The first ever Caesars Cup is set to happen at the World Series of Poker Europe this year. The WSOPE (presented by Betfair) will offer four tournaments, and in the midst of it all will be the Caesars Cup, an invitation-only tournament to pit the Europeans against the Americans, on September 25.

Annette Obrestad is heading up the European team, and today at the Rio she made her first pick. Peter Eastgate will be joining her on the team, along with several other players to be announced, one of whom will win his/her way onto the team through a Betfair online poker leaderboard competition. Daniel Negreanu is the team leader for the Americas, and his first pick was announced by Jeffrey Pollack as Phil Ivey.

Annette Obrestad & Peter Eastgate v. Daniel Negreanu & Phil Ivey

Hard to place any bets at this point, considering many picks have yet to be made.

If you haven’t voted a few times already, there’s a poll right over there ( –> ) asking you what’s your favorite poker blog by a bona fide poker pro. Daniel Negreanu is running away with it, as he probably should be. My personal fave: Doyle Brunson’s blog.

Not only do I enjoy the Doylism of the Day, but also, Big Poppa can write! In his most recent post, he explains why having backed John McCain doesn’t make him anti-poker any more than it makes him a racist:

First, I’m about as far away from being a racist as you can get. I’ve had black friends all my life, and I mean really good friends. That was back before it was “fashionable” to have blacks as friends.

Hmm, that might be a dig at anyone like me who has specifically been courting black girls, thinking interracial intercourse is about to become all the rage (just kidding LaTasjia — you’re still my #1 shorty). But seriously … check it out — not only does Doyle’s blog have other good blogstuff such as a relatively personal Flickr gallery, but also he was able to make a solid point for voting McCain in four paragrafs that neither Tom nor my dad could do in four weeks of email manifestos and belligerent phone calls. It’s the kinda writing I’ve grown to expect from Brunson, who clearly has refined his skills in the 36 years since authoring Super/System.

Another pretty good one comes from Annette 15. Even though the Michelle Wie of Poker (?) says she’s really more of a forum girl, Annette Obrestad’s blog (added to the poll by a reader) is filled with worthwhile reads from a young pro making her way through the high-stakes world, live and online. I really dug her post introducing “set mining” to me (the phrase, if not the concept), with a simple, straightforward math-based explanation of when it’s worth seeing if you’re pocket pair can trip up.

Anyhow, just a couple that I’ve found worth the clicks and eyeball time, and possibly a few votes.

Not entirely.

But the WSOP Europe can’t seem to grow its numbers. Amazingly, two of this year’s London events had the exact same number of entrants as in 2007.

2007 HORSE – 105 players
2007 PLO – 165 players
2007 NLHE main event – 362 players

2008 HORSE – 110 players
2008 PLO – 165 players
2008 NLHE main event – 362 players

The only major difference is that there was on additional event at the 2008 WSOPE in the form of a NLHE tournament that drew 410 players. With that extra event, one could say that the overall turnout for the WSOPE grew, but that’s not the real story. THE story is that the World Series of Poker has had such high hopes for the growth of its brand, even throwing out the idea of expanding to Latin America and Asia in the coming years, but the first two years of the WSOP Europe haven’t indicated that there is a real public demand for it.

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Wow, kinda in the same way that Jennifer Tilly is 50, defending WSOP-E champ Annette Obrestad sure is little.

A couple pics coming in over the transom from the Empire Casino in London:

click to enlarge

And here’s the cozy 25-table joint where it’s all shaking down:

Righteous kill indeed!

I swear this isn’t some sort of tribute to Pauly just because his heart recently skipped a few beats and his head may or may not be more messed than usual … his car accident just reminded me: Oh shit! I forgot to post the next podcast … um, I mean are you OK? Need anything? OK … yes, so WSOP … post podcast.

This time Dr.P and I take a leisurely stroll through the Amazon room while discussing bad t-shirts, sunglass technology, and the relationship between Milwaukee’s Best Light, the WSOP, college kids, and Annette_15.

Episode 11: Floorplay

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Mark your calendars before the dollar goes even lower against European currencies … WSOP-Europe 2008 is set for September 19-October 1. Click below for further details and the full press release:

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