Yesterday marked the three week line until play begins in the Caesars Cup, the inaugural team event that pits the best that the United States has to offer against the strongest that Europe can put up in a unique team format that hasn’t been seen before in poker. What is confusing some people, however, is how the event is going to be scored and what it will take to be determined the winner. In this instance, Harrah’s (who is behind the creation of the Caesars Cup) has taken a page from the world of golf and its team competitions.
In competitions like the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup (both for the men) and the Solheim Cup (for the women), golf presents a challenge where each team can literally wear their flag on their sleeve and compete for their country. Through doubles matches and individual play, the competition breaks down into who can earn the most points, or wins, in the course of the event. Harrah’s is taking this same idea and applying it to poker, with some deviations to the game that haven’t been attempted previously.
In all segments of the competition for the Caesars Cup, the game is Heads Up No Limit Texas Hold’em, but it will start with a twist. There will be four “doubles” matches that will be contested and could actually decide the victor, as it will take four (4) points for the champion of the Caesars Cup to be determined. These “doubles” matches will bring some strategy decisions for Team Americas captain Daniel Negreanu and Team Europe captain Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad.
In the first match, it will be a “Doubles – Alternate Bet” format, similar to golf‘s Alternate Shot format. This means that two players from each team will play in a heads up match, but one player will play pre-flop and the turn while a teammate will play the flop and the river. Once the players are set into these positions, they will not be allowed to change positions or substitute in another player. The eventual winners of this match up will earn one point for their team and there will be two matches of this type, meaning four players from each eight man team will be utilized.
The second match still includes two players but it is slightly altered from the first style of play. In the “Doubles – Same Stack” format (similar to the Best Ball format in golf), the two players will be playing off of the same stack and each player will play two hands. By playing two hands, each of the four players will have the opportunity to play from the button at least once in the four player shift. The winners will get a point for their respective team and there will be two matches of this type; in theory, the captains will use their remaining four players in this format.
At this point, it is conceivable that one team could sweep all of the play to this point and have garnered the four points necessary for capturing the Caesars Cup. In this case, it would render the final part of the battle, the individual games, meaningless. In this segment of the battle, there is a traditional mano y mano match between each of the eight players on each team, with points allotted for each victory until one team reaches the magic number of four total wins, including the doubles matches.
Here’s where the Caesars Cup could ensure that there will be some entertainment for the crowd in attendance and any television audience that could potentially see this historic battle. With a total of twelve points up for grabs, make it that a team has to win seven points to take the Caesars Cup. If, after the twelve events the teams are tied, a final six handed Sit and Go would be the tiebreaker, with each team picking three players to defend the honor of their continent. The winner of this Sit and Go, of course, would get the point and their team the Caesars Cup.
Whether the powers that be change the format to ensure that the individual matches mean anything or not, the Caesars Cup promises to be one of the more interesting poker matches to come along in some time. Both of the captains, Negreanu and Obrestad, have two more selections left to add to the players they have already chosen and, come September 25th, the Caesars Cup will be up for grabs.
