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In the WSOP 2007 Main Event Maria Ho was the Last Woman Standing and for three years she has been riding on that glory. It is true that she did an episode of the Amazing Race in between with best friend Tiffany Michelle, but that does not count as a poker event.

But now she was part of Team China that won the inaugural World Team Poker Championship. After a grueling 18 ½ hours of poker China defeated seven other teams to win the crown. Team China consisted of Maria Ho, Johnny Chan, David Chiu, Chau Giang, Winifred Yu, Derek Cheung and Rich Zhu. China defeated Brazil in the final heads up, even though Brazil started with a 3 to 1 chip lead. How much did Maria contribute to the win cannot be separately quantified, but Maria gave full credit to her team captains. She said, “Our co-captains Johnny Chan and David Chiu just led Team China to World Team Poker victory! 300k for first. Ship the cash and the medal pls!” in a Tweet message. Later the team had a celebration dinner at the Bellagio.

One person who is not Tweeting is Phil Hellmuth. After the highly rated Team USA was ignominiously knocked out early on, Hellmuth is keeping away from talking about World Team Poker. So is team mate and Ultimate Bet colleague Annie Duke.

Maria Ho featured on Poker2Nite and the talk inevitably turned to WSOP. Maria was asked who she backed for being the Last Woman Standing this year and she humbly answered “Trishelle Canatella”. Most readers would be asking “Trishelle who?”

The World Team Poker (WTP) event started on May 19 at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas. This tournament has generated a lot of interest because it will be played along country lines. Countries compete with each other in all sports and there is no reason why this should not be so in poker. The WTP web site explains how this competition is different from other poker tournaments. “Teams will battle it out for “Pride, Passion, Country” and the ultimate title: World Team Poker Champions!” This event will be introducing a new concept in poker. “Team Captains can play, coach and substitute players throughout the game.”

Each team will consist of five players and one substitute and will put up a $50,000 buy-in for the event. The competition will be held in a five-table shootout format, with alternating rounds of limit Hold’em, pot-limit Omaha and no-limit Hold’em. Like all international sporting events WTP is also meant to be spectator friendly. People in Sin City can go to the casino to watch the event. Be sure to take the flag of your country or better still paint your face in national colors. Live action will be streamed from the WTP web site and later Fox Sports Net will telecast a 13 episode package.

The teams have not been officially seeded, but Team USA will be hard to beat. Led by living legend Doyle Brunson the team contains luminaries like Phil Hellmuth and Chris Fergusson. Earlier Hellmuth was appointed the captain, but he stepped down in deference to Brunson’s stature and seniority. Hellmuth has said he wants to give up his brat-like ways and this act did give credence to his resolve. Team USA also has the two best female poker pros in the world, Annie Duke and Jennifer Harman. In his latest Tweet, Hellmuth said that Team USA would be playing in “beautiful Red, White, and Blue jerseys”.

Another strong contender is Team Vietnam. Led by Men Nguyen the team also has players of the caliber of Scotty Nguyen and Jim Pham, who on their day can rip anyone apart. One would have expected Poker Babe Liz Lieu to be on the team, but the captain has gone with lesser known Karina Jett instead. Her bio says “[she] is known for her skill as a mixed-games player” and poker abilities have scored over sex appeal.

At the ongoing Global iGaming Summit and Expo (GiGSE) Harrah’s came out strongly in favor of online gambling through the keynote address delivered by Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment CEO Mitch Garber. Garber is one of the most respected figures in online gambling having headed PartyGaming and practiced as an attorney in the field of gaming.

In order to highlight the inevitability of online gambling Garber gave a potent example, that of his teenage son. His son has not heard about Webster’s dictionary and is incapable of mailing a letter with a stamp on it. He lives in the world of Internet alone. The implication was the next generation of poker players will not be interested in physically handling chips or cards. Everything will have to be done “virtually”.

Garber stressed it is important to do away with the stratification within the industry. Debates like which jurisdictions are white-label or which regulatory body is correct are deterring the growth of the industry. He cited Article 49 of the European Union as an example of ambiguous legislation. Garber said, “That is an immature business and is proof of an immature business. We need to get the online gaming industry into the same unambiguous state that the offline gaming industry (is in).”

