PPPoker World Championship Teams Event roundup

Opening day of the inaugural PPPoker World Championship (PPWC) is swinging in the Philippines with the Teams Event well underway at Resorts World Manila. Ten teams have descended upon felt, each one having coughed up the PHP 550,000 (US$10,478) entry fee for a chance at the PHP 10 Million (US$190,530) guaranteed prize pool. If you haven’t done the math yet, then yes, there is an overlay which means very big returns to the winners. Only the top two teams will cash.

The Teams Event is a three-day affair. The battleground is set with teams competing in three separate NLH formats: 6 Max SNG, Double Heads Up, and Heads Up. At the end of today’s round, only the top 8 teams will advance to Day 2. Let’s take a closer look at the teams and the challenges they’ll face to get to the top.

The Teams

Each team is made up of 8-9 players with one of them as the designated captain.

Team India

Pulki Totla (captain)
Aditya Sushant
Agarwal Sanil
Cheekuri Kalyan Chakravarthy
Abhinav Nataraj Iyer
Akshay Nasa
Jasven Saigal
Sajal Gupta

Team Malaysia

Tan Kean Wei (captain)
Lee Tse Ian (captain)
Foo Lai Heng
Mak Wai Cheong
Loo Junzhong
Ming Juen Teoh
Ming Hong Teoh
Ying Lin Chua
Sebastian Tan Shi Ting

Team Thailand

Kannapong Thanarattrakul (captain)
Sittisak Phetroj
Metasit Pratipsangkom
Thanisorn Saelor
Chane Kampanatsanyakorn
Pakinai Lisawad
Sutipong Popitukkul
Wanchana Valaikanok
Thananat Therdtakoonrat

Team Brazil

Gabriela Belisario (captain)
Rafael Melo
Natanael
Marcelo Lanza
Murata
Guilherme
Leo
Rafa

Team Norway

Borge Dypvik (captain)
Martin Rottem Dahle
Markus Garberg
Ørjan Skommo
Henrik Tollefsen
Isac Mikalsen
Thomas Fløan
Tor Anton Welo
Thomas Syversen

Team Philippines

Jerick Almusajin (captain)
Enzo Arceo
Pash Pash
Alex Torrefranca
Estor Butch
Victor Sayas
Billy Anthony
Monziar Villaraza
Benjie Chok Manga

Team Australia

Isaac Tan (captain)
Chrispin Rovere
Alex Marbeck
Rosdy Nordin
Michael Colby
Sean Dunwoodie
Dan Smith
Oli Helm
Conor Gilmore

Team Singapore

Tzai Wei Phua (captain)
Wesley Chen
Andy Li
Jaesh Balachandran
Brendan Tang
Melvin Tay
Chua Feifei
Jacob Yong

Team Taiwan

Pete Chen (captain)
Hung Sheng Lin
TBD

Team USA
TBD

The Game Format

To gain points, the teams must navigate through three tournament formats daily: 6 Max SNG, Double Heads Up, and Heads Up. For the 6 Max SNG event, only the top three players will earn points.

1st: 30 points
2nd: 19 points
3rd: 13 points

The next round is the Double Heads Up with two players per team fielded. Both players sit and discuss the hands but only one player per level is allowed to act. Swaps are allowed between rounds (though not mandatory). The winning team earns 40 points.

The final matchup is Heads Up. Whoever is chosen by the team to play in Day 1 will have to represent the team in this event for the duration of the tournament. 30 points goes to the winning team.

At the end of all the games, the points are tallied. Only the top 8 teams advance to Day 2. At Day 2, only the top two teams advance to the Championship Round. The Championship Round will follow the same tournament format however all three games will happen simultaneously.

We will have a recap for you at the end of the day. Stick with us to find out who advanced and who fell out of the running.