The tension ahead of the 2011 Caesars Cup is rising in Cannes. Captain of Team America, Phil Hellmuth, today questioned Team Europe's draft of his arch-nemesis, Tony G.
The 2011 Caesars Cup will be making a return tomorrow at the WSOP Europe, following a one-year break last year.
The popular cup sees North America and Europe square off in a team match, led by two team captains who can freely choose which players to include in their teams.
This year, Team America will be led by 11-time WSOP bracelet winner
Phil Hellmuth, who has chosen to go with a handful of classic names for his 2011 team.
Players like
Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson and Huck Seed were all on Hellmuth's original draft list, but following cancellations from Brunson and Seed, Hellmuth was forced to make rearrangements in the last minute.
Having done so, Team America now consists of Hellmuth,
Jason Mercier, Ben Lamb,
Johnny Chan and Daniel Negreanu, who will all gather tomorrow to face the European team, led by Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier.
Grospellier has chosen a mixture of old and young players in
Gus Hansen, Maxim Lykov, Jake Cody and finally Tony G.
Especially the latter has however, and perhaps not surprisingly, caused Hellmuth to question Grospellier's abilities as a team captain.
"How does "Team Europe" choose Tony G for their team when they could choose David "Devilfish" Ulliot, Sam Trickett or Carlos Mortensen?" Hellmuth asks on
his Twitter today.
The cup as such seems to line up yet another clash by poker's two favorite archenemies once the cards hit air tomorrow afternoon.
Team Europe will enter the battle as the defending champions, following the 2009 victory, in which the team, captained by
Annette Obrestad, beat the Americans by 4-1.
The event is a non-bracelet event and will be recorded for
TV, set to air later this year.