SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 20,
2002--
Second-Place Goes To Amateur Berj Kacherian, Who Qualified At
PartyPoker.com And Beat The World's Best To Win Almost $100,000
In His First Tournament Ever
PartyPoker.com, the world's fastest growing online poker room,
today announced that Kathy Liebert was crowned the PartyPoker.com
Million Champion and awarded the first prize of $1,000,000 in
the first annual PartyPoker.com Million Tournament. By capturing
the PartyPoker.com Million title, Kathy Leibert became the first
woman ever to win a major poker event. In addition to Kathy's
achievements, amateur Berj Kacherian, shocked the poker world
by out-dueling the field, including 8 world champions, to finish
second in his first ever poker tournament.
Kathy and Internet qualifier from Los Angeles, Berj Kacherian,
were the final two players in the weeklong tournament and faced
off for over 2 hours in the final round. Both Kathy and Berj competed
against some of the world's best poker players, as well as a field
of recreational poker players that qualified at PartyPoker.com,
in a live limit Hold `em poker tournament aboard a Mexican Riviera
cruise to win the championship and million dollar first prize
-- the second largest ever in poker history. A true amateur, this
was Berj's first tournament of any kind, as he truly honed his
skills online at PartyPoker.com. In some of the most dramatic
poker play in a tournament ever, Berj won a series of high stakes
hands against 3rd place winner Phil Hellmuth, 1989 World Series
of Poker champion and seven time World Series of Poker finalist
to claim second place and approximately $93,000.
Kathy Liebert, a resident of Downey, California and Las Vegas,
Nevada began playing poker as a child, and has been playing tournament
poker since 1994. Currently ranked as the fifth largest money
winner on the World Series Of Poker money list for women, Kathy
Liebert is now the first woman to ever win a major poker tournament
in a field previously dominated by men. Born in Tennessee, she
grew up in Long Island, New York and earned a B. S. degree in
business and finance from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Champion Kathy Liebert said of the tournament, ``It was a very
tough battle, and I feel very lucky that I came back and won it.
Party Poker did a great job, great tournament, great cruise, and
I'm looking forward to coming back next year.''
Second-place winner Berj Kacherian was thrilled at his achievement,
saying, ``I never imagined I would get this far. Coming in second
place is a very big treat for me, being able to play against the
world-known players of poker. I've just read about these guys,
I've heard about these guys, and to be able to play poker with
them, at the same table, it was a big treat. I was like a kid
in a candy store!''
The final round in the PartyPoker.com million included a who's
who of poker notables, and several recreational players who beat
the odds after qualifying at the PartyPoker.com Web site to sit
at the final table. The nine players consisted of two Internet
qualifiers and six professionals, including 2 World Champions--2000
World Champion Chris Ferguson and 1989 World Champion Phil Hellmuth.
Final standings were:
First prize ($1,000,000 winner): Kathy Liebert
Second place: Berj Kacherian, Internet qualifier
Third place: Phil Hellmuth, 1989 World Champion of Poker
Fourth place: Bruce Yamron, noted professional poker player
Fifth place: Scott Buller, Internet qualifier
The PartyPoker.com Million Tournament pitted approximately 100
recreational players who fulfilled a dream by qualifying through
an online tournament at PartyPoker.com against a select group
of the world's finest poker players. The players competed aboard
a luxury cruise ship to play for the estimated $1,400,000 total
prize pool. The competition included such prestigious poker notables
as Carlos Mortensen, reigning world champion of poker, Chris Ferguson,
2000 world champion, Scottie Nguyen, 1998 world champion and T.J.
Cloutier, poker's leading all-time money winner. The weeklong
tournament was hosted by Mike Sexton, PartyPoker.com Host &
creator of the PartyPoker.com Million tournament and Linda Johnson,
the ``First Lady of Poker.''
The dates of next year's tournament, the PartyPoker.com Million
II will be announced next month. For more information, please
visit http://www.partypoker.com
About PartyPoker.com
The PartyPoker.com Million is an annual tournament hosted by
PartyPoker.com. Launched in August 2001, PartyPoker.com is the
world's premiere destination for online, multi-player poker and
is fully licensed and regulated by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission,
Quebec, Canada. As the fastest growing poker room on the Web,
PartyPoker.com offers a variety of poker games including Texas
Hold `Em, Omaha Hi/Low, and Seven Card Stud, all powered by a
unique and completely random shuffling algorithm, ensuring PartyPoker.com's
integrity in hosting fair and honest poker games. Please visit
http://www.partypoker.com for more information.
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