Recently, Card Player (CardPlayer.com) announced a new fantasy poker contest. Here’s the official release.

Sports fans have their fantasy football, baseball, and hockey leagues. Now poker fans can join in the fun.

CardPlayer.com recently unveiled the first round of its Card Player Fantasy Poker Contest.

The first contest, which will begin Feb. 16 at the Commerce Casino’s LA Poker Classic, will be free for all users.

This contest is sponsored by UltimateBet.com and the winner will receive a seat in the $500-buy-in weekly tournament at UltimateBet.com, and two runner-ups will each receive an entry to the $200-buy-in Sunday tournament.

The first contest concludes after the final event of the LA Poker Classic.

“CardPlayer.com is excited to offer the poker community an opportunity to win great prizes like those offered by UltimateBet.com through our fun and interactive contests,” says Card Player Media Chairman Barry Shulman. “Look for Card Player to continue offering inexpensive ways for poker players to win seats into the 2006 World Series of Poker.

Card Player’s second Fantasy Poker Contest will coincide with the Bay 101 Shooting Star in San Jose, California, starting Feb. 27. The winner will receive a $10,000 seat in the main event of the 2006 World Series of Poker, plus $2,000 in spending money.

This second contest will cost $30 to participate. Of that amount, $10 is available for reloading your player bankroll. If you don’t reload, you get a $10 refund, so you could win a seat to the 2006 World Series of Poker for only $20.

Card Player will offer several similar contests at major events throughout the year.

For full details these contests, go to http://www.cardplayer.com/fantasy-poker/