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Copyright 2004 PR Newswire Association,
Inc.
PR Newswire
July 29, 2004 Thursday
HEADLINE: Full House of Players to Compete in
PokerStars.com's Third Annual World Championship of Online Poker
BODY:
World's Largest Online
Poker Tournament Puts $4 Million on the Table
The cards are dealt, the chips are down and
$4 million is on the line as competition has begun in the Third
Annual PokerStars' World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP).
The event has guaranteed prize pool events daily through August
8. The event is hosted by PokerStars.com which is widely regarded
as the top online cardroom for tournaments. PokerStars' WCOOP
is the largest online
poker tournament in the world, and this year, PokerStars
is guaranteeing $4 million in prize money across its 12 events.
In the last two years, players have won almost
$3 million in cash prizes in WCOOP competitions. The tournament
series 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.
"Poker
is one of the hottest trends in the world right now. Poker players
from anywhere in the world can try their hand in PokerStars' World
Championship of Online
Poker and leave with the largest cash prizes ever
won online," said Lee Jones, PokerStars Poker Room Manager,
and best selling poker author. "And since we offer satellites
for these events for as little as $3, anyone has a chance to win.
In fact, through our Frequent Player Point program, we're giving
away more than half a million dollars in free entries, so the
next huge winner could get there for free."
The WCOOP offers
poker players the opportunity to compete for large
tournament prize pools that previously were only available in
land-based casinos and poker rooms. In fact, the prize money is
even higher than most land-based tournaments. The WCOOP is expected
to attract more than 30,000 poker players from all over the world
into the competition for the online poker world's biggest prizes.
The WCOOP features 12 events with buy-ins ranging
from $200 for early events to $2,500 for the main No
Limit Hold'em event, and guaranteed prize pools ranging
from $100,000 to $1.2 million. The events are filled with poker
players of all ages and backgrounds, and plenty of exciting poker
action.
PokerStars is running satellite tournaments
for each event that allow players to risk as little as $3 for
a chance to win a tournament entry. Players can also win free
entry into the events by playing in Frequent Player Point (FPP)
satellites. Players earn Frequent Player Points for their play
in cash and tournament games on the site. PokerStars has given
away more than $7 million in cash, prizes and free tournament
entries through the FPP program in the past year.
PokerStars set the poker industry on fire in
2003 by producing the first World Series of Poker (WSOP) champion
to win his entry online. Chris Moneymaker entered a $39 satellite
tournament on PokerStars and went on to win $2.5 million in the
world's biggest and most prestigious poker
tournament -- and 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 the final table, and
Greg Raymer, who won his seat in a $160 satellite on PokerStars.com,
took home the world's largest prize in poker -- $5 million and
the coveted WSOP championship bracelet.
PokerStars.com is part of the huge and continuously
growing popularity of poker. With the WSOP televised on ESPN and
the popular World Poker Tour series on the Travel Channel, the
traditional card game of skill and luck is finding its way into
the homes of players from all over the world. PokerStars lets
players join games for play money or cash from any computer in
the world.
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
& 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
the game of poker, and the importance of impeccable customer service.
To date, PokerStars has run more than 2 million
poker tournaments and dealt more than 500 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 of players.
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
CONTACT: Eric Wein of Edelman, +1-323-202-1042, eric.wein@edelman.com
for PokerStars; or Nolan Dalla of PokerStars.com, +1-703-786-6038,
nolan@pokerstars.com
URL: http://www.prnewswire.com
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