Poker: Sports Legends Challenge Called Off
9/5/09 – The organisers of an ambitious attempt to pit 25 sports legends against 25 top poker pros at the swanky Atlantis resort in the Bahamas have had to call the event off due to lack of interest.
The much-hyped tournament, headed by Sports Legends Challenge CEO Bruce Bibbero, was scheduled for September 14 to 17, and has now been postponed to a date to be advised in 2010, when better economic conditions may make the large buy-in package viable.
Alongside the tight economic climate in the United States, Bibbero cited weather worries as a cause for the lack of interest."People were concerned about hurricane season in the Bahamas and with current economic conditions being what they are, this was just more than people were willing to do," he said.
It's not the first failure of an enterprise organised by Bibbero and partner Lawrence Lubin. In 2007 a celebrity and sports star poker tournament also went awry and became the subject of subsequent litigation by Sludikoff Gaming.
Bibbero appears to be planning an event in the continental US when he resurrects the Sports Legends Challenge, and he has assured all entrants so far that they will be refunded or have the option of moving their buy-in to the new event next year.
