PokerStarsBlog.com :: VI

World Cup of Poker VI: Chinese Taipei all the way

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 23:59:02 -0800

If you want a long tactical battle with a draw at the end, try cricket. If you want big men hitting other big men in helmets and pads, try football, and if you like to carry a club and whack things there's always golf. But if you want undiluted madness, adrenaline, craft, guile and drama you simply cannot beat the World Cup of Poker. Just ask a team from Chinese Taipei, who just completed their adventure by beating Croatia to be crowned the 2010 World Cup champions.

Wen-Hao Pen celebrates

"I'm so proud of my team mates," said the team captain, Raymond Wu, who pointed out that some of his team-mates had only been playing poker for a matter of weeks. "I think they think it's just a dream."

At least one of them took some convincing that it wasn't in the post victory interviews.

"It's like a dream," said Yen Ming Chen. "I don't want to wake up."
"You can wake up though," said the presenter Michelle Orpe, "It is real!"
"It's real?" asked Chen in mock wonderment. "Whoa!"

Cue madcap celebrations that will probably go on into the night.

Their victory came after a brief but thrilling heads-up finale, against the team that had lead the tournament coming into today, Croatia. Sitting opposite Taipei's Wen-Hao Pan, the Croatian captain Denis Kelemen had 79,000 to Pan's 461,000. There was only room to shove - and shove they sure did. Croatia went first with [jh][9c], Taipei calling with [as][2s]. This was to be no ace-high whimper. Croatia flopped bottom two while Taipei got a flush draw that hit on the turn. Only on the river, when Croatia missed their house, were Taipei able to jump up and down like kids on treat day.

It brought to a close an electric event, one that took nearly ten hours to complete despite a structure that promised knife edge drama all the way. Not the quick-fire eliminations some cynics had predicted, instead a cagey and tactical slugfest. This was thanks to the intricate, often zany format - a tag team system with players rotating every 20 minutes, with substitutions and time outs allowed, even in the middle of hands.

It was four full hours before the Chilean team departed first. Having struggled in yesterday's heads up preliminaries, Chile began with only 20,000 chips. Despite desperate defensive efforts they were seen off by Taipei. Two hours later Norway, led by the Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden, followed them to the rail, then Finland an hour after that.

Norway's captain, Johnny Lodden

After suffering in hands against the USA and Canada, the Italian team was unable to survive until the dinner break, their leader Luca Pagano, who had done well to keep spirits up from the rail throughout the event, unable to prevent their elimination in sixth. Then came Germany.

If there was a player invented for the World Cup of Poker it is Jan Heitmann. From the moment the Team PokerStars Pro cheered heartily his team's second-hand-of-the-day walk, through to the Mexican wave he choreographed and an unfortunate if unintentional time out slow roll, Heitmann was the Cup's unofficial ring master. Was it going to be his show? Not quite.

Jan Heitmann celebrates a small but vital first pot

Despite starting second to last in chips they built a stack that at one point put them in the lead, the defending champs fell short of spinning the fairytale into a back to back win. Worthy champions became gracious fifth place finishers shortly after the dinner break.

Even before Taipei busted the USA captain, Wu's teammates were already making a hero of the Team PokerStars Pro who had played substitute twice to lift his team's fortunes. The USA were among the favourites, boasting some strong players, not least their determined captain Vanessa Rousso. But with a once mighty stack now reduced to all-in or nothing, Rousso had to act, opting to flip with pocket fours against Wu's [kc][jc], although admitting she'd have preferred to have conferred. The board delivered Taipei's flush on the river and their relief could have fizzed the lights. But it was nothing compared with what would come next. For what stood before them was a Canadian team equal to them in both talent, and in luck.

Raymond Wu

Led by Darus Suharto, Canada had romped along on day 1a and finished well in the heads-up on day 1b, always within sight of the leaders, reaching the final table today with 80,000 chips. Their team had been a mixture of poker newbies and veterans, all with a deep will to win, fuelled by a Canadian rail and a couple of cold ones. They'd had their luck, catching a seven in a massive hand against their southern neighbours USA that almost put them in the lead. Then they'd eliminated rivals Germany, who they'd beaten in the heads up round.

But then the slip sliding began: doubling Croatia before a final hand against Taipei, whose pocket kings could not be toppled. It sent them out in third place and gave Taipei that insurmountable lead.

Within minutes it was over. Croatia had come within a place of the title, but reluctantly settled for second. For Taipei outright joy, disbelief and a World Cup title.

So close for Croatia

This will be the story you read when the World Cup of Poker is brought up over the next 12 months. You'll read it when qualifying events start for World Cup VII in a few months, and you'll read this in about 11 and a half months before a new gaggle of teams tackle some pretty weird but entertaining rules. But the 2010 was the World Cup of Poker's best advert yet for what is poker for poker's sake, played with unparalleled heart.

That's enough sentimentality. Congratulations to Chinese Taipei; to Wan Hsan Lai, Wen-Hao Pan, Tsu-Chi Wang, Tseng Wei Ming and their captain Raymond Wu, the new World Cup of Poker champions.

Take a breath and re-create the action by reading through the action from the day, all ten hours of it, at the links below.

Intro
Levels 1-12
Levels 13 on

I couldn't promise it earlier but by crikey I can promise it now - yes, all this is available in Swedish. Thanks also go to photographer Neil Stoddart for excellent work. I'd like to say we'd be back with this tomorrow but that's it for another year. I can recommend trying to be here yourself in 2011.

Until then. Taipei all the way.

You can see the winning hand, and a couple before that, right here...

Watch PCA 2010: The Final Hand of the World Cup of Poker. on PokerStars.tv

And finally, here's what the team captains had to say about the day's play...

Watch PCA 2010: World Cup of Poker on PokerStars.tv

World Cup of Poker VI: Final table updates (cont)

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:48:50 -0800

Live updates from final table of the World Cup of Poker VI brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Marc Convey. You can find the teams in our tournament introduction as well as a run down on what's in store today right here. You can also watch the action yourself from start to finish on EPTLive. You can also check back on the action from the preliminary events: Day 1a wrap ¦ Day 1b wrap ¦ Levels 1-12

10.25pm: Chinese Taipei win World Cup of Poker VI
Talk about a fitting finale. Croatia moved all-in, after a few hands in which neither team was prepare to play finesse poker, and Taipei called. Taipei showed [as][2s] against [jh][9c].

Cue cheering. Taipei tried to bend the one time rules with a "one more time" while the Croatians were yelling their equivalent and waiting for the flop. It was a flop that sent both of them crazy...

[ad][js][9s]

It gave Croatia bottom two pair and Taipei the nut flush draw. More cheering, more screaming. The turn...

[7s]

Taipei had made their flush but cut short their celebrations when they realised another jack or nine would swing it back to the Croatians.

The river... [ts]

A brilliant win to send Taipei into jumping up and down joy. Chinese Taipei are crowned the new World Cup of Poker champions. A full report on the day coming up.

10.21pm: First hands
Taipei move all in. Croatian captain Denis Kelemen says "nope" and passes. Next hand Croatia does the same but Taipei mucked. Kelemen showed aces.

10.17pm: Heads up
Does this really have to end? Well, yes. And it will take some Croatian rallying to overcome Taipei's current lead.

Taipei - 461,000
Croatia - 79,000

10.05pm: Canada eliminated in third place earning $50,000
Canada shoved and Taipei called. With that we're heads up. Taipei showed [kd][ks] to Canada's [ah][6d]. Canada had some beers ready as the board was dealt [9d][qd][3c][7h][2s]. All over for Canada, a great ride. Taipei and Croatia now face each other heads up after a ten minute break.

9.51pm: Up and up
That's the level. Blinds up to 6,000-12,000 with a 1,000 ante.

Taipei - 288,000
Canada - 138,000
Croatia - 114,000

9.50pm: Croatia aggression
Canada called from the small blind only to face an all in push worth 94,000 from Croatia in the big blind. It was too much and the cards were soon in the muck.

On the next hand Croatia moved all in from the small blind, taking blinds and antes as Raymond Wu folded.

9.43pm: No takers
Two shoves by Captain Wu for Taipei but no takers on each. Taipei have used both of their substitutions but have a time out remaining. To be fair, they've also used their "one time" chip. Only Croatia have substitutions available to them, and a time out. They may well have had their one time, I just couldn't tell.

9.35pm: "I love you Ray!"
The current obsession of the Taipei team.

9.33pm: USA eliminated in fourth place earning $30,000
With the increased blind level it's becoming a bit of a shove fest. The first to act was Raymond Wu who moved all in for 130,000 and found a caller in Vanessa Rousso in the big blind. Canada was thinking about calling too, asking how much.

"Don't worry it's too much!" said Wu.

Wu tabled [kc][jc] to Rousso's [4c][4h] and the board came [8c][qc][5s][3d][9c], eliminating Team USA in fourth place.

9.25pm: End of another level
That's time on the level. Blinds up, again, to 4,000-8,000 with a 500 ante.

Canada - 172,000
Taipei - 132,000
Croatia - 126,000
USA - 110,000

9.20pm: Wu moved off pot
Chinese Taipei's captain Raymond Wu made a raise to 18,000 from the button. Croatia was in the big blind and used some of those newly acquired chips to re-raise to 41,000. It was too much for Wu who threw his cards into the muck.

9.17pm: Video interlude
As you're probably aware, this final table is being broadcast live over at eptlive.com. Here our video team takes you behind the scenes to show exactly what it takes to bring you a live webcast...

Watch PCA 2010: Behind the Scenes of a TV Table on PokerStars.tv

9.15pm: Double through for Croatia
The Croatians have been fairly quite the last few levels, and their stack had dwindled a little, down to 59,500. Not any more though. They just doubled through the chip leading Canadians. It was folded around to the Canadians in the small blind and Steve Deschesnes moved all in with [kc][jd]. The Croatians made the call with [ad][9d] and the board ran [3c][4h][ts][2s][ac]. Fist pumping for the Croatians.

9.10pm: More for Canada
Canada's resurgence continued when Steve Deschesnes raises to 36,500 behind a USA raise on a flop of [8d][kc][jc].

