World Team Poker will return for a second year with a Championship Event at the South Point Casino in Las Vegas from May 24th to 26th. The event, which will be filmed for television, will feature the world’s top players from at least 18 countries battling it out in a team-style format. Last year’s field included pros like Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Doyle Brunson, Tony G, Jeffrey Lisandro, Mike Matusow, and Chris Ferguson.
The countries currently scheduled to participate in the three-day event include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Cyprus, England, Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, Italy, Korea, Lebanon, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, the Ukraine, Vietnam, the United States, and a Wild Card team of celebrities captained by Dr. Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Other teams have expressed interest in playing and are in the midst of organizing their rosters, including the Caribbean Islands, Costa Rica, Denmark, India, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, and Wales.
Details are expected to be announced in the coming weeks, but here’s how the World Team Poker format worked last year: Eight players took a seat at each of the Round One tables, with only the top two finishers progressing to the final table. However, with only one final table seat allocated to each team, any country qualifying more than one player would have their chip totals combined and designate one team member for the seat.
Team captains were allowed to coach team members on strategy and could also substitute while the tournament was in progress. The three games rotated were Limit Hold’em, No Limit Hold’em, and Pot Limit Omaha, so captains had to decide which player to use during each round based on their skill level and table dynamics.
Team China won last year’s World Team Poker event at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. The team consisted of co-captains Johnny Chan and David Chiu and team members Derek Cheung, Chau Giang, UB.com pro Maria Ho, Winfred Yu, and Rich Zhu. China defeated Brazil for the $300,000 top prize following a 19-hour marathon.
Brazil’s team consisted of captain Juliano Maesano and team members Felipe “Mojave” Ramos, Christian Kruel, Leandro Pimentel, and Rodrigo Caprioli. Each team anted up $50,000 to play.
World Team Poker joined forces with Fox Sports Net to air last year’s event and expects that to happen in the weeks before this year’s tournament. The show is set to run for 13 consecutive weeks on the network. “Watching poker superstars coaching their teams is not only exciting poker, but dramatic and thrilling reality entertainment certain to captivate audiences,” World Team Poker said in a statement.
Going forward, World Team Poker will hold tournaments in four geographic regions: the Americas League, the European League, the Mediterranean League, and the Pacific League. The year will culminate with an annual World Team Poker Championship.
First up will be the Pacific League match, which will take place in Macau in the fall, followed by the Americas League Match in Brazil, the Mediterranean League Match in Greece, and the European Match in London.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for updates from the South Point Casino in May.
