PARTYPOKER.COM POKER NATIONS CUP!
Gibraltar — 8th September 2008 – Coverage of the popular PartyPoker.com Poker Nations Cup starts on Channel 4 in the UK at midnight on Tuesday 16th September/Wednesday 17th September but ahead of transmission four hands from the action are available to view as a sneak preview. The prestigious 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.
Van Der Peet vs Kang - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5Mou9YQDyg
Sunar vs O’Dea - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vUz5_kxELA
Luske vs Kang - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR4UbvFz5aU
Gold vs Ocklind - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbHbdad2fzg
The tournament saw one PartyPoker.com VIP qualifier on each team playing alongside five world class poker professionals from the same participating nations. Each player paid a buy-in of $5,000 making a total prize pool of $280,000 ($100,000 added by PartyPoker.com). Over six heats, each player competed once to score points for their team, and individual match winners scooped $20,000 for themselves for their efforts. All six teams then competed in a “tag” final where each team captain’s judgement was vital, as it was up to them to make tactical substitutions and strategic “time outs.” The size of the team chip stacks for the tag final depended on the points gained by the players in the six heats. The triumphant nation was the last with a player standing.
Defending champions Sweden were captained by Bo Sehlstedt and featured William Thorsson, Johan Storakers, Mats Rahm and last year’s hero Anders Henriksson. Joining them was an online qualifier with serious form in Johan Ocklind, who locked horns with the likes of Patrik Antonius, Tony G and Ilari Sahamies at the Scandinavian Poker Masters cash game last year. He got to sit down with $50,000 in the shark pool and handled himself admirably after qualifying online at PartyPoker.com.
The British team was captained by Roland de Wolfe and featured reigning Poker Million champion Joe Beevers, 2008 Irish Open champion Neil Channing, format specialist Ian Frazer and the inimitable Surinder Sunar. Joining them was qualifier Francis Durbin. Captain for the past two years, Dave “The Devilfish” Ulliott was unavailable as he was in the United States. Ireland made a welcome return to the competition and were captained by legend Padraig Parkinson, joined by fellow Irish poker giant Donnacha O’Dea, 2007 Irish Open and recent WSOP® bracelet winner Marty Smith, 2006 WSOP® bracelet holder Ciaran O’Leary and 2007 PartyPoker.com European Open champion Liam Flood. Darren O’Brien joined the team as the qualifier.
Team USA was captained by Robert Williamson III and featured $12 million 2006 WSOP Main Event winner Jamie Gold, Thomas ‘Thunder’ Keller, the iconic Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson and Chad Brown. With there being no qualifier from the USA, skipper Robert Williamson III 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.
The German team was captained by Michael Keiner and the former plastic surgeon moulded together a very strong team. Andreas Krause, one of the top European players last year is a key figure in the line-up as is Benjamin Kang, inaugural PartyPoker.com German Open winner Sebastian Ruthenberg and WSOP® Europe bracelet winner Thomas “Buzzer” Bihl. Thomas Potzal was the qualifier joining this glittering role call of top pros. The Dutch team was captained by Marcel Luske and featured Thierry Van der Berg, Eric Van der Berg, Hans Ritburg and Daan Ruiter with Quirijn Van Der Peet the qualifier.
Last year Sweden triumphed over the USA in a rollercoaster tag-final, while the year before there was glory for Great Britain. The 2007 event was dramatic from start to finish. Defending champions Great Britain featuring Dave, “The Devilfish” Ulliott, Ram Vaswani and Joe Beevers steamrollered the field for the first few days and were runaway favourites to win going into the final. The short stack was Team USA who had been on the receiving end of a terrible run. Captained by Robert Williamson III, the line-up featured Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Clonie Gowen, Kevin O’Donnell and Hollywood actress Jennifer Tilly. The stars and stripes had been taking a mauling all week until Williamson III won the heat the night before the final to give them a small chance. The USA cruised from short stack to big stack in the final mainly thanks to a marathon session from Antonio Esfandiari. After a big Clonie Gowen double-up it seemed that nobody would stop the USA. All this time the Swedish team were middle of the field, like they had been all week, keeping out of trouble.
First out in the final was Germany, captained by Michael Keiner, in less than an hour. Next to go was Denmark, captained by Theo Jorgensen, and then Holland, led by Marcel Luske. It was when it was three handed between Great Britain, Sweden and the USA that Sehlstedt brought on his super substitute Anders Henriksson. Devilfish tried to talk the Swedish star into oblivion but Anders just sat calmly sucked it all in and added to his stack. Eventually Williamson busted Devilfish and became huge favourite to win only to have the spirit from inside him extracted by the quiet Swede who overturned a huge deficit to take the cup back to Stockholm.
Coverage of the 2008 event was produced for Channel 4 in the UK by Presentable and presented by Vicky Coren. Following its transmission in the UK the coverage will 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
Hans Ritburg
Eric Van der Berg
Daan Ruiter
Quirijn Van der Peet - qualifier
IRELAND
Padraig Parkinson Capt.
Donnacha O’Dea
Ciaran O’Leary
Liam Flood
Marty Smith
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
Thomas Keller
Chad Brown
Montel Williams – Celebrity Player
September 8, 2008