World Team Poker Contest Starts
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.
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