Poker Powers Converge At World Poker Congress

The organisers of the World Poker Congress have announced that Steve Lipscomb, president of the World Poker Tour, will deliver a keynote speech at the event, scheduled for June 27 - 28, 2006 at the City Conference Center in Stockholm, Sweden. Lipscomb joins the leader of the other leading poker tour, Jeffery Pollack, the first commissioner of the World Series of Poker, for a keynote exacta at the World Poker Congress.

"Steve Lipscomb had the vision and foresight to create the World Poker Tour, one of the important events that launched the current poker boom," says Sue Schneider, president of River City Group, one of the organizers of the World Poker Congress. "Along with Jeffery Pollack, who runs the oldest and most respected poker tour, Lipscomb will reveal the global reach of the game and how it is penetrating international markets."

An award-winning producer/director of television and film, Lipscomb has directed the remarkable growth of the WPT, including the 2005 launch of the Professional Players Tour (PPT), international expansion of WPT, and the branding of the WPT with a variety of different licenses including sunglasses and apparel, poker tables and décor, artwork and much more.

The World Poker Congress is the first conference to fully explore the synergies between the live and online games. The conference will feature two tracks dedicated to the different forms of the game, as well as plenary and general sessions featuring topics that appeal to each audience. Attendees will join colleagues to discuss issues such as marketing your poker room, player development, legislation and economics in Europe, staging tournaments, building a player base, business strategies for a quickly maturing industry, fraud and security, mergers and acquisitions, and much more.

"The World Poker Congress will be the premier conference for the business of poker globally," says Paul Dworin, publisher of Global Gaming Business and PokerBIZ magazines, the other producer of WPC. "There is clearly a synergy between online poker rooms and real world poker and the WPC will examine how to capitalize on the growth of the game no matter which side of the equation your business operates."