Mansion Poker will be using hi-tech poker playing facilities to the max next month in a new competition that will see poker players qualified through the Internet pitching their skills against poker pros.
The action will be captured on Fox television and takes place on Wednesday, July 12, when Mansion Poker.net will introduce its four-hour World Pro-Am Challenge, which pits three amateur online qualifiers against three of the best pros on the tournament circuit: Todd Brunson, winner of 12 career tournaments and WSOP bracelet winner; WPT champion John Gale and WPT player of the year Gavin Smith.
To give the Internet players a head start, Mansion has decided to give each online qualifier an advantage in chips of 70 000 to the pros’ 50 000. And as a further boost, each Internet player will receive a poker coach to provide help before and during the tournament. The coaches include Kenna James, currently third in the player of the year race and sporting lifetime tournament winnings exceeding $3 million, Michael Gracz, a WSOP bracelet winner with over $2.6 million in tournament winnings at the young age of 25, and Tony Guoga, better known as Tony G, who is the current European Poker Champion, and a WPT winner.
In addition to competitive analyses of the playing styles of Brunson, Gale, and Smith as homework for the tournament, there will be a single one-minute coach timeout between hands during the actual tournament to consult with their players. This could provide the Internet players with a significant advantage, since the coaches will be seeing hole cards throughout the tournament and will be able to observe the strategy that each player is employing during play. The potential for passing on useful advice picked up by observing the action is clearly considerable.
The three Internet players will be Joseph Jackson, Scott Gardener and Andrew Stoll.
Isaacson will be coached by Kenna James and is a warehouse deliveryman from Eau Claire, Wisconsin who has been playing poker for 20 years. He has never won more than $2 000 at a table, but is hoping this tournament will propel him into becoming a professional poker player.
Scott David Gardener will be coached by Michael Gracz, who could provide some excellent preparation on the specifics of the tournament since he doubles as the tv analyst for Poker Dome. Gardener, a soccer fanatic from Spalding, Lincolnshire, England works full time as a sales consultant and has only been playing poker for six months. This will be his first time at a live table. Gardner is hoping this tournament gives him enough exposure that Mansionpoker.net sponsors him and he can become a pro player.
Andrew Stoll will be coached by Tony Guoga. The Cincinnati native works as a Project Management Specialist for Toyota. Stoll and has been playing poker for seven years, but only recently started playing Texas Hold ‘Em. This is Stoll’s first time playing at a Las Vegas poker table.
If a pro finishes in the top-three the rewards are good – $500 000 for first, $300 000 for second and $200 000 for third. If an Internet player should finish first, he’d win $450 000 and his coach would get $50 000; second-place would collect a $270 000 prize, with his coach getting $30 000 and finishing third gives the amateur $180 000 and his coach wins a $20 000 prize.
The four-hour match takes place from the Tropicana Hotel and Casino on the famous Las Vegas strip.