Garber pointed out that everywhere synergy was being created between online and offline properties. Citing the example of Apple he said, “Apple has been able to marry being a leader in creating a fantastic offline experience in selling hard goods like the Mac and the iPod with leading online product sales like iTunes and apps on the iPhone.” This is exactly what Harrah’s will be trying to achieve in the field of poker and casino gambling. Garber outlined some of the steps already taken by Harrah’s. It contacts customers by e-mail and has a presence on social networking sites interactive. Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment has launched Caesars Casino Online, Caesars Bingo and a World Series of Poker room in the United Kingdom and will be expanding these in other European countries.

Garber said that both legislators and the public at large need to be educated. Harrah’s will take the lead in this effort. “Harrah’s is putting its money where its mouth is,” he said. “We are very large supporters of various lobbying efforts both in the United States and abroad…”

Old timers will remember that once the only non-American stop for the World Poker Tour (WPT) was the Aviation Club in Paris. Situated on the Champs Elysees this is one of the most glamorous locations in the world. Something went wrong and the event was taken off the WPT calendar. Now WPT seems to have realized that the only way to survive is to reactivate the “world” part of its name and therefore the return to Paris. Earlier WPT has announced its first London stop.

Bruno Fitoussi the poker consultant for the club said, “The countdown is on and the Aviation Club de France is delighted to welcome back the WPT to Paris. The WPT Grand Prix de Paris is a high-class tournament, coverage of which will be televised, and it is an undoubted highlight on the international poker circuit.” The Grand Prix de Paris begins today. There will be two high profile events. One is the €10,000 buy-in main event and the other is the €20,000 high roller event.

French players like David Benyamine, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Antoine Saout, Fabrice Soulier, Ludovic Lacay and Arnaud Mattern are expected to participate. Of these perhaps only Benyamine has played in a WPT Paris. The others entered the scene after the WPT left Paris. However all eyes will be on Pokerbabe Isabelle Mercier. While doing her masters in Paris she worked as poker manager at the Aviation Club. She was twice nominated for the Staff Person of the Year award at the European Poker Awards. I certainly would be rooting for her to win.

World Series of Poker (WSOP) in the United States is legendary. It is almost synonymous with the history of modern poker. Online poker has made poker a global phenomenon and WSOP first went overseas in 2008 with WSOP Europe in London. Now Harrah’s, the owners of the WSOP brand, have announced the WSOP Africa tournament to take place at their own Emerald Resort and Casino in Vanderbijlpark in South Africa. Both the WSOP overseas tournaments will take place between the Vegas WSOP and the November Nine final table. WSOP Europe will take place in September and WSOP Africa will take place in October. WSOP Africa will begin with two events. The first is a three-day, $1,100 Pot Limit Omaha event and the second is a four-day, $5,000 Main Event. The field will be limited to 500 players in the Main Event.

The introduction of WSOP Africa is hardly surprising. South Africa has been one of the fastest growing poker regions of recent times. Emerald Resort and Casino CEO Martin Rice reacted positively to this announcement. He said, “This is the biggest news in poker. Poker has, over the past half-decade, accelerated in popularity. Our Emerald Poker Series, and its growing fields, is testament to the unlimited success of the sport. It was only natural to follow-on its popularity with the greatest tournament on the planet.” Poker in South Africa got a fillip when Raymond Rahme finished third in the 2007 WSOP Main Event. Having won more than $3 million on that occasion Rahme is the leading South African player in the country’s all time tournament earnings. He is far ahead of the next two in the list, Ryan Dreyer and Darren Kramer, who are well below the million dollar mark.

In a similar news item the World Poker Tour (WPT) announced that it will be holding it first event in London. The WPT London Poker Classic has been scheduled from August 30 to September 5 at the Palm Beach Casino in the May Fair Hotel. The European Poker Tour (EPT) was the first to enter London in 2004, followed by WSOP in 2007.