PokerStars might be relatively muted in the US & Ontario this year, but they have not overlooked the festive spirit as they roll out Christmas promotions.

Two separate promotions have been introduced for players on PokerStars US and PokerStars Ontario. One is the usual 25 Days of Tournaments, now a staple for the operator in the lead-up to Christmas and New Year, where tournaments and guarantees are revealed only a day before and the other is Holiday Rewards, where players must complete a certain number of cash game hands to earn prizes.

The 25 Days of Tournaments runs from December 6 to 30, while Holiday Rewards takes place from December 8 to January 5.

In the US, both promotions are available across the shared liquidity pool connecting Michigan and New Jersey and the segregated Pennsylvania market. Both promotions also run on the PokerStars Ontario network.

25 Days of Tournaments (December 6 to 30)

The 25 Days of Tournaments is something US online poker players and Ontario online poker players already know well. Throughout these 25 days, PokerStars will host daily $25 tournaments at 7:30 PM ET. The twist is that each day brings a brand-new tournament, and the format, structure, and guaranteed prize money will only be revealed the night before at 9:00 PM ET, creating an advent calendar-style suspense.

What those formats will be has not yet been disclosed, but they are expected to be fun, festive-themed tournaments such as Goose Hunt, Santa Stack, and Naughty or Nice Mystery Bounty. In previous years, these 25 days of special tournaments showcased a wide variety of formats, including Progressive Knockouts (PKOs) and Mystery Bounties, 3-handed Zoom, heads-up, Total Knockouts (where the entire buy-in goes to the bounty pool), Pot-Limit Omaha variants, and more.

A similar line-up is expected this year, except that the specific days they run remain a mystery until revealed the night before in the PokerStars client tournament lobby.

In addition to these daily surprise tournaments, each of the 25 tournaments will award tickets to a $2,500 freeroll scheduled for December 31. Tickets will be granted randomly during the first half hour of late registration, with tables selected at random.

Holiday Rewards (December 8 to January 5)

This year, 25 Days of Tournaments will not be the only promotion running. PokerStars has also launched another festive-themed promotion called Holiday Rewards, where players can win a share of $1,000 in prize money every week from December 8 to January 5.

To take part, players simply need to play 100 real money cash game hands during each weekly qualifying period to receive a tournament ticket that grants entry to the All-in Shootout taking place every Monday at 1 AM ET. Players do not even need to be logged in to participate. Week 1 qualifying runs from December 1 to 7, week 2 from December 8 to 14, and so forth.

Each player can earn a maximum of one ticket per promo week, giving everyone five chances to claim a share of the $1,000 prize pool.

As of now, PokerStars is the only operator in the regulated US online poker market to announce a Christmas-themed promotion. BetRivers Poker has also rolled out promotions, but none are festive-themed.

WSOP, meanwhile, is running a New Year, New Bankroll promotion from December 1 to 8, encouraging players to earn more points during the promotional window and receive 25% back in free play. It has also scheduled a Winter Series from December 7 to 21 featuring 15 events, though it does not include any Christmas-themed promotion.