World Cup of Poker 2006 - Live Event

TEAM POLAND - 2006 World Cup of Poker Champions

Doli (Captain)
Marcin, is a software tester by profession, and has little live experience as he was once a dealer at his local casino, and is banned from playing now for 9 years. He said his friends used to mock him for being a tight player, but now his game has changed a lot. He claims the Polish team have an advantage in this tournament, as they know each other and player together a lot.

skaand
Andrzej Skawinski qualified as the player with the second highest TLB points for his country. He's a student pharmacist. He has little live tournament experience as he lives in a small town with no casino, but he plays when he visits friends in Warsaw. He claims his best game is heads up.

atlantic17
Jacek is an investor in the stock exchange and he unusually claims to have more experience in live casino play than in online games. He points out, "Without luck you can't win anything."

Marian
Marcin Meinardi, Poland's TLB qualifier, is a software developer. His team mates say he's the most experienced player on their team, as he's organized tourneys for many years in Poland. They say he has an, "Unpredictable style" and they all find him very hard to play against. Oh, and most importantly, "He's got a nice dog too".

Philip Hilm
Team Poland's celebrity player is Philip Hilm. Although his family background is Polish, he's now based in Denmark. Philip was the 3rd place finisher in the EPT Copenhagen, winning 716,636 Kr. Two years ago Philip made a living selling coffee machines, but discovered he could earn much more money playing poker online. Just a month after taking up the game, he started playing full-time and making a living at online poker. He is highly confident in big buy-in live events and his first ever live game was the 2005 WSOP. Team Poland is hoping that this experienced player will bring home the points they need.

TEAM USA-NORTH CAROLINA (2nd place)

AppSt2004 (Captain)
USA Team Captain, Joe Harwell, has run his own real estate business since leaving college. Joe's only been playing 4 years but has plenty of live tournament experience, playing 3 events of last year's WSOP. Joe is one of the top US players in PokerStars TLB rankings, rated the 4th best US player for 2005, and 6th placed in the world.

KidDoc
The USA Team FPP qualifier is a physician who works in a pediatric intensive care department. He has 4 children, and he's in Barcelona with his wife, Cynthia. It seems it was quite a task for him to organise things so he could play. He commented that he's very grateful to his colleagues back home, and his children's grandparents for helping him get to play the WCP. He's played poker for just 2 years.

yellownape
Phil Myers, USA's FPP qualifier, is 'yellownape' on PokerStars. He's from Charlotte, North Carolina. He's no stranger to pressure. Several of USA-North Carolina's qualifying matches came down to pressure-filled moments and he was a key player. His team mates claim he's, "A rock solid player. If anything goes wrong, we know he can come right back. We have tremendous confidence in him."

TheLegacy IV
Michael Ebert is Team USA's FPP qualifier. As he's just 20, he's never played in a casino before. He's enjoying the fact that he's of the legal age to play poker in Europe! Apparently he's been taking a lot of money from the locals at the casino's cash tables. As a fellow member of Team USA said, "He's very happy to be in Barcelona. He's like a kid in a candy store."

Tom McEvoy
Tom McEvoy was tired of working for The Man, so it was good that he got fired from his accounting job while he was in his thirties. He grew up playing penny-ante poker with his grandmother and took quite a beating in those days. My, how times have changed. Since then, McEvoy has played at every limit you can imagine. He's gone on to become an accomplished poker writer and player. He has numerous poker titles to his name, both in the game and on the shelf. He has authored or co-authored twelve books on poker strategy and has won many a tournament, including the World Poker Championship and three World Series of Poker titles. Tom plays on PokerStars as Tom McEvoy.

TEAM CANADA-ALBERTA (3rd place)

HooBangin (Captain)
This Edmonton-based player claims he has no particular tactic for the game and he's going to, 'wing it'. But this online poker pro has an impressive record in PokerStars tournaments where he plays as 'HooBangin'. If he wins this with his 'wing it' philosophy, Team Canada will be flying high in the WCP rankings.

The Red Baron
Christopher Comely is Team Canada's TLB qualifier. 'TheRedBaron' is his online name and he's a 28-year-old poker pro. He has a lot of live and online experience and his team mates say they think he will do very well for them.

Algernonned
Trevor Diks claims he's in Barcelona to have fun. Team Canada's FPP qualifier has only played one live game before this event, and he said with a smile, "that didn't go so well..." His PokerStars name 'algernonned' is taken from the novel "Flowers for Algernon." Trevor tells me, "Algernon is a mouse who goes from normal mousiness to super genius mouse, and then back down again. I picked it because my ability to play poker seems to oscillate between pretty good and...(censored)." It will be interesting to see if Trevor plays like a 'Super Genius Mouse' for Team Canada.

