Mansion Players To Battle Superstars
Published: Friday, June 09, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
MANSION PLAYERS TO BATTLE SUPERSTARS
Three Internet players will get to meet, and maybe beat some of the Internet's
top poker experts
Feel like taking on the big boys? Online players fresh to the land based game
of poker are about to receive a leg up into the exciting world of televised
high stakes poker in the newest take on Texas Hold’em tournaments, the
Gibraltar-based Mansion group's Superstar Challenge.
On July 12, three free-roll Internet qualifiers will battle it out against a
trio of the world’s top poker professionals in a single table Speed Poker
shootout, each fighting tough for the lion’s share of a $1 000 000 purse.
At the death, payouts will to the top three finishers, a 50/50 chance of finishing
in the money, and the final action will be telecast nationally on a leading
broadcast network across the United States.
Stars of the game who have confirmed participation in a series of elimination
tournaments to produce the starting pro field for the July event include top
names like Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari,
Marcel ‘The Flying Dutchman’ Luske, Jennifer Harman, Scott Fischman,
Kenna James, Kirk Morrison and Freddy Deeb.
In a format designed to even the odds, the three online contestants will each
enter the arena with the advantage of a deeper chip stack than their pro rivals,
and each will have a coach in their corner – three of poker’s best
pound for pound professional guns, who will not only mentor their assigned protégé
in the lead up to the game, but will also stand tall for them intra-tournament
when the cards are in the air.
Three of the most charismatic names in poker - Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow,
Annie Duke and Howard ‘The Professor’ Lederer - have been hand selected
to fill the all-important shoes of poker ‘wingman’. They will coach
the three internet qualifiers on the nuances of a live tournament and walk them
through the added pressures they can expect to encounter facing off against
three of the world’s classiest and toughest land based champs.
A unique twist to the format allows the poker mentors intervention twice throughout
the challenge via two-way communication technology, while each coach is allowed
one 60 second timeout from the sidelines, to be invoked at any stage as crucial
plays unfold.
The four hours of televised poker will be filmed at the interim home of The
Poker Dome at the Tropicana in Las Vegas to deliver an exhilarating brand of
must-see poker to the audience. The three internet qualifiers will be flown
to Las Vegas a week before the big game, to be marched through their paces in
an intensive five-day Poker Boot-Camp that will see the online qualifiers and
pros playing Hold’em, analyzing strategy and preparing for combat.
A “Work Hard, Play Harder” philosophy will apply as each student of
the game will be privy to an after hours itinerary usually enjoyed only by poker’s
crop of coolest card players, with planned visits to the city’s most exclusive
restaurants, access to the most celebrated bars and nightclubs in town, and
entry into some of the biggest and most elite games in town.
A fly-on-the-wall style camera crew will tail each pair as the intense workout
progresses at both work and at play, and all the blood, sweat and tears spilt
between mentor and ‘charge’ will be captured, packaged and broadcast
to over 100 million households worldwide.
Players who want to compete for a place in this outstanding tourney can qualify
online with Mansion by participating in any of the three daily satellite tournaments,
commencing June 12 until June 17 inclusive. The top 6 finishers from each qualifying
tournament win entry to play off in a Final on Sunday June 18, for a $150,000
seat.
The final Superstar Challenge Qualifier takes place on June 18th , 2006, when
108 starters will test their skills in final where those three $150 000 value
seats are waiting to be won, and three players will have entry to the poker
experience of a lifetime.
