5-millionth PokerStar

When picking an online poker room to play at what do you go for? Sign-up bonus? Flashy graphics? Pro player endorsement? Scantily clad models? Because your mates play there? – all valid reasons.

But If you want to win the World Series of Poker, you can’t look far past the PokerStars organization, who have supplied the last three Main Event Champions in Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer and Chris Moneymaker.

During the last three years, PokerStars.com sent more players to the WSOP than any other source or website. A whopping 1,116 entrants (19 percent of the field) qualified to play in the 2005 WSOP via PokerStars satellites.

All this means that this week PokerStars registered its five-millionth player, which is a staggering number, all the more impressive as their total number of players has doubled in the last year alone.

The five-millionth player is George Draper, from Las Vegas, NV. He is a 35-year-old chef who is new to online poker. Draper will have a chance to make his dream come true by playing in two of the richest and most prestigious tournament in poker.

He will receive a poker player’s dream prize: a World Series of Poker main event prize package, with an opportunity to win the record $10 million first prize. The winner will also receive an entry into the main event of the fourth annual World Championship of Online Poker, the world’s largest online poker tournament, with an estimated prize pool of $5 million.

PokerStars is definitely in the top echelon of online providers, constantly announcing milestones such as this. If the PokerStars community was a country, it would be the 112th most populated country in the world!

"It is no surprise that PokerStars is leading the boom in online poker," said Chris Welch, PokerStars.com Group Marketing Director: "Many people who might be intimidated at the thought of playing inside a casino find that playing at PokerStars is a comfortable and convenient alternative. Millions of players from all walks of life who are living in many different countries have signed up at PokerStars because we make playing poker fun, exciting, and easy."

In February 2006, PokerStars.com became the first poker website ever to reach the 100,000 simultaneous player mark. That watershed achievement marked the largest poker event in history. The PokerStars.com Sunday Million is played every week, which is the largest weekly tournament on the planet with a $1 million guaranteed tournament prize pool.