Dream Team Poker at the 2009 World Series of Poker

July 2, 2:46 PMLA Poker ExaminerMarie-Lizette Acoba

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After two very successful tournaments, Dream Team Poker™ (“DTP”) tournaments have clearly taken root as “must play” events.

Incorporated in August 2007, Dream Team Gaming, Inc. (“DTG”) based in Beverly Hills, California, is a developer of casino branded games that are licensed to both brick and mortar casinos and internet gaming providers. Dream Team Poker™, the first gaming product developed by DTG, is a team based structure and scoring system for tournament poker.  The inventive format has added a new dimension to the poker tournament circuit and, in just a few short months, DTG’s founders have been catapulted to the forefront of the poker industry with their patent-pending team-based tournament structure. 

The first Dream Team Poker™ event was held at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Poker in Las Vegas, Nevada from November 7-9, 2008.  The debut DTP tournament consisted of 25 teams, each team was comprised of three players (no more, no less) and incentives included a private Friday night welcome party inside the Hard Rock Penthouse, Saturday night party at Body English, and a trophy ceremony on Sunday. In the end, Team Bluff Magazine won the $39,000 first place prize and each team member was awarded a DTP team championship ring (valued at more than $5,000 each).

The second DTP event, held at the prestigious Las Vegas Caesars Palace’s poker room from March 27-29, 2009, was no less successful. The event was a complete sell-out and drew a first-class crowd of celebrities and top poker professionals alike. Notable players were Team Favorites,” which was comprised of eleven time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, and Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss; “Team Yo Mama,” made up of Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle (former WSOP last women standing) as well as poker spokes woman Lacey Jones; and, poker veterans T.J. Cloutier, Tom McEvoy and Kathy Liebert were teamed up for PICClub.com Pro Team 1. Also in attendance were WSOP main event winners Jamie Gold and Jerry Yang, returning DTP champs Justin Bonomo (November Team Champion with Team Bluff) and Jason Lilly (November Individual Champion), Jeff Madsen, Hoyt Corkins, Kenna James, Marsha Waggoner, Todd Brunson, Mark Seif, Paul Wasicka, Joe Sebok, Kristy Gazes, Erica Schoenberg, Liz Liu, JJ Liu, David Daneshgar, and Kenny Tran. The first place winners were “Team Aced,” which won the team prize of $59,940 and Danny Nelson (of “Bikerhaven.net”), who won the individual prize of $24,063.

As a result of the overwhelming success of the first two tournaments, DTG was invited to host a Dream Team Poker™ event at the 2009 World Series of Poker™: “After seeing the terrific response to the recent Dream Team Poker™ tournaments in Las Vegas, we thought a team-based event would be a fun addition to the end of the WSOP,” said Jeffrey Pollack, WSOP Commissioner.  “The Dream Team Poker event is one of the many new elements added in 2009 that will help make this summer a memorable one for all WSOP players and fans.”

DTP has brought a new layer of competition and strategy to the game of tournament poker. The incentives of both team-based and individual prize pools for the players (and let's not overlook the customized team jerseys), as well as the increased revenue for the host casinos have proven to be a wining combination. The poker community is a buzz with excitement and, for a third time, the highly anticipated Dream Team Poker™ tournament is expected to draw the who’s who in poker in addition to poker fans from all walks of life.