Poker Nations Cup

The second annual Poker Nations Cup takes place in Cardiff, Wales, between the 29 January – 1 February 2007 and some of the biggest names in the game are lined up to do battle.

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.

Last year’s winners Great Britain will again be captained by one of poker’s most familiar faces, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott. Also containing the Hendon Mob’s Ram “Crazy Horse” Vaswani and Joe “The Elegance” Beevers, the “Devilfish” is sure to be confident of another victory on home soil for the Brits.

The USA team also look extremely strong. Led by Robert Williamson III, the USA line-up has a secret weapon to unleash in Jennifer Tilly. The Academy Award-nominated actress who has starred in ‘The Fabulous Baker Boys,’‘Liar Liar’ and ‘The Haunted Mansion’ is sure to steal the limelight with her beautiful looks and Hollywood style.

Tilly, however, is no pushover on the felt and with a WSOP bracelet on her wrist her poker skills are regarded as highly as her acting. Jennifer will also be joined on the USA team by professional poker player and boyfriend, Phil “The Unabomber” Laak.

The four other team captains are “The Flying Dutchman” Marcel Luske, Bo Sehlstedt, Michael Keiner and Theo Jorgensen who will be in charge of teams from Holland, Sweden, Germany and last year’s runner-up Denmark.

The tournament sees one lucky PartyPoker.com qualifier on each team playing alongside five poker professionals from the same participating nations (except the USA who have Tilly instead of an online qualifier). Over six heats, each player will compete once to score points for their team, and individual match winners scoop a cool $12,000 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 triumphant nation will be the last with a player standing.

PartyPoker.com are sponsoring the tourney and a spokesman said, “Last year’s tournament was a huge success and we are delighted to be on board this time. With national pride at stake, nobody will want to let their country down. This is the only tournament of its kind and is popular with poker fans around the globe.”

The show will be produced for Channel 4 in the UK by Presentable. The event will be broken down into 9×60 minute episodes and will be aired during March and April 2007. Each show will feature commentary by Vicky Coren, alongside the ever-familiar voice of Barny Boatman.