TEXAS HOLDEM ONLINE POKER

Online tournament qualifier Erick Lindgren took home the title and the $1,000,000 first prize in poker's most unique event, the PartyPoker.Com Million III, a tournament whose players begin in cyberspace and finish on the ocean.

Battling five other opponents at the World Poker Tour televised final table (the show will air June 16, 2004), Lindgren stormed back from a fourth place chip position at one point and overtook the day's starting chip leader and eventual third place finisher, fellow online qualifier Chris Hinchcliffe, a construction worker from Olympia, Washington who said the money would "change his life."

PartyPoker.com is by far the world's largest poker room, with over 45,000 simultaneous players from all over the world at peak time, everyday.

Poker cruises are not an entirely new phenomenon but one wherein everyone on the ship is either a player (or a player's friend or family member) is. Holland America's luxury cruise ship ms Ryndam departed from San Diego harbor this weekend carrying 546 players and roughly 750 companions, with the only non-poker related people on board being the ship's crew.

Most of the players won their entry fee and cruise package by playing online poker satellites, where players won both a cruise and entry into the $7,500 buy-in tournament for as little as $25. One player actually made it on board for $2, encouraged by having won her second try at $1 tournaments that were offered briefly earlier in the year. Ninety players took home at least a couple of thousand dollars in extra prize money, although the lion's share was reserved for those making the final table.

Runner-up Daniel Negreanu, a Canadian poker player, took home $675,000 and a $25,000 entry into the World Poker Tour's Championship Event in Las Vegas in April.

Winner Lindgren, 27, is a "famous" Internet player for his success under his Internet alter ego "Edawg." After he accepted his trophy, he noted that while he plays both Internet and land-based poker, "There is no doubt that I learned the technical side of the game, how to bet correctly, playing on the Internet."

PartyPoker.com dwarfs its land- based competitors. The world's largest land-based poker room can accommodate a couple of thousand players. PartyPoker.com regularly hosts twenty times that number, and given the rapidly increasing stature of poker on the world's stage (noted actor/director James Woods was one of the more famous players to enter the PartyPoker.com Million III), there appears to be no limit to where online poker can go.

Launched in August 2001, PartyPoker.com is the world's largest online multi-player poker room offering players a safe, secure and friendly environment to play poker. With more than one million satisfied users, PartyPoker.com is the market leader in the popular and fast growing online poker games market. PartyPoker.com is fully licensed and regulated by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, Quebec, Canada. The site typically hosts more than 45,000 simultaneous players playing an assortment of live classic poker games including Texas Hold `Em, Omaha Hi/Low, and Seven Card Stud and single and multi table tournaments.

Poker has become the nation's hottest cultural trend and phenomenon. Everyone from PhDs to construction workers, from grandmothers to Miss America contestants have caught the fever, spurred by successful television shows including the World Poker Tour of which PartyPoker.com is a charter member. PartyPoker.com is where many new enthusiasts begin their poker lessons, playing for FREE, and then progressing to tournaments like The PartyPoker.com Million.