The first ever Poker "Oscars" to be announced at Casino RAY in Helsinki, Finland.

Helsinki
11th December, 2001

    The only international casino in Finland, Casino RAY, will stage the first ever European Poker Awards on Saturday the 15th of December 2001. Top poker players from around Europe will appear.

    There are five categories in these Poker "Oscars"; 

• Player of the Year,
• Rookie of the Year, 
• Poker Personality of the Year, 
• Individual Tournament Performance of the Year and 
• Casino Staff Person of the Year.

The Casino Ray website welcoming visitors in Finnish & English

    The variety of the players will be great because not only top players like Marcel Luske, Lalit Kahjuria and Simon "Aces" Trumper will be there but also, surprise winners like 72 year old grandmother Jenny Hegarty from Ireland will be arriving to the gala. Mrs. Hegarty is looking forward to seeing Finnish winter and, of course, the real Santa Claus.

    The European Poker Awards have raised a lot of attention among the players because this is the inaugral year and now it has been proven that players are also interested in fame and not just winning money. An European Poker Hall of Fame will be placed in the poker room of Casino RAY after the Awards.

    Besides fame there is also fortunes to be won during this week in Casino RAY. The annual Helsinki Freezeout is being played throughout the week and the total prize money for the whole tournament will rise above €300,000.

    This year's tournament will be the most international ever because there will be players from approximately 15 different countries with total number of foreign players being around 70. Countries best represented will be Sweden, Russia and England.
 

Martti Sillanmäki                
martti.sillanmaki@casino.ray.fi
Tel. +358 9 680 80382
www.casino.ray.fi