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Michelob AmberBock Signs on as Official WPT Sponsor

"The WPT has attracted millions of new fans to the sport of poker--both as participants and as viewers," said Peter McLoughlin, Vice President, Corporate Media, Anheuser-Busch, Inc. "We want Michelob AmberBock to be the beverage they enjoy while they play at home or root for their favorite players as they 'go all-in' on the weekly telecasts."

The sponsorship enables Michelob AmberBock to capitalize on an audience that already reached 25 million unique viewers last season. The World Poker Tour, which reinvented poker as a televised spectator sport, will broadcast tournaments filmed at leading casinos from Las Vegas to New Jersey, beginning with the launch of its Third Season on March 2, 2005. Airing every Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The Travel Channel, the WPT is the highest-rated series in the network's history.

Anheuser-Busch's Michelob AmberBock television spots will air on all of Season Three's Travel Channel broadcasts. Additionally, viewers will see the AmberBock logo on the televised table felt and on in-show graphics for the WPT's popular "hole card camera" segment. The winners of each WPT tournament will celebrate a toast with Michelob AmberBock as part of the WPT's traditional closing sequence.

Where legal, Michelob AmberBock will support the sponsorship with retail promotions which began in December and will run through February 24 with a "Go All-In Texas Hold'em" tournament, to feature a shortened elimination version of Texas Hold'em. Players will begin each round with an equal number of chips and play until they "bust out." Only the top chip winners will progress to the next round. Players will not pay or purchase anything to play at any level of the tournament. The top two players at the National Finals will secure coveted seats in the WPT Invitational, the World Poker Tour's celebrity pro-am tournament boasting 300 players vying for a $200,000 prize pool. Last year, skilled celebrities such as Ben Affleck, James Woods, and Tobey Maguire joined the roster of WPT tournament winners and leading pros.

The sponsorship agreement was hailed by WPT's Executive Vice President, Audrey Kania. "Anheuser-Busch is the preeminent beer brewer and the World Poker Tour has clearly established itself as the leading force in poker. This association provides a further springboard for our mutual growth and success," stated Kania.

Using poker jargon, Kania added, "Securing Anheuser-Busch as our first sponsor is like hitting a Royal Flush on the 'river.' It can't get much better."

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