This one is very similar to the "name" Summer In Vegas competition but this time we separate the teams by geography.
We'll use the same data. However, instead of $ won, we'll use # of cashes ($ won will be the tie breaker). This one will highlight the grinders.
Each state (and DOC) can enter a team. Every country (except USA) can enter a team. UK will be broken down by components.
5 players per team max.
To make an American team you must finish in the Top 500 worldwide. No such limit on non-American teams.
The same entries and payouts apply:
$100 if you select the correct team.
$300 additional if you select the winning team PLUS the MVP.
$500 additional if you select the winning team PLUS the MVP PLUS the women's MVP.
Payment by PokerStars transfer or Amazon gift certificate.
Scoring is the same as for the "name" competition: last longers in all tournament series in Vegas that run concurrently with the WSOP.
No duplicate entries but partials are allowed.
This is a fantasy pool but you are allowed to participate inside the pool (get a bunch of cashes and join a team then go to Vegas this summer and lead your team to victory!).

Which team a player will play for is based on HM & WSOP bios.
"Born" takes precedence over "residence".
If there is a discrepancy between HM & WSOP, the place farthest from Las Vegas will be picked.

CAVEAT: I will only run this one if I have 10 or more entries before I return from Taiwan (sometime on Monday).

Example: Allen Kessler will qualify for Team Pennsylvania because HM says Nevada and WSOP says Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania is farther from Las Vegas).
Example: Jeremy Becker will qualify for Team New York because he lives in Florida but was born in New York.
Example: if someone picks Team Texas (for $100), nobody else can pick Team Texas.
Example: If someone picks Team Texas + Daniel Negreanu (for $300) you are allowed to pick Team Texas + Alan Engel.
Example: If someone picks Team Texas + Daniel Negreanu + Angela Jordison (for $500) you are allowed to pick Team Texas + Daniel Negreanu + Kristen Foxen
BTW, Landon Tice will qualify for Team Florida.

I'll answer any questions you have.

Vivian (from my homegame) has taken Team California.

Jenny (from my homegame) takes Team England
Swee (from my homegame) takes Team Texas

Josephine (from my homegame) takes Team Canada.

You 2+2ers better hurry or my homegame players will take all the best teams

Team Australia

Team New York

Thanks D1iaboil1cal & xander biscuits for your picks.
New York looks like a solid pick but Australia (that's a long trip to Las Vegas - how many will make it?).
I guess I'd better make my picks before I get to run the stats to see who might make which team.

For $100 I'll take Team Ohio (I'm hoping Adam Friedman can make the team)
For $300 I'll take Team New York + James Collopy (District Of Columbia)
For $500 I'll take Team New York + James Collopy (District Of Columbia) + Kathy Chang (South Korea)

That makes entry #7 - we have all weekend to get 3 more and make this an official competition.

The rules for changes will be the same as for the "name game" - 1 change in April & 1 change in May

Three more picks from my homegame:

Zahida takes Team Nevada
Julie takes Team Florida
Don takes Team China

That's 10 - this competition is now official

Sure, why not. Team Michigan.

and while we were at it we added $300 & $500 entries as well for the homegame entries:

Julie $100 is Florida - $300 is Florida + Aaron Kupin - $500 is Florida + Aaron Kupin + Kathy Chang
Zahida $100 is Nevada - $300 is Nevada + Kyle Milhovich - $500 is Nevada + Kyle Milhovich + Kathy Chang
Vivian $100 is California - $300 is California + Benjamin Yu - $500 is California + Benjamin Yu + Kathy Chang
Swee $100 is Texas - $300 is Texas +David Williams - $500 is Texas +David Williams + Kathy Chang
Don $100 is China - $300 is China + Tony Lin - $500 is China + Tony Lin + Kathy Chang
Jenny $100 is England - $300 is England + Patrick Leonard - $500 is England + Patrick Leonard + Kathy Chang
Josephine $100 is Canada - $300 is Canada + Daniel Negreanu - $500 is Canada + Daniel Negreanu + Kathy Chang

Thanks. Now at 11 entries.

I'm back from Taipei and starting to update the databases and code for Summer In Vegas II.
So far, I've only updated the PokerGo Mixed Games and coded for team listings.
Here's a very rough list of Team Canada players.
As you can see, this is a competition for grinders. Big names like Negreanu, Foxen, Livingston and Leah are not on the team because they don't have that many cashes.
However, Canada does have one of the best grinders in Alan "Ari" Engel.

