Discuss Poker Here Thread(OT)

by **Irish Car Bomb** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 02:05:33

The PokerStars World Cup of Poker is a competition among national teams of poker players. Once the field is narrowed down to eight, the remaining teams will win packages – including travel expenses and accommodation - to play in Barcelona, Spain, courtesy of PokerStars. That's where the action really heats up, as the final eight teams battle it out for the title of World Cup Champions and over $250,000 in cash. The final round will be taped for television broadcast.

United States World Cup of Poker Teams
Division USA is composed of five teams. These teams include two national teams (USA 1 and USA 2) as well as three qualifying state teams. There are two ways that players from the USA can compete in the World Cup of Poker:

Players can qualify directly into the USA national teams in Division USA.
Players can qualify for their state team, and compete against the other states for one of the three state slots in Division USA.
State Team Qualification Route
STEP 1 - Selecting the 51 State Teams
Each state team will be made up of four players – two Freeroll Qualifiers and two Tournament Leader Board players.

Two Players from Freeroll Qualifiers
Each state will have two Freeroll Tournament Qualifiers. The final table finishers of these qualifiers will play in an 18-player final. Both the winner and runner-up of the final will be offered a place on their state’s team.

To register for your state's qualifying tournament, please visit your PokerStars game client and click "Events", "World Cup" and then "US Qualifiers". Once in the "US Qualifiers" lobby, find and click on your state's tournament and then click "register". For a schedule of USA qualifying events, visit the Team USA Schedule page.

Two Tournament Leader Board Players
The top two Tournament Leader Board (from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006) players in each of the 51 states qualify automatically as World Cup team players. The top finishing Tournament Leader Board (TLB) player will have the option of becoming the team’s Captain.

STEP 2 – 51 State teams play down to the 3 division qualifiers
The 51 state teams are divided up into three groups containing seventeen states each:

Group 1: CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, NC, PA, RI, SC, VT, VA
Group 2: AL, AR, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, MI, MN, MS, MO, OH, OK, TN, TX, WI, WV
Group 3: AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, KS, MT, NE, NV, NM, ND, OR, SD, UT, WA, WY

Each group plays a "Team Score Round" to determine the winning state from each group. A Team Score Round is a set of four scheduled tournaments each containing one player from every team in the group. Teams score points based on the finishing position of each team member in their tournament. The team that scores the most points is the winner of the Team Score Round.

For example, suppose you have qualified for a state team. Each of the four players in your team will play in a separate tournament against one player from each of the other states in the group. Once all four tournaments have been completed, the scores for each team are added up, and the team with the highest score wins.

The three winning states, one from each group, then progress into the three state slots in Division USA. They then compete against the other teams in the group in the Division Play-offs.

Further information can be found on the Team Score Round page.

National Team Qualification Route
If you do not qualify for your state team, you can still qualify for one of the two national USA Teams. Like all other teams in the World Cup of Poker, USA 1 and USA 2 will consist of four players – two Freeroll Tournament Qualifiers and two TLB players.

Two positions on each of the USA teams will be decided by two Freeroll Tournament Qualifiers. The final table finishers of these qualifiers will play in an 18-player final.

The winner and third place finisher in the final will be offered positions in Team USA 1.
The runner-up and fourth place finisher in the final will be offered positions in Team USA 2.
To register for the USA national teams qualifying tournaments, please visit your PokerStars game client and click "Events", "World Cup" and then "US Qualifiers". Once in the "US Qualifiers" lobby you will find the Team USA qualifying tournaments. For a schedule of USA qualifying events, visit the Team USA Schedule page.

Tournament Leader Board Players
The top four TLB (from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006) players in the USA qualify automatically for USA 1 or USA 2. The top finishing TLB player will have the option of becoming the team captain for USA 1. The second place TLB finisher is given the option of becoming the team captain for USA 2.

Divisional Playoffs
Once the two national USA teams have been established, they will play in a "Team Score Round" with the three group-winning state teams. The winning team will secure a place in the live finals in Barcelona. See the Division Playoffs Schedule for more details.

If you have any questions regarding this year's World Cup of Poker, please feel free to contact us at wcp@pokerstars.com.

Back to World Cup of Poker IV main page.

by **The Red Tornado** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 07:03:57

Lots of big names went bust yesterday- not too many big names survived- Huck Seed is still around, Mihn Ly, Tobey MacGuire and Matt Matros are some who I recognized.

