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Subject: Richard Tatalovich Affiliates with TOC
Tournament of Champions, Inc., is proud to announce that multiple major
tournament winner and entrepreneur Richard Tatalovich has joined TOC, Inc.,
as its Southwestern United States area representative.
Tatalovich, who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, got into poker five years ago
after a successful entrepreneurial career in natural health and natural
products field. In the past year, he has racked up several wins and
numerous final tables. Among the wins: the Limit hold'em championship event
at Hollywood Park's National Championship of Poker, a major $10,000 added
seven-card stud event at Casino Arizona, an Omaha high-low split title at
the Sam Boyd Poker Classic, and the $1,500 buy-in Limit hold'em title at the
Carnivale of Poker. "As close as I can figure," Tatalovich said, "I
qualified 12 or 13 times for TOC 2000."
Tatalovich got involved with the TOC, he explained, "Because I believe that
the TOC is one of the best, if not the best, vehicle to take tournament
poker to a new mainstream and highly visible level.
"I truly believe this is attainable," Tatalovich said. "Look at how quickly
extreme sports went mainstream. One day police officers are chasing
skateboarders off the streets, and the next, these same skateboarders are on
ESPN, and probably headed to the Olympics before long. The same thing is
true for pool, which you see all over ESPN these days. The overall image of
poker will be raised and tournament poker players will be widely viewed as
respectable, intelligent, skilled professionals, along the lines of
tournament bridge players or chess grandmasters.
"Ultimately, this will result in televised events and corporate sponsorship
that will mean larger prize pools and great overlays for the players. This
will benefit everyone in this industry, including the casinos. If more of
the players and casinos would look at the bigger, longer term picture and
work with the TOC for a few years, everyone will be much better off in the
long run," Tatalovich concluded.
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