PokerStars.com Qualifies Over 300 Players for the World Series of Poker.

Poker Stars Sends 300

PokerStars.com, the world's largest poker tournament destination, announced that it has qualified 315 players for the $10,000 championship event at the 2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP). The tournament kicks off Saturday.

Estimates place the total number of players at 2,000, a 138% increase over last year. A field of 2,000 entrants would generate a $20 million prize pool, the richest of any single event on the planet. First place prize money is estimated at $5 million.

"The continued explosion in the popularity of poker has been phenomenal," said Lee Jones, Poker Room Manager for PokerStars. "Just eight years ago there weren't 300 total players in this tournament, and now that number represents just PokerStars' entries. With 15% of the total tournament players, PokerStars is a real contender to produce back-to-back World Champions."

The enormous impact of online poker is unmistakable. In 2003, PokerStars player Chris Moneymaker turned a $39 tournament entry into a $2.5 million payday at the WSOP. Just last month, PokerStars qualified 27 players for the $25,000 World Poker Tour Championship, and three walked away with combined winnings of over $580,000.

Dan Goldman, VP of Marketing for PokerStars, has no doubt that PokerStars players will continue to be a force in tournament poker. "Our players continue to prove that their online tournament poker experience has tremendous value in a live tournament environment. The ease and convenience of playing poker online provides millions of people with tournament poker experience before they ever set foot in a casino or card room."

PokerStars, a member of the World Poker Tour, has earned a reputation as a leader in online poker by balancing its online poker offerings with land-based tie-ins like seats in the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour Championship. In July, PokerStars will host the largest online poker tournament in the world - the World Championship of Online Poker. The tournament will guarantee $4 million in payouts and is expected to draw over 20,000 players into its twelve events.