Bodog Signs Poker Pro Jean-Robert Bellande to Team Bodog

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March 1, 2008

Bodog announced today that professional poker player and reality television star Jean-Robert Bellande has been signed on as the newest member of Team Bodog. The accomplished cardplayer, who recently appeared as a contestant on CBS's hit show Survivor: China, will join Team Bodog pros David Williams, Josh Arieh and Evelyn Ng at the Bodog online poker tables and at major televised tournaments.

"We're extremely excited to have Jean-Robert join our select team of world-class poker players," said Bodog North American CEO Alwyn Morris. "With his charismatic personality and his prowess as a poker player, Jean-Robert embodies the Bodog lifestyle. He is a perfect fit for Team Bodog."

Bellande is set to make his official Team Bodog debut this weekend when he competes against the world's best at the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. He will also represent Team Bodog at this summer's World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Bodog's former domain management service provider is and has always been based in Costa Rica (not Antigua) and has only ever provided Bodog with domain management and data entry services. Bodog did at one time allow the domain management service to use the Bodog name to make their domain management work for Bodog easier, but that is no longer and will never again be the case.

Earning the nickname "Action Bob" for his fast, aggressive play at the poker table, Bellande has been described as "the ultimate psychological warrior" as he taunts his competitors with calculated trash talk, a skill that has helped him amass nearly $800,000 in tournament winnings. A regular on popular poker television shows, Bellande recently competed on NBC's Poker After Dark and was also featured on the World Poker Tour's Bad Boys of Poker in 2005. His televised final tables include the 2005 WSOP Circuit Event at the Rio and the 2005 U.S. Poker Championship in Atlantic City, N.J.

As a poker professional, Bellande has traveled the world to compete in major poker tournaments, a lifestyle suited to his international upbringing. Born in New York City to Creole parents, Bellande was raised in Asia. At the age of 17, he moved to Los Angeles where he promoted some of Hollywood's hottest nightclubs and even owned his own Los Angeles hot spot, Sky Sushi.

"I'm completely thrilled to be on Team Bodog and to join my friends Josh, David and Evy," said Bellande on signing with Bodog. "I'm planning to make a lot of noise in 2008 for myself and Bodog, starting with the National Heads-Up Poker Championship this weekend and at the WSOP this summer."

Online poker players looking to secure a spot alongside Bellande and the rest of Team Bodog at the 2008 WSOP Main Event can do so now in the Bodog Poker Room, where Bodog is guaranteeing at least three $12,000 Main Event prize packages weekly through its "Main Event Semifinal" tournaments. Players can get in on the action for as little as $1 or 100 PTS. Qualifiers are running daily and all lead to the three weekly Main Event Semifinal tournaments held on Tuesdays (7:15 p.m. EST), Thursdays (9:15 p.m. EST) and Saturdays (3:15 p.m. EST). Players can also buy-in directly to the Main Event Semifinals for $250 + $20.

Each Main Event Semifinal will award at least one $12,000 Main Event prize package, which includes the $10,000 buy-in to the main event, $2,000 for travel expenses, loads of Team Bodog gear and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience Las Vegas in total Bodog style, including meeting the Bodog Girls and much, much more.