Four players now comprise each team that will battle in September in the Caesars Cup as part of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe festivities. Recently, team captains Daniel Negreanu and Annette Obrestad each made two more selections.
After grabbing November Nine member Phil Ivey with his first pick, Negreanu reached out to two of the game’s elite. Phil Hellmuth will join Team Americas in London. The Ultimate Bet pro owns the record for the most number of WSOP bracelets all-time at 11 and is regarded by many as the top Hold’em tournament player in the world. In fact, all 11 of his bracelets have come in that genre of poker. Hellmuth is a staple of the poker industry, infamously arrives late to tournaments, and, in the case of major events, enters in grand style.
Flanking Hellmuth in Jolly Old England will be John Juanda. The Full Tilt Poker pro dominated the last time he competed in WSOP Europe, winning its Main Event for £868,000. Negreanu had a courtside view of Juanda’s play throughout much of the event, ultimately taking fifth for £217,000. Juanda owns four WSOP bracelets and has made six final tables on the World Poker Tour (WPT), where he’s piled up $1.2 million in earnings.
Added to Team Europe, which already includes Obrestad and 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate, is Team PokerStars Pro icon Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier. His tournament resume includes a win in the 2008 European Poker Tour (EPT) PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $2 million. He followed up his performance in the island nation by winning its High Roller event in 2009 for $433,000. In between, Grospellier took down the WPT Festa al Lago for $1.4 million, defeating a final table that included Nam Le, Nenad Medic, and Ultimate Bet’s Adam “Roothlus” Levy.
The final addition to Team Europe is Dario Minieri. The Italian sensation made his first appearance on GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” during Season 5, an honor he earned after winning a WSOP bracelet in 2008. His piece of hardware came after taking down a $2,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event for $528,000, defeating a final table that also featured Kevin Song. In April of 2008, Minieri made the final table and finished third in the EPT San Remo stop for €287,000 in an event that marked Jason Mercier’s first win on the PokerStars-sponsored tour.
A total of eight players will comprise each Caesars Cup team and the final four contestants for each squad will be announced in the coming weeks. The tournament will pan out during WSOP Europe on September 26th at the Casino at the Empire. Here’s how each team looks with the selections halfway completed:
Team Americas
Daniel Negreanu (captain), Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, John Juanda
Team Europe
Annette Obrestad (captain), Peter Eastgate, Dario Minieri, Bertrand Grospellier
The Caesars Cup will air on the ESPN family of stations in the United States and syndicated around the world. The name of the game is No Limit Texas Hold’em and the tournament’s structure will consist of heads-up and partner formats. One spot on the European squad will be reserved for a qualifier from Betfair, which is the presenting sponsor of WSOP Europe. Betfair does not accept players from the United States.
The Caesars Cup loosely resembles golf’s Ryder Cup, which pits teams from the United States and Europe against each other once every two years. The 2008 installment took place in Louisville, Kentucky and was won by Team USA, whose captain was Paul Azinger. In 2010, the action moves across “The Pond” to a course in Wales.
The 2009 WSOP Europe festivities will kick off on September 18th, with the £10,350 buy-in Main Event beginning eight days later.