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Japan and Germany are neck and neck after the primary event of Day 2 of the arena Cup of Poker with 133 points apiece, Peru only one point behind with 132. Humberto Brenes' Costa Rica team along are yet to wreck the 100 point barrier and can must mount probably the most stunning of comebacks in the event that they are to get their hands at the silverware. Is it even possible? I ACTUALLY couldn't say but once these results was posted I'll attempt to discover.

It was a robust round for Peru (34), France (33) and Tajikistan (33), allowing Peru to meet up with league leaders Germany (28) and Japan (29), and France to tug themselves near level with the Netherlands (25). Things are looking pretty bad for both Costa Rica (20) and Team Remainder of the arena (23).

1. Germany, 133 points
1. Japan, 133 points
3. Peru, 132 points
4. Tajikistan, 125 points
5. Netherlands, 123 points
6. France, 119 points
7. Remainder of the World, 97 points
8. Costa Rica, 93 points

Makoto Fukuta flops quad aces heads up against Jake Schwartz

Team Japan steps in to take a snap of the evidence

France, who're now back within spitting distance of the highest teams, have Philippe Lucas to thank who opted to inexplicably call all-in with [9c][3d]. But this was no random call, no sir, something else was obviously at play. Not with the ability to speak French the one thing I MAY understand was the shouts of 'Neuf trois! (that's nine three) and upon further investigation it was then explained to me that '93' is the dept number for the realm that Lucas is from, a suburb north-east of Paris called Seine-Saint-Denis. Somehow this tactic of calling off your stack in keeping with home location paid off: Lucas went directly to win his sit-and-go, beating Masa Kagawa heads as much as book full points for France. It's classic World Cup action.

Round five, short-handed sit-and-gos, is under way.

Germany
Jan Heitmann (c): 3 + 10 + 4 (17)
Christian Rudolph: 5 + 8 + 7 (20)
Dennis Wiedenbruck: 2 + 10 + 8 (20)
Klaus Hornschurch: 3 + 5 + 4 (12)
Michael Stobbe: 1 + 8 + 5 (14)
MTT: 1st (50)
Team total: 133

Japan
Masaaki Kagawa (c): 7 + 7 + 8 (22)
Kosei Ichinose: 4 + 10 + 4 (18)
Atsushi Iwasa: 10 + 5 + 6 (21)
Yuichi Andoh: 10 + 10 + 3 (23)
Makoto Fukuta: 10 + 6 + 8 (24)
MTT: 5th (25)
Team total: 133

Peru
Martin Sansour (c): 1 + 10 + 2 (13)
Renato Nunez: 10 + 10 + 7 (27)
Luis Felipe: 6 + 6 + 10 (22)
Renso Renfigo: 7 + 7 + 5 (19)
Daniel Adrianzen: 4 + 7 + 10 (21)
MTT: 4th (30)
Team total: 132

Tajikistan
Angel Davidov (c): 8 + 5 + 8 (21)
Ildar Faizakhmanov: 7 + 6 + 8 (21)
Yaukb Imamov: 2 + 6 + 5 (13)
Makisimov Dmitrievich: 2 + 6 + 6 (14)
Akmal Sultanov: 7 + 8 + 6 (21)
MTT: 3rd (35)
Team total: 125

Netherlands
Noah Boeken (c): 4 + 5 + 5 (14)
Johan 'bustosoon' van Til: 6 + 7 + 10 (23)
Andries Swart: 2 + 8 + 2 (12)
Peter Roeleveld: 3 + 7 + 6 (16)
Giel van Doorn: 8 + 5 + 2 (15)
MTT: 2nd (40)
Team total: 123

France
Arnaud Mattern (c): 5 + 6 + 6 (17)
Anthony Monestes: 2 + 8 + 3 (13)
Guillaume Lebosse: 8 + 7 + 7 (22)
Philippe Lucas: 10 + 7 + 10 (27)
Sami Ben Ahmed: 8 + 5 + 7 (20)
MTT: 6th (20)
Team total: 119

Rest of the world
David Williams: 4 + 5 + 3 (12)
Jake Schwartz: 7 + 8 + 10 (25)
Wu Shuk Man: 6 + 8 + 5 (19)
Carl Slate: 6 + 10 + 2 (18)
Pierre Lambert: 4 + 6 + 3 (13)
MTT: 8th (10)
Team total: 97

Costa Rica
Humbertop Brenes (c): 1 + 10 + 4 (15)
Ibuki Fukui: 1 + 8 + 7 (16)
Paul Cukier: 6 + 6 + 2 (14)
Onofre Sade: 3 + 5 + 3 (11)
Adrian Varela: 8 + 10 + 4 (22)
MTT: 7th (15)
Team total: 93

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: World Cup of Poker]