Fourth Year Of World Championship Of Online Poker

Poker Stars's 2005 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) enters its fourth consecutive year this week, with entries from poker players across the globe.

The first event of the 2005 WCOOP kicked off with a $500 buy-in No-Limit Texas Hold'em tournament. An all-time record 3,062 players entered the event, making the event the largest major online poker tournament ever. In fact, the staggering number of entries makes the WCOOP one of only two major poker events which has attracted more than 3,000 players. The main event of the 2005 World Series of Poker is the other.

Nolan Dalla, Director of Communications for Pokerstars said, "I am thrilled with the response to this year's WCOOP. Poker continues to boom and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. This is especially true for online poker. WCOOP gives all players a unique opportunity to compete for a world championship title from any computer in the world. With so many players and so many different tournaments -- this is the Olympic Games of poker."

Until now, the previous record turnout for a major online poker tournament was 1,642 participants, which was set by the same PokerStars event last year. By nearly doubling in size, the total prize pool amounted to a whopping $1,531,000. First prize paid $306,200. In all, 324 players received prize money -- second in number only to the 2005 World Series of Poker.

The 2005 WCOOP will continue to run through September 18. The guaranteed $8 million dollar prize pool offers the single-largest guaranteed prize in online poker history, making the tournament one of the richest sporting events in the world.

Poker fans everywhere can watch the excitement of each final table from their personal computers simply by logging in. PokerStars.com also offers live radio coverage of all final tables at: PokerTalkShow.com . Guest commentators will include former World Series of Poker champions Greg Raymer (2004), Chris Moneymaker (2003), and Tom McEvoy (1983). Other popular guests will join the broadcast during the two week run of the WCOOP.

The WCOOP concludes with the main event on September 18, a No-Limit Texas Hold'em Tournament with a $2,500 entry fee and a guaranteed minimum $2.5 million dollar prize pool.