They actually stopped play at 350 players remaining instead of progressing 5 rounds- how lame that the new blind structure is causing quicker exits.

by **pacino** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:51:49

The Red Tornado wrote:Lots of big names went bust yesterday- not too many big names survived- Huck Seed is still around, Mihn Ly, Tobey MacGuire and Matt Matros are some who I recognized.

They actually stopped play at 350 players remaining instead of progressing 5 rounds- how lame that the new blind structure is causing quicker exits.

post-flop play would favor skill and pros more, and that's no fun

by **The Red Tornado** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:12:02

I wonder if ESPN's desire to televise races and fun suck outs is the reason behind the new structure?

by **pacino** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:12:40

The Red Tornado wrote:I wonder if ESPN's desire to televise races and fun suck outs is the reason behind the new structure?

hmmmmmmm, i wonder

by **jemagee** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:31:55

I wonder if there's money to be made on a more structured/sponsore 'pro' poker league...kind of like the PGA tour...you'd have to 'tour' but you'd have lesser tours and qualifying and exemptios as such..get sponsorship money so the prizes are big enough, but be 'exclusive' enough that the pros aren't 'disabused' from participating by the glut of amateurs who seem to get by on luck more often than not.

Speaking of which - did gold even show up theis year or did he realize he was going to get beat up after lunch and run home?

by **Alt** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:36:09

Anyone watch either of the events last night? I caught most of the $5k mixed holdem event and I have to say it's definitely a welcome addition to have the broadcast in HD.

And obviously the coverage pretty much sucks since its ESPN but one thing that was really getting on my nerves was their constant propensity to come back from a commercial break with players all-in on the flop. They must've done this 3-4 times last night and it was really pissing me off. They would show an entire limit hand (I'm mostly a limit player but still find it incredibly boring to watch) but the hands after the commercial breaks they would cut in to 3 players being all-in on the flop. WTF? I could understand if the tourney wasn't down to the final table as I'm sure during the preliminary stages its hard to capture the action at all the tables.

Also, what was with the numerous interviews with the name pros about winning the main event? Isn't this the $5k final table that none of them are involved in? Wonder if that had anything to do with promoting the PPV main event final table.....god I hate ESPN.
/rant

by **Alt** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:37:33

jemagee wrote:Speaking of which - did gold even show up theis year or did he realize he was going to get beat up after lunch and run home?

He was eliminated on Day 1 which isn't a surprise.

by **pacino** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:41:47

Alt wrote:Anyone watch either of the events last night? I caught most of the $5k mixed holdem event and I have to say it's definitely a welcome addition to have the broadcast in HD.

And obviously the coverage pretty much sucks since its ESPN but one thing that was really getting on my nerves was their constant propensity to come back from a commercial break with players all-in on the flop. They must've done this 3-4 times last night and it was really pissing me off. They would show an entire limit hand (I'm mostly a limit player but still find it incredibly boring to watch) but the hands after the commercial breaks they would cut in to 3 players being all-in on the flop. WTF? I could understand if the tourney wasn't down to the final table as I'm sure during the preliminary stages its hard to capture the action at all the tables.

Also, what was with the numerous interviews with the name pros about winning the main event? Isn't this the $5k final table that none of them are involved in? Wonder if that had anything to do with promoting the PPV main event final table.....god I hate ESPN.
/rant

they missed a lot of hands apparently(haven't seen it yet). I don't have HD, will it work on a regular tv?

they must think(and are probably right) that people just want to see results and hands up 5 cards spread out. Go to any average game and people play hands down to the river a lot just because. They want to to see luck win out, not skill

by **Alt** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:06:28

pacino wrote:
Alt wrote:Anyone watch either of the events last night? I caught most of the $5k mixed holdem event and I have to say it's definitely a welcome addition to have the broadcast in HD.

And obviously the coverage pretty much sucks since its ESPN but one thing that was really getting on my nerves was their constant propensity to come back from a commercial break with players all-in on the flop. They must've done this 3-4 times last night and it was really pissing me off. They would show an entire limit hand (I'm mostly a limit player but still find it incredibly boring to watch) but the hands after the commercial breaks they would cut in to 3 players being all-in on the flop. WTF? I could understand if the tourney wasn't down to the final table as I'm sure during the preliminary stages its hard to capture the action at all the tables.