9.03pm: Germany eliminated in fifth place earning $10,000
In the first hand of the new level there's an all in and a call. Action folded around to Germany in the big blind and they moved all in with [6d][3c]. Canada was sat in the big blind and looked down at [ad][jh] and made a quick call. The board ran out [jh][qh][5h][as][qd] and we're down to four teams remaining.

It also means that there will be a new World Cup champion now that the defending champions are no more.

8.55pm: Time gentlemen
Canada take the blinds in the next hand, the last of the level. Five new players take their seats with blinds at 3,000-6,000 with a 500 ante.

USA - 162,000
Canada - 136,000
Taipei - 98,500
Croatia - 71,500
Germany - 62,000

8.50pm: North v South
Canada moves all in for 66,000. Eventually the USA calls showing [ad][ks]. They're ahead of the Canadians who show [as][7c] and need help. The flop comes [qh][9c][jh]. No help. Steve Deschesnes calls "one time" and gosh darn it, he gets it, [7h] on the turn. The Canadians went nuts, begging the river to avoid dealing them a killer blow. The [4c] isn't and the Canadians double up.

8.44pm: Rock on
Just what did the American's get up to in the dinner break? Ryan Templin just won a big pot for them against Germany, and getting a few screams of appreciation from his team mates.

USA opened for 16,000 and Ludke raised to 40,000 total for Germany. USA called for a [8s][kd][9d] flop. Both checked for a [ac] turn which was checked again. On the [kc] river Germany made it 35,000. Templin thought about things before calling. Ludke immediately folded, sending the chips to USA. Templin lifted his arm and made that "we will rock you" sign with his index and little fingers, soaking it up.

8.35pm: First pot
Germany takes the first pot, raising pre-flop and getting no takers, Rasmus Ludke in the replace Sascha Cornills.

8.30pm: Breaking news
Tournament directors have decided to replay the 2,500-5,000 blinds with a 500 ante as play restarts.

8.20pm: Chips before the restart

USA - 156,500
Germany - 138,000
Taipei - 107,000
Canada - 76,000
Croatia - 62,500

The departure of Italy

World Cup of Poker VI: Final table updates

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:04:29 -0800

8.30pm: Over there
The action continues here.

7.33pm: Chips at the break

USA - 156,500
Germany - 138,000
Taipei - 107,000
Canada - 76,000
Croatia - 62,500

6th - Finland - $10,000
7th - Italy - $10,000
8th - Norway - $5,000
9th - Chile - $5,000

7.29pm: Break time
That's the end of level 12. Players have now earned a one hour dinner break. Play restarts at around 8.30pm local time-ish.

7.22pm: Another stride forward for USA
Germany made an 11,500 raise from the cut-off and then called USA's re-raise to 29,500 from the big blind. The flop came [8s][5h][8d] and USA's 30,000 bet got through as Germany folded showing the [as].

7.16pm: Four-betting
The pot opened with a raise to 11,500 from Canada in cut-off before Croatia three-bet to 21,000. The action didn't stop there though as USA moved all in from the small blind. Canada folded quickly as did Croatia showing jack-king off.

7.08pm: Italy eliminated in sixth place earning $10,000
Giovanni Manucuso moved all-in for Italy for 27,000 and Michael Dietrich, on for Canada, re-raised all-in. Italy showed [kc][ts] to Canada's [kh][kd]. "Nothing weird" said Steve Deschesnes on the Canadian rail. The board came [jd][4c][5h][ah][ks]. Canada eliminate Italy from the World Cup of Poker. Five teams remain.

Italian captain Luca Pagano doing his duty for the cameras

7pm: End of the level
You know the drill. Another break. Players change one last time before we take a dinner break after this level. Blinds are now 2,500-5,000 with a 500 ante.

Germany - 146,000
Croatia - 111,500
USA - 108,000
Taipei - 95,000
Canada - 50,000
Italy - 28,000

6.55pm: Double-up Stateside
Vanessa Rousso of Team USA kicks off the pot with an all in raise from second position for a total of 50,400. After taking a time out Italy come back and re-raise all in. All others fold and cards are on their backs. [5h][5d] for USA and [ad][kh] for Italy and the board ran [7d][7h][6s][8h][jd] to double Team USA up.

6.50pm: Still here
Canada raise all-in pre-flop from under the gun. Jan Heitmann asks for a count on the big blind but folds. Canada play on.

6.48pm: Super sub does the Italian job
Jan Heitman, in as a sub for Team Germany, opened the pot with a raise to 8,500 and received calls from both blinds. The flop came [qc][4s][kd] and Heitman's continuation bet was called by Italy only in the big blind. The turn came [9h] and Heitman continued the pressure with a 22,500 bet when checked to him. Job done as the Italian folded.

Team Germany captain Jan Heitmann

6.44pm: Canada hang in there
Action folded around to Canada on the button who move all in for 33,000. The raise was big enough to make the blinds fold and Team Canada adds around 20% to their stack.

6.37pm: Finland eliminated in seventh place for $10,000
Jan Heitmann, on as a substitute this level, opened for 8,000 for Germany. Finland, reduced to 6,700, called all-in. Germany showed [qc][jd] while Finland would need help with [th][5s].

The flop came [ad][ks][7d], good for Germany. The turn, [kh] meant only a five could help the Finns and there was no sign of that on the [9c] river. We're down to six in the World Cup.

6.25pm: End of the level
Raymond Wu gets a walk to end the level. Blinds now go up to 2,000-4,000 with a 400 ante.

Croatia - 124,600
Italy - 105,700
Germany - 102,900 (no more time outs)
Taipei - 96,300
USA - 69,900 (no more times outs)
Canada - 36,200
Finland - 6,700 (no more time outs)

8th - Norway - $5,000
9th - Chile - $5,000

6.22pm: Team Pros go at it
Team PokerStars Pros and Team Captains Raymond Wu and Jan Heitman just went to war with the German coming out victorious. Wu opened with a raise from the button and Heitman called from the big blind to see the [jh][2s][3c] flop. Check check. The turn came [4s] and Heitman led out for 8,500 only to be raised up to 21,500. His response was to move all in for 63,900 and it did the trick as Wu folded.

6.15pm: Lady luck helps USA double up
The action folded around to Finland who open shoved before the Vanessa Rousso of the USA also moved all in for 36,700 from the small blind. Finland opened [kh][qs] to Rousso's [qh][qd] and the board ran [3h][9s][tc][9c][6d] to double up the USA team.

Vanessa Rousso

6.05pm: Play resumes
The next level is about to start. Officials have announced that the dinner break will follow about three more levels. As for now the blinds are 1,500-3,000 with a 300 ante. Raymond Wu has stepped in as a substitute for Taipei while Mike Dietrich steps in for Canada.

Chip counts in level 11:

Seat 1 - Finland - 50,000 (no more time outs)
Seat 2 - Croatia - 118,000
Seat 3 - USA - 34,000 (no more times outs)
Seat 5 - Taipei - 108,000
Seat 7 - Italy - 112,000
Seat 8 - Germany - 79,000 (no more time outs)
Seat 9 - Canada - 36,000

5.48pm: Big hand
A big hand develops, starting with Finland, opening for 4,100 under the gun. Italy then re-raised to 12,000 which Finland raised again to 20,600 total. Italy called.
The flop came [jh][ad][3s]. Finland checked, Italy bet and Finland raised again to 21,000. Called for a [5c] turn. Check by Finland, 9,500 from Italy which prompts a Finland time out. 60 seconds later Finland folded. Italy did all sorts of cheering and trade mark hand gestures in celebration. Another level comes to an end. A 15 minute break for players.

5.40pm: German ingenuity
Beers have arrived for the German team, some of which are being passed to the Canadians by way of an apology for the now famous accidental slow roll.

5.35pm: Norway eliminated in eighth place for $5,000
The hand started with an early position raise to 4,600 from Finland and a flat call by Raymond Wu of Chinese Taipei. Norway then moved all in for 24,000 and received a call from Wu after Finland folded. [4h][4d] was the hand for Norway and they were racing against Wu's [ks][qs]. The board ran out [jd][6s][6d][qc][9h] to bust the Norwegian team.

Raymond Wu, using what looks to me like a "one time", eliminating Norway in eighth

5.26pm: Wu win
Taipei, Raymond Wu in the chair, take a pot when they re-raise the United States who opened. They passed.

5.22pm: We're back
Play resumes in level 10 with blinds at 1,000-2000 with a 200 ante. Here's how things stand:

Seat 1 - Finland - 98,600
Seat 2 - Croatia - 122,500
Seat 3 - USA - 37,600 (no more times outs)
Seat 5 - Taipei - 70,800
Seat 6 - Norway - 28,200
Seat 7 - Italy - 61,500
Seat 8 - Germany - 81,200 (no more time outs)
Seat 9 - Canada - 39,600

5.16pm: That's the level
That was the last hand of the level. All change please.

5.15pm: A slow roll time out?
Luca Pagano opened for 4,000 from the cut off and Sasch Cornills, playing for Germany, raised on the button to 8,000. Darus Suharto asked how much on behalf of Canada and re-raised all-in. Pagano foled when the action reached him again. Cornills then turned to his captain Heitmann on the rail who noticed his man at the table was nervous. "Time out!"

"I'd like to go to the truck to see the hole cards," said Heitmann as he marches his team into the time out booth. When they re-emerged all seemed calm. Boom. Call.

[kh][kd] for Canada
[ac][ah] for Germany

Pagano looked back at Heitmann, grinning.

"I didn't know!" yelled Heitmann, explaining later than when Cornills hadn't snap called he figured he'd better help. Instead, a slightly embarrassed slow roll time out. "I'd never do that," added Heitmann who put it down to Cornills being inexperienced.

The board ran [8d][8c][3s][6h][jd], doubling up the Germans to gasping relief among the wives and girlfriends.

5.08pm: Canada take intiative on flop
Four players saw a [4h][4c][2c] flop after Finland had raised from first position. Canada was in the big blind and fired out a 7,500 bet. It was good as all players folded.

5.02pm: Big bests small blind
Action folded around to Norway in the small blind and they raised to 3,800, called by Italy's Luca Pagano in the big blind. After the flop came [3d][7s][2c] Norway check-called Pagano's 3,800 bet. He'd had enough when the turn came [2d] though, check-folding to a 6,500 Pagano bet.

