Page 4 - October 2005 • Southern California Gaming Guide

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
Southern California Gaming Guide 2005 Reader’s Poll $1000 Contest Winner!
Oin the World
n September 20th fteen new poker champions were crowned in the fourth annual World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP)
held at PokerStars.com. e 15-day competition attracted 19,727 players worldwide representing 82 di erent countries. Winners were awarded a whopping $12,783,900 in total
prize money in 15 tournament events.
The WCOOP main event, a $2,500 buy-in No-Limit
Texas Hold’em tournament, attracted 1,494 entrants. After nearly 14 hours of bluffing, raising and folding the three finalists in the championship event (one American and two Swedish players) agreed on a deal. The prize money was divided and each player collected more than $500,000 from the largest prize pool in online poker
history.
All events were broadcast live over the Internet.
In addition to being easily accessible for viewing at PokerStars.com, poker fans everywhere tuned in to radio broadcasts of nal tables featuring commentary from such popular poker celebrities as Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker and Barry Greenstein.
IGT and Harrah’s Donate Millions to Hurricane Katrina Relief
We didn’t have a chance to snap a photo of our $1000 contest winner before press time last month. So now, here is lucky Debi Grant, a reader from Inglewood (pictured above), who was very happy she sent in her survey
for our 2005 Best of Southern California Gaming Reader’s Choice Awards. Debi is a small business owner who enjoys an occasional trip to the casino. Congratulations, Debi—and congratulations to all our 2005 contest winners!
World Championship of Online Poker
Third Largest Poker Tournament
I
targeted a million dollars to assist relief e orts for their Gulf State employees, customers and the communities that su ered from the hurricane. ey also pledged to match employee donations to the Red Cross and organized blood drives at their facilities.
Harrah’s, who announced that Harrah’s New Orleans, Grand Casino Biloxi and Grand Casino Gulfport were closed inde nitely after the hurricane, established an Employee Recovery Fund with an initial $1 million contribution from the Harrah’s Foundation.
Pinnacle Entertainment, along with other gaming companies, is also providing assistance for employees in the devastated Gulf Coast. MGM Mirage has said it would pay full salary and bene ts to the 3,400 employees of the Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi until Dec. 6.
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GT, maker of MegaJackpotTM slots, including Wheel of Fortune® and MegaBucks®, announced early in September that it had
Page 4 October 2005
Southern California Gaming News