Champions League

	Each set of captains picked six pros to form a super group of players

Late last year, a new poker tournament concept, destined to take the TV world by storm, was finally born (although the information has been under official embargo until now). Co-conceived by card legend Chip Reese and a silent Silicon Valley partner, the Professional Poker League, as it was christened, brings together some of the best players in the world to create, for the first time, a serious team poker event. The PPL, as it will be known from hereon, is a new poker format that promises to revolutionise the game and fill players’ pockets with money.

Similar to the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA), the PPL is a player-owned league, comprised of 64 stars, which were hand-picked in a draft of various categories, such as cash games, tournaments, young guns, non-Americans and women. These eight-handed teams will participate in weekly poker games by putting up one team member at a time to battle it out in an epic seasonlong league system. Each team will be captained by two world class players, with big names like T.J. Cloutier, Daniel Negreanu and Doyle Brunson chosen to wear the skipper’s armband.

In the initial stages each set of captains picked six pros to form a super group of players able to compete in all fields of poker. And when action gets underway in March 2007, players will be rewarded for winning as individuals and for their team’s success. The latter will be cumulative scores generated by the players and based on their wins or losses.

Live action

The first season, which is scheduled to be aired live 90 minutes a week in the US, has an estimated $17m prize pool. And, according to PPL tournament director Matt Savage, each player receives a $60,000 signingon bonus, even though players do not pay to enter PPL tournaments. Plus, because PPL events will take place inside a theatre at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, there’s the added convenience of not having to circumnavigate the globe in search of action for the Las Vegas-based pros.

The gathering of pros on October 7 was in the name of the first PPL player draft. Mimicking the dramatic fanfare of any other overblown American sport, the draft included each pick being given team jerseys as soon as they were selected, which will be used on TV as the advertising trailer. But what made the PPL’s draft different from any other in history was the undercurrent of endless gambling among the recruits. And, as you might expect, Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow was up to his elbows in side bets.

He attracted about $100,000 in action, each wager hinging on who gets picked in which round. ‘These are all bets that I can’t lose,’ he crowed. ‘But the best one is me going in front of Tony G. There’s like $28,000 right there.’ It’s a bet that Matusow won, as he got drafted in the fifth round, while the Aussie loudmouth was selected in round six. While there was no shortage of debate or controversy over who got picked when and by whom), there seems to be general agreement that the PPL will be huge for poker and a boon to the Venetian’s new poker room.

Layne Flack said: ‘Once the PPL begins, the Venetian will be the most popular cardroom in the entire world. The high players will come here and the rest will follow.’

Flack also pointed out that the Venetian (which has already begun to host the Big Game) seems committed to providing poker players with the kinds of comps that are usually reserved for gamblers who blow money in the pit. He added: ‘If they give me free room and food, I’m moving in.’

Trouble in paradise?

The PPL was initially meant to kick-off in January but the start has now been pushed back to March, with the pros hoping this doesn’t signal trouble. The delay is believed to be down to fallout from the recent US legislation, and with the huge prize pool and payouts to the pros, the PPL is going to need to find major mainstream sponsors outside of online gaming or scale back the event. Tony G, who has been recruited by Doyle Brunson, said: ‘It’ll be a great thing if it happens and I really want to support the PPL. I wish and pray it works out. Perhaps they should have a smaller version the first time round but they just need to get it up and running.’

Last man standing

Selection policy brings back bad memories Dotcom multi-millionaire Phil Gordon was apparently kneeknockingly nervous about being picked last, after hinting that it would bring back some bad schoolyard memories. We’re presuming this wasn’t during PE lessons where basketball was on the menu, given that Gordon is a near monstrous 6’9”. Phil was spared humiliation though by being picked third from the end, after Amir Vahedi got the dubious honour of being picked last.