Welcome to PokerNews' coverage of the 2011 Caesars Cup from here in beautiful Cannes, France at the World Series of Poker Europe. It's poker's version of the Ryder Cup and after a short hiatus, the competition is back pitting Europe against America.

On the American side of things, Phil Hellmuth is the captain with Jason Mercier, Ben Lamb, Johnny Chan and Daniel Negreanu joining him. Mercier and Lamb were late additions to the team in order to fill in the slot that opened up when Doyle Brunson and Huck Seed decided not to make the trip.

Going against them will be the Europeans headed by captain Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. He's joined by Jake Cody, Gus Hansen, Maxim Lykov and Tony G. Dario Minieri was originally on the team, but with him not making it, he'll be replaced by Tony G, which should make for some great Hellmuth-versus-Tony-G antics.

There will be three different variations of matches. First will be a match were two members of each team alternate streets of action playing the same hand. One player will play preflop, one post-flop, one on the turn and another on the river. The second variation will be two players playing the same stack throughout a hand. The third will be a straight heads-up match. Players will begin each match with 100,000 in chips and the blinds will increase every 10 minutes.

Play is set to kick off shortly, so stay tuned for all of the action.