A fresh new five sign up to tame 'The Beast' live

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Five new poker players signed up to publicly face the ultimate poker grinding challenge at Americas Cardroom by facing off against each other in the new poker points race known as "The Beast." The progressive points race, which will begin its third run in October, features players who show themselves to the world via webcam as they attempt to grind the most points by playing poker at jackpot tables over the course of a month.

"The 'Beast Live' is attracting more and more players because it gives players an online poker player an opportunity to gain popularity with the public while demonstrating their skills at the virtual felt," explained ACR spokesperson Michael Harris. "Our prize pools keep getting bigger, our projected winner this month (Mbolt1) has already secured himself a cash payout of over $10,000 by winning it, not to mention the money he's won at the tables."

The Beast is Americas Cardroom's groundbreaking progressive points race that revolutionizes how jackpots are awarded. It is funded entirely through players' shared contributions at jackpot tables. Instead of doing what most sites do – throw fees into one giant pot that rarely gets distributed – The Beast creates a new jackpot that pops every month.

The race awards everyone who participates and not just the top finishers. The total accumulated cash prize pool of September's run surpassed today the $100,000 mark, dispersing the monies to 301 players in the leaderboard. The secondary jackpot prize pool, which awards players with tournament entries, is currently showing over $38,000, giving 523 players (including the top 301 in the cash leaderboard) a $50+5 tournament ticket to ACR's massive 50k Guaranteed which will be held on October 14 at 5:00 pm ET.

"We've got some really competitive line-up for the upcoming race in October," continued Harris. "We expect that it will be a close race as the five players who will be participating all have impressive online poker resumes."

The five aforementioned players who will be competing in October's run of "The Beast Live" include:

1. "MamaCoolJ1" - over 4 million hands played, lead coach at training site www.dragthebar.com, poker book author of "Poker Math that Matters," "Hole Card Confessions" and "Poker Perspective."

2. "Clutch 352" - over 7 million hands played, over 25,000 tournaments played, one of ACR's most renowned grinders.

3. "Rustyrupert9" - protégé of Dusty Schmidt "Leatherass9," over 5 million hands played, over $600,000 in winnings, over seven years playing online poker.

4. "Giant Buddha" - Professional versatile player since 2006 apt in multiple games including Limit, No Limit, Omaha, Stud and Triple Draw. Sustained consistent win rates of 2bb/100 hands in limit holdem and 5bb/100 in heads up limit.

5. "Curmunchkin" - Has played four WSOP Main Events, considered himself as a "semi-accomplished NLHE & PLO cash game player." Reports over $800,000 in winnings and is currently within the top 10 in September's Beast.

There is no clear favorite for who will come out on top in October's competition. The lineup of the featured players will be sure to create an exciting competition that will surely come down to the wire.