4.55pm: Four way to the flop
Chinese Taipei opened the pot with a raise to 4,000 from under-the-gun and were called by Germany, Finland and Croatia. All players checked the flop so the board read [9c][7s][5c][4s] at the turn. Croatia led out for 7,000 and got nothing but folds, leaving them the pot.

4.46pm: All change again
A few Viva Chile chants, the odd "U-S-A" too as players swap once more. Luca Pagano and Darus Suharto step in to the hot seats. Blinds are now 800-1,600 with a 200 ante.

Seat 1 - Finland - 105,600
Seat 2 - Croatia - 95,000
Seat 3 - USA - 42,600 (no more times outs)
Seat 5 - Taipei - 80,800
Seat 6 - Norway - 39,000
Seat 7 - Italy - 54,700
Seat 8 - Germany - 47,700
Seat 9 - Canada - 71,600

4.44pm: Small one for Finland
In the last hand of this level Norway's Johnny Lodden made a raise and was called by Canada and Finland from the blinds. The flop came [3h][qd][8s] and Lodden's 5,300 continuation bet was called only by Finland. The [4h] turn and [qc] river were checked through and Finland took the pot after showing six-eight as Lodden mucked.

4.38pm: Good sports
Jan Heitmann just walked over to Darus Suharto to shake his hand...

"Congratulations to Canada for improving on last year's finish."

Last year Canada came last.

4.35pm: Chile eliminated in ninth place for $5,000
Chile have become the first casualty of the day. With the action was folded around to them in the hijack they moved their short stack into the middle. Chinese Taipei were sat in the next seat and re-raised to 30,000, forcing the others to fold. Chile were in bad shape as they saw Taipei's [jc][jd] matching up well against their [jh][td].

Chile's Rodolfo Awad, at the helm when the chips went in

The board ran out [4d][kd][7s][6s][6h] and the Chile team leave to a generous round of applause.

4.32pm: First time out of the day
USA's Chris Burmeister opened the pot with a raise to 2,900 from the cut-off and was called by Norway's Johnny Lodden before a [3s][5h][2d] flop. Lodden then check-raised the USA's 3,500 bet up to 8,900. At this point the USA used their one time out. Off they went for a 60 second conflab, Vanessa Rousso leading the discussions. When they returned Burmeister immediately announced all-in, prompting Lodden to fold. No more times outs for the USA but they're still alive.

4.23pm: It's getting Chile in here
Croatia opened for 2,600 and then drama! Chile re-raised all-in for 6,700 total. With the action back on Croatia they called in a flash, showing [ks][9d] to Chile's [ah][th]. Players of all nationalities rushed in close to watch and were then ushered out again to make room for the cameras. The board would keep Chile alive in the world cup, coming [2h][3h][8d][td][6c]. Chile double up.

Shaun Sheffield of Chile

4.20pm: The business end
Not to make assumptions, but with Chile on the brink it might be a good time to have a look at what they're playing for today:

1st - $100,000 ($20,000 per person)
2nd - $70,000 ($14,000)
3rd - $50,000 ($10,000)
4th - $30,000 ($6,000)
5th - $10,000 ($2,000)
6th - $10,000 ($2,000)
7th - $10,000 ($2,000)
8th - $5,000 ($1,000)
9th - $5,000 ($1,000)

4.07pm: Chips at the break
Croatia maintain their lead while Chile hang on even tighter than in the last level.

Seat 1 - Finland - 99,600
Seat 2 - Croatia - 102,400
Seat 3 - USA - 30,100
Seat 4 - Chile - 6,800
Seat 5 - Taipei - 64,700
Seat 6 - Norway - 57,300
Seat 7 - Italy - 57,200
Seat 8 - Germany - 45,100
Seat 9 - Canada - 76,300

4.02pm: Break time
Players are now taking a 15 minute break before level 8, with blinds of 600-1200 with a 100 ante.

4pm: On the flop
Italy opened for 3,000 and were called by the United States for a flop of [kc][8h][5h]. USA checked the flop leaving Italy to make it 4,500. That's good for the pot as the level ends.

3.56pm: All before the flop
Germany are forced out of another hand. Having opened for 2,500 Frank Boehrens was forced to fold when Antti Marijarvi re-raised to 8,000 total. Big cheers from the Finns.

3.50pm: Canada takes it away from Germany
Germany started with 2,000 raise from under-the-gun, called by Canada in the next seat and Italy in the big blind. All checked the flop and the board read [js][3h][qc][[kc] at the turn. A 4,000 bet was called by Canada for a [3c] river. Germany checked this time and then folded to a 9,500 bet from Canada. The rest of the Canadian team leapt up and show their appreciation. A big pot.

3.40pm: Chip counts
Germany contine to climb up the chip list while Chile are the short stack. Time out anyone?

Seat 1 - Finland - 97,000
Seat 2 - Croatia - 99,900
Seat 3 - USA - 35,000
Seat 4 - Chile - 9,200
Seat 5 - Taipei - 67,600
Seat 6 - Norway - 53,400
Seat 7 - Italy - 63,000
Seat 8 - Germany - 53,600
Seat 9 - Canada - 69,400

3.33pm: Switch
That's another level done. Play will restart in a few minutes with blinds at 500-1,000 with a 100 ante.

3.30pm: On your feet
Another 5,000 to Germany after Jan Heitmann pushed aside Chile on a [9c][4s][2s] flop. Again the German railbirds, largely made up of the wives and girlfriends, were on their feet.

3.27pm: Big slick good for Finland
The recent trend of under-the-gun raises continued with a 2,500 raise from Croatia. Action folded all the way around to Finland in the big blind who made the call. Finland then check-called a 3,500 bet before doing the same to a 4,500 bet on the [jd] turn. Both players then checked through the [6c] river. Croatia opened up pocket fives but Finland took the pot with [ah][kh].

3.24pm: More for the Germans
Germans on the rail are finding their voice after captain Heitmann just won another pot against Tommi Saarinen of Finland. With the board showing [9d][7h][6h][2c] Heitmann threw out a bet of 3,500 to go with the 2,000 he made it pre-flop. It was enough.

3.18pm: Captains
Jan Heitmann opened for 2,000 for Germany and was called by Mauricio Zeman for Chile for a flop of [kd][2c][7s]. Chile checked and Germany took the pot with a bet of 2,500.

3.13pm: Croatia straighten things out
Croatia, USA and Norway all saw a [9c][th][8s] flop after the latter limped from mid position. Croatia led out for 2,000 from the small blind and only Norway called. Norway then called a 3,500 bet on the [ad] turn before folding to a 7,000 bet on the [7s] river. Croatia showed jack-nine for a straight.

3.10pm: Play resumes
Chips and chairs at the start of level six

Seat 1 - Finland - 88,700
Seat 2 - Croatia - 104,600
Seat 3 - USA - 40,200
Seat 4 - Chile - 17,600
Seat 5 - Taipei - 69,800
Seat 6 - Norway - 61,900
Seat 7 - Italy - 50,600
Seat 8 - Germany 35,000
Seat 9 - Canada - 71,550

3.04pm: Off we go again
Croatia and Italy get walks and that ends the level. Here we go again with the "tag dance", people all over the place as chips get coloured up

3pm: Wave hello
It was only on a matter of time. Jan Heitmann just got the ~~Mexican~~ German wave going around the stage. First time round Taipei were caught napping but it got a good showing on the re-run.

2.55pm: Harden softens
Germany's Rasmus Ludke opened for 1,500 pre-flop which was called by Norway's Bjorn Harden. The flop came [ks][6h][7s]. Norway check-called the 2,000 from Germany for an [as] on the turn. Both checked for a [9s] river card where Norway check-folded to another 2,500 from the Germans.

2.50pm: Norwegians good again
A raise from Norway in mid-position, called by Finland in the big blind for a [7c][qs][5c] flop. Norway made a 2,200 continuation bet that was called, taking us to the [ks] turn. Norway's 3,500 bet was enough to take pot as Finland folded.

2.47pm: Norwegian good
Bjorn Andre Harden is in the Norwegian seat. Harden is the only player to have won every match he's play - the nine-max, six-max, four-max and heads-up match yesterday.

2.45pm: We're back
Play resumes in level five with blinds at 300-600 with a 75 ante. If a player busts now their team will take no further part.

2.40pm: All change please
Another level done. Stepping forward are the fifth players of each team. That means that all chips are now in play. Stand by for substitutions after this level, times outs any time, all sorts of stuff.

2.35pm: Norway takes Tri-nations
Norway made a late position raise that Germany and Canada called from the blinds. Neither nation could take the heat on the [tc][8c][6s] flop as they both check-folded to a bet from Norway.

2.30pm: Blind battle
Chinese Taipei win a hand after calling a raise from Chile. It was a blind battle that brought a [7s][2h][4d] flop. Chile made a continuation bet that Chinese Taipei called to see the [8d] turn. Chile gave up at that juncture with a check-fold.

2.25pm: Pre-flop
A tense stand off between Norway and Canada. Christian Stokkeland opened for Norway, making it 925 from middle position. Darus Suharto, captain of Canada, raised to 3,750 before Norway then re-raised to 7,250 total. Suharto passed and Norway took the pot.

2.20pm: Featuring in level four
This round features two more team captains - Luca Pagano of Italy, and Darus Suharto of Canada.

2.15pm: Play resumes
The fourth level begins with blinds at 200-400 with a 50 ante. The chip counts are as follows:

Croatia -- 82,000
Finland -- 76,000
Canada -- 63,000
Taipei -- 54,000
Norway -- 44,000
Italy -- 36,000
USA -- 30,000
Germany -- 27,000
Chile -- 20,000

2.10pm: Nearly ready
Players will be back any second. By the looks of things there are some tactical discussions taking place in the wings. Others are being called back to the stage.

1.55pm: 15 minute break
Players are tagging for the third time now as the fourth player on the team steps up. They're now taking a 15 minute break. Remember, after four levels teams are then permitted to make up to two substitutions and can call time outs whenever they want.

1.45pm: Lodden pressure
Action folded around to CT on the button who raised to 800 and was called by Norway's Johnny Lodden out of the small blind and Italy out of the big blind. The flop came [6c][9c][7d] before Lodden led out for 1,625. Both players called to the [7h] turn where Lodden upped the ante with a 5,100 bet. The increased size did the trick as both players folded.

