In conjunction with the PokerStars World Poker Tour event, we are proud to announce the first ever World Cup of Poker!

What is the PokerStars World Cup of Poker?

The PokerStars World Cup of Poker is a competition among national teams of poker players. This competition will begin on PokerStars, with the final 4 teams competing live on the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Cruise, January 18-25, 2004.

31 countries, based on the number of PokerStars players, have been selected to take part in this event. Due to the large majority of players being from the USA, the USA is granted two teams: one from the East and one from the West (see list at the bottom of the page).

How a team is chosen:

One Tournament Leader Board player
The player who has the most Tournament Leader Board points for his qualified country from February 1, 2003 to October 31, 2003 will automatically qualify as a World Cup team player. If this player is unable to play for any reason, the next player on the Tournament Leader Board list will replace that player.

Two Open Event Frequent Player Point (FPP) qualifiers
On October 25 and November 2, Open Event Qualifying Rounds will be conducted for each country.

The Round robin events have now been completed. View the results for each team!

You can register for your country's event as long as the mailing address in your PokerStars account is in the country you choose to represent. These qualifying rounds will cost 50 FPPs. The top finisher in these events for each country will become the second and third members of the team.

** At least one of the FPP qualifier events must have 20 or more players. If both events have less than 20 players, the country will be disqualified from play in the World Cup of Poker.**

One nominated player.
Once three team members have qualified as described above, they will nominate the fourth member of the team. This player may be either a legal resident of the country OR a citizen of the country living elsewhere.

Residency requirement.
To play for a country, you must be a legal resident of this country, and have it listed in your PokerStars account. Proof of legal residency may be requested. A player who is not a legal resident will be disqualified.

Once the team is determined:

Each team shall designate a team captain. The team captain will make all decisions for the team and handle all corresponence with PokerStars about the event.

**If a team has not selected a captain and a nominated player by November 8, 2003, it will be disqualified**

The tournament will be conducted in format similar to the World Cup; once your team has been assembled, you will be placed in a round robin with three other teams, making eight groups of four teams. The Round Robins will be as follows (eight teams received seedings - Australia, Canada, France, United Kingdom, USA East, Norway, Sweden, and USA West, again based on total PokerStars users, and others were distributed randomly). Note that some groups have only three teams as a result of disqualifications of countries not reaching the minimum required number of players:

The teams in each group will play a round robin amongst themselves.

Let's take a sample group:
In group B, there will be three rounds:

Each match will consist of four heads-up tables. For example, in the Brazil-Canada round 1 match, there will be four matches:

1) Brazil TLB winner vs Canada TLB winner
2) Winner of first Brazil FPP qualifier vs winner of first Canada FPP qualifier
3) Winner of second Brazil FPP qualifier vs winner of second Canada FPP qualifier
4) Brazil nominated player vs Canada nominated player

This will provide a four board score of 4-0, 3-1, or 2-2. In the event of a 2-2 tie, each team will nominate one player to have a "Single Match Shootout"; a one game, heads-up match between each team's player to determine which team is awarded the match win.

Once the Round Robin ends:

After the three rounds are completed, the top two finishing teams in each group will move on to the single elimination playdowns. In the event of a tie between two teams, once again, each team will nominate one player to have a "Single Match Shootout" to determine which team goes on and which team goes home. This would also be used to determine placings if two teams tied for first. If three teams are tied, a single table 3 player tournament will be used to break the tied.

This sends 16 teams to the single elimination playdowns.

View a copy of the brackets that will be used to play down the final 16.

Once the single elimination brackets have been reduced to the Final Four, those four teams (16 players) will proceed to the World Cup of Poker Finals, to be held on January 21, 2004 on the Caribbean Adventure cruise. These 16 players will each receive cruise packages for two (value $2,500), plus $1,000 cash.

In the finals, the Final Four will play in pairs using the same format as the online events (with tiebreakers as necessary). Prize money will be as follows:

First place: $50,000 ($12,500 per player)
Second place: $24,000 ($6,000 per player)
Third place: $16,000 ($4,000 per player)
Fourth place: $10,000 ($2,500 per player)

All finalists will receive limited-edition PokerStars jackets; the winning team will receive trophies and bracelets.

The USA will be divided into the following areas:

States comprising USA West:

AK,AR,AZ,CA,CO,HI, IA,ID,IL,KS,LA,MN,MO,MS,MT,ND,NE,NM,NV,OK,OR,SD,TX, UT,WA,WI,WY

States comprising USA East:

AL,CT,DC,DE,FL,GA,IN,KY,MA,MD,ME,MI,NC,NH,NJ,NY,OH,PA,RI,SC,TN,VA,VT,WV

If you have any comments or queries, feel free to contact us support@PokerStars.com.