PokerWorks

The team concept is not new to poker, nor is the country versus country theme. But World Team Poker looks to take those ideas to a new level with its new poker tournament league. With some of the biggest names in poker heading up eight teams, each representing a different country, and all of the action caught on cameras and broadcast over the internet for the world to see, World Team Poker hopes to find exciting poker action and a wide audience to watch it.

The set-up is rather simple. Eight teams choose a team captain - or two co-captains in some cases - and a team of professional poker players is created from there. Each team will buy in to the tournament for $50,000, though the distribution of the prize pool has yet to be announced. Throughout the course of one day, the teams will compete in a five-table shootout format with rounds alternating between limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, and no-limit hold’em. Players will be coached by their captains, and substitutions can take place at the table per the coaches’ orders.

All of the action will be available to internet viewers who sign up on the WorldTeamPoker.com website before May 18, and only a short time-delay will be in place in order to allow viewers to see hole cards. The audience will also be able to chat, and some viewer questions will be answered on the live broadcast via the commentators, who have yet to be announced. Ultimately, the event will be edited down to a four-hour broadcast for television, as World Team Poker plans to shop the show to various networks.

The first event will take place on May 19 at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The plan is to organize a total of four league matches per year that will conclude with a Championship tournament to be held on an annual basis.

The teams, as they are organized thus far, have captains in place, though some still need to fill their teams with more players to even the numbers. As of the first week of April, the following teams have been organized:

Team USA
Captain: Doyle Brunson
Players: Phil Hellmuth, Allen Cunningham, Chris Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Howard Lederer, Mike Matusow, Erik Seidel, Annie Duke

Team China
Captains: Johnny Chan and David Chiu
Players: Zelong Dong, Maria Ho, Winfred Yu, Rich Zhu

Team Vietnam
Captain: Men Nguyen
Players: Scotty Nguyen, David Pham, John Phan, Kenny Tran, Karina Jett, Tim Phan, Van Nguyen

Team Australia
Captains: Jeff Lisandro and Tony G
Players: David Saab, Gary Benson

Team England
Captain: Ben Roberts
Players: David Ulliott, Peter costa, David Colclough, Surinder Sunar, Joe Beevers

Team Israel
Captain: Eli Elezra
Players: Michael Mizrachi, Robert Mizrachi, David Levi, Moshe Elazar

Team Brazil
Captain: Juliano Maesano
Players: Rodrigo Caprioli, Humberto Kim, Christian Kruel, Raul Oliviera, Leandro Pimentel

Team Greece
Captains: George Kapalas and George Theofanopoulos
Players: Alexis Zervos