Norwegian captain Johnny Lodden

The very next hand Lodden managed to steal the blinds with a standard button raise.

1.35pm: One for Finland
An early position raise to 775 from USA was only called by Finland in the big blind. The flop came [qd][as][2h] before Finland check-called a 900 bet. That was enough betting as the [2d] turn and the [tc] river were checked through. Finland opened queen-nine and it was good for the pot as USA folded.

1.27pm: What's the word for...
We are actually creating a new lexicon for the World Cup of Poker. There were no terms for the heads-up matches played yesterday - Matches? Games? Rubbers? No, not rubbers. So you might not notice any rigid terminology. Players have just "tagged" again, or are they "switching"? Another ~~chunk~~ ~~portion~~ fifth of their team's stacks are now added to the totals on the table. Blinds are now 150-300 with a 25 ante.

1.20pm: Italian cheer
Action folded around to Norway on the button who raised to 575. Italy called from the small blind to see a [4h][6s][9d] flop. Italy led out for 1,200 and Norway made a quick call. The turn brought [ac] and this time Italy checked but called Norway's 1,600 bet. This was enough of the betting as both players checked the [4c] river. Italy opened up pocket queens and it was good for the pot as Norway folded. His enthusiastic team mates applauded as he raked in the pot.

1.15pm: One for Finland
A pot to Finland on a checked board, Marijarvi's ace-queen good on a board of [2h][ah][6c][9s][5c].

1.10pm: Go Germany
Despite having less chips than everyone but Chile, Germany have boosted their chances, taking another pot thanks to Frank Boehrens. Antti Marijarvi opened for Finland, making it 600 pre-flop. Germany called from the small blind for a flop of [6s][9c][3c]. Germany checked before Finland made it 900. Germany called for a [ts] turn card. Both teams checked for a [jd] on the river. Here Germany fired out 2,500 forcing Finland to fold.

1pm: Got it?
The new players now have their chips added to the previous player's remaining chips. Another fifth of each stack is in play.

12.58pm: Player change
The first player change is underway. It's a little like a dance from a costume drama.

12.57pm: All in!
A first all in by Wan Hsun Lau of Chinese Taipei. No takers though and less than a minute before the first "tag".

12.50pm: USA get stuck in
A first pot to the United States. Rousso made it 250, called by Norway for a flop of [4h][5h][5s]. Both checked for a [ah] on the turn. Rousso's bet of 400 was enough to take it down.

12.48pm: And another thing
While we're at it, another reminder. Levels are 20 minutes long and the blinds start at 50-100.

12.45pm: That's more like it
Jan Heitmann takes a second pot for Germany, this time with cards on the board: [2d][7c][tc][4h][3h]. A bet of 1,575 from Heitmann chasing out the Italians.

Born to play the World Cup of Poker - Jan Heitmman

12.44pm: How this works
Remember, each player has their share of their team's chip stack. If they lose it all the next player on their teams roster will step in.

12.42pm: Germany up
A walk for Germany. "Yes!" shouts Jan Heitmann, fist pumping towards his team. This is how he rolls.

12.40pm: Underway
First pot to Croatia, Andrija Vujic betting on a flop of [8c][8h][2s] to force out Tommi Saarinen of Finland.

12.35pm: Oh my
Jan Heitmann just won the award for most enthusiastic entrance to a World Cup of Poker final table. Haven't seen something like that since New Zealand performed a Haka last year.

12.32pm: Stepping up
Jan Heitmann, captain of Germany, has opted to play first for his team, hoping to spin up their 30,000. Vanessa Rousso, leading the United States, does the same.

12.30pm: In the one seat

Seat 1 - Finland - 90,000
Seat 2 - Croatia - 100,000
Seat 3 - USA - 40,000
Seat 4 - Chile - 20,000
Seat 5 - Chinese Taipei - 70,000
Seat 6 - Norway - 60,000
Seat 7 - Italy - 50,000
Seat 8 - Germany - 30,000
Seat 9 - Canada - 80,000

12.25pm: Well, not quite
They got them all in, and now they've sent them out again. Players have popped out for last minute photos. When they get back we really will be ready to start.

12.20pm: Ready to begin
Players are taking their seats inside the closed off main stage. We're ready to go.

World Cup of Poker VI: The final table

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:14:32 -0800

Welcome back to the World Cup of Poker VI and today's final table. The culmination of months of qualifying events, more qualifying events, long journeys, new friends and two days of hyper active prelims that finished just last night. If you weren't around yesterday and the day before you missed some great performances by players new to the live high stakes scene, notably Croatia, their victory securing them first place coming into the final, and Finland who yesterday surging from sixth to second place.

As we explained yesterday, the rules to this one take some getting used to. But with a little help can be understood by everyone. Try the training wheels first, I'll run behind you, then, when you've read through the points below enough times, we will take them off and free wheel all the way.

So far the two days of preliminary events have decided how many chips each team brings with them to the final table - anything from 100,000 to 20,000. Croatia stormed into the lead on day 1a, securing the 100k, while yesterdays' heads up contests determined how much their competitors would receive. Here's how it worked out:

The standings going into the final:

1st - Croatia (100,000 starting stack, 20,000 per player)
2nd - Finland (90,000, 18,000 per player)
3rd - Canada (80,000, 16,000 per player)
4th - Chinese Taipei (70,000, 14,000 per player)
5th - Norway (60,000, 12,000)
6th - Italy (50,000, 10,000 per player)
7th - USA (40,000, 8,000 per player)
8th - Germany (30,000, 6,000 per player)
9th - Chile (20,000, 4,000 per player)

That brings them to today's final - a tag team extravaganza that works like this:

Each team captain submitted a team roster before today's start.

Levels are 30 minutes long and every 20 minutes a new team member takes over. They bring with them their individual share of the team's stack.

If a player loses their stack before a player switch then the next player on their roster steps in and plays through.

Each team has two substitutions which can be used only after four levels of play.

Teams also have a 60-second "Time Out" option, which can be used either by the captain or the player at the table, where they can leave the table to discuss tactics in a specially segregated area.

The added Tabasco is that they can call this time out at any time - even during a hand.

Simple. And here's what they're playing for:

1st - $100,000 ($20,000 per person)
2nd - $70,000 ($14,000 per person)
3rd - $50,000 ($10,000 per person)
4th - $30,000 ($6,000 per person)
5th - $10,000 ($2,000 per person)
6th - $10,000 ($2,000 per person)
7th - $10,000 ($2,000 per person)
8th - $5,000 ($1,000 per person)
9th - $5,000 ($1,000 per person)

The teams are arriving now and are getting miked up. We should be underway in no time, in the meantime, review some of this in video format...

Watch PCA 2010: World Cup of Poker Update on PokerStars.tv

World Cup of Poker VI: Now on to the final

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:13:28 -0800

Keeping in line with the World Cup of Poker's tradition of unpredictability, day 1b of WCP VI went down to the wire this afternoon when Finland, who started sixth today, moved to the top of the points chart and became the closest rival to Team Croatia, who have already secured top stack at tomorrow's final.

It happened even before the team captains, Mauricio Zeman of Chile and Jani Vilmunen of Finland, completed their last heads-up. Team Canada, led by Darus Suharto, had beaten Jan Heitmann's Team Germany 3-2, securing 110 points in total (yesterday's and today's score combined).

Fantastic Finns

Finland needed four wins over Chile to top that and got them, Mika Korpela winning their fourth game to seal it. Then captain Vilmunen won his to make it an impressive, if irrelevant, clean sweep, picking up the 15 bonus points to finish the day on 132.

The day started in a hurry, or at least it did after delays caused by the flag procession. With 15 minute levels there's no time to hang about, but five games had already been played to a conclusion within the first half hour.

Quickest of the bunch was the Norway v Italy clash. Vicenzo Bevilacqua took the first game in minutes before Bjorn Horden made it all square. Valeria Bucciarelli took the third for Italy then Geir Plassen brought things back to even ahead of the big guns' arrival - Team PokerStars Pros Johnny Lodden and Luca Pagano. Pagano got a little luck at the end but his delighted team mates couldn't really have cared less. Pagano had just led his team to a fifth place finish, out of last place at the start. Despite the loss Norway still finished ahead of the Italians on points and settle for fourth.

Three of the four matches would go to the wire. The Canada v Germany tie was one of them, with wins for Ole Carstens and Rasmus Ludke for Germany, Wade Ackerman and Michael Dietrich for Canada, before the captains took their seats. Jan Heitmann tried but ran into some Canadian luck when his chips were in the middle. The points went to Canada who finished second, while Team Germany finished in seventh.

Railing Canadians

The Chinese Taipei team had the United States to contend with all day. Lau Wan Hsan was delirious when she won the opener against Andy Schultz. Then Vanessa Rousso restored order with an impressive win against fellow Team Pro Raymond Wu. Sal Buccieri put the United States in front before Wen-Hao Pan made it 2-2. It was left to Tseng Wei Mind to take the lion's share for Taipei, beating Chris Burmeister in the all important decider. Third place for Taipei, sixth for the United States.

Tactical Americans

Railing Taipei-ians

Finland closed off the day, their overall victory coming more than an hour after other teams had arranged departed for strategy meetings and dinner reservations.

So what does all this mean? Well, the order of finishing today dictates how many chips each team start with tomorrow. That figure is in the brackets alongside:

The final standings:

The final is a tag-team event with a roster submitted by each team captain prior to the noon start. Every 20 minutes a new team member takes over (levels will be 30 minutes long) bringing with them their share of their team's starting stack (for instance each Finnish player will bring 18,000). If a player loses their stack before a player switch, the next player steps in and plays through. Substitutions are allowed but only after four levels of play. Teams also have a 60-second "Time Out" option, where they can leave the table to discuss tactics in a specially segregated area. Teams can play this at any time - even during a hand. See, brilliant and nuts at the same time.

Up for grabs will be a share of a $290,000 prize pool. Everyone gets something, but it's a share of the first prize of $100,000 that players will want most.

The final starts tomorrow at noon. Get some rest. It will be terrific all the way but may need a clear head. Our thanks to the photography of Joe Giron. You can find his pictures and the action from today at the links below.

