PokerStars announced today that they will be hosting the Americas Cup of Poker where players from 16 countries will compete to help their nation to make it to the live final table. The Americas Cup of Poker will consist of a series of poker events. Former WSOP Main Event Champion and Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer said: "What really drives people to poker is the pure competition in the sport. PokerStars has taken that competitive drive one step further by putting country against country. I am truly looking forward to this event, and of course have no doubt that the United States will win." The 16 countries that have been invited to the event is: USA, Mexico, Ecuador, Canada, Colombia, Uruguay, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and three additional countries from preliminary freerolls. The countries have been paired up in groups that will face-off against each other each week. Each week brings daily freeroll tournaments where the players can score points for their country by finishing between 1 and 100 in the tournament. After each week the country with most points will move on to the next week and the other country is eliminated from the competition. When there is only two countries left in each group they will move the tournament final to a ski resort in Bariloche, Argentina on September 4-6, 2009. The full schedule is listed below. Each team is made up of the 5 players that won the most points for their team during the group stages. The prize pool of $250.000 will be up for grabs for the 8 countries in the final. The winning country will take home $100.000, which gives $20.000 to each of the players on the team. The rest of the prize pool will be divided as shown here: Number two will get $60.000, number three wins $30.000, number four takes home $20.000 and lastly number five will have to split $10.000. Each of the teams gets some poker pro help from a player on Team PokerStars poker pro team. At the same time as the qualifications to the championship runs PokerStars offers the Fund a Friend promotion to encourage players to help their fellow countrymen to earn points to their country. PokerStars are giving away $50 bonuses to all the players that transfer any amount of money, starting from $0.20, as long as this player reaches a final table in a tournament. For further details see the terms and conditions on the site. Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari said "Anyone can compete in the ACP from as little as $0.20, this gives everyone a chance to represent and earn points for their country no matter how big their bankroll."
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