Poker Stars Million Dollar Challenge Starts Sunday on FoxContestants on Poker Game Show Face Daniel Negreanu For a Shot at $1 Million |
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PokerStars has time and again proven that it isn’t a one-trick pony, and this Sunday, Oct. 11, the online giant is getting into game-show television by premiering its PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge on Fox at 4 p.m. ET.
The premise of the show is a familiar one: contestants who win entry to the show via freeroll poker tournaments have a shot at $1 million. This is similar to Full Tilt’s Face the Ace, which premiered last month, but PokerStars hopes that its unique format, which combines celebrities and poker pros, will gain more of a fan base.
Contestants can win their way onto the show by finishing in the top 10 in one of the four daily freeroll tournaments on PokerStars (8 p.m., 9 p.m., 10 p.m., 11 p.m. ET). The qualifiers must then submit a 60-second video about themselves and include why they deserve to star in the new show. Officials at PokerStars will review the tapes, and select the winners.
By maintaining a certain amount of control, PokerStars hopes to pick riveting and interesting contestants, such as one of the first qualifiers up to bat, Father Andrew Trapp. Trapp is a priest at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Garden City, South Carolina, and this Sunday, viewers will watch the poker-playing holy man attempt to weave his way through a gauntlet of four heads-up matches to the $1 million top prize.
Here’s how it works. Once on the show, the contestant will compete in the first round of heads-up play and face a celebrity, such as Super Bowl champion Jerome Bettis, mixed-martial-arts champion Tito Ortiz, or Playboy Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole. The top prize will be a trip to the Bahamas.
Should the contestant beat the celebrity, he or she will continue to the second round of heads-up play and face a member of Team PokerStars Pro. Among those on the team are Vanessa Rousso, Barry Greenstein, and Bertrand Grospellier. The prize for winning this round is $25,000 or the opportunity to play Daniel Negreanu heads up for $100,000. If the contestant wins the match against Negreanu, they will keep the money and also play in a sit-and-go against other $100,000 winners for a chance to play Negreanu one more time but for $1 million.
PokerStars is also offering an extra incentive to watch the show by running a $20,000 viewer’s freeroll. In the first two episodes on Oct. 11 and Oct. 18, a special password will be announced for viewers to gain access into an exclusive online freeroll tournament with a first-place prize of $20,000.
Freerolls onto the show will run until Nov. 25, so there is still plenty of time left to qualify. If you don’t have an account, start one today with CardPlayer’s exclusive PokerStars deposit bonus.
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