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24-Year-Old North Carolinian Captures the $1.5 Million Top Spot in PartyPoker.com Million IV
Published: 2005-03-28
 24-Year-Old North Carolinian Captures the $1.5 Million Top Spot in PartyPoker.com Million IV
Business Wire, March 28, 2005
CURACAO, Netherlands Antilles -- PartyPoker.com
--More Than 180 Players Share in $7,430,000 Prize Pool in Tournament Staged aboard Ship Cruising the Gulf of Mexico, with Second Place Worth $1 Million
--Four PartyPoker.com Online Qualifiers and Two Direct Buy-Ins Compete at Final Table
In a calculating battle between maturity and youth, it was youth that won out in the PartyPoker.com Million IV, the world's largest Limit Texas Hold'em tournament this week aboard the cruise ship ms. Oosterdam on the Mexican Riviera.
Michael Gracz, a 24-year-old a recent graduate of North Carolina State, outlasted 54-year-old rocket engineer David Minto of Alamogordo, NM at the Final Table to claim the $1.5 million first prize. Minto also took home a $1 million consolation prize, marking the first time in a regular season World Poker Tour(TM) tournament that two players crested the million-dollar mark. The event was hosted by PartyPoker.com, the largest online poker room in the world.
More than 180 players cashed in on the $7,430,000 prize pool in the event which drew 735 players, 668 of which qualified online at PartyPoker.com. Three of those joined Minto at the Final Table, challenging veteran pro Paul Darden, a previous WPT tournament victor, and Gracz.
In the event which proved to be the largest ever on the WPT Tour, Minto, a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel who returned to work for the military as a civilian, came into the final day of the 5-day event with the chip lead. Known as "The Colonel" among his poker associates, he found himself face to face with poker's youth movement -- 22-year-old Matthew Cherackal, a Princeton University microbiology student; 24-year-old Adam Csallany from Rosevillle, MN, an up-and-coming pro player who competes regularly online; 33-year-old Richard Kain, a public relations executive from San Francisco and Gracz, known by the nickname "The Kid." When it was over, Minto quipped that he lost to a player that was no older than his son.
It was the battle between two 24-year-olds, Csallany (born in Greece) and Gracz (born in Poland), that dominated most of the exciting tournament, staged in the cruise ship showroom, with the lead see-sawing between the two. Minto stayed out of the way. Eventually, Gracz' controlled, crafty play outlasted Csallany, then polished off Cherackal and finally wore down Minto. Cherackal cashed in $700,000 for third, Csallany took home $500,000 for fourth, Darden ended the night with $300,000 and Kain placed sixth for $200,000. Fans can see all the action June 15 on the World Poker Tour, airing at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The Travel Channel.
PartyPoker.com Million IV shattered the previous record for the tournament which last year offered a $3.82 million prize pool and drew 546 players. Embarking from San Diego harbor, the entire Holland America cruise ship was chartered for the event and carried 1800 players, dealers and guests. Online qualifiers won their $10,200 buy-in to the finals, a cruise for two and spending cash by winning preliminary satellite tournaments on PartyPoker.com with entries starting from $6.
The PartyPoker.com Million IV is the fourth installment of the fabulously successful tournament. In March 2004, Erick Lindgren vanquished the field and used his $1 million victory in the PartyPoker.com Million III to springboard into position as the World Poker Tour's Player-of-the-Year and leading money winner for 2004. Howard Lederer, of Las Vegas, a World Champion and two-time winner of 2003 World Poker Tour tournaments, captured first prize in the PartyPoker.com Million II and the year before, Kathy Liebert of Las Vegas became the first woman ever to win $1 million in a single poker tournament by triumphing in the inaugural event.
Launched in August 2001, PartyPoker.com is the world's largest poker room offering players a safe, secure and friendly environment to play poker. With more millions of satisfied users, PartyPoker.com is the market leader in the popular and fast growing online poker market. PartyPoker.com is licensed and regulated by the Government of Gibraltar. The site hosts more than 70,000 simultaneous players at peak times and over 250,000 online poker players daily, offering them a safe, secure and friendly environment to play poker. Players can play an assortment of live classic poker games including Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Low, and Seven Card Stud and single and multi-table tournaments.