PLAYER	FROM	#CASHES	PAYOUTS
Alan Engel	Canada	17	100446
Gokhan Tanju	Canada	10	10380
Frederic Moss	Canada	9	62259
Kevin Macdonald	Canada	8	290726
Rishi Makkar	Canada	8	128193
Matthew Salsberg	Canada	6	53967
Timothy Rutherford	Canada	5	64040
Bradley Smith	Canada	5	30630
Constantinos Psallidas	Canada	5	28143
Michael Smith	Canada	5	25856
Randy Holland	Canada	5	12487
Chris Back	Canada	5	12455
Frederic Normand	Canada	4	438625
Alexander Livingston	Canada	4	356378
Kristen Foxen	Canada	4	269328
Daniel Negreanu	Canada	4	252350
Mike Leah	Canada	4	185314
Jaspal Brar	Canada	4	41914
Alen Bakovic	Canada	4	38638
Parker Talbot	Canada	4	36646
Wilson Igwe	Canada	4	35475
Kyle Ho	Canada	4	29457
Adham Francis	Canada	4	14838
Harpreet Padda	Canada	4	11612
Steven Chodjai	Canada	4	7248
Mal Hagan	Canada	3	112449
Jason Sagle	Canada	3	110425
Joshua Manuge	Canada	3	91938
Nohad Teliani	Canada	3	71031
Cody Raymond	Canada	3	48888
Richard Mullen	Canada	3	26030
Carlos Shiu	Canada	3	24807
Leonardo Song Carrillo	Canada	3	19049
Alexis Laroche	Canada	3	15818
Fatima Nanji	Canada	3	15491
Tony Hoang	Canada	3	14747
Michael Hooper	Canada	3	13748
Ambrose Ng	Canada	3	12994
Shailesh Patel	Canada	3	12190
Denis Cyr	Canada	3	11930
Benny Chen	Canada	3	9933
Marc-Andre Yelle	Canada	3	9867
Dongwoo Ko	Canada	3	9525
Stephane Foster	Canada	3	8644
Eric Benhamron	Canada	3	8543
Frehe Bjoern	Canada	3	7990
Giuseppe Galuzzo	Canada	3	6932
David Phong	Canada	3	6877
Simon Lefebvre	Canada	3	3749

And how about Team England. Has Benny Glaser made the team?
Not yet. He's close at 4 cashes. So is Patrick Leonard. But they need a few more cashes.
Who are these top 5?
Well, I know Craig Cooper. I played against him in Taipei.
Once I update the Taipei results, he's gonna have a lot more than 7 cashes.

PLAYER	FROM	#CASHES	PAYOUTS
Rupesh Pattni	England	7	19380
Craig Cooper	England	7	10101
Audley Harrison	England	6	6569
Gerald David	England	5	14413
Richard Hasnip	England	5	12643
Siddharth Sudunagunta	England	5	5351
Jack Hardcastle	England	4	345932
Benny Glaser	England	4	268561
Scott Margereson	England	4	195029
Paul Hizer	England	4	182010
Nicholas Marchington	England	4	53034
Patrick Leonard	England	4	28431
Philippe Souki	England	4	22808
Ryan Plant	England	4	20838
Tom Middleton	England	4	16310
Gary Fisher	England	4	11118
Jun Li	England	4	9329
Jack Salter	England	3	114957
Paul Newey	England	3	51970
Alexandru Lupuleac	England	3	32673
Stefan Dimitrov	England	3	27513
Jonathan Bowers	England	3	26080
Andrew Hulme	England	3	23155
Leo Worthington-Leese	England	3	17361
Thomas Clack	England	3	14804
Joe Brindle	England	3	14327
Tamer Kamel	England	3	12597
Steve Wilkie	England	3	9884
Bhavin Khatri	England	3	7896
Ben Warrington	England	3	6530
Colin Lovelock	England	3	5727
Rob Sherwood	England	3	5407
Ariel Shefer	England	3	2450
Jake Chadwick	England	3	2054

And how about the obscure teams?
I ran Team Bolivia just to see what it looks like.
Who are these guys? No big names here.

PLAYER	FROM	#CASHES	PAYOUTS
Miguel Rodriguez	Bolivia	6	18510
Diego Vasquez	Bolivia	4	12370
Jaime Aguirre	Bolivia	3	11450
Evert Rosseel	Bolivia	2	3479
Corentin Briglia	Bolivia	1	37600
Jose Paz-Gutierrez	Bolivia	1	7344

Oh, let's not forget South Korea.
Kathy Chang has a shot at being one of the few women playing.
So far, she looks safe with 9 cashes behind only Sean Yu.