M_Croft
Frequent Player Point qualifier Mike Croft is a 26-year-old Mechanical Engineer from Calgary. He's been playing online for just a year, but has played home game poker for a decade before that. Michael is marrying his fiancee in August. Mike says he doesn't feel any pressure, but felt more nervous watching his team mates play.

Isabelle "No Mercy" Mercier
After obtaining a law degree in Canada, Isabelle Mercier went from being a lawyer to a blackjack dealer, poker dealer and eventually moved to Paris where she became the poker room manager of the Aviation Club de France. She was nominated twice at the Aviation Club for the "European Poker Awards" in the Staff Person of the Year category. Eventually she wanted to be on the other side of the table and began the quest to set her mark on the poker world.

Since turning pro, she has been the TV commentator for the last three World Poker Tour (WPT) episodes in Paris and written professionally on the topic of poker. On her brief professional career, Isabelle Mercier has won more than $250,000 in tournaments. She also won the World Poker Tour's "Ladies Night Out" poker tournament which is where she earned her nickname from World Poker Tour host, Mike Sexton.

TEAM ISRAEL (4th place)

martingales (Captain)
Martin Segal, Team Israel's captain, is a civil engineer from Haifa in Israel. He's a highly-experienced tournament player. Poker isn't the only game he's played, as he's played bridge to a professional standard for 35 years. 'Martingales' qualified for the 2005 EPT Grand Final in a PokerStars satellite. He lists computer programming and mathematics as his hobbies, and has 2 daughters and a 4-year-old granddaughter. He took up online poker because it's a game that's, 'at once close to home and at the same time international.'

empress58
Aliza Broude, Israel's TLB qualifier, should be a strong competitor. She's been playing poker since the 70s. She's now based in Tel Aviv but lived in South Africa for 27 years, and owned a poker club there. Her team mates seem confident of her chances in Barcelona and describe her as, 'a fighter'. Her biggest tourney win to date is $55,000.

HelmetSky
Boaz won 7 out of 8 of Team Israel's games in the heads up heats of WCP. This tough tournament competitor also has a lot of experience of big tournaments, having qualified for 5 European Poker Tour events through PokerStars satellites. This 31 year old professional writer from Ramat Gan in Israel is hoping to help his team win the whole event.

OLDstyleNL
Team Israel's FPP qualifier is just 18 and a half, and took up poker when he saw Greg Raymer's WSOP performance on TV. He's from Holon, near Tel Aviv, and will be joining the army in 3 months time.

sugar teddy
Team Israel's celebrity player is a tough tournament competitor with many years of poker experience. 'Sugar' Teddy was runner up to John Duthie in the 'Poker Million' in 2000, winning 'just' the £100,000 2nd prize, not the cool £1,000,000. Now John Duthie, as TV producer of the WCP, will likely call hands as Teddy plays. A quote from 'Sugar' Teddy when asked what he could change in the poker world: "That Poker be considered a sport like any other sport."

TEAM ENGLAND (quarter-finalist)

Andy134 (Captain)
England Team Captain, Andrew Booker, is described by team mate Rob, as being 'On the verge of genius'. They also describe him as their 'Secret weapon'. Andy says it must be a good secret, because he doesn't know what it is himself.

Purr of Aces
Derek 'Purr of Aces' Morris is a bookmakers assistant at various race tracks, and a keen sports fan who's hobbies include carp fishing, golf and horse racing. Derek was captain of the England team in last year's WCP when England reached the last 8 also. As well as this TLB qualifier having a great online tournament record, he says he's won many live tournaments at his local casino, and is 'confident' of his live play.

carnivex
Robert Fairs is a 20-year-old politics student from Chesterfield in Derbyshire. Although he's only played poker live twice before, he has another kind of live playing experience with his band 'The Deirdres'. UK readers may want to look out for an appearance by Rob's band on TV old-stuff show, 'Antiques Roadshow'. Apparently, the band has nothing to do with old-stuff, but they asked, and, "Michael Aspel said yes." Rob's poker strategy is to not look at his cards, claiming, "That just gets in the way. It confuses me."

Monge Toot
John Loftus is a 23-year-old math teacher from Hull. Apparently the teachers at his school, St Mary's College, have been a great help in covering his classes so he could get to play in Barcelona. John said he entered the qualifier, "to pass the time after I got back from a holiday. I never imagined it would lead to something like this!" He has some live experience, as he plays regularly at his local casino, but says, "I can't do all those fancy chip tricks." He's not so worried about the game in Barcelona. "I'm just excited!" he said.

