Gibraltar – 12th November 2008 –- Great Britain are the winners of the 2008 PartyPoker 
Poker Nations Cup! Team Great Britain, captained by Roland de Wolfe and featuring Neil 
Channing, Surinder Sunar, Joe Beevers, Ian Frazer and PartyPoker VIP online qualifier 
Charlie Durbin overcome Ireland heads-up to take down the prestigious title. Coverage 
concluded on Channel 4 in the UK last night. 

The team event also featured world class line-ups from the USA, Germany, Holland and 
Sweden and there was no surprise that it was Neil Channing who eventually brought the 
cup home for Britain. All six teams competed in a “tag” final where each team captain’s 
judgement was vital, as it was up to them to make tactical substitutions and 
strategic “time outs.”

“I’m absolutely delighted,” said team captain de Wolfe. “In many ways it is even better 
to win a team event for your country than win an individual title. I am so proud that 
the selections for my team were vindicated,” he added. 

“We knew that it would be tight early on so I played Surinder. We fancied that he could 
exploit his tight image and he had played so well in his heat that it simply had to be 
him. Next we put on Joe Beevers. At that point we needed to sure things up as we were 
near the chip lead. This was a choice I made based on the situation. If we had been 
leading I would have put in Ian Frazer to get at them but Joe did a good job. I played 
third and always fancied this period of the tournament. I had a good run against 
Holland’s Thierry Van Den Berg and knew that blind stealing would be key at this stage 
before the blinds got too big. Neil had to play last as he had the form and confidence. 
Even though neither Ian Frazer nor Charlie Durbin were involved at this stage, both were 
key to our success. Both played excellently in the heats and the decisions were hard but 
we were only allowed to play four players in the final.”

Channing anchored Great Britain to victory in a tense heads-up with Ireland’s Donnacha 
O’Dea. After a number of swings, the key turning point was when Channing went all-in 
with 8 4 off suit, only to get called by O’Dea’s 2 2. The Irish Open champion was behind 
on the flop and the turn only for a 4 to hit on the river and cripple the Irish. Very 
soon O’Dea was all-in with 10c 3c, only to be called by Channing’s 10h 9h. The 10 on the 
turn was enough to win Great Britain the cup they had previously won in 2006. 

Channing was originally pencilled in as a television reporter for the event coverage but 
after his Irish Open win was asked by captain de Wolfe to take his place in the line-
up. “I am just as proud of this as I am of my win in Ireland,” said Channing. “It was an 
honour to be picked to represent my country and great to be chosen to play the crucial 
final leg for the team.”

After six heats Britain arrived at the final table joint second in chips with Holland, 
just behind leaders Germany. The action started fast and it was all Holland as online 
qualifier Quirijn Van der Peet dramatically took down a massive pot against Germany’s 
Benjamin Kang to turn the tournament on its head. This triggered a number of 
substitutions, particularly for Ireland, who used their full quota of replacements in a 
short period of time. After starting with Marty Smyth, followed by Liam Flood, captain 
Padraig Parkinson put himself on for one hand only to substitute himself straight away 
as his view was that he had to play Donnacha O’Dea for as much of the final table as 
possible. It was a tactic that very nearly paid off and there was no doubt that Ireland 
were the team with the most support throughout. 

Team USA started as the short stack and departed first. USA captain Robert Williamson 
III had understandably put in Chris Ferguson to start and try and make the best of a bad 
situation after a terrible week. After all, the blinds were small and there was plenty 
of play on the table. Ferguson’s 9 9, however, ran into O’Dea’s A K and an A on the 
river sent ‘Jesus’ to the rail. Jamie Gold was outside preparing himself to play but 
that was the last the tournament saw of a strong side that also included Chad Brown, 
Montel Williams and Thomas Keller. 

Next out was defending champions Sweden who had started the session with Mats Rahmn and 
made serious in-roads thanks to Johan Storakers and, particularly, William Thorson. 2006 
PartyPoker Poker Nations Cup hero Anders Henriksson’s A 5 got busted by O’Dea’s 10 10. 
The flop went 4 J J and nothing on the turn or river meant that Bo Sehlstedt’s side were 
down to 1,000 chips. Dutch captain Marcel Luske was left to finish them off. At this 
point the noise of the Irish supporters was growing. Parkinson’s decision to play O’Dea 
as much as possible looked to be paying dividends after a disappointing set of results 
in the heats and many thought the Emerald Isle were going to pull off an unlikely 
victory. 

With all this happening Germany appeared to be making a fantastic comeback. After 
starting with Benjamin Kang, captain Michael Keiner played Andreas Krause, Sebastian 
Ruthenberg and then Thomas Bihl and it was “Buzzer” Bihl who doubled-up through Neil 
Channing to get them right back in contention. Bihl’s J J held up against Channing’s K 
8. However, it was Germany who fell next. The blinds were going up and Channing 
continued to bully the table. Channing pushed with 9h 7h only to get called by Bihl’s 5 
5 but a 9 on the flop gave Great Britain the massive pot, crippling Germany and leaving 
Marcel Luske to finish them off next hand. 

Next to go was Holland, who had been up and down throughout the final table. Luske’s 10 
s 9 s was busted by O’Dea’s A K off suit after two kings hit the board. Marcel had 
started with impressive online qualifier Quirijn Van der Peet and played Daan Ruitter, 
Thierry Van Den Berg and himself. Seen as outsiders by PartyBets.com before a card was 
dealt in the tournament, Dutch captain Marcel Luske was pleased with his team’s 
performance. 

