PokerStars announced this week that the live finale of the Americas Cup of Poker (ACP) will be contested at the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey from June 23rd through June 27th. In what is likely not a coincidence, it will coincide with the Copa America Centenario, the 100th year of the famed Copa America soccer tournament, contested by 16 teams from throughout the Americas. The tournament will be spread throughout ten cities in the United States, the first time Copa America has been held outside of South America.
As for the poker, the America’s Cup of Poker will feature teams representing a dozen countries, divided into three groups as follows:
Group A: Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay
Group B: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Rest of Latin America
Group C: Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Venezuela
The United States will also have a team, composed of the best players from PokerStars’ NJ Spring Championship of Online Poker and the Americas Cup of Poker Freeroll held at the end of this month. Because the United States is the host of the live final, Team USA will automatically qualify for said final. Thus, they are not listed above.
This isn’t a competition where the most famous names in poker are selected to play on each team, though. Instead, any PokerStars customer can qualify to be a member of their nation’s team. There will be ACP events held every day through May 29th on PokerStars, the most expensive of which is only $5.50. The top finishers in these events will win rankings points; the 50 players from each country with the most rankings points will move on to the next round. In all of these first round tournaments, players will only compete against other players from their own country.
The second round is a bounty competition. Each tournament will consist of 100 players: the 50 who qualified from each of two countries. The goal here is to eliminate as many players as possible, not necessarily finish high in the tournament. Players will earn bounties for their country for every player knocked out. The country with the most bounties in the match will win 10 points; in the case of a 50/50 tie, each team receives 5 points.
These matches will run every other day from May 30th through June 3rd. The top two points-earning countries from each group of four will advance to the live final in Atlantic City. Not all 50 players from those teams will make the trip, though; that would be silly. Instead, the top five bounty earners from each country will represent their team.
The winning team at the live final will receive $30,000, to be split amongst the five team members. All seven teams will win something, with payouts going down to $2,500 for the seventh place team.
