Nadal Set to Make Live Tournament Debut

Tennis superstar Rafael Nadal will make his debut on the live tournament poker circuit in Prague:

FROM CLAY TO FELT

World number one tennis superstar Rafael Nadal is set to make his live tournament debut on Thursday. Nadal, who became a PokerStars Ambassador in June of 2012, will take part in a charity poker tournament taking place in Prague days after the European Poker Tour‘s Prague Festival kicked off earlier this week.

Nadal, who has played online poker on the PokerStars platform since taking on the role of PS Ambassador, will finally make his long-awaited debut on the live felt, battling other sports stars for the title and the € 100,000 charity prize pool.

Other sports starts expected to participate in the charity event include former Ukrainian National and A.C. Milan football star Andriy Shevchenko, Italian Olympic Gold Medal Champion skier Alberto Tomba, Dutch Field Hockey Gold Medalist Fatima Moreira de Melo and Brazilian football legend Ronaldo.

Said Nadal of Ronaldo: “Ronaldo has always been a hero of mine and I’m looking forward to taking him on at the poker table. The great thing about poker is that it’s a common ground for us to compete on, and there are many similarities between sport and poker strategy, so it will be good to see how he translates his game from the football field to the poker felt.”

WORLD NUMBER ONES COLLIDE

Nadal won’t be the lone World #1 once play begins in Thursday’s Charity Poker Event as the #1 poker player on the live tournament circuit, Daniel Negreanu (GPI#1) will also be part of the festivities. Although this isn’t Negreanu’s first time playing against sports stars and celebrities for charity, this may just be one that Negreanu wants to win more than the others, given the incredible résumés of his opponents, outside of poker.

The fun and games will be short-lived for Negreanu, however. On Friday, Kid Poker will begin his attempt to win EPT Prague. A strong showing in Prague will certainly lock up GPI Player of the Year honours for the Canadian superstar. You can read our preview of EPT Prague ›› HERE!

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

Shine North/Princess Productions will be filming a documentary during the event using a technology developed by British electronics engineer Peter Johnston that triggers 80 cameras lined up in a semi-circle and creates unique “time freeze” footage, creating the effect of a camera whizzing around a central figure, while the object of attention appears to be either completely static or moving in a very slow motion.

We wish Rafa and the rest of the stars the best of luck!

Pictures courtesy of PokerStars