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Tuesday, September 06, 2005

'It's No Fluke!' Jennifer Tilly Wins WORLD POKER TOUR(R) Ladies Night III to Capture Back-to-Back Women's Championship Poker Titles

'It's No Fluke!' Jennifer Tilly Wins WORLD POKER TOUR(R) Ladies Night III to Capture Back-to-Back Women's Championship Poker Titles

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Jennifer Tilly jumped up from the table after winning the WORLD POKER TOUR(R) Ladies Night III(TM) tournament last night at the Bicycle Casino in California, saying that her win was convincing evidence that her victory in the World Series Ladies tournament in July was "no fluke."

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050902/NYF150 )

"I felt like I was suffering from the 'imposter syndrome,'" said Tilly, Academy Award(TM) nominated actress (Bullets Over Broadway, Monsters, Inc.). "I had these niggling self-doubts. But now I know I can really play. These women were extremely tough pros with blood lust at the poker table. My goal has always been to win a WORLD POKER TOUR event and now I've done it! "

The stunning achievement for a player who only began playing poker a year ago, is like an amateur boxer winning two heavyweight titles. The actress is the first woman to hold both of these prestigious titles in women's poker. The victory earned her a seat in the $25,000 buy-in WPT Championship next April at Bellagio, and a specially-created pink poker set with the WPT logo and Breast Cancer ribbon. The WPT and the Bicycle Casino will donate $10,000 to Breast Cancer Research in honor of Tilly and the other competitors at the Final Table.

"Jennifer Tilly embodies the new breed of player on the WPT," says Steve Lipscomb, Founder and CEO of WPT Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WPTE). "Regardless of gender, age, education, or economic background you can become a champion if you work hard to learn the game. We have always said on the WPT, "Anyone can play, anyone can win." When an actress who has only been playing for 12 months can best some of the best players in the game, you witness the democracy of poker."

Tilly began her pilgrimage to poker eminence by first playing in the WPT Hollywood Home Game series. She then played in the WPT Invitational event which annually pits celebrities versus professionals. There she met Phil "The Unabomber" Laak, a top player who would go on to win that event. They began dating several months later, and she took up the game under his tutelage.

At the award ceremony, Mike Sexton, host and commentator on the WORLD POKER TOUR which airs on the Travel Channel, said, "I nominate Phil Laak for Coach of the Year!"

Laak celebrated with her, saying: "I'm so proud of her. I directed her to read poker books and gave her maybe one piece of advice each week. We'd watch the WPT DVDs and I'd pause them, asking her what she would do and how many "outs" that player had (chances to win). I knew she was finally ready to play tournament poker when it only took her about 14 seconds to come back with the right answer."

For her part, Tilly says the best part of her training was in "Felting Phil (taking all of his chips down to the felt on the table). I loved beating him and then he'd go over to the couch and sulk, staring at the ceiling."

Responds her boyfriend, known for his ultra-competitive style of poker and the hooded sweatshirt he wears at the table, "What can I say? I hate to lose even to my girlfriend." But he said it with a grin.

Tilly said the best piece of advice she ever received from Laak was to "Play my own game. You can read all the books, but you have to listen to your intuition and not do everything exactly as they say. You have to do what feels right."

In recounting her WPT Ladies Night III victory said, "This was tougher than the World Series. There may have been more women in that event to get through, but by the time I was at the final table, I knew how all of those women played. With the exception of Cecilia Reyes Mortensen, I had never played these women before tonight. I didn't know their style and the way the blinds went up, I was forced to be aggressive. Mostly I just didn't want to be the first one out, so winning is incredible."

The other competitors included defending Ladies Night Champion Isabelle "No Mercy" Mercier -- a fiercely competitive French Canadian lawyer-turned- poker pro; Marsha Waggoner, the Grand Dame of Poker with 30 years of experience; Cecelia Reyes Mortensen, up-and-coming pro and wife to WPT champion Juan Carlos Mortensen, and Aidiliy (Lilly) Elviro, an aggressive new player, and one of the WPT Season III's top woman competitors who is coached by her soon-to-be-husband, WPT champion Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi.

