The World Cup of Poker, sponsored by PokerStars, is an international competition where poker players form teams based on their nationality and compete for $250,000 in prize money. The finals will be held in the beautiful and historic city of Barcelona, Spain (home to the 1992 Olympic games) and televised live.

The World Cup of Poker - An International Poker Tournament

The World Cup of Poker will see competitors from such diverse countries as

the United States (five teams)
Venezuela
Puerto Rico
Sweden
Spain
Poland
Japan
Canada (five teams)
Greece
Mexico
Russia
Korea
Switzerland
South Africa
Ukraine
New Zealand
Romania
Costa Rica
Ireland
Belgium
Denmark
England
Germany (six teams)
Hungary
Australia
Brazil
Philippines
Lithuania
Netherlands
Austria
Argentina
Slovenia
Portugal
Norway
Iceland
Italy
Israel
Latvia
Wales
Scotland
Finland
Northern Ireland
France
Estonia.

And don’t think for a second that this is one of those contests that’s slanted in favor of the American competitors. In fact, the United States has finished no higher than second in the three year history of the tournament.

How to Qualify for the 2007 World Cup of Poker

There are a couple of different ways to qualify to represent your country in the World Cup of Poker. These include freeroll qualifiers and tournament leader boards.

By logging onto PokerStars, you can enter a freeroll tournament. Each country in the competition will have 2 such tournaments. The final table finishers from these 2 events will then compete in an 18-player final match. The first and second place finishers will automatically earn a spot on their country’s team. The third and fourth place finishers will serve as alternates in case one of the team members is unable to continue.

Also, the top two PokerStars tournament leader board players from each of the 57 countries will automatically be qualified to be on a team. The cut-off date for the leader board rankings was December 31st, 2006. Competitors who are the top-ranking leader board player for their country will also have the option of being Team Captain. This is a very important position, and we’ll discuss it in more detail in a bit.

When the dust has cleared and the individual play is at an end, fifty-seven teams (each comprised of four players) will have been created. These teams will then be split into eight divisions, and another tournament will begin. This will continue until only eight teams remain. These teams will then travel to Barcelona for the finals.

It should also be noted that PokerStars will select one additional player to join each of the remaining eight teams (and bring each team‘s total to five players). These extra players will be comprised of celebrities and poker pros, and they will add a whole new dimension to the upcoming matches.

World Cup of Poker Team Play and Finals

While players will initially qualify for teams through head-to-head play, the format changes when Team Score Rounds are introduced in the divisional rounds. At this point, each member of a team will play at a different table with seven other players. Based on their performance, a player will receive one of the following scores:

1st place - 15 points
2nd place - 12 points
3rd place - 9 points
4th place - 7 points
5th place - 5 points
6th place - 3 points
7th place - 2 points
8th place - 1 point

When all matches have been played, each team will add up the combined scores of their individual members. The team with the highest combined score will be declared in first place. In Barcelona, this format will be used to reduce the final eight teams down to four (with the four teams with the least points being eliminated).

In the final game, the remaining teams will play a single four-handed, tag-team tournament to crown the winners of the World Cup of Poker IV. Each team captain will select a player from their team to start the tournament. At any time, the captain may remove that player and substitute another member of their team. Two substitutions are allowed in the game, and players must be changed before the third and sixth levels. (See, I told you the team captains were important.)

The final match will be elimination-style, with a team playing until they are busted out. The lone remaining team will be declared the victor and latest World Cup of Poker champion.

2007 World Cup of Poker Prize Pool and Prizes

The prize pool will be divided up as follows:

First prize - $100,000 ($20,000 per team member)
Second prize - $60,000 ($12,000 per team member)
Third prize - $40,000 ($8,000 per team member)
Fourth prize - $20,000 ($4,000 per team member)

In addition, all tables played in Barcelona will pay out to the top three finishers. The individual player keeps half of the payout, and the other half is divided among the team members. This works out to:

First place - $5,000
Second place - $3,000
Third place - $2,000

2007 World Cup of Poker Schedule of Events

Jul 12-13 Regional Teams qualifying tournaments 1 (US States, Canadian Provinces and German Provinces)
Jul 14 Regional Teams qualifying tournaments 2 (US States, Canadian Provinces and German Provinces)
Jul 15 Regional Teams Qualifier Finals
Jul 16-20 Regional Teams Finalized
Jul 22 Divisional Qualifications (US State Teams, Canadian Province Teams and German Province Teams)
Jul 26-27 National Team qualifying tournaments 1
Jul 28 National Team qualifying tournaments 2
Jul 29 National Team Qualifier Finals
Jul 30-Aug 3 Divisional Teams Finalized
Aug 5 Divisional Playoffs
Sep 4-7 Barcelona Live Event and Finals

Previous World Cup of Poker Winners

The first two years of the competition, the World Cup of Poker was captured by Team Costa Rica. The second WCP was especially exciting, as Costa Rica put on a poker clinic at the finals in London (Team Norway finished in second place that year).

The defending champ coming into this year’s event is Team Poland. While they never won a heat leading up to the final table, they demonstrated solid play and racked up five top-four finishes. Then they peaked at just the right moment and walked away with the ultimate prize, defeating an aggressive Team USA in heads-up play.

Team Poland was comprised of the following:

Marcin (Team Captain) - A software tester who once worked as a dealer at his local casino.
Andrzej Kaminski - A student pharmacist who qualified by having the second most leader board points for his country.
Jacek - A stock exchange investor.
Marcin Meinardi - A software developer and Poland’s highest total leader board qualifier. He has spent many years organizing poker tournaments in Poland.
Philip Hilm - The team’s celebrity player, Hilm is Polish-born but currently based in Denmark. A former coffee machine salesman, he now makes a living through online poker play.

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