Women to Take Center Stage in World Poker Tour Ladies' Night III, Benefitting Breast Cancer Research

LOS ANGELES, California -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- WORLD POKER TOUR® Ladies' Night™ returns to Southern California this year packaged with a few exciting new ribbons and bows – in fact with the pink breast cancer awareness ribbon. The event, one of the most popular events on the WORLD POKER TOUR has become the prestige tournament in women's poker. This year, it will be a star-studded celebrity event at the Bicycle Casino that benefits breast cancer research.

The activities begin on Wednesday, August 31 when the Bicycle Casino stages its Ladies' Poker Party open tournament, inviting all women over 21 to play in the $125-buy-in event, with $15 of that buy-in being donated to the cause It is anticipated that a number of women celebrities will join the field—expected to exceed 400 -- playing for fun and the cause. Among those already committed are Shannon Elizabeth, Andrea Parker and Sara Rue. The victor from that event will earn a seat in the televised WPT Ladies' Night III tournament the next night, Thursday, September 1.

Spectators are encouraged to come out to watch the taping of Ladies' Night III, which will also feature:

• Defending Ladies Night Champion Isabelle "No Mercy" Mercier—a fiercely competitive French Canadian lawyer-turned-poker pro

• Academy Award® nominated actress Jennifer Tilly (Bullets Over Broadway, Monsters, Inc.), who recently won the No-Limit Hold'em Ladies Event at the 2005 World Series of Poker

• Marsha Waggoner, playing the game since 1976, will defend her title as the Grand Dame of Poker

• Cecelia Reyes--wife to WPT champion Juan Carlos Mortensen, Cecelia has made a name for herself placing in the money in several major tournaments. This is her eleventh WPT event, but first ever WPT Final Table

• Aidiliy Elviro -- with WPT champion Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi as her poker coach and husband, Aidiliy is an aggressive new player, and one of WPT Season Three's top woman competitors.

The women will be competing for a $25,500-seat in the WPT World Championship to be held in April 2006 at Bellagio in Las Vegas. The winner will also receive a specially created one-of-a-kind pink ribbon WPT Poker Set with 300 pink co-branded clay chips and two decks of cards. Everyone who plays over the two nights will receive a pink commemorative poker chip with the WPT logo on one side and the breast cancer ribbon on the other.

The WPT and the Bicycle Casino will donate $10,000 to Breast Cancer Research in honor of the event winners. Poker fans will be encouraged to supplement that total by purchasing a WPT Ladies' Night commemorative gift from the WPT webstore at www.worldpokertour.com on the night the show airs on the Travel Channel, Saturday, October 22nd at 8 p.m. The choices will include a specially-designed WPT Breast Cancer Ribbon necklace by Roberto Martinez.

"This year we are especially pleased to add this charitable aspect to the Ladies' Night," said Steve Lipscomb, CEO and founder of WPT Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: WPTE). "We created Ladies' Night to ensure that women poker players get their just due in the limelight. The increasing number of women we see playing on the World Poker Tour reinforces our belief that--given the opportunity—women can play at the highest levels of the game and grow to be a major factor in tournament poker. We hope that Ladies' Night will demonstrate to female poker enthusiasts that the WPT is interested in opening doors for them and increasing their visibility."

Women interested in registering for Bicycle Casino's Ladies Poker Party on August 31 should call (562) 806-4646 or go to www.thebicyclecasino.com. To watch the taping of WPT Ladies' Night III on September 1, fans should arrive by 3:00 p.m. Seating is on a first come, first serve basis. The Bicycle Casino is located at 7301 Eastern Avenue, Bell Gardens, CA.

The WPT 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 www.worldpokertour.com for ways to improve their game or to find out how to register for the 16 WPT tournaments. 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® 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®, 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 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. Photos and media information can be found online at: www.worldpokertour.com.