U.S. Poker League Launches Poker Bowl

The U.S. Poker League, formed in January 2006, has launched its new creation, Poker Bowl I.  This interesting team poker competition will take place October 20 – 23 at Bally’s in Las Vegas. 

The League consists of five six-player teams in five conferences.  All of the teams will compete in the preliminary rounds to see which teams emerge as conference champions.  These five champions will then battle in the 30-player, Poker Bowl Finale. 

The Finale will consist of three ten-player tables, with two players from each team sitting at opposite ends of the table from each other.  Each table is its own sit-and-go tournament, and will play until three players remain.  The nine surviving players will then be combined into one table to play down to a winner. 

The final team to have at least two players remaining will be name the “team winner” and will send three players, it’s top three finishers, to the playoff table.  The team whose player wins the tournament will send that winner and the second best finisher from the team to the playoff table.  At the playoff table, the winning team is the one who eliminates the players from the opposing team. 

If the winner of the Finale is a member of the “team winner,” then there will be no playoff.  That team automatically wins. 

Collusion is not allowed, as all players must play independently, regardless of team affiliation.  Of course, it would be expected that teammates would soft-play each other, but they are not allowed to signal to each other the strength of their hands.   

The prize pool, assuming full participation, will be $1 million.

Poker stand-outs Phil Hellmuth, Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Michael Mizrachi, Phil Gordon, T.J. Cloutier, and Mike Matusow are amongst the participants for Poker Bowl I.