Sports fans will be given the opportunity to go head-to-head with some of their heroes this autumn in The Bahamas at the inaugural Sports Legends Challenge being presented by free online poker site AbsolutePoker.net.
For the first time in history, fans from around the world will compete with and against 25 of the greatest icons in sports including Troy Aikman, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Richard Petty and Sugar Ray Leonard in a range of poker tournaments for up to ten million dollars in prize money.
The Sports Legends Challenge is scheduled to take place from September 14 to 17 at the Atlantis Paradise Island resort and hotel and will also feature 25 top professional poker players including Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Chris Moneymaker and Johnny Chan.
The event is being held to benefit the Butch Kerzner Summit Foundation and will see the icons join the poker pros and participants for the penultimate Sports Legends All-Star Poker Challenge. Due to be televised nationally on Thanksgiving Day through on Fox Sports, this winner-takes-all no-limit Texas hold’em grand final will feature the sports legends and professional poker players battling it out against the top-finishing amateur competitors.
Seats to the Sports Legends Challenge will be awarded this summer through The World Poker Store’s TheBarPokerLeague.com. League members will compete in free Texas hold'em tournaments as part of the site’s Battle Of The Bars Team competitions hosted in the US for the right to travel to The Bahamas.
'We believe that this distinct combination of New York Yankees Fantasy Baseball Camp meets the World Series Of Poker will provide an experience to be talked about forever,' said Bruce Bibbero, Chief Executive Officer for the Sports Legends Challenge.
'We are also excited about our strategic alliance with The World Poker Store as the event at Atlantis is just the beginning. It is our plan to hold events internationally and give fans around the world the opportunity to interact with their sports legends in ways they never imagined possible. These events will feature legends from soccer, cricket, auto racing, rugby and more, with the first event to be held in London in 2010.'
