Las Vegas, Nev., June 12, 2005: Card Player, "The Poker Authority," has teamed with SMART, the leading mobile marketing application agency, to offer real-time poker information and results via short message service (SMS) to any mobile phone in the world.
This service, Card Player Text Messaging Service, will feature player updates, leader boards, chip counts and final results. It debuts at the 36th annual World Series of Poker, which runs from June 2 to July 16. This event, awarding over $100 million in prize money, is the richest sporting event in the world.
"We have the best customers in the world," says Card Player Chairman Barry Shulman, "and we want to provide them with the most up-to-the minute information from the biggest poker tournaments in the world. So we have teamed up the most knowledgeable people in the world of poker with the text messaging experts to bring you tournament results as they happen. This convenient way to track high-stakes poker action will be available for all major poker tournaments, including the World Poker Tour and Professional Poker Tour."
It is simple to sign up and use Card Player Text Messaging Service. To opt in, just send a text message to 76278 and enter the word card as the message. Service messages cost 50 cents each and customers will be charged for a maximum of only four messages a day. This is a great deal, because the plan is to send at least 10 messages daily during the entire World Series of Poker. Charges are automatically sent to a customer's cellular phone bill.
This service will be available to 170 million mobile users in North America alone.
As an added bonus, every customer who signs up for coverage during the World Series of Poker will receive a free Card Player Text Messaging Services hat.
Poker Royalty, poker's premier talent agency, brought Card Player and Smart Entertainment together.
About Card Player and Shulman Media, LLC
With over 18 years of service to the poker industry, Card Player, "The Poker Authority," is the world's most respected and influential resource for poker enthusiasts at every level of interest and ability. Published biweekly, the 140-page magazine has a circulation of over 140,000. Other CardPlayer Media, LLC holdings include CardPlayer.com, Card Player Europe, Card Player College, and Card Player Press, a publisher of poker books.
CardPlayer.com is the leading poker information portal on the Internet. The site hosts 60,000 unique visitors a day. It offers visitors an array of useful tools, who enjoy free Web mail, lively information forums, a poker analyst tool that allows players to track their winnings, odds calculators, live tournament reporting, poker blogs from top poker professionals, and insightful content that ranges from basic rules of the game to advanced strategy analysis. An opt-in poker newsletter is distributed to over 300,000 subscribers through the site.
About Smart Entertainment
Smart Entertainment is a leading consulting and advertising firm that specializes in developing marketing campaigns for major brands. SMART has come to rely on invaluable experience from Europe for keen insight into the consumer market in creating branding and marketing campaigns that produce results. To date, Smart Entertainment has successfully launched over 300 campaigns worldwide. SMART is headquartered in Los Angeles with additional presence in Las Vegas, New York, and Europe. Smart Entertainment and its companies, which include SmartSMS, are privately held. The Web site is .
About Poker Royalty
Poker Royalty is poker's premier agency, representing several of the most marketable poker stars in the world. Collectively, Poker Royalty's clients have more than 39 World Series of Poker bracelets and 20 World Poker Tour titles and more than $30 million in tournament earnings during 2004.
