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Copyright 2004 PR Newswire Association, Inc.
PR Newswire

August 10, 2004 Tuesday

HEADLINE: PokerStars' World Championship of Online Poker Spreads Wealth Around the World; Players From All 50 States and More Than 40 Countries Battled for Record $6 Million+ in Total Prize Money

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES Aug. 10

BODY:

   With more than 10,000 entries and $6 million in prize money awarded in 12 events held between July 28 and August 8, PokerStars' Third Annual World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) now rivals the biggest and most prestigious land-based poker tournaments in the world. As thousands of poker fans watched on their computers this past Sunday, a 30-year-old financial analyst from Oslo, Norway, known by the screen name "Ragde" won $424,945.26 in the main event.

   The total prize pool for the main event alone exceeded $2 million dollars -- a higher figure than most of the biggest poker events shown on television -- and the top 81 finishers received prize money. No Internet-based competition of any kind in history has ever awarded such a large cash prize. All of the top five spots won more than $100,000, an unprecedented payout for an online poker tournament.

   The WCOOP tournament series, hosted online at PokerStars.com, consists of the most popular forms of poker -- Texas Hold 'em, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud High/Low, Omaha and Omaha High/Low -- with four events featuring the world's most popular version of tournament poker, No Limit Texas Hold 'em. Players from all 50 states and more than 40 countries took part in this year's event.

    "There's no denying that poker is emerging as the world's new favorite pastime," said Lee Jones, PokerStars poker room manager and best-selling poker author. "The global participation and tremendous prize money for our World Championship of Online Poker -- totals that dwarf most successful land-based tournaments -- show that online poker is a vital part of the worldwide poker boom."
The grand finale of the tournament was the WCOOP main event, otherwise known as the official World Championship of Online Poker. The feature game was a No-Limit Texas Hold 'em Tournament with an entry fee of $2,500 -- a significant figure that attracted some of the biggest names in poker, including Greg Raymer and Chris Moneymaker, the past two World Series of Poker (WSOP) champions. Both won their WSOP seats for their championship runs through PokerStars.com.

   Many of the participants in the main event paid the entry fee themselves, but for others, the entry fee came at a bargain -- a sizable number of players qualified through online satellites held regularly at PokerStars.com, where players could enter a tournament for a chance to win a seat at the main event for only a fraction of the cost. Many more players gained their entry into the tournament from PokerStars' "Frequent Player Points" alone, meaning the entry fee essentially cost nothing other than time already spent playing at PokerStars. The company gave away more than $500,000 in free entries through the Frequent Player Point program.

   Based on the huge success of this year's tournament, in both the number of players and total prize money, it is expected that the WCOOP will continue to

grow in size and stature, especially as more players come to realize that anyone can sign up and participate, and perhaps end up as a "world champion."

   PokerStars set the poker industry on fire in 2003 by producing the first World Series of Poker (WSOP) champion who won his entry online. Chris Moneymaker, an accountant from Tennessee, entered a $39 satellite tournament on PokerStars.com and went on to win $2.5 million in the world's biggest and most prestigious poker tournament. Almost all of his tournament poker experience came from playing on PokerStars.

   In 2004, PokerStars sent 316 players to the WSOP, more than any other source besides WSOP on-site satellites. Four PokerStars players made it to the final table, and Greg Raymer, who won his seat in a $160 satellite on PokerStars, took home the world's largest prize ever in poker -- $5 million and the coveted WSOP championship bracelet. In all, PokerStars players took home almost $11 million in prize money from the 2004 WSOP Main Event.

   For more detailed information about PokerStars' World Championship of Online Poker, including recaps of all 12 events, please visit www.pokerstars.com.

    About PokerStars

   PokerStars (www.pokerstars.com), an official member of the World Poker Tour, is the world's most innovative online poker site. PokerStars was the first site to introduce advanced multi-table tournaments, integrated game statistics, players' notes, personalized images, time bank for tournaments and ring big bet games, satellite tournaments, multi-table sit and go tournaments, and much more.
PokerStars' support team is truly unique, as help and support is available around the clock from people who know and understand both the game of poker, and the importance of impeccable customer service.

   To date, PokerStars has run more than two million poker tournaments and dealt more than 600 million hands. PokerStars utilizes industry-leading security software to ensure the integrity of the system, including encryption, card shuffle randomness and preventative measures against cheating and collusion.
PokerStars is the site where the 2003 and 2004 World Champions of Poker won their entries into the World Series of Poker, thus earning the trademark -- "Where poker players become World Champions."

   SOURCE PokerStars.com

CONTACT: Johner Riehl of Edelman, +1-323-202-1072, johner.riehl@edelman.com, for PokerStars.com; or Nolan Dalla of PokerStars.com, +1-703-786-6038, nolan@pokerstars.com

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