Intro
Heads up

Till tomorrow.

World Cup of Poker VI: Heads up begins

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:49:51 -0800

Live updates from Day 1b of the World Cup of Poker VI brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Marc Convey. You can find the teams in our tournament introduction as well as a run down on what's in store today

5.45pm: Play concludes
With that last match complete all our national teams are done for today. They will all be back at midday tomorrow where the final will be played out to an exciting climax. A full wrap of today's play will be with you shortly.

5.40pm: Clean sweep
Finland have completed a clean sweep over Chile with their fifth victory in a row. Jani Vilmunen ground Mauricio Zeman down through the first level before the Chilean doubled-up, flopping a full-house to his opponent's trips. Vilmunen then ground him down again and by the time the 100/200 blinds were in play all Zeman could do was push.

The final hand came when Zeman moved all-in for 1,150 holding [ah][6h], called by Vilmunen with [qh][ts]. The board ran [qd][5s][5d][7s][9c] to end it all there.

5.10pm: Yet another one for Finland
The clean sweep is looking ever more likely now with another victory for Finland. Their places as second in chips to Croatia (top of today's teams) is secured for tomorrow. Nicolas Campos Leal was defeated by Mika Korpela after the former's [ad][5s] couldn't better the latter's [ks][kh] on a [ts][5h][td][qd][jd] board.

The final match will take place between team captains Mauricio Zeman of Chile and Jani Vilmunen of Finland.

4.50pm: Here's how things stand
Most results are already in, just Chile and Finland are still playing - Nicolas Leal and Mika Korpela playing right now before the team captains Mauricio Zeman (Chile) and Jani Vilmunen (Finland) step in.

The scores so far (position this morning):

Canada (3rd) - 110 points
Chinese Taipei (4th) - 109 points
Norway (2nd) - 103 points
Italy (9th) - 96 points
USA (7th) - 89 points
Germany (8th) - 87 points

Chile (currently on 83 points)
Finland (as it stands after three matches, 107 points)

It means Finland need to win one more game against Chile to take top spot today.

4.35pm: Tie wrapped up but still plenty to play for
Chile has slumped to another loss to Finland and slip to a 0-3 deficit. Rodolfo Awad
of Chile had few chips to play with and only one move. He moved all in from the button with [5h][6c] and was called by Finland's Kirsi Korpi with [ks][9d] before the board ran out [6h][9c][4s][2d][js].

Finland will be thinking of the bonus points on offer for a clean sweep win but they must also keep in mind that they need only one more victory to overtake Canada and move into second in the point standings.

4.25pm: The state of play
That result puts Canada on 110 points, a total that only Finland, if my loose arithmetic still holds, can beat.

4.20pm: Canada top Germany
Jan Heitmann bet, Darus Suharto raised and Heitmann moved all in. Heitmann had suffered in this tie and needed to act. When Suharto called Heitmann showed [as][jc] to Suharto's [kc][jh]. The flop came [th][9d][2d]. Team mates rushed in to watch the board, the Canadians calling for a queen. [qc] on the turn.

"Yeah!" they cried.

"King!" said Jan. "As long as we're wishing for stuff."

But no. [ah] on the river no good and Canada take the match and 25 points.

Captain Canada - Darus Suharto

4.15pm: Italy win
The first tie is over. Italy are the first to win their match, picking up 5 points for each of their three heats and an additional ten for winning the match overall. Luca Pagano bet pre-flop, was raised by Lodden and then moved all-in with [kd][qd]. He was behind to Lodden's [as][4c] when he called. The board ran: [8s][4h][6d][7h][ks], the king on the end swinging it to the Italians. "See, sometimes I suck out, " said Pagano. Lodden just kind of growled.

4.10pm: Another tie goes to decider
The fourth match between USA and Chinese Taipei saw Ryan Alan Templin take on
Wen-Aho Pan. There was some early play but once Pan took a lead and the blinds went up to the 100/200 level it become a pre-flop shove fest. The first all in saw Templin dominated by his opponent but managed to come away with a split pot.

The very next hand they were all in again and this time Templin had the dominating hand with [ad][td] to his opponent's [ah][6h]. The Chinese Taipei team shouted for a six and they duly got it on a [5c][6c][7c][9h][jd] board. 2-2 is now the score so bring on a decider.

4pm: Drama!
All square in the Germany v Canada match! Steve Deschesnes re-raised all-in with [ks][jc] and was called by Rasmus Ludke with [as][kd]. The teams crowded the table as the board was dealt [3d][tc][ad][2s][3h]. Boom. Two each as team captains Jan Heitmann and Darus Suharto move in for the decider.

3.45pm: Germany on the back foot
Canada just edged into the lead against Germany, Michael Dietrich beating Frank Boehrens. The money went in, Boehrens showing [ac][5d] to Dietrich's [kd][td]. The board of [9c][js][ks][qh][5c] sent the chips to Canada. 2-1 Canada.

3.40pm: Finland go two up
A cagey second match between Finland and Chile just came to an end. They were at the 200/400 level when Shaun Sheffield of Chile moved in for his last 1,475 from the button with [6h][7h]. Tommi Saarinen made the call with [kd][4c] before a board of [4s][5s][jh][2h][qd]. The Chilean team have work to do if they're going to come back and win this tie.

3.25pm: Down to the decider
Another win for Norway, levelling the series to 2-2 before the decider between Pagano and Lodden. Geir Plassen saw off Giovanni Manucuso with his [7d][6d] with the money in on the flop. Manucuso had [3h][8h] with [2d][qd][3d][ks][3c] on the table.

3.20pm: One more for USA
Salvatore Buccieri of the USA just dispatched Yen Ming Chen of the Chinese Taipei. The chips went in on a [3d][9h][2d] flop with Chen holding [6s][3s] to Buccieri's monster holding of [9d][td]. The turn came [ah] and river [5s] to give the USA the win and a 2-1 lead.

3.05pm: Canada day
A first win for Canada today as Wade Ackerman beat Sasha Cornils. The chips went in pre-flop, [as][3d] for Cornils, [jc][tc] for Ackerman on a board of [ts][5h][7d][5s][6s].

3pm: Rousso rockets past Wu
Vanessa Rousso just made a great comeback to beat Wu in the feature match up of the Taipei v USA match. Wu had dominated the early stages, keeping Rousso on the back foot and reducing her to begging the dealer for help. But a vital double up with pocket threes swung things in Rousso's favour, finally getting the better of Wu with [ac][5s] to Wu's [qc][3c], the board running [3s][ad][7c][9h][8c].

Vanessa Rousso

2.50pm: Happy Valeria
Five more points for Italy as they see of Norway in the third tie. Italy's Valeria Bucciarelli dispatched Norway's Christian Stokkeland, earning a valuable five points over a Norway team with a sizable lead.

A limped pot brought a [9d][4c][5s] flop where Bucciarelli check-raised her opponent's 125 bet all in. This girl doesn't like to play small ball and you can see why she wanted to get all the chips in as when Stokkeland called all in she revealed [4s][5d] for two-pair. Stokkeland was the shorter stack and at risk with his drawing [6d][3d]. The turn came [9h] and river [3h] to see the Italian's hand hold and she celebrated by jumping in to the arms of her team.

2.35pm: All squared-up
It's hardly surprising to see Italy and Norway racing through their matches quickly considering the reputation the country folk have for aggressive play. Norway have just squared things up in the tie.

All the chips went in at the turn stage with the board showing [5c][ad][ah][7d]. Bjørn Andre Hovden of Norway revealed [3s][7c] for two-pair to Alessandro Sciolti's [kd][5d] for a worse two-pair. The river [2h] changed nothing and the 5 points go to Norway.

2.25pm: Chile take a beating
It's all over in the first Chile v Finland clash. With the money in the middle Antti Marijarvi had [ks][kc] to Ibbara's [ac][5h] and it was Finland with the five points on a board of [2c][jd][2h][jh][5c].

2.20pm: Clinical and efficient cooler
Germany just took the first points of their tie. The chips were always going in on a [5c][9s][jd][qd][kd] board with Kevin Burrill of Canada holding [kh][jh] and Ole Carstens of Germany [kc][tc]. The last time I checked a straight beats two-pair. Round two between Wade Ackerman and Sascha Cornils about to get under-way.

2.15pm: Taipei delight
Unbelievable leaping for joy from the Taipei team after Lau Wan Hsan just won her match against a devastated Andy Schultz of the United States. Schultz had made a house on the flop but Hsan found a better one on the river much to the delight of her team. Vanessa Rousso now steps in to play Raymond Wu for the glamour tie of the encounter.

A delighted Lau Wan Hsan

2.10pm: First blood to Italy
Italy's Vincenzo Bevilacqua wasted little time in dispatching Jan-Idar Lerbrekk of Norway. Lerbrekk moved the last of his chips in on a [3h][jc][2h][qh][3d] board. Bevilacqua announced "all in" and then "full" before revealing [3s][2c] for a full house. First points of the day go to the Italian team.

2pm: We're underway!

1.45pm: Still waiting
You may have noticed we haven't started yet. That's because the procession of the teams filmed in the corridors outside of the tournament area took one or two more takes than anticipated. It's done now but you'll have to wait for the TV broadcast to see the pride in Luca Pagano's eyes as he waved that Italian flag.

That's all done with. Players are milling around the tables waiting for the first match ups. Here's the order of play:

Norway (2nd) v Italy (9th)

Lerbreckt v Bevilacqua
Horden v Sciotti
Stokkeland v Bucciarelli
Plassen v Manucuso
Lodden v Pagano

Canada (3rd) v Germany (8th)

Burrill v Carstens
Ackerman v Cornils
Dietrich v Boehrens
Deschesnes v Ludke
Suharto v Heitmann

Chinese Taipei (4th) v USA (7th)

Lau Wan Hsan v Schultz
Wu v Rousso
Chen v Buccieri
Pan v Templin
Ming v Burmeister

Chile (5th) v Finland (6th)

Ibbara v Marijarvi
Sheffield v Saarinen
Awad v Korpi
Leal v Korpella
Zeman v Vilmunen

World Cup of Poker VI: Unravelling day 1b

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:05:49 -0800

After yesterday's drama the players in the World Cup of Poker VI deserved an evening to unwind. At the lavish drinks reception at the Water's Edge Restaurant at Atlantis's Coral Tower last night, teams formulated plans and made the decisions that will determine how today unravels.

