Everest Poker sponsors the first German Poker Tour organized by the German Poker Player Association

Germany, September/October 2005. Over 200 German poker players from throughout Germany participated in the first German Poker Tour, sponsored by Everest Poker and the German Poker Player Association, during September and October 2005.

Everest Poker, the first online poker room fully translated into German, sponsored 5 live tournaments across Germany featuring prizes worth over 4,000 Euros. The finale was held in the Kalsruhe area on October 9, 2005 awarding the top 5 winners with prizes.

Everest Poker was the first online poker room sponsor for the land-based German Poker Tour, organized by the founder of the GPPA, Horst Koch. The GPPA was founded in 1996 and is the only poker association in Germany. The qualifying tournaments took place throughout September 2005 in four selected German cities: Munich, Landau (Karlsruhe), St. Augustin (Cologne), and Berlin, with 16 players qualifying for the finale, also held in Landau.

“No distance is too far for a poker finale with Horst Koch and Everest Poker” comments Dr. hc. Fischer, who drove cross-country from Berlin to Landau to attend the German Poker Tour finale: “it’s totally worth it for an exciting game and good prizes!”

Each qualifying tournament was played in “shootout” style, with the winner of each table advancing to the final table of the night. Up to 12 of these shootout rounds were played in each tournament, resulting in play throughout the night. The winners of each qualifying tournament received not only a seat in the final, but also prizes courtesy of Everest Poker.

Michael Thielting found himself the winner of the exciting final match “The Everest Poker finale was especially fun for me because it was my first tournament win.” said Thielting. His plans for the Everest Poker prize money include going out to “…a really nice restaurant.” With that thought, Mr. Thielting took his trophy and prize money into the Landau night.

Players enjoyed the excitement of live poker tournaments and were enthusiastic about the sponsorship of Everest Poker.

“It’s awesome that Everest Poker gets involved in live tournament sponsoring in Germany”, commented finalist Andreas Kleber on the poker tour. “It’s also a great opportunity for us players to talk to someone from Everest Poker directly”.

Everest Poker was represented by Karin Schmidt, Everest Poker’s German Marketing Manager, who flew in especially for the event. Horst Koch, who was also enthusiastic about the German poker tour, reflected on the positive conclusion of the tour:

“The unique cooperation of on- and offline poker in the German language markets has been very successful for both sides.” Koch concludes: “Everest Poker has chosen the right way by being the first poker room to sponsor offline tournaments in Germany.” In his opinion “It’s the best way to guarantee that players are getting the most out of the game and will play poker for a long time to come”.

Everest Poker sees the interaction between itself, the GPPA, and German poker players as a valuable step for future growth in the popularity of poker in German-language countries. Everest Poker is very excited about the sponsorship opportunity and is looking forward to future cooperation with the GPPA.

About Everest Poker
Everest Poker was launched in August 2004 by Ultra-Internet Media (UIM) which has been in the online gaming business since 1997. Everest Poker was the first online poker room to be translated into 11 languages: Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish. UIM drew on its strengths as one of the first operators to offer multi-lingual online casinos back in the 1990s. It has taken this international experience to the online poker industry to release an impressive product that is fully localized, including 24/7 customer support in 15 languages. In addition to sponsoring the German Poker Tour, Everest Poker has also been the sponsor of tournaments in Chile, France, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, and Sweden. Everest Poker is the exclusive sponsor of the France Poker Tour (FPT) which begins in October and culminates in a finale at the Aviation Club de France in January 2006. You can learn more about Everest Poker at www.everestpoker.com.

About the GPPA
The German Poker Player Association is a renowned, German poker organization with various members in the German language markets. Its main objective is to establish a serious poker play in Germany and its German speaking neighboring countries. Horst Koch, German Poker Champion 1995, founded the GPPA in 1996 with headquarters in Leinfelden-Echterdingen near Stuttgart, Germany. Whether on TV, radio or print, Horst Koch is recognized by the media as a competent poker expert. The GPPA is both initiator and organizer of various casino tournaments as well as German and European Poker Championships, e.g. in Casino Baden-Baden, in Austria and in other countries. For more information please visit www.gppa.de.

The following players qualified for the finale:
Christian Hohendorfer (Munich)
Nathan Evans (Munich)
Ivo Hrstic (Munich)
Francisc Szep (Munich)
Adrian Crawfort (Landau)
Andreas Kleber (Landau)
Necdet Özer (Landau)
Michael Thielting (Landau)
Carlo Campagnile (St. Augustin)
Nadine Fischer (St. Augustin)
Bernd Krümpelmann (St. Augustin)
Bernd Maaßen (St. Augustin)
Raik Fischer (Berlin)
Thomas Michalski (Berlin)
Jan Heppner (Berlin)
Marco Rehse (Berlin)

The top 5 finishers were:
1. Michael Thielting (Landau)
2. Carlo Campanile (St.Augustin)
3. Raik Fischer (Berlin)
4. Adrian Crawfort (Landau)
5. Bernd Maaßen (St.Augustin)

For more information, pictures or other material please contact Karin Schmidt directly at kschmidt@affiliatedweb.com.