World Poker Exchange Names College Champion

ANTIGUA, England ? (PRESS RELEASE) -- World Poker Exchange, one of the world's fastest growing online poker sites, announces that Nate Belt, from the University of Kentucky is the winner of their Intercollegiate Poker Championship, naming him "Best College Player in the Country."

Belt competed against five other regional finalists in a live March 14 tournament held in Cancun, Mexico and hosted by "MTV Real World: Las Vegas" star Trishelle Cannatella. Belt emerged the victor and was subsequently named the "Best College Player in the Country" by World Poker Exchange officials. Finishing in second and third places were Ryan Demeter of Vanderbilt University and Devin Hanneman of the University of Utah, respectively.

Belt will receive the grand prize, which includes a $10,000 cash scholarship, a laptop computer and an all expense paid five-day trip to the United Kingdom to compete in the World Poker Exchange London Open on August 3-6, 2005. At the signature lifestyle tournament, Nate will receive free entry into this high stakes televised competition worth $10,000, and have the opportunity to share in a minimum prize pot of $2 million while playing against some of the world's top poker players.

Belt is originally from Bowling Green, KY. He is currently a freshman majoring in Biology with a pre-medicine concentration. A member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, Belt and his friends play poker once or twice a week; a ritual that certainly paid off in Cancun.

"I've been playing poker for fun for a little over three years now and never thought it would amount to my playing with the pros at the London Open," Belt said in statement today. "The last call I made in the championship game wasn't the smartest, but I went on instinct and now I'm glad I did. I've never been to London, so this is the opportunity of a lifetime."

The World Poker Exchange Intercollegiate Poker Championship was an online and offline poker championship that required no entrance fee. Open to students from 120 top universities throughout the United States, the tournament attracted more than 1,000 students from throughout the U.S. vying for scholarship cash prizes. On March 2, the six regional winners were chosen, including Belt. Each received a free trip to Cancun to compete in the live final World Poker Exchange tournament which was filmed and delay streamed by IFILM.com.

"The college sector is one of the fastest growing demographic segments of on-line poker, which is why we chose to host the final table at ground zero of Spring Break, where college students celebrate the very trends they alone define," says Haden Ware, CEO of World Poker Exchange. "Trishelle and IFILM.com's participation reflects our efforts to keep this particular tournament true to, and focused on, college sensibilities surrounding the sport of poker and the social aspects of the game."

News Added: 17 March, 2005

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