Europe conquers in Caesar’s Cup
Team Europe has claimed victory and bragging rights for a year as they claimed the 2009 Caesar’s Cup at the Empire Casino in London. The unique tournament pits the best of Europe against the best of the Americas in a series of matches.
The first match saw Phil Ivey and Huck Seed from Team Americas competing against Patrik Antonius and Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies from Team Europe. Play lasted about an hour, during which the hyper-aggressiveness of the Europeans allowed them to seize the chip lead. Non-WSOP event winners to date, Antonius and Sahamies – both highly-respected cash-game players – ultimately defeated the two American poker greats, who hold a combined 11 gold bracelets between them. Europe led 1-0.
Fireworks were expected in the second match, given the combustible personalities of Team Americas members Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth. The pair did not disappoint. However, Euro-superstar Bertrad “Elky” Grospellier and Betfair’s online qualifier John Harvey, stole the show and ended up with the win. After taking an early beat for more than half their chips, Team Americas was short-stacked. Then, about 30 minutes into play, Caesar Cup’s most exciting hand occurred when the Europeans put a horrific beat on Negreanu and Hellmuth. John Harvey pushed all in pre-flop with A-3. Phil Hellmuth looked down and saw an ace, and immediately announced “I call.” He then added, “I saw the ace of clubs and that’s all I need to call.”
Incredibly, Hellmuth flipped over his second card — another ace. It appeared Team America’s would get a much-needed win holding such a dominant lead, which was A-A versus A-3. Then, disaster struck for Team Americas. The flop came K-4-2, giving Team Europe four cards to a straight. With all minds focused on a five, both team members rushed to the table. Kaboom! The five of diamonds rained down on the turn from the poker heavens, crushing Team Americas’ chances of getting even, and temporarily muzzling two of poker’s biggest yappers, Negreanu and Hellmuth. Europe led 2-0.
Later, when asked to comment about what was indisputably the most decisive hand of Caesars Cup, John Henry replied with his thick Scottish accent: “I quite like A-3 as a hand, yes I do. Of course, I had no idea I was facing up against (pocket) aces. When it come with a five, I said ‘gee.”
Winning the third match was critical for Team Americas, which seated poker legend Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson with Jennifer Harman. Team Europe sat Dario Minieri alongside Annette Obrestad. Despite the change of players, early on, it appeared Team Europe would take a decisive 3-0 edge when Minieri and Obrestad won a big pot holding A-8 versus A-6. But a short time later, the poker gods smiled and dealt out a massive apology to Team Americas following the pocket aces debacle which took place the previous match. This time, Brunson and Harman were dealt A-A. Their all-in raise was called and Team Americas ended up making quad-aces on a monster hand. The Europeans went bust a few hands later, making the score 2-1 still in their favor.
Match four bestowed yet another intriguing face off. John Juanda teamed with Barry Greenstein, representing Team Americas. Gus Hansen and Peter Eastgate provided a formidable obstacle as the European contingent. This ended up being a short match, ending in just 18 minutes. Outchipped, Barry Greenstein made a raise with K-Q. Gus Hansen moved all-in with A-8. Greenstein made a crying call. Neither player improved, which meant the ace-high played. Chalk up another victory for Team Europe, which lead 3-1.
The format was changed for the fifth match. Single-player heads-up play replaced the two-players to a hand format. Team Americas picked 1996 world champion Huck Seed to face 2007 WSOPE Main Event winner Annette Obrestad. It took only nine minutes for Team Europe to pound the final nail in Team Americas’ coffin. After Obrestad took most of Seed’s chips holding top pair (Seed had a pair with a flush draw, which missed), on the final hand Obrestad was dealt A-7 against Seed’s A-3. Obrestad hit a seven and made nines-full-of sevens on the river to scoop the final pot of the match and lock up an impressive victory. Final score, Team Europe 4, Team Americas 1.
The members of Team Europe were jubilant afterward, in contrast to Team America, which was visibly shocked and disappointed. The visitors were not only dissatisfied with the results. They were stunned by the lopsided score and relative ease by which the Europeans achieved their victory.
The early buzz following the result is a mix of conjecture suggesting many young online and cash game specialists are indeed the world’s best poker players. Many of these players may not be as well-known to the poker community nor have the achieved proper name recognition of players like Brunson, Hellmuth, Negreanu, and so forth. Nonetheless, Team Europe’s Caesars Cup victory is a testament to the fact that poker continues to change towards a much younger demographic. And one thing is for certain: It’s not just an American game anymore.
Team Americas
Daniel Negreanu – Team Captain
Doyle Brunson
Phil Hellmuth, Jr.
Phil Ivey
Huck Seed
John Juanda
Jennifer Harman
Barry Greenstein
Team Americas may technically include players from anywhere in North, Central, or South America. However this year, there were seven Americans and one Canadian. Six of the eight players live in Las Vegas, with Phil Hellmuth and Barry Greenstein being the exceptions. They live in California.
The composition of team members provided a stark contrast in personalities, styles, and backgrounds. The Americans and Canadians were generally older, far more experienced, and enjoyed a massive advantage in terms of accomplishments. The members of Team Americas hold a total of 45 WSOP gold bracelets combined, more than 12 times the number of wins by the Europeans. Reported tournament career winnings by the team totaled more than $52 million.
Team Europe
Annette Obrestad – Team Captain
Peter Eastgate
Dario Minieri
Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier
Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies
Patrik Antonius
Gus Hansen
John Harvey – Betfair Qualifier
John Harvey will most certainly come away as the player with the fondest memories of the Caesars Cup. He ended up busting Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth on a thrilling hand. Harvey is a 47-year-old unemployed pipe inspector from Edinburgh, Scotland. He qualified to be a member of Team Europe after winning and series of online qualifying tournaments held at Betfair.com.
There was far less controversy surrounding the selections of the European team. However, team captain Annette Obrestad’s task of picking just seven players from amongst so much great European talent was no less difficult.
Team Europe may technically include players from any nation in Europe. This year, the following countries were represented – Norway, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, and Scotland.
Prior to the start of the tournament, WSOP President and Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack stated: “The Caesars Cup is a tournament that brings together some of the most elite players from Europe and the Americas, who will all compete for national pride, international bragging rights, and a new trophy called the Caesars Cup.”
Daniel Negreanu stated: “My view of the Caesars Cup is similar to what is going on in golf with the Ryder Cup. There are players representing their country on each team. And that helps to create a very special event that people will care about. So far, it has gone that way. Everybody is really into it. It is lots of fun. The format and matchups are great. I mean, Huck Seed and Phil Hellmuth on the same side? That’s exciting for me to watch. As for being the captain, it’s fun for me. I do not look at it anything other than they will all look to me as someone to be the glue that can hold it all together and be the strategist, which is what I love to do. I am really honored to be the captain, for sure.”
Annette Obrestad stated: “I think the Caesars Cup is a really cool concept. It is something that has never been done before. I hope the Caesars Cup goes on every year, from now on. It’s really cool to be the captain of Team Europe and I hope that since I got this chance I can do my team a lot of good and lead us to victory.”
John Henry (who qualified online at Betfair to play on Team Europe) stated: “I still can’t believe it. It was a great honor to play with this group. That’s all I can say.”
Members of Team Europe were presented with the inaugural Caesars Cup, a large flashy silver-plated trophy which promises to become a coveted keepsake for winning teams in the future.
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