On the kickoff episode of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe on ESPN2, the inaugural Caesars Cup took center stage. Pitting teams of eight from Europe and the Americas against each other, the Caesars Cup ended in a landslide victory.
The first team to four wins took home the gold, with the action starting with four doubles matches. If needed, three singles matches would follow and all players had to see action in the doubles events. The first match-up featured Huck Seed and poker deity Phil Ivey facing off against Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies and Patrik Antonius, two Finnish players. Each team member alternated bets by street in the first two pairings and by hand in the second two. Both teams received 100,000 starting chips.
The Americans took down a 70,000-chip pot to open up play after flopping top pair, but repeated checking down the stretch proved fatal. In one hand, Sahamies just called pre-flop with A-J of spades and Seed rapped the table with 8-5. The flop came 7-9-7 with one spade and Ivey checked. Antonius, a Durrrr Challenge combatant, bet 5,000 and Ivey called. The turn was the king of spades, giving the Europeans a flush draw, and the action went check-check. The river was an ace. Ivey bet 10,000 with air, Antonius raised to 30,000, and Ivey folded, shipping the 58,000-chip pot across the “Pond.”
Running low on chips, Ivey committed the team’s stack with 10-6 and Antonius made the call with K-2. The flop came 3-4-7 and a brand new “Out Tracker” debuted on the top of the screen reminiscent of poker shows like NBC’s “Face the Ace.” The turn and river fell a king and four, respectively, and Europe won the first match, giving the team a 1-0 lead.
The next pairing featured Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier and Betfair qualifier John Harvey facing off against Americas Captain Daniel Negreanu and 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. The UB.com front man was paired up with Harvey during the match, setting up what many thought would be a beating. Instead, Harvey held his own against the experienced Hold’em player.
Hellmuth raised to 4,000 pre-flop with 8-9 and Harvey, holding K-10 of spades, made it 10,000. Hellmuth called, reminding the crowd that Negreanu excels playing these types of hands. The flop came 6-8-10 and Grospellier bet 13,000 with top pair. Negreanu raised to 41,000 with middle pair and a straight draw and Grospellier shoved with his team’s life on the line. Negreanu called and, needing to spike a seven, eight, or nine for the win, Team Americas saw a five and four fall. The European team doubled to 184,000 chips.
Negreanu and Hellmuth doubled up twice, once with pocket sevens and once with pocket aces, before the fat lady sung. In the final hand, the European team cracked Team America’s aces with A-3 despite being just 8% to win pre-flop. A five hit on the turn to give Team Europe a wheel to go up 2-0 in the standings. ESPN announcer Norman Chad was livid: “Hellmuth and Negreanu lose to a qualifier! A qualifier!” Betfair is the official sponsor of WSOP Europe.
The third pairing featured European Captain Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad and Dario Minieri taking on DoylesRoom namesake Doyle Brunson and Jennifer Harman. The age contrast between the two teams was striking and the American squad was quick to make use of their experience. Team Europe doubled through with A-8 against A-6 to take a commanding 4:1 lead in chips before Team Americas mounted a comeback. Harman open-shoved with pocket jacks and Obrestad made the call with pocket fives to double the North American squad up.
Then, Obrestad was all-in with 10-8 and Brunson called after only looking at one ace in the hole, but flipped over two of them for the best starting hand in Hold’em. Team Americas turned quads and doubled up to 152,000 chips. On the final hand, Obrestad was all-in with J-5 against A-4. The better hand held and Team Americas had clawed back to be down just 2-1 in the Caesars Cup standings.
The final team match featured Gus Hansen and Peter Eastgate, two Danes, battling John Juanda and Barry Greenstein. The abbreviated match ended with Greenstein raising to 10,000 with K-J and Hansen re-raising to 32,000 with A-8. Greenstein pushed and Hansen called, leading to a board of 5-7-9-5-7. Team Europe’s ace kicker played and the squad entered, as Chad explained, “match point.”
Obrestad selected herself to play in the first heads-up match, where a win would crown Team Europe the first Caesars Cup champs ever. Negreanu countered with the reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner, Seed. Obrestad doubled up early. After raising with A-J and receiving a call from Seed, who held J-10 of diamonds, the action flop came J-2-K with two diamonds. Seed checked and Obrestad bet 7,000 with middle pair. Seed made it 31,000 to go and Obrestad pushed over the top. Seed called and the board filled out 4-2, giving Team Europe a critical double up.
Seed countered by doubling with K-7 against A-3 of hearts after spiking a king on the turn to move to 62,000 in chips. Then, Seed was all-in with his stack on the line with A-3, but Obrestad found A-7 and called. The flop came 9-9-7; another seven on the turn brought a full house and the win for Team Europe in the inaugural Caesars Cup.
The WSOP Europe festivities continue on ESPN2 according to the following schedule. All times are Eastern and coverage is of the WSOP Europe Main Event:
Sunday, February 7th: 10:00pm
Sunday, February 7th: 11:00pm
Monday, February 8th: 12:00am
Sunday, February 14th: 11:00pm
Monday, February 15th: 12:00am
Monday, February 15th: 1:00am
Sunday, February 28th: 9:00pm
Sunday, February 28th: 10:00pm