Also, what was with the numerous interviews with the name pros about winning the main event? Isn't this the $5k final table that none of them are involved in? Wonder if that had anything to do with promoting the PPV main event final table.....god I hate ESPN.
/rant

they missed a lot of hands apparently(haven't seen it yet). I don't have HD, will it work on a regular tv?

they must think(and are probably right) that people just want to see results and hands up 5 cards spread out. Go to any average game and people play hands down to the river a lot just because. They want to to see luck win out, not skill

Yeah it will still work on a regular TV.....don't worry I'm sure you'll have ample opportunities to catch the reruns. And yeah you're right about the whole luck thing and dumbing down the coverage but I still don't get how they could've missed hands. They had the final table at their 'featured table set' which has hole card cams and presumably fixed cameras. I would think showing the NL hands with lots of action would be exactly what they'd want to focus on in a mixed holdem event.

by **The Red Tornado** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:08:26

Alt wrote:
jemagee wrote:Speaking of which - did gold even show up theis year or did he realize he was going to get beat up after lunch and run home?

He was eliminated on Day 1 which isn't a surprise.

His mom did better than him and was busted on day 2a.

by **jemagee** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:13:09

Then again he has 12 million (6 after taxes?) and we don't...so there's that.

by **The Red Tornado** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:20:22

jemagee wrote:Then again he has 12 million (6 after taxes?) and we don't...so there's that.

A big chunk went away in litigation.

by **jemagee** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:20:57

The Red Tornado wrote:
jemagee wrote:Then again he has 12 million (6 after taxes?) and we don't...so there's that.

A big chunk went away in litigation.

I had not heard that...who sued him?

by **pacino** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:22:46

it was settled before it even went to court. Bodog sued him even though he stated that he would give half AFTER taxes. If he gave before taxes he'd end up with basically nothing.

I really don't get the Jamie Gold hate. He seems alright. So he smiled on camera and won a lot of hands when he was behind. He also won a lot of hands where he was ahead...we just didn't see them. And a lot of people bust out on day 1.

by **jemagee** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:26:32

hadn't heard that bodog was trying to sue him...news to me.

Anyway, the Jamie Gold hate as I see it is the same as the varkoni and moneymaker hate...one hit wonders who really aren't very good but got very lucky...gold is the most recent biggest winner, and had the biggest fracking mouth of anyone i've seen aisde from helmuth and/or matusow but has squadoosh to really back it up with aside from that nice run of two weeks...basically, from what i saw on espn, gold was a dick while he was winning...and since has done nothing to prove he wasn't anything but a fluke

by **The Red Tornado** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:27:10

pacino wrote:it was settled before it even went to court. Bodog sued him even though he stated that he would give half AFTER taxes. If he gave before taxes he'd end up with basically nothing.

Not sued BY bodog.

Long story short-

Bodog pays Jamie the buyin if he can get X amount of celebs to wear bodog clothing during the event. Jamie enlists help of casual acquaintence, tells him bodgog will pay his entry as well. Casual acquaintence gets a few people and bodog doesnt have any more entries to give so Jamie promises him that if he gets into the money they will split the winnings. Jamie wins main event and casual acquaintence either gets impatient with Jamie's slow response or Jamie completely ignores the guy as is stiffing him- law suit gets filed and eventually gets settled.

by **pacino** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:28:10

he really didn't say anything mean to anyone, he just talked a lot revealing his hand and it confused people into doing whatever he wanted

it's a huge ass tourney, of course an unknown will win. that's just how it is. if you want to see pros winning, you need to watch the earlier tourneys

by **Alt** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:30:10

pacino wrote:it was settled before it even went to court. Bodog sued him even though he stated that he would give half AFTER taxes. If he gave before taxes he'd end up with basically nothing.

I really don't get the Jamie Gold hate. He seems alright. So he smiled on camera and won a lot of hands when he was behind. He also won a lot of hands where he was ahead...we just didn't see them. And a lot of people bust out on day 1.

I don't think he's a terrible person but I still can't stand him. I think it mostly has to do with his pompous attitude and complete disregard for the rules of the game. He pretty blatantly colluded a bunch of times and also announced his hand frequently...I don't know how he got away with it.

by **pacino** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:35:06

I never understood that rule about announcing your hand. You can lie...but you can't tell the truth. How the hell will they know if they fold? Do you have to show to prove you were lying? I don't get it. You should be allowed to say your hand.

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Discuss Poker Here Thread(OT)