PLAYER	FROM	#CASHES	PAYOUTS
Sean Yu	South Korea	18	81586
Kathy Chang	South Korea	9	21337
Byung Eun Shin	South Korea	5	11990
Hyunsup Kim	South Korea	4	52509
Chang Hwan Lee	South Korea	4	43250
Wooseok Kim	South Korea	4	27138
Sung Joo Hyun	South Korea	4	19606
Moonho Seo	South Korea	4	11878
Seung Ko	South Korea	3	77160
Jae Wook Shin	South Korea	3	71374
Sean An	South Korea	3	37560
Seungmook Jung	South Korea	3	18876
Hyunsick Jang	South Korea	3	10920
Woo Lee	South Korea	3	6695

Very early returns from Pennsylvania.
And our first controversy. HM says Kelsall was born in Pennsylvania, WSOP says Toronto.
Toronto is farther from Vegas? Kelsall must be moved to Team Canada?
Also, on the previous list (South Korea), Joseph Cheong is from South Korea. He'll need to be moved.
Lots of work ahead for me.

PLAYER	FROM	#CASHES	PAYOUTS
Andrew Kelsall	Pennsylvania	12	107706
Allen Kessler	Pennsylvania	12	41639
Bin Weng	Pennsylvania	8	1001962
Jesse Alexis Cohen	Pennsylvania	8	21077
Joseph McKeehen	Pennsylvania	6	365612
Aubrey Williams	Pennsylvania	5	35839
John Hennigan	Pennsylvania	4	256900
Paul Volpe	Pennsylvania	3	93918
Thomas Teresi III	Pennsylvania	3	3733
Gregory Fishberg	Pennsylvania	2	10246
Lisa Costello	Pennsylvania	1	85297
Matt Glantz	Pennsylvania	1	80750
Catherine Dever	Pennsylvania	1	466

After further review...............
Downington PA is farther from Vegas than Toronto!
Kelsall stays on Team Pennsylvania.

BTW, right now the 500th player has 5 cashes and $30,779 is payouts.
Teams from USA cannot have anyone on their team that is not a Top 500 player worldwide.

Can any woman besides Kathy Chang make a team?
In California, Vanessa Castro is 6th, Shirley Rosario is 8th. They just need a few more cashes.

PLAYER	FROM	#CASHES	PAYOUTS
Andres Garcia	California	16	34537
Thu Nguyen	California	10	64017
Thuy Nguyen	California	10	20675
Qing Liu	California	9	55626
Adam Kipnis	California	9	40707
Vanessa Castro	California	9	40007
Jorge Alba	California	9	27421
Shirley Rosario	California	9	25727
Ryan Andrada	California	9	17260
Jeremy Yap	California	9	13185
Rudy Cervantes	California	8	193787
Brandon Zuidema	California	8	134259
Phillip Penn Sr.	California	8	54770
Jake Liebeskind	California	8	40256
Paul Lui	California	8	23040
Beth Hall	California	8	17070
Chad Tam	California	8	15030
Eric Rivkin	California	8	13974
Larry Serebryany	California	8	9607
David Disalvo	California	8	6735

Can any woman besides Kathy Chang make a team?
In Florida, Nancy Birnbaum is in 4th and has a 2 cash lead of those chasing her. Looking good.

PLAYER	FROM	#CASHES	PAYOUTS
Matthew Lambrecht	Florida	14	145236
Zhen Cai	Florida	12	99352
Ryan Estrada	Florida	12	55198
Nancy Birnbaum	Florida	11	33344
John Riordan	Florida	9	300274
Bobby Lupo	Florida	9	72979
Donny Rubinstein	Florida	9	24178
Sandy Sanchez	Florida	8	401629
Kevin Blewitt	Florida	8	28965
Victor Nassif	Florida	8	24955
James Tomblin	Florida	8	10644

Updated Team California race. Vanessa Castro gets 2 more cashes to move onto the team.
She joins Kathy Chang & Nancy Birnbaum on current team rosters.

