Pokerstars has announced that it is to invest over $116 million in prize pool guarantees during this year’s World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) season, which runs from September 2 to 17.
More than $70 million of will come from WCOOP alone making this year’s championship the biggest yet, with 182 tournaments spread across 61 events, with tiered buy-in levels for each (Low, Medium, High), ranging from $2.20 to $25,000.
The only exception is the Main Event at Medium and High only, and which boasts $1 million and $10 million guarantees at $55 and $5,200 buy-ins.
Seats into the $5,200 Main Event can be secured from limited edition satellites and Spin & Go’s, and Pokerstars is putting up six Platinum Passes to the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC), which takes place in January 2019 in the Bahamas, worth $30,000.
Full details on the Pokerstars blog website.
Pokerstars has also unveiled its latest No Limit Hold’em cash game innovation, Unfold, which for the first time allows players to unfold their hand once the flop has been dealt.
If a player has decided to change their mind, the hand previously folded will be used to play for an “Unfold pot” made up of antes taken from each player at the beginning of each hand. Each ante will constitute a percentage of the big blind.
In order to play for the “Unfold pot” and in effect unfold their hand, players have to make a bet equal to the sum of the Unfold pot. Players who pay the Unfold stake cannot make any further bets after this point.
The rest of the hand is played out amongst the main pot players while the Unfold players spectate. The Unfold pot is then awarded to the Unfold player with the strongest five card poker hand after the river is dealt. If the main pot is won before the full board is dealt, all remaining community cards will be dealt to determine the winner of the Unfold pot.
To see a video preview of Unfold:
“This has never been done before,” said Severin Rasset, director of poker innovation and operations. “Unfold means more action and opportunities for players, reducing the all too familiar sinking feeling of making the correct pre-flop lay down, only to then find you would have flopped the nuts. We’re very excited to offer something new and completely different.”
Unfold, a permanent new product, will be featured under its own tab in the PokerStars lobby. The game is currently available on .COM, .NET .UK, .EU and .DK, with more licenses to be rolled out in the future.
There are three instances where the Unfold antes will be refunded to all players:
The main pot is decided pre-flop
Fewer than two players fold pre-flop
No players choose to Unfold