Day 1b will feature heads-up matches, team against team, assigned according to yesterday's point totals. Day 1a featured three rounds of nine, six and then four handed sit n-go's and was dominated by a rampant Croatian side who were rewarded with a Bye through to the final table as leaders. The remaining eight teams will line up as follows:

Croatia - BYE
Norway vs Italy
Canada vs Germany
Taiwan/ Tai Pei vs USA
Chile vs Finland

Here's how this bit works.

Each player will play one heads-up match. That order of play, which cannot be changed, was decided on last night, perhaps influenced by a cocktail. As you'd expect there were tactics involved, psychology, guile, as players sized each other up. The captains meanwhile settled for a pre-ordained head to head contests. Italy's Luca Pagano and Norway's Johnny Lodden stands out as one of the much vaunted ties.

At the conclusion of each match points will be awarded; five points for a win, 10 points for a team victory and an additional 15 points if either team completes a sweep. Those points will then be added to the totals scored yesterday, which looks like this...

1st - Croatia - BYE
2nd - Norway - 93 points
3rd - Canada - 85 points
4th - Taiwan/ Tai Pei - 84 points
5th - Chile - 83 points
6th - Finland - 82 points
7th - USA - 79 points
8th - Germany - 77 points
9th - Italy - 71 points

That will then take us to the real fun part of this event - the final table, for the points won today will determine each team's starting stack tomorrow. As already mentioned, Croatia's performance ensures they'll start tomorrow with 100,000, while the others, depending on how things go for them this afternoon, will start with anything from 20,000 to 90,000 in what will be a 20 minute level tag team event complete with time outs and substitutions.

Now say all that back to me so I know you understand.

We start today at 1pm, or thereabouts, with the first of the heads-up matches - four at a time, 20 in total. The line-ups are in and most team captains have opted to play last, with the exception of the Chinese Taipei v USA fixture, which sees Wu and Rousso take each other on in the second match. Controversial? We'll find out soon enough.

World Cup of Poker VI: Croatia on top after frenetic day 1

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:01:27 -0800

It may have the trademark complicated set up, but the World Cup of Poker showed no sign of losing any of the uniqueness and quality when it began in the Bahamas today.

Nine teams met this morning for the first time, quickly forging friendships as they willed each other to success over nine-handed, six-handed and then four-handed sit n gos. Ultimately there's a share of $100,000 up for grabs, but today it was points that were on offer for each finishing position, each player trying their best to keep their team - and their country - on top. But when play ended it was Croatia, led by the professional player Denis Kelemen, who ended the day in front.

That means Croatia are awarded a day off tomorrow - Kelerman, Denis Obadic, Marko Puskadija, Andrija Vujic and Alessandro Grazia - free to sup merrily at the fountain of "free bar" tonight at the reception for World Cup players, while the others keep one eye on the draw for tomorrow.

Croatia deserved it, for their passage through today was not easy.

Leading the Croatians - Denis Kelemen

While Team Captains, including the Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Rousso (USA), Jan Heitmann (Germany), Luca Pagano (Italy), Johnny Lodden (Sweden) and Darus Suharto (Canada), played the first round, they were only able to offer support from the rail in rounds two and three, leaving the hard work to their countrymen who had won their place in the team after a long process of qualification online.

Watching from the rail, Team Captain of Italy, Luca Pagano

Croatia jumped to a quick lead after round one, held on to that lead after round two and sealed the deal, fending off a relentless Norwegian team in round three. Norway, for their efforts, finished second, which theoretically gives them an advantage tomorrow.

Team captains Jan Heitmann of Germany (left) and Johnny Lodden of Norway (right)

The results tonight:

1st - Croatia - 95 points
2nd - Norway - 93 points
3rd - Canada - 85 points
4th - Chinese Taipei - 84 points
5th - Chile - 83 points
6th - Finland - 82 points
7th - USA - 79 points
8th - Germany - 77 points
9th - Italy - 71 points

So what happens tomorrow?

Tomorrow will be a day of heads-up heats, featuring the team captains again. The draw will look like this:

Croatia - BYE
Norway vs Italy
Canada vs Germany
Chinese Taipei vs USA
Chile vs Finland

Five points will be awarded for each heads-up win, a further ten points for a team victory and another 15 points for a 5-0 clean sweep. Teams will then be ranked first to ninth and be awarded starting stacks for the final. Put simply it goes like this:

1st - $100,000
2nd - $90,000
3rd - $80,000
4th - $70,000
5th - $60,000
6th - $50,000
7th - $40,000
8th - $30,000
9th - $20,000

That's what each team will start with, depending on the points they secure tomorrow. The final table features twists and turns that frankly are sheer voodoo, and we'll bring you details of that tomorrow.

In the meantime you can check back through the three rounds played today at the links below and no, this stuff is not available in Swedish. Photography today came from the trigger finger of Joe Giron.

Round one
Round two
Round three

For now, it's over to the drinks reception ahead of the likely wave of Harrison Gimbel enthusiasts. Till tomorrow at noon.

World Cup of Poker VI: The third round

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:47:10 -0800

Live updates from Day 1a of the World Cup of Poker VI brought to you by Stephen Bartley. You can find the teams in our tournament introduction as well as a run down on what's in store today. You can also check in on the PCA main event final table here, and watch it all for yourself on EPTLive.

8.25pm: Day 1a results
The results are in and the points have been calculated. Then they were added to the team's other points, checked, re-checked, corrected, done again and confirmed. Here are the standings:

Congratulations to Croatia. A full wrap of the day's action, including the plan for tomorrow, will be published shortly.

8.15pm: All over
Although not for long. Templin just got unlucky when his opponent rivered an ace to take most if his chips. Two hands later he'd sealed another win for Canada, winning the points and bringing day 1a to a close. The result:

Table 3

1st - Canada -- 10 points
2nd - USA -- 8 points
3rd - Italy -- 7 points
4th - Germany -- 6 points

8.10pm: Closing in
The last two heads up battles have been the focus of attention for those still lingering the the World Cup end of the tournament floor. Table one finally found it's winner in Steve Deschesnes of Canada who finally out did Mauricio Ibarra to first place. The full result:

Table 1

1st - Canada -- 10 points
2nd - Chile -- 8 points
3rd - Finland -- 7 points
4th - Italy -- 6 points

Kevin Burill of Canada and Ryan Templin play on.

7.50pm: Three more tables have declared:

Table 4

1st - USA -- 10 points
2nd - Germany -- 8 points
3rd - Canada -- 7 points
4th - Finland -- 6 points

Table 8

1st - Finland -- 10 points
2nd - Italy -- 8 points
3rd - Chile -- 7 points
4th - Croatia -- 6 points

Table 2

1st - Chinese Taipei -- 10 points
2nd - USA -- 8 points
3rd - Germany -- 7 points
4th - Norway -- 6 points

7.45pm: Still with me?
At stake tonight for the highest scoring team is a day off tomorrow and a free ride into the final on Wednesday. Everyone else will return tomorrow to play a series of heads up matches to determine a finishing order. That will determine the starting stacks for all nine teams for the final table.

7.40pm: "It's going to be close."
I'm just getting word in my ear piece it's not yet in the bag for Croatia. Norway are blazing a trail through the last round of the day and should both they and Croatia tie it will be down to the number of heats won. As of now Norway have six to Croatia's three. No wait. Croatia just took another one. It's going down to the wire.

7.30pm: Table five declared
Yet more news from the floor with table five claimed by Norway:

Table 5

1st - Norway -- 10 points
2nd - Chinese Taipei -- 8 points
3rd - Germany -- 7 points
4th - Croatia -- 6 points

7.25pm: Keeping up to speed
A frenetic round so far. Shares in Christian Stokkeland of Norway are through the roof after he stormed through to hands to go heads up with Taipei's Lai Wan Shyun. His countryman, well, not so good. Gier Plassen is out of his heat and on his way to the drinks reception later tonight.

Valeria Bucciarelli (right) of Italy and Kirsi Korpi (left) of Finland

Italy took another hit when Valeria Bucciarelli lost with tens against Croatia's hit man. Croatia meanwhile have won the first heat and have already finished top on points today. they get a day off tomorrow while the rest are now competing for what's left of the points.

Table 7

1st - Croatia -- 10 points
2nd - Norway -- 8 points
3rd - Canada -- 7 points
4th - Chinese Taipei -- 6 points

7.05pm: Why hand around?
With 15 minutes played table four is already down to just two players, Michael Dietrich busting for Canada while Antti Marijarvi did the same for Finland. It's left to USA and Germany to battle out the winners points.

Elsewhere Chile are a man down, Shaun Sheffield (not exactly Chilean but he has lived there for 11 years), saying "Ah, come on!" to what was once his table, I'd say the victim of a bad beat.

Here's a reminder of where the teams stand on points:

1st - Croatia - 63 points
2nd - Norway - 59 points
3rd - Chile - 56 points
4th - Chinese Taipei - 53 points
5th - Finland - 51 points
5th Canada - 51 points
6th - Germany - 49 points
7th - USA - 46 points
9th - Italy - 42 points

6.45pm: Places please
No time to lose, the third round is about to start. This round feature four-handed sit n-go's. Once more everyone will start with 3,000 chips with 15 minute levels and again the team captains are restricted to watching from the rail. We'll be under way in a few minutes.

World Cup of Poker VI: The second round

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:18:14 -0800

6.35pm: Croatia still ahead
After two rounds the latest standings are as follows:

1st - Croatia - 63 points
2nd - Norway - 59 points
3rd - Chile - 56 points
4th - Chinese Taipei - 53 points
5th - Finland - 51 points
5th Canada - 51 points
7th - Canada - 51 points
7th - USA - 46 points
9th - Italy - 42 points

6.25pm: That's your round two
And the last result of the round is in, Norway beating Canada:

1st - Norway -- 10 points
2nd - Canada -- 8 points
3rd - Chile -- 7 points
4th - Croatia -- 6 points
5th - Italy -- 5 points
6th - USA -- 4 points

Full updated points totals on the way...

