Poker Nations Cup

Great Britain means business and will send a strong team to the third annual PartyPoker Poker Nations Cup, set to take place in Cardiff, Wales, 7–10 April.

Roland de Wolfe will skipper the side featuring reigning Poker Million champion Joe Beevers, 2008 Irish Open champion Neil Channing, format specialist Ian Frazer and the inimitable Surinder Sunar. Joining them is qualifier Francis Durbin. Captain for the past two years, Dave “The Devilfish” Ulliott is unavailable as he is in the United States.

The team event features line-ups from Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Holland and the United States. The winning team will scoop $100,000 in this unique tournament that sees players pursuing personal and team glory, along with the honour of representing their home nation.

The tournament sees one PartyPoker.com VIP qualifier on each team playing alongside five world class poker professionals from the same participating nations. Each player pays a buy-in of $5,000 making a total prize pool of $280,000 ($100,000 added by PartyPoker).

Over six heats, each player will compete once to score points for their team, and individual match winners scoop $20,000 for themselves for their efforts. All six teams will then compete in a “tag” final where each team captain’s judgement is vital, as it is up to them to make tactical substitutions and strategic “time outs.”

The size of the team chip stacks for the tag final depend on the points gained by the players in the six heats. The triumphant nation will be the last with a player standing.

Team USA is captained by Robert Williamson III and will feature $12 million 2006 WSOP Main Event winner Jamie Gold, the one and only Freddy Deeb, the iconic Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson and Chad Brown.

With there being no qualifier from the USA, captain Robert Williamson III has drafted in television host Montel Williams to make his European poker debut. Williams may be better known as a chat show host but he was the leading the WSOP Main Event for a period in 2007.

“I am thrilled and honoured that I have been invited to be a part of Team USA for the Poker Nations Cup. My teammates are extraordinary as I have played against many of them in the past year and now look forward to teaming up with them in our quest to defeat poker pros from around the globe,” said Williams.

A PartyPoker spokesman said: “The array of talent on display for the 2008 PartyPoker Poker Nations Cup is brilliant. Sweden have to be favourites to retain their title as their line-up of pros is unchanged and are used to the format and they are arguably strengthened by their online qualifier representative. That said, the USA will take some stopping with the likes of Gold, Ferguson Deeb and Brown on board while Great Britain boasts so many form players in their team."

"Ireland is a bit of a wildcard but there is little doubt that they have strength in depth in their side while Germany appear much stronger than previous years. The Dutch side led by Marcel have to be seen as the underdogs – the names don’t jump out as much at you as they do with the other line-ups.”

Coverage of the 2008 event will be produced for Channel 4 in the UK by Presentable, presented by Vicky Coren and broadcast in the autumn. The action will then be distributed internationally.

GREAT BRITAIN
Roland de Wolfe Capt.
Joe Beevers
Ian Frazer
Surinder Sunar
Neil Channing
Francis Durbin – qualifier

GERMANY
Michael Keiner Capt.
Andreas Krause
Benjamin Kang
Sebastian Ruthenberg
Thomas Bihl
Thomas Potzel – qualifier

HOLLAND
Marcel Luske Capt.
Thierry Van den Berg
TBC
Eric Van der Berg
Daan Ruiter
Quirijn Van der Peet – qualifier

IRELAND
Padraig Parkinson Capt.
Donnacha O’Dea
Ciaran O’Leary
Liam Flood
Marty Smyth
Darren O’Brien – qualifier

SWEDEN
Bo Sehlstedt Capt.
Anders Henriksson
Mats Rahmn
Johan Storakers
William Thorsson
Johan Ocklind – qualifier

USA
Robert Williamson III Capt.
Jamie Gold
Chris Ferguson
Freddy Deeb
Chad Brown
Montel Williams – Celebrity Player