Top names in London for today's IFP Nations Cup

Top names in London for today's IFP Nations Cup

Thursday, 17 November 2011

Plenty of top names will be in London this week for the inaugural International Federation of Poker Nations Cup which starts today. The event, which is part of the London Mind Sports Festival, pits teams from 12 countries in a series of duplicate poker matches.

According to the IFP, which is headed by Tony Holden, author of the classic poker tome Big Deal, “Duplicate poker removes the element of luck and conforms more to a truly sporting occasion. Rather than competing against those at their table, duplicate poker pitches players against opponents dealt exactly the same cards in exactly the same position on neighbouring tables. With all players in a particular seat given the same allocation of cards the only determining factor in the result of the tournament is how skilfully each player uses them.”


According to the IFP, which is headed by Tony Holden, author of the classic poker tome Big Deal, “Duplicate poker removes the element of luck and conforms more to a truly sporting occasion. Rather than competing against those at their table, duplicate poker pitches players against opponents dealt exactly the same cards in exactly the same position on neighbouring tables. With all players in a particular seat given the same allocation of cards the only determining factor in the result of the tournament is how skilfully each player uses them.”


Sam Trickett, fresh from his latest seven-figure score, heads the UK team which also includes Sam Holden and Liv Boeree. Other notables taking part in the two-day contest include 2011 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Barry Greenstein, November Niner Eoghan O'Dea, the always entertaining Padraig Parkinson, shy and retiring Aussie Tony G and Gus Hansen.


Following on from the Nations Cup is the $500,000 IFP World Championship which starts on 19 November. 130 pros have been given a seat in the invitation only event with the winner set to walk away with a cool quarter of a million dollars and the title of official “World Champion”. The tournament, which goes by the name The Table, will be open to the wider poker public from next year.




Tags: International Federation of Poker, Sam Trickett, Sam Holden, Liv Boeree, Eoghan O'Dea, Gus Hansen, Tony G