C I Host - Inventors of Human Billboard Tattooing - Gamble on Dutch Boyd Sponsorship in World Series of Poker [February 25, 2005]

SAN DIEGO, Feb 25, 2005 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- C I Host, a global leader in Web hosting and data center operations, has stacked the deck with guerilla marketing. Today, it announced television sponsorship of ESPN World Series of Poker contender Dutch Boyd during circuit competition. First stop -- Harrah's Rincon San Diego casino.

Christopher Faulkner, CEO of C I Host, said, "Dutch has taken the poker world by storm, a veritable unknown who has won big. C I Host will take some of that action."

Boyd will appear on national television sporting C I Host's well-known orange logo on his attire -- the same mark tattooed permanently on the back of the Human Billboard's head two years ago.

"C I Host invented the tattoo ad craze, and naturally, some folks thought we weren't playing with a full deck. However, the guerilla medium is everywhere -- all over the news. Now, we'll try our hand in poker," Faulkner said.

The Dutch Boyd sponsorship kicks off during a "No-Limit Hold 'em" event at the Harrah's Rincon in San Diego, February 27 through March 2. ESPN will air the final table, March 2. Based on past viewership, the coverage is expected to draw well over 1 million households.

The controversial Dutch Boyd arrived in living rooms around the country during ESPN's 2003 World Series of Poker. His poker career began four years before that, at age eighteen, when he started adding tournament wins to the list of accomplishments that already included a law degree.

About C I Host
C I Host (http://www.cihost.com), based in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, is a global Web hosting and Internet solutions provider serving 215,000 individual consumers and businesses in 190 countries worldwide. C I Host's headquarters and Network Operations Center are in Bedford, Texas, and the company operates additional diverse data centers in Los Angeles and Chicago.

SOURCE C I Host