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Poland Wins World Cup of Poker

BARCELONA, Spain – (PRESS RELEASE) -- Team Poland won the third annual PokerStars.com World Cup of Poker. Members of Team Poland defeated Team United States in heads-up play to win the $100,000 top prize.

In a dramatic finish, Jacek Ladny, 40, an online qualifier, called a massive bluff by the USA Team Captain Joe Harwell. With A-6 of spades, the ice-cool Warsaw stockbroker called Harwell's unsuited 6-3 to win $20,000 for himself -- and an additional $20,000 for each of his four teammates. "We're going to play poker to see who takes the trophy home," he joked.

Philip Hilm, 30, a regular player on the televised European Poker Tour, was the celebrity player on the Polish team. "None of these guys have played in a big tournament before but they were very consistent and performed very well. Everyone made a contribution but it took a great final call by Jacek to clinch victory. The USA Team was playing very aggressively and he read the situation perfectly." The rest of the winning team comprised Team Captain Marcin Doliwa, student pharmacist Andrzej Skawinski and Marcin Meinardi, a software developer.

Team USA took home $50,000 for second place, while Team Canada won $30,000 for third place. Fourth-placed Israel won $20,000.

The tournament cost nothing to enter. PokerStars.com posted all of the prize money, which totaled $200,000. In fact, all team players were given free travel to Barcelona, Spain for representing their respective countries. The free tournament began online in April with 39 nations around the globe -- from Argentina to Australia -- battling for the right to represent their countries in the televised eight-team finale.

Each national team featured five players: two Frequent Player Point (FPP) PokerStars qualifiers, two top-ranking PokerStars players and one "celebrity" player chosen by the team. These included former World Champion Tom McEvoy for the USA and Isabelle "No Mercy" Mercier for Canada.

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