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ThwartPoker Launches PC Game

CALIFORNIA -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- ThwartPoker Inc., the company which brought the first all-skill poker game to market, today announced at this year's GDC the launch of a PC downloadable version of the game, ThwartPoker's All-Skill™ Poker Tour, featuring the award-winning No Limit Hold'em Blitz and 6 Card Battle stud -- the only poker games that can legally award prizes and cash tied to gameplay. Concurrently, the company announced major distribution deals with Big Fish Games and Oberon Media.

ThwartPoker made gaming history in 2004 when it introduced Hold'em Poker+ for Prizes on Infospace Mobile with patented technology that redefined poker -- by replacing chance with skill. ThwartPoker's mobile game was rated the #1 Mobile Game by Infospace in 2005, and received an IGN Wireless Editors' Choice Award. ThwartPoker saw millions of mobile multiplayer tournament plays in 2005.

Because ThwartPoker's prize tournaments are based on skill, the company does not face the legal constraints encountered by traditional online casino games that are built on chance, and are therefore considered gambling in the United States. The new ThwartPoker All-Skill Poker Tour is currently available at ThwartPoker.com for $19.95, and mobile versions with multiplayer tournaments are available through Verizon Wireless for $2.99 per month.

"It's an exciting time for ThwartPoker as we have forged distribution deals with some of the leading names in game distribution, while simultaneously releasing the much-anticipated PC version of our game," said Daniel Pfeiffer, co-founder of ThwartPoker. "We're finding that the concept of a strategy-based poker game is appealing to a lot of people -- those new to poker as well as traditional poker enthusiasts -- and our partners realize this as well."

"We are very pleased to be working with ThwartPoker as it extends this exciting new concept of strategy-based poker to the Big Fish Games network," said Cory Finnell, senior vice president of digital distribution for Big Fish Games. "We've had significant success with card games in the casual games market to date, so our agreement with ThwartPoker is a validation of the game's strong revenue potential."

ThwartPoker's All-Skill Poker Tour has all the excitement and groundbreaking features of the mobile game, but can now be downloaded to a PC. While preserving the scoring rules, betting and bluffing aspects of traditional poker, ThwartPoker has players select their own cards rather than being dealt them randomly by the house. Players pick from an open deck of cards and must strategize to achieve a winning hand, including blocking, or "thwarting," competitors. ThwartPoker's sophisticated artificial intelligence technology and innovative gameplay (U.S. patent #6,679,777, others pending) enables virtual opponents to judiciously select cards and bet and bluff with human-like subtlety.

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