Held in 2003, Howard Lederer was the ultimate winner and he won $263,850. And if you were wondering... four poker players tried their luck at
Party Poker and qualified online. They even made it to the final
Party Poker Million table. Isn't that something?
Held in the Caribbean on board the MS Zandaam, 177 poker players competed for the first prize. And out of these players, 134 were those who had qualified by playing online at Party Poker. The prize pool was over a million dollars and the excitement was televised world-wide as part of the Poker World Tour on the Travel Channel.
- Howard Lederer from Las Vegas won first place and $263,850.
- Chip Jet from Scottsdale was the runner-up but still took home 175,900 dollars as well as won a seat at the WPT Championship. This seat comes with a price tag of no less than $25,300.
- "Joe the Cowboy" Simpkins from San Diego came in third. In third place, he won $105,900.
- Maureen Feduniak from Las Vegas came in fourth and took home 79,155 dollars.
- Tim Lark from Dayton came fifth and won himself 52,770 dollars playing at the Party Poker Million.
- Hailing from Saskatoon in Canada, Dan Coupal came in sixth and got to take away $43,975.
Players played against poker professionals such as Scotty Nguyen, T.J. Cloutier, Mel Judah, Howard Lederer, Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson,Tom McEvoy and others along with all those who qualified online. The poker rounds began and continued as the cruise ship sailed towards the Caribbean from Florida. The Party Poker Million is not only a poker tournament but also a tour and all the players had a chance to go ashore at the various stopovers such as the tiny French and Dutch island of St. Maarten or just relax by the luxurious pool and wait for the sun to set and the action to begin again.
This, the second of many party poker tournaments, was a resounding success mainly because it was a unique way of captivating poker players and audience while taking in the sweet and fresh Caribbean air.