6.20pm: Two to go
Confirmation of the table two result:

1st - Chile -- 10 points
2nd - Croatia -- 8 points
3rd - Germany -- 7 points
4th - Canada -- 6 points
5th - USA -- 5 points
6th - Italy -- 4 points

6.15pm: One time
Unless I'm very much mistaken, that "WHOAA CHILE!" sound that just echo'd across the room was their second win of the round - Mauricio Ibarra beating Croatia to ten points.

6.10pm: Chile gets the win
A win for Chile on table one where Nicolas Campos Leal takes the ten points. In second was Italy, their best result so far. The full results:

1st - Chile -- 10 points
2nd - Italy -- 8 points
3rd - Chinese Taipei -- 7 points
4th - Germany -- 6 points
5th - Finland -- 5 points
6th - Norway -- 4 points

5.55pm: Phew
A vital double up for Chile on table two, keeping them alive against Italy. They play on.

5.45pm: Three down three to go
Three results are in, winners on tables three, four and five. One for Chinese Taipei, Norway and the other for the United States. Full results below:

Table 3

1st - Chinese Taipei -- 10 points
2nd - Finland -- 8 points
3rd - Germany -- 7 points
4th - Italy -- 6 points
5th - Chile - 5 points
6th - Canada -- 4 points

Table 4

1st - Norway -- 10 points
2nd - Canada -- 8 points
3rd - Croatia -- 7 points
4th - Chinese Taipei - 6 points
5th - Finland -- 5 points
6th - USA -- 4 points

Table 5

1st - USA -- 10 points
2nd - Chinese Taipei -- 8 points
3rd - Croatia -- 7 points
4th - Germany -- 6 points
5th - Norway -- 5 points
6th - Finland -- 4 points

5.35pm: Who's round is it anyway?
This could be ~~Chile's~~ ~~Croatia's~~ Chinese Taipei's round. Three of the six sit n-go's are now at the heads-up stage and two of those feature Taipei, against Finland and the United States. The other is taking place between Chile (could still be their round) and Italy (not likely to be their round).

5.25pm: More fallers
They'll be tears on the streets of Rome tonight. Another of the Italians has been sent packing, this time by Finland's Antti Marijarvi holding pocket jacks.

It was the same story for Canadian Wade Ackerman. He just busted, moving in on a [7s][8s][qs] flop with [kc][qh] only to run into Andrija Vujic of Croatia holding [7d][8c]. The Croatian hot spell shows no sign of leaving them in round two.

5.10pm: Getting hot in here
Could this be Chile's round? Two of their players lead at their table as their captain, Mauricio Zeman, paces the floor wrapped in his nation's flag. The other tables are being led by the USA, Croatia, Norway and Chinese Taipei.

Mauricio Zeman

5pm: Tommi out
Perhaps it was the exertion of the last round when he played a marathon heads-up duel to win his sit n-go, but Tommi Saarinen is the first out at his table, seen off by his opponent from Chinese Taipei. Another faller.

4.55pm: Mama mia
More bad news for Italy. Valeria Bucciarelli just busted first on her table, that's good for four points in this round but Italy will need more to give themselves a good position at the final table. Points in this level are awarded in the same way as the previous round:

1st -- 10 points
2nd -- 8 points
3rd -- 7 points
4th -- 6 points
5th -- 5 points
6th -- 4 points

4.45pm: A reminder of the standings so far

1st - Croatia -- 35 points
2nd - Norway -- 30 points
3rd - Finland -- 29 points
4th - Canada -- 25 points
5th - Chile -- 24 points
6th - United States -- 23 points
6th - Germany -- 23 points
8th - Chinese Taipei -- 22 points
9th - Italy -- 19 points

4.35pm: No hanging about
Well that's two down. First one of the American team and just now Kirsi Korpi of Finland who was seen off by the American at her table out for revenge.

4.30pm: Play starts
Play starts in round two. Players begin with 3,000 chips and play 15 minute levels. Luca Pagano is pacing the floor behind his countrymen and women. Jan Heitmann, fresh from commentary duty for EPTLive, currently showing the final table of the main event, is doing the same.

4.20pm: Ding ding, round two
Welcome back for round two. It's pretty much like the previous round only this time they are six-handed and the team captains will sit this one out. The draw is under way right now.

World Cup of Poker VI: The first round

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:11:01 -0800

4pm: "Are we last?"
Yes Luca, Italy are last. But it needn't stay that way. Ahead of the next round here are the combined scores after round one of the World Cup of Poker. It's Croatia on top.

3.55pm: Round one complete
An epic heads up encounter ends round one. Tommi Saarinen just scraped past Italy's Giovanni Manucuso to win ten vital points for his country.

Manucuso had held the advantage for most of the game but as the blinds reached the 1,000/2,000 stage it was all or nothing. The advantage swung between them until the last hand. Manucuso moved in with [jh][5h] with Saarinen calling with [ad][3c]. The board ran [4d][kd][th][qc][jc]. Manucuso saw the jack on the end and thought he'd doubled up, but he'd missed the straight. So had a few people.

A count confirmed the win for Finland, so the points for table two are as follows:

1st - Finland -- 10pts
2nd - Italy -- 8pts
3rd - Germany -- 7pts
4th - Chinese Taipei -- 6pts
5th - Croatia -- 5pts
6th - Canada -- 4pts
7th - Norway -- 3pts
8th - USA -- 2pts
9th - Chile -- 1pt

3.30pm: Still playing
An all-in on table two where Giovanni Manucuso of Italy and Tommi Juhani Saarinen are the last two players of the round. Manucuso showed [6h][8c] to call Saarinen's [qd][7h]. the board ran [5d][qh][5c][ac][qc] to double up the Finn. The two are now level in chips.

In for the long haul, Tommi Saarinen (right) and Giovanni Manucuso

3.20pm: The latest
More results in, first from table three where Croatia just won their second table, and another ten points to their tally. Denis Obadic eliminated Chris Burmeister of the United States and was instantly bear hugged by Croatian men and women on the rail who finished off with a bit of chanting. Here's the full result:

1st - Croatia -- 10pts
2nd - USA -- 8pts
3rd - Chile -- 7pts
4th - Finland -- 6pts
5th - Chinese Taipei -- 5pts
6th - Germany -- 4pts
7th - Canada -- 3pts
8th - Norway -- 2pts
9th - Italy -- 1pt

There's more. As Croatia put that one in the bag Norway won on table one, the full result:

1st - Norway -- 10pts
2nd - USA -- 8pts
3rd - Canada -- 7pts
4th - Finland -- 6pts
5th - Chinese Taipei -- 5pts
6th - Italy -- 4pts
7th - Croatia -- 3pts
8th - Germany -- 2pts
9th - Chile -- 1pt

Just table two remains, where Italy are heads up against Finland.

3.10pm: Croatia on top
Results from table four are now in after Denis Kelemen of Croatia just defeated Michael Dietrich of Canada. That's 17 confirmed points for Croatia so far. The full results are as follows:

1st - Croatia -- 10pts
2nd - Canada -- 8pts
3rd - Chile -- 7pts
4th - Finland -- 6pts
5th - Norway (Lodden) -- 5pts
6th - Germany (Heitmann) -- 4pts
7th - USA -- 3pts
8th - Chinese Taipei -- 2pts
9th - Italy (Pagano) -- 1pt

First win for Croatia

3pm: Heads-up
Four tables remain, three are heads up. Croatian captain Denis Kelemen is heads up with Canadian Michael Dietrich. Giovanni Manucuso plays Finland's representative, while it's USA's Chris Burmeister up against Croatia after Team Chile's captain Mauricio Zeman was just eliminated.

2.50pm: First results in from table five
The first of the sit n-go's has been won by Team Norway.Bjorn andre Horden getting the job done ahead of Chile. The full result for table five is as follows:

1st - Norway - 10pts
2nd - Chile - 8pts
3rd - Croatia - 7pts
4th - Germany - 6pts
5th - Italy - 5pts
6th - Chinese Taipei - 4pts
7th - Canada - 3pts
8th - USA - 2pts
9th - Finland - 1pt

2.45pm: Johnny Lodden and Raymund Wu - OUT

2.40pm: Three way action
A huge hand featuring three team captains. Only two would survive it. Croatia's captain Denis Kelemen moved all-in on the button for roughly 4,000. Jan Heitmann was on the small blind and called all-in, Johnny Lodden, not wanting to miss out, called from the big.

Kelemen: [ah][ks]
Heitmann: [tc][ts]
Lodden: [7s][7c]

The board ran [6s][2h][9h][as][4s]. Much cheering for Croatia, a drat expression from Heitmann who busts. Lodden had Kelemen covered and plays on.

Jan Heitmann (left) and Johnny Lodden

"It was a pleasure playing with you guys," said Heitmann before adding a touch of sinister drama. "We'll meet again... soon."

Kelemen up to more than 8,000 now.

2.25pm: Keep the flag flying
It's hotting up. Italy have lost another, this time in fifth place. Norway just lost a player Geir Plasen busting against Giovanni Manucuso, ace-jack against ace-king. So far so good for Canada, without captain Suharto but otherwise complete.

"Huge, that was a big one." that was the verdict of tournament staff watching Chris Burmeister of the United States crush Rasmus Ludke of Germany. Burmeister now leads that table after his queen-ten made a straight to beat Ludke's aces. Ludke then departed in the next hand against Wen-Hoa of Chinese Taipei.

2.15pm: Ooooh dear
Things have just taken a turn for the worse for Team Italy. Without their skipper Pagano now they've just lost another player, the first to go on their table. That's just two points so far to the Italian tally.

2.05pm: The latest
Chile, Croatia and Germany are each a player down, the blinds starting to bite now. Of the five tables two are led by Chinese Taipei, including one by captain Raymond Wu. Frank Boehrens is ahead for Germany at his table thanks to his busting of Vanessa Rousso; Johnny Lodden leads for Norway and Giovanni Manucuso tops one for Italy.

Captain of Norway Johnny Lodden

1.50pm: More fallers
Low and behold another team captain is no more. Darus Suharto, at the helm for the Canadians, is out, his king-five splattered by the aces of Norways's Christian Stokkeland.

