Poker Nations Cup
Encyclopedia
The Poker Nations Cup is an international poker tournament
, televised on Channel 4
from March 2006 onwards.
The series is commentated by Jesse May
and Barny Boatman
. Padraig Parkinson
covered for Boatman in preliminary match 2.
The series was filmed in Cardiff
, Wales
. Thomas Kremser
was the tournament director, and the dealers were Marina Kremser and Stevie.
The event in 2006 was sponsored by 888.com
. In 2007 888.com has been replaced by Partypoker
as main sponsors. The event will also be televised on Channel 4.
.
The captain chooses one player from the six available to compete in each of the six preliminary tournaments (each player on the team plays once, and once only.)
Points are awarded for the finishing position of each player in each preliminary event. These points are totalled and used to calculate chips in the Grand Final. Points are awarded as follows:
Team captains can choose to substitute team members during the Grand Final, where the winning team receives $100,000.
(NB: As members of a nation's team never face other members of the same team, there is no possibility of collusion, as is possible in other team-format poker tournaments.)
flag as that is the country he is representing, despite Gray being born in Canada
.
1: denotes Team Captain
2: denotes online qualifier
Team captains were also entitled to call a 60 second time-out with any player in their team once per game.
The Grand Final's television broadcast spanned over two episodes.
Poker tournament
A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table , and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on thousands of tables...
, televised on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
from March 2006 onwards.
The series is commentated by Jesse May
Jesse May
Jesse May is an American poker commentator and player.Jesse May was raised in Madison, New Jersey, where he first became hooked on poker playing with friends. In 1988 he started attending The University of Chicago, but he found that classes were clashing with his poker games, and so dropped out...
and Barny Boatman
Barny Boatman
Barny M. P. Boatman , is an English professional poker player and the oldest member of the poker-playing foursome known as The Hendon Mob...
. Padraig Parkinson
Padraig Parkinson
Padraig Parkinson is an Irish professional poker player. He is chiefly recognised as the grand final winner of Late Night Poker series 5 and as the third-place finisher of the 1999 World Series of Poker, where he lost to fellow countryman Noel Furlong.Originally, Padraig refused to play in Late...
covered for Boatman in preliminary match 2.
The series was filmed in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. Thomas Kremser
Thomas Kremser
Thomas Kremser is an Austrian poker tournament director from Vienna, and the owner of the Concord Card Club.He has been in charge of events on the World Poker Tour, European Poker Tour, Late Night Poker, William Hill Poker Grand Prix and many others...
was the tournament director, and the dealers were Marina Kremser and Stevie.
The event in 2006 was sponsored by 888.com
Cassava Enterprises
888 Holdings plc is a company which operates several high-profile gambling websites. It was founded in 1997 and is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index....
. In 2007 888.com has been replaced by Partypoker
PartyGaming
bwin.Party Digital Entertainment Plc is an online gambling company, formed by the March 2011 merger of PartyGaming plc and bwin. The world's largest publicly traded online gambling firm, it is best known for its online poker room PartyPoker.com and its sports betting brand Bwin. It is...
as main sponsors. The event will also be televised on Channel 4.
Format
Six nations compete in the series, with six members to each team. Each team has a captain and an internet qualifierOnline poker
Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a dramatic increase in the number of poker players worldwide...
.
The captain chooses one player from the six available to compete in each of the six preliminary tournaments (each player on the team plays once, and once only.)
Points are awarded for the finishing position of each player in each preliminary event. These points are totalled and used to calculate chips in the Grand Final. Points are awarded as follows:
- 1st: 10 points
- 2nd: 7 points
- 3rd: 5 points
- 4th: 3 points
- 5th: 2 points
- 6th: 1 point
Team captains can choose to substitute team members during the Grand Final, where the winning team receives $100,000.
(NB: As members of a nation's team never face other members of the same team, there is no possibility of collusion, as is possible in other team-format poker tournaments.)
