There is a lot that goes in to creating a television show...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbXAO7js39k

There is just one shoot out table left with 3 players. The other 4 tables have been decided with Chan (China) with 52,250 Chips and Nguyen (Vietnam) 27,250 taking Table 1; Kapalas (Greece) 37,225 and Ho (China) 42,775 taking Table 2.  Chui (China) 47,525 and Chatririotis (Greece) 33,475 taking Table 3; Saab (Austalia) 34,650 and Pimentel (Brazil) 45,350 taking Table 5.

At our feature Table are Nguyen (Vietnam), Kapas (Greece) and Hellmuth (USA) battling it out for glory.  If Hellmuth gets knocked out, USA will be eliminated from the event.

As it stands the final table will be anywhere from 5 to 6 handed and the current chip counts (Table 4 is still playing with 80K which is excluded from the count below):

Greece =  70,700

Australia = 34,650

Brazil =  45,350

China = 95,520

Vietnam =  27,250

England = 0

Israel = 0

Israel led by Eli Elezra has three players left with three seats left.

Brazil lead by Juliano Maesano has four seats left.

Team USA lead by Doyle Brunson has three seats left - Doyle himself is was knocked out and but continues to captain with team owner, Phil Hellmuth from the sidelines.

Team Greece lead by George Theofanopoulos and George Kapalas has five players left.

Team China lead by Johnny Chan and David Chiu has three seats left.

Team Vietnam lead by Men the Master Nguyen has four seats left.

Team England lead by Ben Roberts has four seats left.

Team Australia lead by Jeffrey Lisandro and Tony G has just one seat left and David Saab is in it with his superman hat.

Vietnam, USA and Greece have healthy stacks across the board. 

It is necessary that we explain that while our tournament is a shootout, nobody gets knockout unless their entire team is eliminated.

There is a lot of chatter on the internet about players getting knocked out - but don't give up on them!  The World Team Poker teams need all the talent they can muster if they are short team members and they are using each of their players specialties to maximize the team's ability to make the final table. Only First and Second Place get paid - so the battle is on to walk away with top prize.

A perfect example of the team concept can be seen with Team Australia.  While they only hold one seat, they have been rotating their players depending on the game.   Judah seems to be their designated PLO player, while Saab plays NLH.  Level 7 has just begun, and Lisandro, an excellent stud player has taken over the Limit Hold.em round.

USA has also lost many seats, Doyle Brunson being the first on his team to surrender a seat at the feature table.  They have suffered some bad beats and now have only two seats left.  However, in the limit rounds the Godfather of Poker and Jennifer Harman each take over the remaining stacks.  Matusow and Lederer are the designated PLO players and Phil Hellmuth and Chris Ferguson seem to be sitting for NLH.  Team USA knows the value of their players.

We, as spectators, can really appreciate each player's skills as the teams strategize to stay alive.  We also get to see a whole new side to these players as we see that they have checked their egos at the door and show unity and teamwork as they support one another.

Fox Sports Network will be airing the event during the summer months, World Team Poker believes that audiences will truly enjoy watching their most favorite players (or least favorite, as the case may be) in a whole new light.

Team Lebanon Captain, Dany Georges and his team (including top poker pro Freddy Deeb and the beautiful starlet Shannon Elizabeth) will walk the red carpet at the World Team Poker Press Party at 7:00 pm. on May 18, 2010 at the Golden Nugget's Gold Diggers Night Club.

These five men are Team Brazil, and they will be playing against 7 other national poker teams on May 19th for the Inaugural Event at the Golden Nugget:

April 11, 2010
Contributed by: Jennifer Newell

The team concept is not new to poker, nor is the country versus country theme. But World Team Poker looks to take those ideas to a new level with its new poker tournament league. With some of the biggest names in poker heading up eight teams, each representing a different country, and all of the action caught on cameras and broadcast over the internet for the world to see, World Team Poker hopes to find exciting poker action and a wide audience to watch it.  Read more >>>