The Las Vegas Team Challenge Live Final

What a weekend! 190 players sat down at just past 2pm to start the very first Las Vegas Team Challenge live final, amongst the names were GUKPT winners, Karl Mahrenholz, Jeff Kimber and Sunny Chattha, in addition to poker veteran Paul Jackson, Players Championship winner Dominic Kay and a whole host of players from across Europe.

Day 1 started slowly however soon picked up pace with players falling quickly as the day grew to a close. Athletico Genting held their own, and despite only having 3 players, still managed to beat the pre tournament favourites, The Ivey League. By the time Day 1 came to a close, we had 22 players left, and clear favourites were PPP Top Bombers, as they still had 4 of their original 6 players left.

Some maths was done and it was announced that only 3 teams could now win.  PPP Top Bombers, Jacks and Rabsbabs. Everyone else was playing for the Palm Beach package.

Day 2 started again, just after 2pm and the short stacks were quickly eliminated. By 6pm we were on the final table:

Final Table Chip Counts and Seats:

1. Richard Sinclair (1%ers) 232,500
2. Mark Deacon (PPP) 240,500
3. Greg Yates (Mako) 147,500
4. John Hicks (Punters) 37,500
5. Philip Rice (PPP) 46,000
6. Kevan Lim (Punters) 125,000
7. Jess Algranti (Jacks) 537,000
8. Dean Garratt (One foot in the pond) 183,500
9. Emma Fryer (Fox) 176,000

By this stage of the tournament, we’d just about worked out that…..the inaugural Las Vegas Team Challenge winners were PPP Top Bombers, they had an unassailable minimum of 347, no other team could beat it.

So the final tablists were playing for pride and that Palm Beach Big Game package, not to mention £400, £250 and £150 for 2nd to 4th.

Eventually, at about 8:30pm, the tournament was fittingly won by Mark Deacon, of PPP Top Bombers, who beat Dean Garratt into second place when his A3 hearts rivered the heart to give him his flush.

It was a great tournament, won by a superb team. Bring on the next one:

www.lasvegasteamchallenge.com

The full list of team points was:

Has your poker team got what it takes to win our $34,000 package?

If you want to win our $34,000 first prize package, you’re going to need a hand-picked team of between four and six poker players. 

Whether they’re friends or from other tables, either way, once you’ve put your team together and sent your team details through to teams@gentingpoker.com, the next step is to buy into regular weekly tournaments. The higher you finish in each tournament, the more points your team will win.

After all sixteen tournaments have finished, every team that’s played in at least ten of them will be entered into a live event at Circus Casino Star City in Birmingham. The amount of chips your team starts with depends on the number of tournament points your teams earned.

• Las Vegas flights and accommodation for two weeks
• $2,000 dollars spending money each
• On returning, the winning team will receive complimentary entry to £1,000 monthly tournament at Palm Beach Casino In London.

Tournament schedule. All games played on Mondays at 8pm.

 For each online game, each team is awarded points based on the top 4 placed players in that team, (each team can have up to 6 players).

Each team can be up to 6 players, however, only the top 4 performing players are awarded points

In the weekly online tournaments 50% of the prize fund will be paid out as follows; (within 24 hours of the end of the tournament)

The other 50% will be put towards the live final team prizes with any excess added to the live final cash prize fund, (due to the special format of the tournaments the prizes will be paid out the following day.)

After the 16 week period each player, who has taken part in at least 10 weeks of the online series, will be allocated a starting chip stack for the live final, based on total team points accumulated during the online league play, for a live play off final at Circus Casino Star City Birmingham, (Saturday February 19th 2011).

The live final prize fund will be paid out as follows;

(Paid within 72 hours into player online accounts)

At the live final each team (4-6 players) will receive the appropriate starting stack based on online league point’s accumulation. Only the top 4 players count towards the live team result which is based on 100points for 1st 99pts for 2nd and so on down to 1pt for 100th place.

League Table

You can see your teams performance and where they stand in the league table below.

Note: For total clarity, only players who have played in at least 10 rounds will be invited to play in the live final, if your team has played more than 10 rounds, but you haven’t, then you will not be able to represent your team at the live final.

Team Players

Want to see who’s in what team? Who you are up against on that final table? What it means for their score if you knock them out with your AJ shove? Well you can see who's who right here.

Las Vegas Team Challenge – Team Information

Note: The list is updated every 48 hours, and also 5 hours prior to each Round, so if there is a name you are up against who isn't listed, they are a newbie!

Points Make Chip Stacks

The live final will feature variable chip stacks per team, based on the total number of points earned during the Las Vegas Team Challenge. Every point counts!

1. Minimum starting stack will be 6000 chips per player
2. This will be boosted by “Team Points Total divided by 6”
3. The chips will be rounded up to the nearest 25 (as this is the smallest denomination of chip)

Example:

Athletico Genting finally get their act together and earn 12,000 points during the 16 rounds of the Las Vegas Team Challenge. Athletico Genting take five players to the live final at Star City. Each team member will get: 6,000 chips + 2,000 chips. Their individual starting stack will be 8,000 chips each.

Note: The Points total per team is always divided by 6, not by the number of players who attend the final, or who are in each team. Therefore it is in your interests to get 6 players – more players means more points earning opportunity and means more chips!

Levels

The current plan is to run the Live Final with 40 minute levels, starting at 25/50. However, this is subject to change as we get nearer the time, once finalised, the structure will be posted online here. Our aim is to produce a great and memorable tournament, not one that becomes a crapshoot, so rest assured, we’ll get the right level structure for the number of runners who make it all the way!