The new league associated with Annie Duke has a nem – the Federated Sports and Gaming League. There will be four events with multiple tournaments – only card-holders and those who aspire to be, will be allowed to take part on the events.
At each event, there will be a Pro-Am tournament, followed by a charity and then the main event.
The Pro-Am will have a $1,500 buy-in and each of the final nine players in that event will receive a temporary tour card to earn their spot into the $20,000 rake-free main event.
Here's a look at the schedule released on Thursday:
Event 1: August 12-19, 2011
• Pro-Am: August 12-15
• Charity: August 14
• Main event: August 16-19
Event 2: September 30-October 7, 2011
• Pro-Am: September 30-October 3
• Charity: October 2
• Main event: October 4-7
Event 3: December 1-10, 2011
• Pro-Am: December 1-5
• Charity: December 4
• Main event: December 6-10
Event 4: January 20-27, 2011
• Pro-Am: January 20-23
• Charity: January 22
• Main event: January 24-27
Championship: January 29-30, 2012
The league's championship will feature the top 27 players in the league standings. It will be a $1 million freeroll event.
Each of the four events will feature a different format of no-limit hold 'em. There will be a six-handed and heads-up action, as well as a "special multi-format tournament". Details are still being discussed, but Annie Duke is excited that things are finally coming to pass:
"We decided to vary the format of our events to showcase and challenge the skill of the best live tournament players in the world," said Duke. "Our Pro-Am events will create opportunities for break-out stars to shine."
Less than five months remain before the start of this league at the Palms – we should be able to see how this league fares beginning in August. Probably the next thing we'll hear about are the players who earned their seats and at that point, we can start to gauge which players are buying-in and hopefully, where on TV the action will be broadcast.