Last year, the annual America v Europe Caesars cup tournament saw Europe take home the gold. This time around, an American team captained by Phil Hellmuth and made up of Jason Mercier, November Niner Ben Lamb, Daniel ‘Kid Poker’ Negreanu and Johnny Chan were enough to see off a British team made up of Max Lykov, Triple Crown winner Jake Cody, PartyPoker pro Tony G, Dane Gus Hansen and captained by Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier.
Nothing Between The Two Teams
The event was a one-day affair and saw Jason Mercier and Ben Lamb face off against Jake Cody and Tony G to kick it off. With America having two of the hottest running young tournament players of recent months, it was no surprise that they took an early lead against the Europeans.
However, that lead didn’t last long. The next match saw Hellmuth pair up with his old friend Negreanu to take on the European duo of Lykov and Hansen. The aggression from the two Europeans was too much for Hellmuth and Negreanu, and the Europeans tied things up at one match apiece.
Shock Horror: Hellmuth Gets Lucky!
The third match of the event saw poker legend Johnny Chan take out the European captain and all round top tournament player ‘ElkY’, which meant America only needed one more win to take the cup home. With all five players having played an event, it was down to the captains to choose. The Europeans put forward Lykov, whilst Hellmuth chose himself, wanting to avenge his loss to the Russian earlier in the day.
The aggression from the Europeans was the key earlier and clearly Hellmuth thought he had Lykov’s number, limping from the button and snap-calling Lykov’s shove all-in, crying “I was trapping!” as he tabled his QT. However, Lykov had him tied up in meta-game knots as his K9 had the lead. Hellmuth and his team were delighted to see the Q fall on the flop and hold up to take the win and the cup back across the pond for his team.
John
- hailing from Watford, UK John became hooked on the game of poker ever since his uncle taught him the rules of 7-card stud during a home game at the young age of 15. He caught the online bug three short years later after turning 18 and began regularly playing Texas Hold'em SNGs.
