POKERSTARS CROWNS THE 2009 WORLD CHAMPION OF ONLINE POKER

Yevgeniy ‘Jovial Gent’ Timoshenko Wins Main Event for over $1.7 Million

ISLE OF MAN, UK, SEPTEMBER 29, 2009 – The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event ended late last Monday, September 21, after thousands of players competed for 23 hours to win their share of the $10,720,000 prize pool.

Yevgeniy ‘Jovial Gent’ Timoshenko, a professional player originally from Ukraine, cut through the 2,144 player field in the $5,200 No Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Main Event to take home the $1,715,200 first prize, plus the gold WCOOP Champion’s Bracelet, and a trip to the Bahamas, where the bracelets will be presented to each of this year’s WCOOP Champions.

"It's a dream come true to win the largest and toughest online poker tournament ever assembled!" said Timoshenko

The PokerStars WCOOP is the largest online poker series, and the second-largest poker tournament series in the world. In comparison to other international sporting events, the 2009 WCOOP boasted a total prize pool of almost double the combined prize pools of the 2009 Wimbledon Tennis Championships and the 2009 US Golf Masters.

It was a record-breaking eighth WCOOP series for PokerStars, continuing its domination in the world of online poker tournaments. The total 2009 WCOOP prize pool of $51,652,800 was over $11 million more than last year’s tournament series. Nearly 44,000 players from 140 countries participated in the 45 events.

Among the many highlights from this year’s series, it was Team PokerStars PRO: France player Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier who produced one of the best overall performances, winning two events. After snagging a bracelet in the 1,269-player $530 NLHE tournament, ElkY then won the $215 NLHE tournament two days later, against a huge field of 9,220 players.

ElkY, who cashed six times during the series, earning more than $500,000, said: “The WCOOP is a great series to play and the prize pool is enormous. No other online series compares to the WCOOP, but I’ve been playing it five years now and had never won a bracelet. When I won the $530 No Limit Hold’em tournament, it was amazing – 1,169 players. But to win again two days later, I just couldn’t believe it. More than 9,000 players, the craziest field, but I did it. My goals now are to win a WSOP bracelet for the first time, and to become the first player to win two PokerStars European Poker Tour events.”

Daniel ‘djk123’ Kelly, won the Player of the Series trophy, as well as a trip to the Bahamas and an entry into the Main Event of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in January. Kelly cashed an astounding 11 times, including a 4th place finish in the Main Event, as well as winning bracelets in the $215 Razz and $10,300 High Roller H.O.R.S.E. events.

There was also a double-bracelet win for ‘g0lfa’, who took down the $320 8-Game and $320 Mixed [PL Hold’em/PL Omaha] events. For complete WCOOP results and statistics, please visit http://www.wcoop.com/.

All 2009 WCOOP winners will be awarded their bracelets at a special ceremony in the Bahamas at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in January, 2010. To date there have been 166 WCOOP events since 2002, with a total combined prize pool of $156,855,050.

For further details on the WCOOP and other PokerStars online tournaments, players should visit http://www.pokerstars.com.

About www.pokerstars.com:

As the world’s largest poker site PokerStars has more than 27 million members around the world. It’s the first choice of the world’s top players, with more daily tournaments than anywhere else and the best security online. More hands have been dealt on PokerStars than any other site; over 33 billion to date and more than 190 million tournaments played.

PokerStars operates worldwide under the license from the Isle of Man Government. A recent addition to the PokerStars family, PokerStars.it, possesses an Italian Government license for the  Italian market

PokerStars regularly sets the bar high, staging some of the biggest online and live poker tournaments in the world:

• The World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) (www.wcoop.com) is the premier yearly online poker tournament series in the world. The 2009 WCOOP generated a total prize pool of more than $51 million
• The European Poker Tour (www.ept.com) attracts the best players and currently generates the biggest prize pool of any poker tour
• The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) is staged on the shores of Paradise Island in the Bahamas and is where thousands of players compete for a share of millions in prize money
• The Latin American Poker Tour (www.lapt.com) unites the best players in South America
• The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (www.appt.com) does the same across the Pacific
• The World Cup of Poker is a unique fixture on the poker calendar that combines the online and live poker worlds for a team challenge that pitches nation against nation

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