PokerStars have revealed plans to launch a brand new television show called the Shark Cage, and Carter Gill takes the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) Grand Final title in Uruguay for $238,260.
It feels just like old times in the poker circus.
New Jersey is setting poker news tongues wagging after opening its online gaming doors to the sound of 10,000 virtual pattering feet, as online poker slowly but surely returns to the United States, and the Rational Group is doing its level best to increase the player pool by turning to the highly successful advertising vehicle of television.
Barely, a month has passed since Full Tilt Poker (FTP) announced a return to the idiot box in the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltics, with its new TV show Full Tilt Poker Pro Battle, and its big sister has just joined the party with the announcement of a new TV show featuring the pros over at the Red Spade.
PokerStars have announced details of their new TV show The Shark Cage, in a format that will see the return of the winner takes all format with a cool $1 million up for grabs and nothing but a bag of flour for the runner-up.
The set up sees eight heats, all filmed on location at European Poker Tour (EPT) events, that will involve five professionals and one online qualifier playing for a seat in the final. Expect the pro roster to be Team PokerStars heavy with a smattering of the players the television public is used to seeing.
The first two heats are planned to take place this January at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), and seats for the online qualifications are already underway on the largest online poker room in the world.
If you are thinking of chancing your arm at the online qualification then understand that it’s not just your incredibly talented playing prowess that is going to cut the mustard. Instead, the top 50 finishers in each qualifier will advance to a special casting stage where players will be asked to submit a YouTube video to the PokerStars teams where they will pick the best Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow and Liv Boeree impersonators in the market.
So if you are the shy retiring type, or have a face like a Bulldog chewing a wasp then you might want to give this one a miss.
Carter Gill Wins the LAPT Grand Final in Uruguay
South American poker is buzzing at the moment, never better demonstrated than the 508 entrants that fought it out for the $238,260 first prize and title of Latin America Poker Tour (LAPT) Grand Final champion.
When all was said and done the top honor was shipped to North America as Carter Gill defeated the Uruguayan Ivan Raich in heads-up action to take the biggest prize pool of his career.
The victory came just two months after Gill settled for fourth place in the Panamanian leg that also drew in a field in excess of 500 players.
Gill’s lifetime earnings now sit at $677,780.
In other LAPT news the Chilean player Amos Ben took the honor of LAPT Player of the Year, and the Argentinian Damian Salas took the $5,000 High Roller Event after outlasting a record attendance of 84 entries. Salas earned a smidgen over $100k for his win.
