Amaya Inc’s PokerStars has announced sweeping changes to its live event sponsorship roster with the consolidation of all existing live tours in to two new PokerStars global live tours, the PokerStars Championship event and the PokerStars Festival event.
PokerStars-sponsored live events such as the European Poker Tour and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure will fall away from 2017 with the launch of the Championship and Festival events.
A PokerStars Championship event will typically last 10-11 days and feature extensive schedules of up to 100 tournaments, including a €/$5,000 Main Event and a variety of cash games, the first of which will kick off on January 6 until January 14 in the Bahamas.
The category will also feature a revamped Player of the Year competition, with a tournament leaderboard for each stop. The player who tops each individual leaderboard will win a VIP package, including accommodation and PokerStars Championship Main Event buy-in for the first PokerStars Championship the following year, plus entry into a special invitational tournament featuring $100,000 winner-takes-all first prize.
More information on PokerStars Championships can be found here: www.pokerstarslive.com/championship.
PokerStars Festival events are shorter live events lasting 6-7 days with a more relaxed feel and a variety of events, mainly tailored for recreational players. The events will feature a more concise schedule of tournaments, including a Main Event with a buy-in in the range of $1,000-$1,500.
More information on PokerStars Festival events can be found here: www.pokerstarslive.com/festival
Technologically the company said an update to its PSLive registration system delivers an online live platform for players to register for tournaments prior to events, a new mobile app for all PokerStars Championship events, and self-serve terminals to streamline the registration process.
A new website will be launched providing a single stop for everything related to PokerStars sponsored live events, while the various live event social media channels will be merged in January 2017 and renamed @PokerStarsLive.
“We are always thinking of how to bring the best experience to players, through the variety of tournaments we sponsor, the ease of finding information, how we communicate to players and media, and the overall experience on and off the felt,” Edgar Stuchly, PokerStars’ director of live events, said.
“The PokerStars Championship and PokerStars Festival events are an enhancement of the existing PokerStars sponsored live tours, helping to take our vision for live poker to a whole new level.
“The PokerStars Championship will include top-tier events that will visit the most exciting and prestigious destinations worldwide, similar to the much-loved European Poker Tour, while the PokerStars Festival events have a more regional feel, positioned as an action-packed poker vacation.”
The inaugural PokerStars Festival event will debut in New Jersey from October 29 until November 6 featuring over 50 tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $100 to $5,000 at Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Eric Hollreiser, PokerStars’ Director of Corporate Communications, said: “We are committed to growing the poker market in New Jersey and part of this strategy is to help make New Jersey the poker hub of America in November. We invite players from across the globe to pitch up in the Garden State for the best live poker experience available in the world, live and online, with the first ever NJCOOP kicking off ahead of the Festival with plenty of tournaments on offer and big prizes.”
Readers can access a promo video on the new PokerStars-sponsored global live tours here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mCMjmfkl4A&feature=youtu.be
And read the full press advisory here: http://www.amaya.com/press/2016/08/pokerstars-announces-global-live-poker-championship-and-festival-00316.shtml