The WSOPE Caesars Cup winner is hard to predict. Obviously, European poker players would be intimidated playing against Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Huck Seed, John Juanda, Jennifer Harman, and Barry Greenstein in a 16 player tournament. Likewise, the American poker team might feel a fetal position coming on playing against Annette Obrestad, Peter Eastgate, Dario Minieri, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Ilari Sahamies, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen and Betfair Qualifier, John Harvey.
What makes it a toss up is Team Europe has home-field advantage. Although, this might not be a strong advantage because it should be called other-side-of-the-pond-advantage. While Team America has age on their side. ge is like gender in that both stir up emotions and self-esteem. Call it stereotypical all you want but I believe that no matter how much self-help a person absorbs… there are universal traits via genetics, the subconscious, behavioral conditioning etc which affect competition. For example, younger people are less intimidating to an experienced veteran. Or if you’re a man, do women scare you?
On the other hand, some might strive for perfection in the presence of experience. If this is true for Eastgate and Obrestad, they may be a strong asset for Team Europe. Assuming they work harder to show their “A” game to the Americans.
UPDATE: Team Europe Wins.
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