PROFESSIONAL POKER TOUR TEAMS DRAFTED

(683) (12-October-2006)

Made-for-television series will see the big guns in poker competing

The structure and team make-up of the upcoming Professional Poker League (PPL) was decided this week by 64 top professionals who gathered at the Venetian in Las Vegas.

Competitors in the PPL enter by invitation only in the made-for-television series, competing against each other in eight teams.

Those invited are some of the top cash game and tournament poker players on the planet, and include T.J. Cloutier and Dewey Tomko; Chip Reese and Eli Elezra; John Juanda and Erik Seidel; Barry Greenstein and Phil Ivey; Chris Ferguson and Ted Forrest; Negreanu and Jennifer Harman; Mike Sexton and Cyndy Violette; and Doyle and Todd Brunson in captaincy positions.

The Venetian meeting set up a draft in which six pools of eight players each were fromed from which teams would be chosen. During each round captains were allowed to pick one player, and only pick one player from each pool of players.

The final team choices looks like this:

Team One

Co-captains T.J. Cloutier and Dewey Tomko
Chau Giang
Daniel Alaei
Carlos Mortensen
Linda Johnson
Layne Flack
Amir Vahedi

Team Two

Co-captains Chip Reese and Eli Elezra
Patrik Antonius
Kenna James
Lee Watkinson
Men "The Master" Nguyen
Esther Rossi
David Williams

Team Three

Co-captains John Juanda and Erik Seidel
Annie Duke
Antonio Esfandiari
Martin de Knijff
John D'Agostino
Mimi Tran
Phil Gordon

Team Four

Co-captains Barry Greenstein and Phil Ivey
David Benyamine
Vanessa Rousso
Chad Brown
Josh Arieh
Tuan Le
Mike Caro

Team Five

Co-captains Chris Ferguson and Ted Forrest
Gus Hansen
Phil Laak
Joe Cassidy
Jack Fox
Clonie Gowen
Paul Darden

Team Six ("The Professionals")

Co-captains Daniel Negreanu and Jennifer Harman
Gabe Thaler
Freddy Deeb
David Chiu
Nick Schulman
Mike Matusow
Evelyn Ng

Team Seven

Co-captains Mike Sexton and Cyndy Violette
Scotty Nguyen
Robert Williamson
Michael Mizrachi
Gavin Smith
Jennifer Tilly
Liz Lieu

Team Eight

Co-captains Doyle Brunson and Todd Brunson
Hoyt Corkins
Isabelle Mercier
Humberto Brenes
Michael Gracz
Chip Jett
Tony Guoga