On Monday, September 13th, online poker room PKR.com officially announced the winner of its spring “Win a Porsche” promotion, 45-year old Carsten Ørum from Denmark. Ørum, or “Levica” as he is known at the PKR tables, held 25 entries in the drawing. With 322,887 qualifying entries in total, Ørum had only slightly better than a 1-in-13,000 chance to win, so he certainly bucked the odds.
Despite information about the winner just coming out now, the “Win a Porsche” promo actually ran from April 1st to April 30th. During that month, for every $25 a player deposited on the site, he would receive one entry into the drawing for the Porsche Cayman. Those who made their first PKR deposit during April also received five bonus entries. If Ørum made his first deposit during the promotional period, that means he deposited a total of $500 in the month of April. If it was not his first deposit, his deposit total must have been $625.
Coincidentally, Ørum is quite familiar with automobiles. As a police lieutenant, he drives fast ones in his primary job, and as a car salesman, he deals them in his part-time job. The Porsche Cayman package, valued at more than $55,000, came with a six-cylinder engine, Bluetooth connectivity, a Bose surround sound system, and Porsche communication management. Ørum added a few more options, including a personalized license plate.
Needless to say, the man is as excited as can be about his good fortune. “The car is ballistic!” he told PKR. “I’ve just spent 6 days driving the car around Germany. I sell nice cars as a hobby, but I never imagined I’d own one myself.”
PKR.com bills itself as the “world’s most advanced poker room.” It uses unique three-dimensional graphics, similar to those you would see in a poker video game, putting the player right in the middle of the action. Players can customize their avatars, choosing facial features, clothing, hair styles, and more. During play, players can even make their avatars use body language and portray attitude, giving the game a more realistic feel.
Because the complexity of the software does not lend itself well to multi-tabling (although it is allowed), PKR has remained small, catering to casual players. PKR currently ranks just 22nd in the industry in terms of its seven-day average cash game traffic according to PokerScout.com, tied with PartyPoker’s French-only site.
