PokerStars.com Hosts the Largest WSOP Super Satellite

ISLE OF MAN -- On Sunday July 16, PokerStars.com lived up to its reputation by hosting a massive World Series of Poker Super Satellite tournament. In just one night PokerStars.com awarded a whopping
PokerStars.com  255 seats to the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP); representing more players than the entire playing field of the 1993 Main Event.

An astonishing 7,377 players entered the online tournament seeking poker glory and a chance to be immortalized at the 2006 World Series of Poker. Players from around the world battled for a guaranteed 150 seats, but when the virtual cards were in the air, 234 seats were up for grabs. Later the same evening, the company ran a Second Chance satellite tournament that sent another 21 players to the WSOP with the chance to win an estimated first prize of $10 million,

The 255 winners were all awarded a $12,000 prize package that includes a coveted $10,000 buy-in to the 2006 WSOP Main Event, $1,000 in spending money, round-trip airfare to Las Vegas, and hotel accommodations for the two-week event.

The WSOP is the richest sporting event on the planet, with an estimated prize pool of more than $80 million and 8,000 players for the Main Event alone. Last year, every person who made the final table became an instant millionaire. The 2003 and 2004 World Champions, Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, both won their WSOP entries on PokerStars.com, and the 2005 champ, Joe Hachem, has been a regular player on the site since 2002. The PokerStars.com Web site has established itself as the place "where poker players become world champions."

"PokerStars.com has clearly become the place where poker players expect the biggest and best tournaments," said Raymer. "They started the idea of online satellites, and now provide more WSOP players than anyone else in the world except for the WSOP itself."

PokerStars.com is expected to provide about 20% of the estimated 8,000+ player field for this year's WSOP Main Event.