Home / Poker News September 2009 / Caesar’s Cup – Team Europe wins trophy
Caesar’s Cup – Team Europe wins trophy
Posted by: James Carter. - Mon, 2009-09-28 12:33
The first edition of the Caesar’s cup, an event tailored after golf’s Ryder Cup, saw a team from the Americas (North and South) face off with Team Europe, in a unique and quite entertaining format.
The battle was mainly for the bragging rights and a huge silver trophy awarded to the winners by WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, but that didn’t mean the action was any less spectacular than at any of the WSOP final tables. The format was different though.
The Caesar’s Cup confrontation consisted of a series of heads-up games, with two players on both sides and with both of them having access to the hole cards. Thus, in the first match-up, Phil Ivey and Huck Seed (from team Americas) squared off against Ilari Sahamies and Patrik Antonius of team Europe. While the American team was definitely the more seasoned one, showing 45 WSOP bracelets against their opponents’ 3, the Europeans were hungrier for glory and well trained in the art of lightning fast heads-up poker warfare. After all, both Antonius and Sahamies are regulars at Full Tilt’s nosebleed tables and their online skills are well suited for the kind of heads-up format the Caesar’s Cup featured. Team Europe’s aggression in the first match-up proved to be the key to victory and in no time at all Europe has taken the lead.
Things would go from bad to worse for the Americans in the second match of the event. Daniel Negreanu, Team Americas’ captain, and Phil Hellmuth went up against the dynamic duo of Bertrand Grospellier and John Harvey. This match-up was decided in favor of team Europe when a 4-outer gave them the win in the final hand.
In danger of being swept off the poker table, Team Americas retaliated through veteran Doyle Brunson and Jennifer Harman. Their opponents were Dario Minieri and Team Europe’s captain, Annette Obrestad. The US pair managed to pull off the win and finally put the Americas onto the scoreboard by hitting quad Aces in the final hand.
Barry Greenstein and John Juanda had the opportunity to score the equalizer, unfortunately they dropped their match to Gus Hansen and Peter Eastgate, thus offering Europe the chance to pull away and turn it into a one-sided affair.
It only took Hansen and Eastgate 18 minutes to dispose of their opponents and thus to give their side a 3-1 lead.
The final confrontation of the event was a one-on-one affair between Annette Obrestad and Huck Seed. To add insult to injury, Obrestad closed this one out extremely fast. The final hand of the match saw both players flop top pair.
Obrestad had a higher kicker though and that would prove crucial as neither the turn nor the river would bring relief for the former WSOP champion.
Thus, the final score of the first edition of the Caesar’s Cup was: Europe 4, Americas 1.
According to Americas team captain, Daniel Negreanu, the event was not only an enjoyable one for the participants but also one good for the game. The unique format combined with the stakes and the participating poker celebrities have certainly turned the Caesar’s Cup into a genuine crowd pleaser.
