ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - Mayors from around New Jersey will come to Atlantic City next week to play with someone else’s money.
The mayors face off Thursday in an online poker tournament to raise money for charity and to promote New Jersey’s fledgling Internet gambling industry.
Confirmed participants include Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, Brick Mayor John Ducey, Freehold Township Mayor David Salkin and Galloway Township Mayor Don Purdy. Others are expected to participate as well. The tournament will be held in the new poker room at Bally’s Atlantic City.
The players will start off with $1,000 apiece in the game run by the World Series of Poker.
“We’ve been in New Jersey for six months now and we wanted to do something to kick off summer at the shore,” said Michael Staskin, vice president of marketing for Caesars Interactive, a division of Caesars Entertainment, which owns four of Atlantic City’s 11 casinos, including Bally’s. “We appreciate the support from politicians in the state, who have been very progressive about Internet gaming. So we invited them to Atlantic City to experience it firsthand.”
The winner-take-all, No Limit Hold ’Em tournament is expected to take about 45 minutes, with the winning mayor donating his $10,000 prize to the charity of his choice. Selected charities include the Visitation Relief Center, which helps families affected by Superstorm Sandy; the Jersey City Youth Foundation; and Marine Corps League Detachment 203, a veterans’ organization involved in community activities.
The mayors will play on computers using Caesars’ World Series of Poker platform before a live audience. They will be given user accounts and create individual avatars, be shown how to use the software and get schooled in how to play poker by one of several experts on hand for the event. Each contestant may have an optional hour-long poker coaching session before the tournament starts.
“We look forward to seeing which mayor presents the best poker face and wins the grand prize,” said Ty Stewart, executive director of the World Series of Poker.
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Wayne Parry can be reached at https://twitter.com/WayneParryAC
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