Tilly says that she was raised by her parents to be non-competitive in a "house with a hippy mentality ... always to be the good girl, and be polite. But I love playing poker and especially the WORLD POKER TOUR events because I get to be mean and crush people in a socially acceptable way. I can lie, steal (blinds) and be generally deceptive. Poker lets me indulge my inner bad girl."

Tilly is currently starring in a new CBS sitcom called "Out of Practice" with Henry Winkler, due to air this fall. She plays one of her signature quirky not-very-bright characters. Said Tilly after toasting her victory at WPT Ladies Night III, "Its fun to play dumb, but it's a lot more fun to be smart!"

WPT Ladies Night III will air Saturday, Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the Travel Channel.

On the night the show airs, poker fans will be encouraged to supplement the Ladies' Night donation to Breast Cancer Research by purchasing a WPT Ladies' Night commemorative gift from the WPT webstore at http://www.worldpokertour.com/ . The choices, which will remain available on the site for several weeks and will include a specially-designed WPT/Breast Cancer Ribbon necklace by Roberto Martinez, with a portion of the proceeds going to the cause.

The WPT is the league that launched the poker phenomenon when it first aired on the Travel Channel on March 30, 2003, and it continues to lead the way in developing poker as a major international sport. Viewers and aspiring tour players can log on to http://www.worldpokertour.com/ for ways to improve their game. The highest rated show ever on The Travel Channel, the WPT is now seen in more than 100 countries and territories worldwide. WORLD POKER TOUR(R) airs every Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the Travel Channel.

About WPT Enterprises, Inc.

WPT Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WPTE) is a company engaged in the creation of internationally branded entertainment and consumer products driven by the development, production, and marketing of televised programming based on gaming themes. WPTE is the creator of the World Poker Tour(R), a television show based on a series of high-stakes poker tournaments that airs on the Travel Channel in the United States and more than 100 markets globally. WPT Enterprises currently licenses its brand to companies in the business of poker equipment and instruction, apparel, publishing, electronic and wireless entertainment, DVD/home entertainment, casino games, and giftware. For show information, tools for improving poker play, and other WPT news, fans may log on to http://www.worldpokertour.com/ . The company is also engaged in the sale of corporate sponsorships. WPT Enterprises, Inc. is a majority owned subsidiary of Lakes Entertainment, Inc., a publicly held company. Photos and media information can be found online at: http://www.worldpokertour.com/ .

(WPTEG)

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for forward-looking statements. Certain information included in this press release (as well as information included in oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by WPT Enterprises, Inc.) contains statements that are forward-looking, such as statements relating to the expansion of WPTE's brand licensing, the development of new television and film projects, the development of WPTE corporate sponsors and other business development activities, as well as statements regarding other capital spending, financing sources and the effects of competition. Such forward- looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect anticipated results in the future and, accordingly, such results may differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of WPTE. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, WPTE's significant dependence on the Travel Channel as a source of revenue; the potential that our television programming will fail to maintain a sufficient audience; the risk that competitors with greater financial resources or marketplace presence might develop television programming that would directly compete with WPTE's television programming; the risk that WPTE may not be able to protect its entertainment concepts, current and future brands and other intellectual property rights; risks associated with future expansion into new or complementary businesses; the termination or impairment of WPTE's relationships with key licensing and strategic partners; and WPTE's dependence on its senior management team. For more information, review WPTE's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contact: Aimee Lirette/WPT: 323-330-9872 alirette@worldpokertour.com

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050809/LATU100LOGO )

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050902/NYF150 http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050809/LATU100LOGO AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/ PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Source: WORLD POKER TOUR

CONTACT: Jackie Lapin, +1-818-707-1473, jackielapin@cs.com, or Aimee Lirette, +1-323-330-9872, alirette@worldpokertour.com, both of WPT

Web site: http://www.worldpokertour.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: Find 300 DPI Downloadable Photos of Jennifer Tilly With Her Crystal Ladies' Night III Trophy at http://www.media.worldpokertour.com

------- Profile: Ent

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