Anthony Holden
London based journalist and respected author of poker classic, 'Big Deal' is the inspiration to many a poker dreamer. Long before the days of teenage online pros and poker TV explaining hand rankings a dozen times a night, Tony decided to quit his day job to play cards. Holden still writes for a living and is now authoring "The Bigger Deal."

TEAM BRAZIL (quarter-finalist)

C.K. (Captain)
Brazil's captain, is a highly esteemed player in Brazil, where he's done much to promote the game in his country. Christian claimed he was going to go for a win - he knows no other way to play.

quaribravo
Armando Perrone is Brazil's TLB qualifier. He was Brazil's captain in last year's WCP, which he feels is useful experience for this heat. An engineer by trade, Armando is married with 3 children and lives in Sao Paulo. He's never played in a casino before, but does have live experience. His biggest previous win was $4000 in an online tournament.

zelolo
Jose Arenstein, Team Brazil's FPP qualifier, is a 26-year-old poker pro. Apparently he's more a cash game player than a tournament expert, but Team Brazil seems confident of his chances in Barcelona.

SouFlamengo
Unlike many of our FPP qualifiers Team Brazil's Hugo de Carvalho has a lot of live experience. 30 year old 'SouFlamengo' has an international background, he's lived for 5 years in the US, a sister in Madrid, and his Portuguese parents live in Switzerland! He has a 7 year old, and a newborn baby back home in Brazil. He has a great deal of live tourney experience and ranks as the number 1 player in his state.

Carteio
Raul Oliveira is Brazil's celebrity player and the most highly-rated player in his country. Now a tournament pro, he was previously a backgammon champion. He's no stranger to high-pressure tournaments. His previous cash finishes include $73,230 in the Five-Star World Poker Classic $25,000 event.

TEAM ICELAND (quarter-finalist)

CASINOICE (Captain)
Halldor Sverrisson, Iceland's TLB player, is apparently the strongest member of their team. He has good experience in major tournaments, having played in three EPT events after qualifying through PokerStars satellites. Although he didn't cash in any of these events, he has an excellent record in online tourneys. His teammates confidently agreed, "He's going to win."

raisemaster
Bryndjar Valdimarsson is one of Iceland's more experienced players. He's a snooker and pool club owner who's been playing poker for 23 years. He has five children back home in Iceland.

powerpill
Iceland's 22-year-old FPP qualifier from Reyjevik has only been playing 10 months, but hopes to learn a lot at the WCP about this 'fascinating game'.

bigsinc
Iceland's Birgir is a 28 year old IT student from Iceland, now based in Denmark for his studies. He's been playing poker online for nearly 2 years, but has no live experience before this trip. He says his biggest win before this was a modest $50. A keen golfer, he plays on the Icelandic Tour and has a handicap of 3.5. He has an 8-year-old son, and he and his partner Arna are expecting another baby soon.

Gusti.is
Iceland's celebrity player Gustaf Bjornsson, has only played poker for 2 years, and has been an online poker pro for the last year. He claims he chose this profession because, 'the pay is good.'

TEAM IRELAND (quarter-finalist)

ROONEY_DIVES (Captain)
Ireland's Captain is a semi-pro poker player, although the phrase 'part-time bum' was mentioned in affectionate ribbing from his team mates. Daniel accepted this job description with good grace and a smile. He brought along his World Cup lion team mascot, re-named 'K-Dog' in honor of his friend. This friend told him to say he'd 'learned everything he knew about the game from him.' Daniel won 8 out of 8 of the online qualifying games for Team Ireland. He's the only player with an unbeaten online record in the WCP tournament.

redbaron590
Paul is Team Ireland's second TLB qualifier, and according to his team mates, 'He's a very funny guy, and a great live tournament player.' Paul keeps a picture of his son Ben at the table as he plays.

dawns7up
Dawn Marshall is a complementary therapist from the small village, Newtowncunningham, in County Donegal. She says she's played cards of one sort or another as long as she's lived, but since she discovered Hold'em poker 4 years ago, she's played nothing else. She plays locally in many pub and club games, but says this, her first TV game, is 'massive' for her.

luckysod
Noel Peare is a computer guy from Cork. He took up poker four years ago after seeing the poker documentary, 'Million Dollar Deal.' There's not a million dollar's at stake in the WCP, but Noel will be playing himself on TV.

Hamman
Niall McNamara is the top TLB qualifier for Ireland, although he chose not to take the team captaincy. He is a strong tournament competitor who has live as well as online experience. He and his brother qualified for last years EPT Monte Carlo event through PokerStars.