National Honor at Stake in Poker Nations Cup April 7

Six teams of poker players will compete for the honor of their home nation as well as a coveted trophy and $100,00 first prize money, when the Poker Nations Cup convenes in Cardiff, Wales April 7 through April 10.

The teams will represent Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Holland and the United States.

Poker Nations Cup is Channel 4's and PartyPoker's innovative team poker tournament, where teams consisting of 5 poker professionals and 1 online qualifier compete in 6 heats; each player competes only once earning points for their individual finish.

A total $280,000 prize pool is generated when each player pays a buy-in of $5,000, and $100,000 gets added by PartyPoker. From this, individual match winners scoop $20,000 for themselves for their efforts.

All 6 teams then compete in a 'tag' final. The size of the team chip stacks for the tag final depend on the points gained by the players in the six heats. The triumphant nation will be the last with a player standing.

MEET THE TEAMS

Sweden: Defending champions Sweden will again be captained by Bo Sehlstedt and feature William Thorsson, Johan Storakers, Mats Rahm and last year's hero Anders Henriksson. Joining them is an online qualifier with serious form in Johan Ocklind, who locked horns with the likes of Patrik Antonius, Tony G and Ilari Sahamies at the Scandinavian Poker Masters cash game last year.

Great Britain: The British team is captained by Roland de Wolfe and features reigning Poker Million champion Joe Beevers, 2008 Irish Open champion Neil Channing, format specialist Ian Frazer and the inimitable Surinder Sunar. Joining them is qualifier Francis Durbin. Captain for the past two years, Dave "The Devilfish" Ulliott is unavailable as he is in the United States.

Ireland: Ireland make a welcome return to the competition and are captained by legend Padraig Parkinson, joined by fellow Irish poker giant Donnacha O’Dea, 2007 Irish Open winner Marty Smyth, WSOP bracelet holder Ciaran O’Leary and 2007 PartyPoker European Open champion Liam Flood. Darren O’Brien joins the team as the qualifier.

United States: Team USA is captained by Robert Williamson III and will feature $12 million 2006 WSOP Main Event winner Jamie Gold, the one and only Freddy Deeb, the iconic Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson and Chad Brown. With there being no qualifier from the USA, captain Robert Williamson III has drafted in television host Montel Williams to make his European poker debut. Williams may be better known as a chat show host but he was the leading the WSOP Main Event for a period in 2007.

Germany: The German team is captained by Michael Keiner and the former plastic surgeon has moulded together a very strong team. Andreas Krause, one of the top European players last year is a key figure in the line-up as is Benjamin Kang, inaugural PartyPoker German Open winner Sebastian Ruthenberg and WSOP Europe bracelet winner Thomas “Buzzer� Bihl. Thomas Potzal is the qualifier joining this glittering role call of top pros.

Holland: The Dutch team is captained by Marcel Luske and features Thierry Van der Berg, Eric Van der Berg and Daan Ruiter with Quirijn Van Der Peet the qualifier. Marcel still has one selection to make.

PAST YEARS

Last year Sweden triumphed over the USA in a rollercoaster tag-final, while the year before there was glory for Great Britain. PartyBets.com make Sweden 3/1 favorites to win again with the USA second favorites at 7/2, Great Britain at 9/2, Ireland at 5/1, Germany at 6/1 and Holland the outsiders at 13/2.

A PartyPoker spokesman said, "The array of talent on display for the 2008 PartyPoker Poker Nations Cup is brilliant. Sweden have to be favourites to retain their title as their line-up of pros is unchanged and are used to the format and they are arguably strengthened by their online qualifier representative. That said, the USA will take some stopping with the likes of Gold, Ferguson Deeb and Brown on board while Great Britain boasts so many form players in their team. Ireland is a bit of a wildcard but there is little doubt that they have strength in depth in their side while Germany appear much stronger than previous years. The Dutch side led by Marcel have to be seen as the underdogs- the names don't jump out as much at you as they do with the other line-ups."

Here is the list of team players:

GREAT BRITAIN

GERMANY

HOLLAND

IRELAND

SWEDEN

USA