In a blog publshed by RecentPoker.com and provided by Phil Hellmuth and UBPoker.com, Phil Hellmuth discussed his World Team Poker experience:

I was asked to captain Team USA in the recently held World Team Poker Championships but I declined because I knew there was a better man for the job. The legendary Doyle Brunson deserved the honor of leading the American squad.  Eight teams competed at the inaugural WTP event with many of the world's top players on hand to represent Vietnam, China, England, Greece, Israel, Australia, Brazil, and the USA.

 

Johnny Chan led Team China along with David Chui and Chau Giang. Team Israel was represented by Captain Eli Elezra, David Benyamine and the Mizrachi brothers, Michael and Robert. Men "The Master" Nyugen captained Team Vietnam, Team England had Ben Roberts out in front, and Team Australia posted Jeff Lisandro at the helm.

 

Team USA, however, was touted as the team to beat - we were truly The Dream Team of Poker. With a combined forty three World Series of Poker championships among us, we were captained by Doyle Brunson, along with Erik Seidel, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Jennifer Harmon, Mike Matusow, Howard Lederer, and me.

 

The event featured a three game rotation of limit Hold'em, pot limit Omaha, and no limit Hold'em, and was

Chris Ferguson sweating Phil Hellmuth with just 3 players left at the last table before the final table.
Photography by Daniel Ecoff

played across five tables with each team represented at every table.

 

An interesting twist was that captains were allowed to substitute any player at any time. That's why I never played a single hand of pot limit Omaha; it's simply not my best game.

 

Each five-handed table competed down to two players. At that point, play was stopped, and chips were counted and moved to the final table.

 

Players from Team Israel and Team England were eliminated early so neither team made it to the final table. Meanwhile, Team USA was struggling, down to only a single stack of chips.

 

With three players left at my table, I was in the saddle playing no limit Hold'em. If I lost our thin stack, Team USA would be gone.

 

I managed to win a few pots to build our stack to around $38,000. Then, with blinds at $400/$800 plus a $100 ante, I looked down to find K-Q in the big blind.

 

Team Greece opened on the button for $2,600. Team Vietnam folded and I made the call.

 

The flop came J-8-5. I checked and Team Greece checked.

 

The turn card was a four and I bet out $1,600 on a semi-bluff. Team Greece called.

 

Bam, the river card was a king which looked really good to me, so I fired out $3,500. Team Greece deliberated for about a minute and then shoved all-in for $7,200 more.

 

What the heck was going on?

 

I'd been at the table for the last dozen hands and Team Greece had moved all-in on four of them. Did they have the goods this time or were they just making a play? It didn't feel like a bluff but neither did it seem like they had slowplayed a big hand like a flopped set.

 

It's true, I couldn't beat many hands, but I knew how aggressive my opponent was, so finally, I made the call. Ouch, Team Greece showed down A-K.

 

Sitting on the sidelines, Mike Matusow clearly didn't like my call. He said that Team Greece would never bluff off their remaining chips on the river, especially after I opened with a $3,500 bet.

 

That's a good point, Mike. I should have folded for the last $7,200 bet but I just couldn't imagine what Team Greece had.

 

Incidentally, none of my teammates liked Team Greece's $7,200 raise on the river. I mean, come on, I fired two bullets at the pot so I had to have something, right?

As feras que conquistaram o vice-campeonato do World Team Poker Entrevista enviada em 1/6/2010   Entrevistamos as cinco feras (Time Brasileiro), Juliano Maesano (capitão), Felipe Mojave, Rodrigo Zidane, Christian Kruel e Leandro Brasa, começando com duas perguntas para o capitão.  Leia mais>>>

China gana el World Team Poker Event Posted by Jesús Alexander Bermúdez Ríos

 

 

 

A pesar de tener una ventaja de chips de casi 3 a 1 sobre su oponente, el equipo de Brasil se encontraron perdiendo terreno frente a Johnny Chan, el cual finalmente, vio la mano final cuando Brasil se fue all-in con 5c-6h-7-Td al cual China, llamo teniendo AM-Ks 9s-7h-4h en mano. Las cartas comunitarias fueron 9h-4-6d 4h-js lo cual le dio a el equipo de China Full House logrando obtener la victoria ante el equipo de Brasil el cual tuvo que conformarse con un subcampeonato y una ganancia de 100.000 dólares de premios para aliviar su decepción.  Lea mas>>>

Nikki Artale's article is well written with lots and lots of photos and her video of Team USA's entrance on to the set.  Read more>>>

May 27, 2010 by Dave Swinson for PokerRoomReview.com Exciting poker action like the recent World Team Poker event should be available for fans to see; thanks to an agreement between the WTP and Fox Sports Net, viewers will get a chance to enjoy this battle for poker supremacy and national pride. Read more>>>

May 27, 2010 by Dave Swinson for PokerRoomReview.com China entered the final showdown with Brazil holding a 3:1 advantage on chips, and eager to show the country’s growing prowess in the game. “Chinese people like to gamble and…a lot of them are very good at math, so that helps as well,” said Yu, who manages the Poker King Club at the StarWorld Hotel and Casino. Read more>>>

Par admin + 24 mai 2010 C’est la Chine qui a tiré son épingle du jeu en finale face au Brésil, à la Grèce, aux USA, à Israel, à l’Australie et au Vietnam.Fait amusant, 4 des Chinois de l’équipe ont la nationalité… américaine! L’équipe de la Chine se composait de Johnny Chan, David Chiu, Derek Cheung, Chau Giang, Yu Winfred, Zhu Rich et la ravissante Maria Ho, l’équipe se partagera les 300 000$ de gains de la victoire. Lire la suite>>

Stacey Lynn Nutini of LasVegasPokerSource.com blogged about her experience at the World Team Poker Inaugural Event on May 19, 2010 held at The Grand in the Golden Nugget, Las Vegas.  Read Stacey Lynn's blog entry on LasVegasPokerSource.com

Friday, 21 May 2010   The football World Cup is just around the corner and poker got in on the act with its very own international team event at the Golden Nugget yesterday. Sadly for England fans, there was an all too familiar early exit.   Read more>>>>

May 19, 2010, Article written by Matthew Parvis: In breaking news, on the eve of the their inaugural event, World Team Poker officials announced at a launch party tonight at the Golden Nugget that the event has been picked up by Fox Sports Net, which will air 13 episodes.   Read more>>>