1.45pm: Eliminations
Vanessa Rousso is out. The Team PokerStars Pro got it in with pocket jacks against the tens of Germany. A ten hit the flop and Rousso's early afternoon adventure is over, a shock blow to the American team. Rousso had apparently had aces cracked a few hands earlier.

Vanessa Rousso, moments before her elimination

She followed Finland's departure from her table. Happiest in all of this is Jan Heitmann. The German captain just trotted over to shake hands with Frank Boehrens. Morale in the Team Germany camp is high.

1.30pm: First shots in anger
There's action on the table featuring Pagano, Hietmann and Lodden, although neither of them feature. Instead Mauricio Ibarba from Chile and Ryan Templin from the USA are tangling early. Ibarra won the first, forcing Lodden and Templin to fold on a flop of [3s][kd][qh]. Then Templin took the next doing the same on the button on a flop of [4c][9c][3h].

1.15pm: "Sick" table draw
The random table draw has pitched some team captains against each other. The Team PokerStars Pros Luca Pagano (Italy), Jan Heitman (Germany) and Johnny Lodden (Norway) are all at the same table, as are Darus Suharto (Canada) and Vanessa Rousso (United States).

"Usually I'd ask where everybody's from..." said Jan Heitmann. "It's kind of redundant here."

1.10pm: Play begins
The first matches are now underway. Five, nine handed sit and goes with 3,000 starting chips and 15 minute blinds.

1.05pm: Minutes away
It's started. The pandemonium that is. The team from Chile did a pre-match chant a few minutes ago. I think the Canadians just did the same although I couldn't pick out the words.

Jan Heitman, captain of the German team for the second year in a row, is in good spirits, his eye on a second world cup win. Did he understand the rules? "Most of them," he said. "I'm thinking if we win everything, it won't matter too much."

World Cup of Poker VI: One of a kind event ready to begin

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:39:51 -0800

There comes a time each year at the PCA when a pre-selected blogger has to face reality, find a quiet corner and read through the rules and regulations for the latest incarnation of the world Cup of Poker. I'll be honest with you, it's no easy read. But after a few Advil and some time scribbling crayon on the back of a laptop, I think we have it. It may be intricate, but the prize is too much to pass on. For today this great event begins its sixth year. The teams are here, the defending champion Germans are here, for what is the most unique of tournaments. Find yourself a flag, adopt a country if "your boys" didn't make it this far, because it's time to get partisan.

Current holders - Germany

Back to those rules...

Some say the original World Cup of Poker rules were dug up by archaeologists, others that it was beamed down to earth from a distant point in the universe. However they were put together they make the World Cup a fast paced action tournament, a true original - the two-seater Ferrari 250 GT California to the main event's Cadillac Eldorado.

Today is the first of three days of play, culminating with the final table on Wednesday. Before that the teams will embark on a series of Sit N-Go's, nine teams, five players on each, playing for points based on finishing position. They'll be three of those events today played, as you'd expect, under PokerStars tournament rules:

1. Nine player full table Sit N-Go's (Five total)
2. Six player shorthanded Sit N Go's (Six total)
3. Four player super shorthanded Sit N Go's (Nine total)

When the day is done points will rank the teams in order. The country with the highest points total will receive a "Bye" to the final table while the teams ranked 2nd through 9th will face off in the live heads-up preliminary events on day 1b tomorrow. Those matches will award more points (and for brevity's sake we'll get to those later) and will determine starting stacks at the final - a tag team extravaganza - 20 minute shifts, substitutions, a stack per player, time outs and other quirks that add a touch of the Kandinsky to this great event.

So without further ado let's introduce the teams:

Canada - Darus Suharto (captain)
Steve Deschesnes, Michael Dietrich, Wade Ackerman, Kevin Burrill.

Chile - Mauricio Zeman (captain)
Mauricio Ibarra Araya, Rodolfo Awad, Shaun Sheffield, Nicolas Campos Leal.

Croatia - Denis Kelemen (captain)
Denis Obadic, Marko Puskadija, Andrija Vujic, Alessandro Grazia.

Finland - Jani Vilmunen (captain)
Tommi Juhani Saarinen, Kirsi Korpi, Mika Korpela, Antti Märijärvi.

Germany - Jan Heitmann (captain)
Rasmus Lüdke, Frank Boehrens, Sascha Cornils, Ole Carstens.

Italy - Luca Pagano (captain)
Valeria Bucciarelli, Vincenzo Bevilacqua, Giovanni Mancuso, Alessandro Sciolti.

Norway - Johnny Lodden (captain)
Bjørn Andre Hovden, Christian Stokkeland, Jan-Idar Lerbrekk, Geir Ståle Plassen.

Chinese Tai Pei - Raymond Wu
Tseng Wei Ming, Tsu-Chi Wang, Lai Wan Shyun, Wen-Aho Pan.

United States - Vanessa Rousso (captain)
Chris Burmeister, Andrew Schultz, Ryan Alan Templin, Salvatore Buccieri.

As an Englishman, with raw experience of watching World Cups, my money's on the Germans. You can never bet against Italian flair and unpredictability though, and Vanessa Rousso, skippering the American team today, is fresh off a win in the Ladies Event last night.

So first up are the five nine-handed sit n-go's, a player from each nation at each table. Each gets 3,000 starting chips and fifteen minute levels. Expect unrestrained patriotism, ruthlessness and some good natured rivalry all the way.

Good luck to everyone and let the mayhem begin.

Germany (finally) settles World Cup team

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:07:08 -0800

In its six year history, the PokerStars World Cup of Poker has seen just about everything. It's been played on a boat, in a TV studio, and at one of the world's greatest resorts. It's seen two-time champions and first-time winners. However, in all the time since PokerStars created the World Cup, it has never seen qualifying get bogged down by parity. That is, the World Cup has never seen its Division Finals end in a four-way tie.

Back on September 13 when the World Cup finals teams should've been almost decided, the six German teams played to determine which one would represent Germany in the World Cup live final in The Bahamas. Two German national teams faced off against four state teams. Only one of the six would get their chance at a title.

That's when the World Cup experienced its first-ever four-way tie. A German national team, Thüringen, Schleswig-Holstein, and Rheinland-Pfalz all finished with 47 points.

Now, in many tournament situations, that might not be a problem. However, when trying to coordinate the schedules of 16 different people to play matches online, organizers had a big task ahead of them.

It took weeks to figure out, but finally they got the matches underway, and this time the score wasn't even close. Schleswig-Holstein turned in a dominant performance with their Striker and Goalie each winning their match, the Midfielder coming in 2nd place, and the Defender bringing up the rear with a 4th place result. This added up to 63 points, with the next closest team, Rheinland-Pfalz, putting up 52 points.

Schleswig-Holstein, consisting of Greel13 (Striker), coach6999 (Midfielder), Cornils1986 (Defender), and th3_rock91 (Goalie) are now headed to the Bahamas. There they will fight against the United States, Canada, Italy, Finland, Norway, Croatia, Taiwan and Chile for the title.

Congratulaons to Schleswig-Holstein, heretofore known as Team Germany! Maybe they'll do as well as last year's German team (below), who won the World Cup.

World Cup of Poker VI headed to live finals

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:20:42 -0800

After several weeks of hardcore online battle, the final nine teams in the PokerStars World Cup of Poker VI have been set. Now, they're ready to pack their bags for the live finals in the Bahamas in January.

Once again, the final field is a true worldwide battle. The United States, Germany, Canada, Italy, Finland, Norway, Croatia, Taiwan and Chile will all be fighting for the World Cup of Poker title.

The nine final teams will travel to Paradise Island during the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Among the final teams is Team Germany, the World Cup of Poker V winners.

When the players reach the live finals in the Bahamas, all the players will compete in three rounds of preliminary events. The first round will consist of several nine-handed single-table shootouts with one player from each team at the table. In the second round, players will compete in a short-handed single table shootout. The third round will be made up of even tougher four-max contests.

When that's all said and done, the official rules look like this:

At the end of Day 1, players will be invited to a special Pokerstars World Cup of Poker drinks reception, where the line-ups will be announced. This is where the teams can start to decide on their strategy. On Day 2 it's one-on-one for your place at the Final Table. The remaining eight teams will be seeded 2-9, with Team 2 playing Team 9, Team 3 playing Team 8 and so on. The higher seeded team picks the Match-Ups, the lower-seeded team picks the order of play. All five members of each team will have one Heads-Up match against their enemy counterpart.
While the first place team enjoys a day at the beach, Teams 2-9 will be locking horns for the final Country Showdown. With 60 points going to the winner and 30 points to the losers, every country will see their fate determined in the Heads-Up battles. Then it's time for the Final Table and the chance to win big!

The PokerStars Blog always has that week in January blocked off to cover the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, so you're sure to see World Cup of Poker coverage here.

Congrats to the final nine teams. We'll see you on Paradise Island.

World Cup of Poker VI moves to regionals

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:00:12 -0800

Like a train full of coal (or a poker player after a Vegas buffet), it takes a lot of effort to get the World Cup of Poker moving. Deciding who will fight for national pride and nearly $300,000 is a slow and sometimes lumbering process. But, like the train, once the World Cup gets going, there's no stopping it until it crashes into the Caribbean.

This weekend ends the slow part of poker's biggest international incident.

Last weekend saw the state and province qualifiers decide who will be representing the various parts of the big countries. Now we move on to this weekend's regional deciding matches for the U.S., Canada, and Germany. Those fights begin on Sunday. After that, the full world action will get underway.

That celebration you see above is Team Germany in the throes of victory. Those guys made it to the live finals in the Bahamas earlier this year and went on to win the title and the big money.

The people competing this weekend have the same chance. The teams that make it to the live final get a trip to the Bahamas and a chance to represent their country under the lights.

But that is still a ways off. We still have a lot of work to do. In the meantime, good luck to all the players in this weekend's contests. May you wave your flag hard and hit all your draws.

You can find all the World Cup events in the PokerStars tournament lobby under EVENTS and WORLD CUP. For more information on how you can get involved in the big event, see the PokerStars World Cup of Poker home page.

The good folks behind the World Cup of Poker ask that if you are a high-ranking TLB scorer, check your e-mail and see if you have been invited into the event.