The PokerStars World Cup of Poker is a competition among national teams of poker players. Once the field is narrowed down to eight, the remaining teams will win packages – including travel expenses and accommodation - to play in Barcelona, Spain, courtesy of PokerStars. That's where the action really heats up, as the final eight teams battle it out for the title of World Cup Champions and over $250,000 in cash. The final round will be taped for television broadcast.

German World Cup of Poker Teams

Division Germany is composed of six teams. These teams include two national teams (Germany 1 and Germany 2) as well as four qualifying province teams. There are two ways that players from Germany can compete in the World Cup of Poker:

1. Players can qualify directly into the German national teams in Division Germany
2. Players can qualify for their province team, and compete against the other provinces for one of the four regional slots in Division Germany.

Province Team Qualification Route

STEP 1 - Selecting the 16 Province Teams

Each province team will be made up of four players – two Freeroll Qualifiers and two Tournament Leader Board (TLB) players.

Two Players from Freeroll Qualifiers

Each province will have two Freeroll Tournament Qualifiers. The final table finishers of these qualifiers will play in an 18-player final. Both the winner and runner-up of the final will be offered a place on their province's team.

To register for your province's qualifying tournament, please visit your PokerStars game client and click "Events", "World Cup" and then "DE Qualifiers". Once in the "DE Qualifiers" lobby find and click on your province's tournament and then click "register". For a schedule of German qualifying events, visit the Team Germany Schedule page.

Two Tournament Leader Board Players

The top two TLB (from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006) players in each of the 16 provinces qualify automatically as World Cup team players. The top finishing TLB player will have the option of becoming the team captain.

STEP 2 – 16 Province teams play down to the 4 division qualifiers

The 16 provinces are divided up into the following 4 groups:

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
Bremen	Berlin	Baden- Württemberg	Hessen
Hamburg	Brandenburg	Bayern	Nordrhein- Westfalen
Niedersachsen	Mecklenburg- Vorpommern	Sachsen	Rheinland- Pfalz
Schleswig- Holstein	Sachsen – Anhalt	Thüringen	Saarland

Each group plays a "Team Score Round" to determine the winning province from each group. A "Team Score Round" is a set of four scheduled tournaments that each contains one player from every team in the group. Teams score points based on the finishing position of each team member in their tournament. The team that scores the most points is the winner of the "Team Score Round". Further information can be found on the "Team Score Round" page.

For example, suppose you have qualified for a province team. Each of the four players in your team will play in a separate tournament against one player from each of the other provinces in the group. Once all four tournaments have been completed, the scores for each team are added up, and the team with the highest score wins.

The four winning provinces, one from each group, then progress into the four province slots in Division Germany. They then compete against the other teams in the group in the Division Playoffs.

National Team Qualification Route

If you do not qualify for your province team, you can still qualify for one of the two national German teams. Like all other teams in the World Cup of Poker, Germany 1 and Germany 2 will consist of four players – two Freeroll Tournament Qualifiers and two TLB players.

Freeroll Tournament Qualifiers

Two positions on each of the German National teams will be decided by two Freeroll Tournament Qualifiers. The final table finishers of these qualifiers will play in an 18 player final.

• The winner and third place finisher in the final will be offered positions in team Germany 1.
• The runner-up and fourth place finisher in the final will be offered positions in team Germany 2.

To register for the German national teams' qualifying tournaments, please visit your PokerStars game client and click "Events", "World Cup" and then "DE Qualifiers". Once in the "DE Qualifiers" lobby you will find the Team Germany qualifying tournaments. For a schedule of German qualifying events, visit the Team Germany Schedule page.

Tournament Leader Board Players

The top four TLB (from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006) players for Germany qualify automatically for Germany 1 or Germany 2. The top finishing TLB player will have the option of becoming the team Captain for Germany 1. The second place TLB finisher is given the option of becoming the team Captain for Germany 2.

Divisional Playoffs

Once the two national German teams have been established, they will play in a "Team Score Round" with the four winning province teams. The winning team will secure a place in the live finals in Barcelona. See the Division Playoffs Schedule for more details.

If you have any questions regarding this year's World Cup of Poker, please feel free to contact us at wcp@pokerstars.com.

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