SWEDEN WINS POKER NATIONS
CUP
Bo's team takes the Party Poker honours
in Cardiff
Sweden defied huge odds to pull off a spectacular triumph at the
PartyPoker.com Poker Nations Cup in Cardiff. The winning team,captained
by Bo Sehlstedt, included 2006 WSOP bracelet winners Anders Henriksson
and Mats Rahm, as well as Johan Storakers, William Thorsson and
online qualifier Hans Isoz.
The team scooped $100 000 in a televised tournament that saw players
pursuing personal and team glory, along with the honour of representing
their home nation.
Sweden owe their success to the calm prowess of Henriksson. Heads-up
with the USA's team captain Robert Williamson III, Sweden had 12
000 chips compared to 88 000 for the USA. The contest appeared to
be over, the USA camp was triumphant and the Swedish supporters
despondent until Henriksson doubled up once and wore down the US
captain in an intense psychological battle.
Swedish captain Sehlstedt said: "I have won bigger sums of
money but this is a real career highlight, I am so proud of my team.
Anders is one of the top international players around right now,
and rarely seems to lose. Even when we were almost out I was scared
but confident that Anders can beat anybody shorthanded even from
such a weak position."
Henriksson himself was delighted. "It is great to win. I always
thought we were in with a chance because we had a very strong team.
It didn't seem to be going good for a while but once I had doubled-up
from almost nothing my confidence started to rise."
USA captain Williamson III was devastated to have thrown away such
a huge chip lead and could only say, "I don't need a bar right
now, I need a doctor."
The tournament was dramatic from start to finish. Defending champions
Great Britain featuring Dave, "The Devilfish" Ulliott,
Ram Vaswani and Joe Beevers steamrollered the field for the first
few days and were runaway favourites to win going into the final.
The short stack for the final was team USA which had been on the
receiving end of a terrible week. Captained byRobert Williamson
III, the line-up featured Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Clonie
Gowen, Kevin O'Donnell and Hollywood actress Jennifer Tilly. The
stars and stripes had taking a mauling from the Europeans all week
until Williamson won the heat the night before the final to give
them a small chance.
The USA cruised from short stack to big stack in the final mainly
thanks to a marathon session from Antonio Esfandiari, who exhibited
all the bluffing skills he is renowned for. After a big Clonie Gowen
double-up it seemed that nobody would stop the USA. All this time
the Swedish team were middle of the field, keeping out of trouble.
First out in the final was Germany, captained by Michael Keiner,
in less than an hour. Next to go was Denmark, captained by Theo
Jorgensen, and then Holland, led by Marcel Luske.
It was when it was three handed between Great Britain, Sweden and
the USA that Sehlstedt brought on his super substitute Henriksson.
Devilfish tried to talk the Swedish star into oblivion but Anders
just calmly sucked it all in and added to his stack. Eventually
Williamson busted Devilfish and became the huge favourite to win
only to be taken down spectacularly by the quiet Swede.
A PartyPoker.com spokesman said: "If you were to ask any pro
who the two strongest poker nations in the world were right now,
most would say the USA and Sweden, and this tournament is evidence
that this is the case. It was a great spectacle and will make compelling
television."
The tournament saw one lucky PartyPoker.com qualifier on each team
playing alongside five poker professionals from the same participating
nations (except the USA who have Tilly instead of an online qualifier).
Over six heats, each player competed once to score points for their
team. All six teams then take these points into a "tag"
final where each team captain's judgement is vital, as it is up
to them to make tactical substitutions and strategic "time
outs."
The show will be produced for Channel 4 in the UK by Presentable.
The event will be broken down into 9x60 minute episodes and will
be aired during March and April 2007. Each show will feature commentary
by Vicky Coren, alongside Barny Boatman.
__________________
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how
close they were to success when they gave up"