PLAYER	FROM	#CASHES	PAYOUTS
Andres Garcia	California	16	34537
Vanessa Castro	California	11	40018
Thu Nguyen	California	10	64017
Thuy Nguyen	California	10	20675
Qing Liu	California	9	55626
Adam Kipnis	California	9	40707
Jorge Alba	California	9	27421
Shirley Rosario	California	9	25727
Ryan Andrada	California	9	17260
Jeremy Yap	California	9	13185
Rudy Cervantes	California	8	193787
Brandon Zuidema	California	8	134259
Phillip Penn Sr.	California	8	54770
Jake Liebeskind	California	8	40256
Paul Lui	California	8	23040
Beth Hall	California	8	17070
Chad Tam	California	8	15030
Eric Rivkin	California	8	13974
Larry Serebryany	California	8	9607
David Disalvo	California	8	6735

finding more women - remember, you must pick a women's MVP in order to get that $500 prize
from Team New Jersey: Judith Bielan

PLAYER	FROM	#CASHES	PAYOUTS
David Coleman	New Jersey	8	442672
Judith Bielan	New Jersey	7	254314
Craig Chait	New Jersey	7	22048
John Cernuto	New Jersey	6	22638
Salvatore Pipitone	New Jersey	4	8400

Entries received so far.
Only 11? There are about 150 teams out there to pick from. And they all cost $0.
Everyone is picking Kathy Chang for Women's MVP. Team South Korea would be the easiest team to get on, however, there are other women who are looking good to be there this summer.
A lot of these picks for MVP don't look like they can make their hometeam roster. Changes can be made starting April 1st.
I took James Collopy because he's from DOC (not too much competition in DOC for roster spots).
BTW, if you're looking for more info on the current results of the pre-season, let me know - if I can, I'll get you the info you want.

$100 entries

Team Australia (D1iabol1cal)
Team California (Vivian)
Team Canada (Josephine)
Team China (Don)
Team England (Jenny)
Team Florida (Julie)
Team Michigan (Booker Wolfbox)
Team Nevada (Zahida)
Team New York (xander biscuits)
Team Ohio (FerencL)
Team Texas (Swee)

$300 entries

Team California + Benjamin Yu (Vivian)
Team Canada + Daniel Negreanu (Jenny)
Team China + Tony Lin (Don)
Team England + Patrick Leonard (Jenny)
Team Florida + Aaron Kupin (Julie)
Team Nevada + Kyle Milhovich (Zahida)
Team New York + James Collopy (FerencL)
Team Texas + David Williams (Swee)

$500 entries

Team California + Benjamin Yu + Kathy Chang (Vivian)
Team Canada + Daniel Negreanu + Kathy Chang (Jenny)
Team China + Tony Lin + Kathy Chang (Don)
Team England + Patrick Leonard + Kathy Chang (Jenny)
Team Florida + Aaron Kupin + Kathy Chang (Julie)
Team Nevada + Kyle Milhovich + Kathy Chang (Zahida)
Team New York + James Collopy + Kathy Chang (FerencL)
Team Texas + David Williams + Kathy Chang (Swee)

Here's an interesting one!
I was checking if Tony Lin had a chance at making Team China.
Well, there he is in 5th. If the pre-season ended today he'd be on the team.
But wait, Tony Lin only has 4 cashes so why does it say 6 here???
Because...........there are 2 Tony Lins.
Famous poker professional from China and a real babe-in-the-woods (first ever cash was Nov 2023) from New Jersey.
And as you know, if more than one player has the same name, they play as a team (except for the Baker boys).
Tony Lin (China) has 4 cashes. Tony Lin (New Jersey) has 2.
So Tony Lin (New Jersey) might just help Tony Lin (China) to qualify for the Summer In Vegas II.
And who knows.....maybe Tony Lin was actually playing at Borgata! (HM has been known to mix things up from time to time)

PLAYER	FROM	#CASHES	PAYOUTS
Yang Lu	China	12	48150
Lucas Tae	China	9	35746
Yuzu Wang	China	8	11947
Jun Weng	China	7	24801
Tony Lin	China	6	1506454
Feng Qu	China	5	5554
Xue Song	China	4	242884
Yanfeng Wang	China	4	26714
Senhao Cao	China	4	17075
Man Tsui	China	4	16519
Qiang Xu	China	4	10276
Ka Kwok	China	4	5980
Ke Chen	China	4	4527

I know what you're thinking: his info is all well and good but what we want to know is "How is Team Iceland shaping up"?

PLAYER	FROM	#CASHES	PAYOUTS
Matte Karjalainen	Iceland	3	16861
Steinn Karlsson	Iceland	2	4621
Haukur Bodvarsson	Iceland	2	1215
Daniel Palsson	Iceland	1	2786
Isak Finnbogason	Iceland	1	2003

And....Team Iceland is still available!