An online poker room that claims to be legal in the U.S. is holding its first world championship tournament.

New York City-based Duplicate Poker (www.duplicatepoker.com), which offers a variation of conventional online poker that it says is legal in the USA, announced that the first-ever Duplicate Poker World Championship will commence in September.

Duplicate Poker offers a form of online poker that follows the format of duplicate bridge. In this case, poker players compete against other players who are at other tables but who have all been dealt the same cards. Because the element of luck has been removed, and thus only skill is used, Duplicate Poker says it’s not gambling and therefore is legal most places, including the U.S. That assertation hasn’t been tested yet in an American court, however.

According to a news release from Duplicate Poker, qualifying rounds for the Duplicate Poker World Championship began on February 4 on the website and are to continue for 30 consecutive weeks, through September 14th, when the first round of regional online tournaments are to take place.

The regional round, which is divided into six distinct geographical regions totaling 180 players, is to be followed by a round of quarter-finals, the release said.

Quarter-final winners will then be placed on a regional team of seven players, and will compete at an offline venue where the semi-final and final (championship) rounds are to be played, the release said.

The date and location of the semi-finals and finals are to be announced, the release said.

For those tired of spending their hard-earned dough on entry fees for conventional online poker tournaments, this may be your cup of tea.

According to Duplicate Poker, there is no entry fee to get into the Duplicate Poker World Championship. Players just need to make the top of the weekly Duplicate Poker Tournament Leader Board during one of the qualifying weeks.

“This means a new player who makes a very small deposit and plays for as short as a week could conceivably become the first Duplicate Poker World Champion,” a Duplicate Poker flack said.

For more information about the event, visit the Duplicate Poker website.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.) =A0