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Las Vegas Sun: Jeff Haney sees rise of duplicate poker, a game in which luck loses out to brains

The timing was coincidental, but shortly after a reader from Henderson proposed a tournament based on duplicate poker in this column recently, an online poker site announced the inaugural Duplicate Poker World Championship with the finals set for this fall.

The site, DuplicatePoker.com, is legal in most parts of the United States because the game is considered skill-based. (Not that regular poker isn't, but that's another story for another day.)

Most U.S. citizens are eligible to compete in the championship's qualifying period, which runs through Sept. 14.

The first round of online regional tournaments follows, and from there the event becomes a mix of Internet and live play, according to Las Vegas poker insider Nolan Dalla, a point man for the series.

Each subsequent week, the top six players on the site's leader board qualify for the next round, in which the field is divided into six geographical regions representing parts of the United States and the world, according to Dalla.

Players within each region who advance will be placed on a team of seven players. They will be invited to a land-based venue to be announced, where the semifinals and championship rounds will take place.

The prize pool of $120,000 is provided by DuplicatePoker.com.

Duplicate poker, a game based on the popular tournament card game duplicate bridge, aims to remove the element of luck from Texas hold 'em tournaments as much as possible.

Players in corresponding seats at various tables are dealt identical poker hands, and the hands play out. Winners and losers are determined by the amount of chips won or lost in comparison with other players who were dealt the same cards.

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