Pokerstars.com to Broadcast $10,000,000 World Championship of Online Poker

ATLANTA, Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Pokerstars.com, the world's most innovative poker site, www.pokerstars.com, announced today a partnership with Bluff Media and Bluff Poker Radio to produce and broadcast the final tables from the World Championship of Online Poker (www.pokerstars.com/wcoop).

Considered the most significant online poker tournament in the world, The PokerStars.com World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) features 18 separate poker tournaments from September 16th to October 1st. The 2006 WCOOP is expected to attract over 20,000 players and a prize pool of $13,000,000, making it the third largest poker event in the world.

Eric Morris, Co-President of Bluff Media commented, "As the official radio partner of the World Series of Poker, Bluff proved to be the leading radio broadcaster of poker. To now work with Pokerstars and broadcast the World's largest online tournament is a natural progression for Bluff Poker Radio.

"We were looking for a partner for our WCOOP broadcasts that knows poker," said Dan Goldman, Vice-President of Marketing for Poker Stars. Bluff Poker Radio has state of the art facilities and the know-how to produce high-quality live poker play-by-play and analysis which they clearly demonstrated in their WSOP broadcasts. We look forward to this same high standard in our WCOOP live broadcasts."

Pokerstars poker pro's and WSOP Main Event winners, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, and Joe Hachem are a few of the big names providing poker analysis on the broadcast. To hear the World Championship of Online Poker broadcast visit www.bluffmagazine.com or www.pokerstars.com

About Bluff Media ( www.bluffmagazine.com )

Bluff Media is the publisher Bluff Magazine, America's largest poker magazine with 250,000 copies printed and distributed nationwide. Bluff Magazine provides poker enthusiasts with quality content, which keeps them up- to-date with the fast-paced modern poker lifestyle. Regular contributors include: Jennifer Tilly, Josh Arieh, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak, Mike Caro, Kenna James, and Annie Duke.

Bluff Poker Radio is the nation's only syndicated weekly radio poker show. In conjunction with Harrah's Entertainment, Bluff Poker Radio produced the first ever live radio broadcast of the World Series of Poker. Bluff Poker Radio's live broadcast of the World Series of Poker spanned ten hours a day and covered each of the final tables including the $10,000 No Limit Texas Hold'em Main Event.

About PokerStars.com ( www.Pokerstars.com )

PokerStars ( www.pokerstars.com ) is the world's most innovative online poker site. PokerStars was the first site to introduce features that became industry standard such as sophisticated multi-table tournaments, integrated game statistics, players' notes, personalized images, time bank for tournaments and big bet ring games, satellite tournaments, multi-table sit and go tournaments, and much more.

To date, PokerStars has dealt out over five-billion hands and run more than 25 million poker tournaments, awarding well over $5 billion in prize money. PokerStars is the world's largest poker tournament room, with over 5 million registered player accounts. PokerStars' support team is truly unique, as help and assistance are available around the clock from people who know and understand the game of poker and the importance of impeccable customer service.

The PokerStars.com site is also one of the most secure. PokerStars uses industry-leading security software to ensure the integrity of the system, including encryption, card shuffle randomness and preventative measures against cheating and collusion. Money covering players' balances is held in segregated accounts managed by the Royal Bank of Scotland, ensuring that PokerStars can fulfill its obligations to players at all times.

In February 2006, PokerStars.com became the first poker website ever to reach the 100,000 simultaneous player mark. That watershed achievement marked the largest poker event in history. Every week, the PokerStars.com "Sunday Million" is played, which is the largest weekly tournament on the planet with a $1 million guaranteed tournament prize pool.

PokerStars is an official member of the World Poker Tour, and the title sponsor of the European Poker Tour (EPT) and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. In the fall, PokerStars hosts the world's largest online tournament, the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). PokerStars also sponsors major events around the globe, such as the World Cup of Poker and other exciting tournaments.

During the last three years, PokerStars.com sent more players to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) than any other source or website. A whopping 1,623 entrants (more than 20 percent of the field) qualified to play in the 2006 WSOP via PokerStars satellites. PokerStars is the site where the 2003 and 2004 World Series of Poker champions won their entries into the WSOP. The 2005 world poker champion, Joe Hachem, has also been an active player at PokerStars since 2001. He joined Moneymaker and Raymer as official representatives of PokerStars.com, thus fortifying the company trademark, "Where Poker Players Become World Champions." For more information go to: www.pokerstars.com

Press Release, Bluff Media - 2006-09-20 02:50:09