Halifax Native Eric Place Wins $300,000 and BCPC Crown held at annual British
Columbia Poker Championships at River Rock Casino resort in Richmond, BC

RICHMOND, BC, Nov. 29 /CNW/ - The River Rock Casino Resort is proud to announce that the winner of the sixth annual British Columbia Poker Championships (BCPC) is Eric Place from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Place took home the grand prize of $300,000 on Sunday, November 28, 2010.

"This was a great tournament and I hope to defend the title next year," said Place. Place made it to the BCPC by winning a poker satellite tournament at Casino Nova Scotia. The second place winner of the BCPC is Connor Allisen from Vancouver, British Columbia. Allisen won $189,978, while the third place winner Benjamin Leblond from Wakefield, Quebec received $119,491.

Over 550 poker players participated in this year's tournament where the buy-in for the main event was $2,700. Many of the professional poker players such as Brad 'Yukon' Booth, Greg 'FBT' Mueller, Gavin Smith and Matt Jarvis attempted to take home the top prize.

Place is the first BCPC Champion to hail from Halifax Nova Scotia, home to Great Canadian Gaming Corporation's Casino Nova Scotia.

"Every year the BC Poker Championships bring in amazing poker players from around the world and this year it was quite competitive. We were excited to host one of the biggest poker tournaments in Canada and look forward to next year's tournament," said Howard Blank, Vice President, Communications, Entertainment and Responsible Gaming with the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation.

This year, the BC Poker Championships had a prize pool of over $2 million with 1700 seats available and ten days of tournament play.

A list of all the winners from each event is available on the 2010 BCPC website www.riverrock.com/bcpc.

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For further information:

Sonja Mandic
Manager, Media and Responsible Gaming
Great Canadian Gaming Corporation
604.889.7114
[email protected]