyone in the community here. How could someone who plays this much and this well fly so far under the radar in such a tight-knit community of players. I couldn't just let this go. I had to talk to find shinbunshi and talk to him.

So at the beginning of September I made it happen. I sat down with shinbunshi and we talked about poker, living overseas and life.

We promised to meet at 2pm and I rushed into a nearby parking lot at 1:59. While I was parking the phone rang. Concentrating on keeping my car between the lines, I didn't answer but my mind was racing, knowing I was making the player wait. I walked nervously to the promised meeting point, giving him a quick call to say I'd be there in another two minutes. Who was this player? The only information I had was his username, his real name and his e-mail address. I wondered how old he was.

At the meeting point there were two guys waiting. The first one was dressed almost like a high-school student.

Could this be the poker genius?

But when our eyes met he quickly looked away.

This guy was not waiting for me.

I looked at the other guy and he reacted immediately. (I had told him that I was blonde, but I wonder what he was looking for before I showed up). Not only was this shinbunshi, the poker genius, but he was also a very good-looking poker genius.

"Are you Mr. Ichinose?" I asked (his name is rare in Japan and it reminded me of a comic book character)

We sat down for coffee and talked for about two hours. (I had to keep reminding myself that this was an interview, not a date!)

Kosei Ichinose is 25 years old and has been in Vancouver studying for the last six years, during which time he polished his poker skills. Before that he attended Asia University in Tokyo and spent a semester at Western Washington University in Washington state. After that he transferred to the university in Vancouver and found poker.

He learned it a little at a time, playing online and at River Rock Casino in Richmond. This year he earned the status of a PokerStars Supernova Elite, an honor granted to only a few hundred players every year. During these 6 years he made lots of friends and learned a lot about the industry.

Kosei spent most of his early years playing Texas Hold'em, but lately has turned to Omaha. "I practice other games, too. Playing a variety of games helps you with your main game and improve overall as a player." He puts in the time, but he also has an incredible drive to win. Ever since the break times for tournaments lined up things have been easier, but before that Kosei wouldn't even take bathroom breaks. This is why he bought a laptop. This is dedication.

While he spends most of his time playing online, Ichinose also made sure to show up to the British Columbia Poker Championship and the World Series of Poker every year. He did say he was not a fan of Las Vegas though, so the trip was planned only around the main event. He finds live play easier to win but too slow for his liking.

Kosei spent the last few years surrounded by his poker friends, mostly players in Vancouver originally from China and Korea. They study together and support each other. I did ask him about his love life (for you, the readers, of course) but after dating a few girls in Vancouver, he is currently single (YES! For our female readers, of course).

It just happened that shinbunshi was in Japan right after the WCP qualifier finished and I was able to interview him, but he left almost immediately for his next adventure. "I feel most comfortable with the guys I learned poker with in Vancouver. The tournament schedules are better for players living in the West and it's hard to get a good rythm while I'm in Japan."

He left immediately, but he has no immediate plan. He'll be at the PCA, of course, for the WCP Final and at next year's WSOP. Other than that he'll be where the online poker world takes him.

With the emerging poker industry in Asia, I, of course, told him about some of the tournaments that we have here. He was surprised to hear about the new Japan Poker Tour and the events at PokerStars Macau. I may have even talked him into coming out for the Macau Poker Cup Championship in October!

But Ichinose doesn't want to play only poker forever. He's saving his money and someday wants to open a business. Spending all his time on the tables he hasn't yet decided what that business will be. At only 25, he has plenty of time to figure that out.