Teams
NB: The flags within this article show the country the player is representing. e.g.: below Scott Gray is identified with the IrishIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
flag as that is the country he is representing, despite Gray being born in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
 United Kingdom |
 Denmark |
 Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Dave Ulliott Dave Ulliott David A. Ulliott , known by the nickname Devilfish, is an English professional gambler and poker player. Formerly, Ulliott was a minor figure in the Hull underworld, but went on to become a World Series of Poker bracelet-winner, and a mainstay of televised poker... 1 |
Martin Wendt Martin Wendt Martin Wendt is a Danish professional poker player.In the 2005 Poker Million, Wendt was at one time the chip leader, but ended up finishing in 3rd place, earning $200,000... 1 |
Michael Keiner Michael Keiner Michael Keiner is a German poker player best known for winning a Seven-card stud WSOP bracelet in 2007.Keiner, who used to be a plastic surgeon, started playing poker in 1993.... 1 |
| Joe Beevers Joe Beevers Joseph "Joe" Charles Beevers is an English professional poker player and a member of The Hendon Mob.... |
Christian Grundtvig | Christoph Haller |
| Tony Bloom Tony Bloom Anthony Grant "Tony" Bloom is a football club chairman and successful poker player.-Poker and betting:Bloom made a name for himself as a successful sports bettor and property investor... |
Theo Jørgensen Theo Jørgensen Theo Jørgensen is a Danish professional poker player, based in Copenhagen who has made two European Poker Tour final tables.Jørgensen began playing poker in the early 1990s... |
Andreas Krause |
| Julian Gardner | Rehne Pedersen | Roland Specht |
| Ram Vaswani Ram Vaswani Ram Vaswani is an English professional snooker player, turned professional poker player and the youngest member of The Hendon Mob... |
Jan Vang Sørensen | Katja Thater Katja Thater Katja Thater is a professional poker player and horse breeder. She is married to another poker professional, Jan von Halle.Her popularity in Germany comes from the wide coverage on local television of her participation in the Poker Nations Cup and Women's Poker Open.Before becoming a professional... |
| Scott Griffiths 2 | Anders Jensen 2 | Sebastian Zentgraf 2 |
 Republic of Ireland |
 Sweden |
 United States |
|---|---|---|
| Noel Furlong Noel Furlong J. J. Furlong is an Irish businessman and recreational poker player who won the 1999 World Series of Poker main event.-Early life:Furlong was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland... 1 |
Ken Lennaárd Ken Lennaárd Ken Richard Douglas Lennáard is a Swedish professional poker player, based in Stockholm, Sweden. He was also the chairman of the Swedish Poker Federation until he resigned in October 2006.-Poker career:... 1 |
Robert Williamson III Robert Williamson III Robert Williamson III is an American poker player from Dallas, Texas.Williamson grew up with three sisters and his best friend, Chris Caywood in Granbury, Texas and received B.B.A. degrees in finance and real estate from Angelo State University in San Angelo.He began playing aged 10 or 11, after... 1 |
| Don Fagan | Ayhan Alsancak | Andy Bloch Andy Bloch Andrew Elliot Bloch is a professional poker player. He holds two electrical engineering degrees from MIT and a JD from Harvard Law School.-Poker:... |
| Scott Gray | Fuat Can | Clonie Gowen Clonie Gowen Cycalona Gowen is an American professional poker player, based in Dallas, Texas.-Early life:Gowen was born in Florida, and grew up in Kiowa, Oklahoma. She won Miss Teen McAlester, Oklahoma, at age 15, and as a teenager moved to Corsicana, Texas... |
| Rory Liffey | Erik Sagström Erik Sagström Erik Sagström is a Swedish professional poker player. Sagström was introduced to poker accidentally while surfing the web. He began to play at ParadisePoker at the age of 17 and has since become a successful online poker player.... |
Thomas Keller Thomas Keller (card player) Thomas Keller is an American professional poker player, residing in Scottsdale, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada. He is the brother of Shawn "Lightning" Keller.... |
| Padraig Parkinson Padraig Parkinson Padraig Parkinson is an Irish professional poker player. He is chiefly recognised as the grand final winner of Late Night Poker series 5 and as the third-place finisher of the 1999 World Series of Poker, where he lost to fellow countryman Noel Furlong.Originally, Padraig refused to play in Late... |
Bengt Sonnert | Kathy Liebert Kathy Liebert Kathleen H. Liebert is an American professional poker player.- Poker :Liebert started her professional poker career as a prop player in Colorado... |
| Mahala Maria Roche 2 | Jens Lekström 2 | Gregory Jennison 2 |
1: denotes Team Captain
2: denotes online qualifier
Preliminary Rounds
| Event | Winner | Runner-up | Remainder finishing order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary match 1 | Theo Jørgensen |
Padraig Parkinson |
Andy Bloch Scott Griffiths Erik Sagström Christoph Haller |
| Preliminary match 2 | Jens Lekström |
Gregory Jennison |
Scott Gray Anders Jensen Sebastian Zentgraf Dave Ulliott |
| Preliminary match 3 | Mahala Maria Roche |
Katja Thater |
Christian Grundtvig Thomas Keller Tony Bloom Fuat Can |
| Preliminary match 4 | Roland Specht |
Rehne Pedersen |
Robert Williamson III Ken Lennaárd Julian Gardner Rory Liffey |
| Preliminary match 5 | Joe Beevers |
Don Fagan |
Clonie Gowen Andreas Krause Bengt Sonnert Martin Wendt |
| Preliminary match 6 | Ram Vaswani |
Kathy Liebert |
Jan Vang Sørensen Ayhan Alsancak Noel Furlong Michael Keiner |
Grand Final
Team captains chose three players to compete in the Grand Final. Only one player started, who then had to be substituted by the end of the third level. The second player had to be substituted for the third player at the end of the sixth level. Blind levels ran twice as long as in the preliminary heats.Team captains were also entitled to call a 60 second time-out with any player in their team once per game.
The Grand Final's television broadcast spanned over two episodes.
| Starting Lineup First | Players after 1st substitutions | Players after 2nd substitutions |
|---|---|---|
| Rehne Pedersen (3rd sub) |
Christian Grundtvig (took time-out), (7th sub) |
Theo Jørgensen (2nd elimination, by Liebert) |
| Joe Beevers (1st sub) |
Ram Vaswani (took time-out), (11th sub) |
Dave Ulliott (winner) |
| Katja Thater (2nd sub) |
Roland Specht (took time-out), (10th sub) |
Michael Keiner (5th elimination, by Ulliott) |
| Scott Gray (4th sub) |
Padraig Parkinson (took time-out), (8th sub) |
Don Fagan (4th elimination, by Ulliott) |
| Ken Lennaárd (6th sub) |
Bengt Sonnert (1st elimination, by Liebert) |
N/A |
| Andy Bloch (5th sub) |
Kathy Liebert (9th sub) |
Robert Williamson III (3rd elimination, by Fagan) |