Popular poker room Everest Poker is aiming to kick off 2010 in style with the second installment of its Live the Dream promotion. The contest gives qualifiers the chance to compete for one of ten sponsorship deals worth over $100,000.
Players could qualify for the event in one of three ways: tournament leaderboard races, cash game loyalty points races, or by direct-entry tournaments open to various countries. The qualifying process is now over, but more than 200 players advanced to the next round of the promotion’s process.
The qualifiers are now being reviewed by Everest Poker staff to assess their poker skills, viability as a sponsored representative of the site, and popularity among the users of Everest Poker. Players set up profiles on Everest Poker’s official website and others are able to view and vote on their favorite players. Of the 200 plus qualifying players, 58 hailed from France, while Germany posted the second largest number of players with 29. Other countries represented in the contest include Hungary, Japan, Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Britain, and Sweden.
The next step for qualifiers is to meet the Everest Poker staff in person. Qualifiers will travel to the Palais Auersberg in Vienna, Austria for the final step before the top ten winners are selected. Players who travel to Austria will be divided into two groups. Group A begins the first day with five-minute taped interviews. While players wait to be interviewed, they will be playing each other in cash games. Meanwhile, Group B will play in sit and go tournaments. After a brief break for lunch, the two groups will switch tasks. At the end of the day, most of the players will be dismissed, but the top 20 will be asked to come back Sunday for an even more intensive interview process.
The top 20 will take part in 20-minute long interviews that will be reviewed by both Everest Poker staff and a panel of industry judges. The top ten winners will be announced after dinner and will commence their year-long affiliation with the site with an official press conference. As part of their deal, players will receive more than $30,000 to cover travel expenses as they travel the international poker circuit. All ten of the players are set to take part in a number of tournaments, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.
The first Living the Dream contest took part in 2008. Some of the promotional winners included Steven van Zadlehoff of the Netherlands, Voitto Rintala of Finland, and Pablo Ubierna of Spain. Prior to winning the Living the Dream promotion, Van Zadlehoff was already beginning to establish himself as a skilled poker player with a seventh place finish at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Spanish Championship in 2007 and an 11th place finish at the first annual WSOP Europe. He also has five WSOP cashes to his credit.
Van Zadlehoff commented on his Live the Dream experience on Everest Poker’s official site. ”If you get sent to the rails, you just look ahead to the next tournament and your next win. Live The Dream built more than my bankroll. It built my career,” he extolled. Ubierna and Rintala echoed the sentiments, with all three agreeing that Live the Dream was a life changing and career-making opportunity.