This left O’Dea and Channing heads-up, only for the Irish Open champion to eventually 
conquer the Irish poker legend. Ireland captain Padraig Parkinson was philosophical 
about the defeat: “We were the oldest team in the tournament. It’s quite obvious that 
poker is a young man’s game.” 

A PartyPoker spokesman said: “Neil Channing was running so good that Great Britain 
looked like the winners when it got short handed. Full credit must go to Ireland, 
however, who brought a great atmosphere to the tournament and very nearly pipped them at 
the post. On paper, the likes of Chris Ferguson and Jamie Gold for Team USA look very 
intimidating but it seems like when they cross the Atlantic for these tournaments they 
just can’t quite get it right.”

“It was an amazing experience for the five PartyPoker VIP online qualifiers. A week 
alongside the world’s best pros in a unique team atmosphere is intimidating but 
ultimately exciting and unforgettable.” 

The team event featured line-ups from Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Holland 
and the United States. The winning team scooped $100,000 in this unique tournament that 
saw players pursuing personal and team glory, along with the honour of representing 
their home nation. The tournament saw one PartyPoker VIP qualifier on each team playing 
alongside five world class poker professionals from the same participating nations, 
except the USA who featured celebrity player Montel Willams. Each player paid a buy-in 
of $5,000 making a total prize pool of $280,000 ($100,000 added by PartyPoker). 

Over six heats, each player competed once to score points for their team with individual 
match winners scooping $20,000 for themselves for their efforts. The size of the team 
chip stacks for the tag final depended on the points gained by the players in the six 
heats. The triumphant nation was the last with a player standing.

The first heat was won by Great Britain, represented by Neil Channing, who kept up his 
great form to overcome Sweden’s Johan Storakers heads-up. Heat two saw a surprise as 
Dutch online qualifier Quirjin van der Peet took it down after an epic heads-up with 
Great Britain’s Ian Frazer. The heat featured Jamie Gold, who finished third, the 
highest finishing position of any Team USA player at the event.  Day one finished with 
2006 winners Great Britain in the ascendancy. Day two opened with two captains at the 
table, Bo Sehlstedt for Sweden and Michael Keiner for Germany but it was Holland’s Daan 
Ruitter who triumphed, with Irish online qualifier Darren O’Brien roared on by his team 
mates into second place. The next heat saw another maximum for Great Britain as Surinder 
Sunar was victorious with Sweden’s Mats Rahmn the runner-up. The heat featured the USA’s 
Chris Ferguson who busted first, adding to what was turning into a miserable run for 
Team USA. At the end of day two Holland and Great Britain were pulling away from the 
field in the points table. 

Day three saw the balance of power swing dramatically as pre-tournament favourites 
Germany took down both heats. Andreas Krause won the first heat, defeating Sweden’s 
Anders Henriksson heads-up. The final heat was won by Germany’s Benjamin Kang who saw 
off Ireland’s Ciaran O’Leary in a heat that also featured Marcel Luske, William Thorson, 
Robert Williamson III and Roland de Wolfe. This marvellous last day gave Germany the 
chip lead going into the tag team final. 

In 2007 Sweden triumphed over the USA in a rollercoaster tag-final, while in 2006 there 
was glory for Great Britain. Coverage of the 2008 event was produced for Channel 4 in 
the UK by Presentable. The commentary team for the event coverage was fronted by Vicky 
Coren and featured Joe Beevers, Jamie Gold, Padraig Parkinson, Ciaran O’Leary, Robert 
Williamson III, Roland de Wolfe and Simon Trumper. 

PARTYPOKER POKER NATIONS CUP – FINAL STANDINGS

1st GREAT BRITAIN - $100,000
2nd IRELAND - $30,000
3rd HOLLAND
4th GERMANY
5th SWEDEN
6th USA

Individual heat winners received $20,000 with the runner-up $5,000

PARTYPOKER POKER NATIONS CUP – TAG TEAM FINAL TABLE STARTING LINE-UP

USA Chris Ferguson
GB Surinder Sunar
IRE Marty Smyth
SWE Mats Rahmn
GER Benjamin Kang
HOL Quirjin van der Peet

PARTYPOKER POKER NATIONS CUP – FINAL TABLE CHIP STACKS

USA 10,050
GB 25,350
GER 29,050
HOL 25,350
SWE 23,800
IRE 16,400

PARTYPOKER POKER NATIONS CUP (POINTS AFTER DAY THREE)

GERMANY  55pts
GREAT BRITAIN  48pts
HOLLAND  48pts
SWEDEN  45 pts
IRELAND  31 pts
USA  19 pts

TEAMS

GREAT BRITAIN
Roland de Wolfe    Capt.
Joe Beevers
Ian Frazer
Surinder Sunar
Neil Channing
Charlie Durbin - qualifier

GERMANY
Michael Keiner    Capt.
Andreas Krause
Benjamin Kang
Sebastian Ruthenberg
Thomas Bihl
Thomas Potzel - qualifier

HOLLAND
Marcel Luske    Capt.
Thierry Van den Berg
Hans Ritburg
Eric Van der Berg
Daan Ruitter
Quirijn Van der Peet - qualifier

IRELAND
Padraig Parkinson   Capt.
Donnacha O’Dea
Ciaran O’Leary
Liam Flood
Marty Smyth
Darren O’Brien - qualifier

SWEDEN
Bo Sehlstedt    Capt.
Anders Henriksson
Mats Rahmn
Johan Storakers 
William Thorson
Johan Ocklind - qualifier

USA
Robert Williamson III    Capt.
Jamie Gold
Chris Ferguson 
Thomas Keller
Chad Brown
Montel Williams – Celebrity Player





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