For more information go to www.PartyPoker.com.
Images are available at http://www.PartyPoker.com/press.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Business Wire
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group
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Summus Goes to the Head of the Class With the 'Professor of Poker'
Published: 2005-03-01
 Summus Goes to the Head of the Class With the 'Professor of Poker'
Market Wire, March, 2005
Summus, Inc. (USA) (OTC BB: SMMU), a leading provider of mobile media applications that optimize the consumer wireless experience, and poker great, Howard Lederer, have signed a deal to build a Texas Hold'em tutorial game for the cell phone called Professor of Poker.
With thirteen major poker titles, including two World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour titles, Howard Lederer, also known as the "Professor of Poker," is one of the best-known and most successful poker players today.
Professor of Poker will be a tournament-style Texas Hold'em game for the cell phone with several unique capabilities. The game will feature a tutorial component to educate and improve poker skills, plus visually compelling graphics for a realistic poker experience. The game will also feature tournament-style play where players must go head-to-head against five famous poker professionals before getting the chance to challenge Howard Lederer himself. Top players like Chris Ferguson, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, Greg Raymer and Matt Savage will be the other personalities included the game. Tips will be provided after each hand making the game a true teaching tool. Professor of Poker will be developed for the BREW® solution as well as the J2ME platform. The game will be made available on leading wireless carriers in the U.S. in the middle of 2005.
Summus and Howard Lederer will employ aggressive marketing that leverages the brands of Howard Lederer and the other professional poker players to drive new customers to this game. The game will be promoted to poker fans at Mr. Lederer's popular poker Fantasy Camps (www.allincamp.com), where attendees learn the skills needed to become savvy poker competitors, as well as through his best-selling educational DVD series. Mr. Lederer's educational videos are sold in over 16,000 retail stores and at www.secretsofholdem.com, plus he is a sponsor of a popular online poker site, FullTiltPoker.net Poker (www.fulltiltpoker.tv).
"Partnering with Summus to develop a mobile poker game gives me the opportunity to share my Hold'em knowledge with a whole new audience," said Howard Lederer. "Online poker has been a huge success, and wireless is the obvious next step. Summus understands the wireless consumer and has the industry relationships and know-how to make this a very successful venture."
"The commercial popularity of Texas Hold'em continues to grow, and poker fans need a game where they can enjoy the competition while honing their skills and poker prowess," said Gary Ban, CEO of Summus. "Utilizing the franchise of educational poker tools that Howard offers, allows us to build a unique mobile poker game that will stand out in a popular category. As Summus extends its gaming portfolio, we look to find compelling opportunities, such as this one, where the financial opportunity is great."
Mobile gaming revenue continues to grow quickly. Mobile games brought in about $1 billion in revenues, worldwide, in 2004. Analysts predict that the category will surpass the $2 billion mark by the end of 2005, and will reach as much as $5 billion in revenues by 2008. The penetration of phones with the capability to download games has reached 44%, and is expected to reach 83% of phones by 2008.
About Summus
Summus is a leading provider of mobile media applications that optimize the consumer wireless experience. Summus partners with leading content brands to develop compelling and unique wireless applications and content for the mobile phone, focused within the most popular areas of growth, including photo messaging, multi-player games, news/information and personalization. Summus currently offers an ever-growing list of 30 mobile phone applications deployed through 26 major wireless carriers in the U.S. and abroad. Summus designs and develops these applications with the industry's most intuitive navigation that is designed for a consistently superior user experience. For more information, see www.summus.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning Summus' business, products, and financial results. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted. More information about potential risk factors that could affect our business, products, and financial results is included in Summus' annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003, and in reports subsequently filed by Summus with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). All documents are available through the SEC's Electronic Data Gathering Analysis and Retrieval system (EDGAR) at www.sec.gov or from Summus' web site at www.summus.com. Summus hereby disclaims any obligation to publicly update the information provided above, including forward-looking statements, to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
All trademarks and/or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
For Public Relations: Felicia Ramsey Summus, Inc. (USA) (919) 807-5646 felicia.ramsey@summus.com
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