World Team Poker features the thrill of international competition as top professional poker player battle for “Pride, Passion, Country.”

June 28, 2010 – Las Vegas, Nevada World Team Poker is an international poker sports league with superstars of poker acting as team captains for their respective countries. Each team captain handpicks professional players who will represent their national poker team. They play in a series of poker competitions for the distinction of being crowned World Team Poker Champions. Phil Hellmuth, Jr. commented that “this is going to be a massive competition… it’s pretty exciting.” World Team Poker's Inaugural Event, which was held at the Golden Nugget on May 19, 2010, will kick off the new television series, set to air on Fox Sports Net. The show will first air on Sunday January 2, 2011 and run for 13 consecutive weeks. Viewers will see the drama unfold over one-hour episodes. Regional and repeat airings will show on FSN throughout the week; times and channels may vary per region. To find World Team Poker show times and channels in your area, check your local listings.

The Inaugural Event featured the following eight teams:

Team USA was captained by the legendary Doyle Brunson. Also, playing for the team was Phil Hellmuth, Jr., Chris Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Howard Lederer, Mike Matusow and Eric Seidel.
Team China was co-captained by Johnny Chan and David Chiu. Maria Ho, Chau Giang, Winfred Yu, Rich Zhu and Derek Cheung played for the team.
Men “The Master” Nguyen captained Team Vietnam. Players included Tommy Hang, Karina Jett, Philong Nguyen, Kido Pham, Tim Phan and Kenny Tran.
Jeff Lisandro and Tony Guoga co-captained Team Australia, featuring players Gary Benson, Mel Judah, David Saab, Steve Topakas and Marsha Waggoner.
Team England’s line up, captained by Ben Roberts, included players Joe Beevers, Peter Costa, Surinder Sunar and David “Devilfish” Ulliot.
Team Israel was captained by Eli Elezra. Josh Arieh, David Benyamine, David Levi, Michael Mizrachi, Robert Mizrachi and Abe Mosseri played for the team.
Team Brazil was captained by Juliano Maesano. Players included Christian Kruel, Leandro “Brasa” Pimentel, Rodrigo “Zidane” Caprioli and Felipe “Mojave” Ramos.
Team Greece was co-captained by George Theofanopoulos and Georgios Kapalas. Alex Zervos, Stavros Kalfas, Dimitris Lyritsis and Dimitris Chatziriotis also played for the team.

Each episode will feature Team Captains coaching players and making player substitutions. Television audiences will be able to watch a level of team strategy previously unseen in poker as the captains attempt to find perfect matchups and place experts in different games on the felt for their respective specialties. All team players remain eligible for play so long as the team has chips in play. At any given time, the team captain can substitute a player back into the game, sending another teammate to the bench or different table, however, the chips do not move from the table. Even if a team member gets knocked off a table, that player is NOT out of the game!

The buy-in was $50,000.00 per team. The five tables played down until there were two players left at each table. Once the final two players from each table were decided, the surviving teams combined their stacks with their teammates' chips. Multiple finalists meant more chips for the team, however only one team player could sit at the final table. Australia, Brazil, China, Greece and Vietnam made the final table, England, Israel and USA did not make the cut. It was up to the team captains to design a strategy for the final table showdown. This tested the skills of each player on an individual level, while taxing the tactical aptitude of the captains and their ability to lead their teams to victory. The final table lasted 10 hours. The last two and a half hours saw Team Brazil and Team China battling it out.

It was an exciting heads up battle, but ultimately Team China won the gold medal, and first prize of $300,000. Brazil won $100,000.

Get updates via SMS by texting World Team Poker to 45424 or visit http://www.worldteampoker.com/.

ABOUT FOX SPORTS NETWORK

FSN is the nation's leading provider of local sports. FSN's 19 owned-and-operated regional networks and its affiliated networks reach more than 80 million homes across the U.S. FSN serves as the TV home to more than half the MLB, NHL and NBA teams based in the United States. FSN also produces close to 5,000 live local events each year including more than 2,800 in high definition. In addition to its thousands of home team games and a wide variety of locally produced sports programs, FSN televises national sports events and programs across the country.

ABOUT WORLD TEAM POKER

World Team Poker brings exciting, unique elements to the game of poker that are seen in professional team sports. Teams will play in up to four league matches a year, culminating in an annual Championship Event where the teams battle it out for "Pride, Passion, Country." Text "World Team Poker" to 45424 for updates.

For business opportunities contact:

Randy Hollister, SVP, Business Development
WORLD TEAM POKER
World Team Poker - 866.878.2090
Corbin Ashby-702.522.6746
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