The International Federation of Poker’s weekend of tournaments has reached its halfway point, with a champion crowned in their first ever duplicate poker tournament and “The Table” already in action.
On Thursday, twelve countries stepped up to take part in the inaugural Nations’ Cup event, playing duplicate poker, where the decks are preset and players earn points on how well they play their hands versus their opponents on other tables. Adding to the excitement of the first day of play was that each of the twelve tables took up a car on the London Eye, the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, which would sequester each table so that they would not know what happened with the other competitors.
As with a new event, however, there were some complications. Scoring the hands proved to be difficult and the IFP, to its credit, decided to ditch their planned format of eliminating the lower performing nations from Friday’s play and instead allowed all the countries to come back and play yesterday. “Our sole concern is to ensure fairness for all of the players and because of that (the scoring problems) this was not a difficult decision,” IFP President Anthony Holden stated before the start of Friday’s play. “(Thursday’s) play clearly demonstrated the tremendous appetite players have for team duplicate poker and the chance to represent their countries.”
Thus, all twelve countries came back for the second day of the Nations’ Cup at County Hall in London, ready to take down honors for their homeland. They were separated into two groups – Group A (Spain, Germany, United States, Ireland, Denmark and Team Zynga) and Group B (Japan, France, Australia, Holland, the United Kingdom and Brazil) – and played 36 hands of duplicate poker. Following the conclusion of that round, three teams from each group moved on to the final session, where 72 hands would be played to determine the Nations’ Cup champion.
Once the two groups completed the first round of play, there were some surprises. Group A moved Germany, Spain and a surprising Team Zynga (who held the lead through much of the first round of play), while Group B sent France, Holland and Brazil on to the final round. The United States and the United Kingdom stunningly both came up short in their efforts, finishing in sixth (the U. S.) and fifth (the U. K) in their group efforts.
After the 72-hand final round was played, the teams gathered in County Hall to learn who would capture the inaugural Nations’ Cup championship. After the final points were tabulated, Team Germany, captained by Stephan Kalhamer and featuring Sebastian Ruthenberg and Sandra Naujoks on the squad, compiled 24 points and emerged by the slimmest of margins to take down the title. Finishing in a tie for second with 22 points were Team Brazil and Team France, with the tiebreaker of chip counts giving Team Brazil the silver medal.
Team Zynga, comprised of players who had very little experience in the live poker arena, demonstrated their skills in the game by finishing in the fourth place slot, an excellent showing for amateurs against the professionals amassed against them. Team Holland and Team Spain tied for fifth, but Team Holland led the chip counts to take the fifth place honor.
Although the only thing on the line with the Nations’ Cup was national honor, the second event of the IFP’s weekend of poker is looking to boost the competitors’ bankrolls.
“The Table,” as this IFP tournament is called, features 135 invited players to battle it out over a two day tournament for a $500,000 prize pool, with $250,000 for first place. Although many of the players in the Nations’ Cup are involved with “The Table,” others – such as newly crowned World Champion Pius Heinz, former World Champion Tom McEvoy, John Duthie and Humberto Brenes – have joined in the fray.
Some of the rules that the IFP have put into place would be something for the tournament poker world to examine. According to the IFP rules and enforced by noted tournament director Thomas Kremser, players cannot use “any device to insulate themselves from the sounds of the game.” This means that players cannot use their iPads or other such devices as earplugs or noise canceling headphones. The IFP has also established rules that do not allow players to wear hats, hoodies or sunglasses.
Day One play is ongoing at press time, but the play at “The Table” has been exciting. Players eliminated since the start of play include Vanessa Selbst, Juha Helppi, Marcel Luske and Liv Boeree. According to the IFP live updates blog, the chip standings are such at this moment with approximately sixty players remaining:
1. Raul Mestre (Spain), 48K
2. Sebastian Ruthenberg (Germany), 39K
3. Matt Matros (United States), 36K
4. Andre Akkari (Brazil), 27K
5. Mel Judah (Australia), 26K
6. Barny Boatman (United Kingdom), 18K
Moritz Kranich (Germany), 18K
8. John Duthie (United Kingdom), 17.5K
9. Steve Davis (United Kingdom), 17K
10. Barry Greenstein (United States), 16K
“The Table” will conclude on Sunday with the crowning of the champion, who’ll be more than happy to pick up the $250,000 first place check. After tomorrow’s action we’ll also know some of the players’ thoughts on how the first ever IFP poker weekend has gone.