After having conducted a survey called “Have Your Say About #PSPC”, PokerStars has unveiled the tournament details for the PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) event after collating player’s feedback last month.
The company has also revealed the schedule for one of the most iconic live tournament brands in the world—the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) held every year at the Bahamas. The series kicks off with a PSPC qualifier on January 5 and runs through January 16 with 41 events including the first-ever $25,000 buy-in Players Championship tournament. There will be a $10,300 PCA Main Event as well as a $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller on January 10.
Now that there are approximately 100 days remaining, it is believed that most people who play poker are probably aware of the details surrounding the PokerStars Players Championship event to be held in January. However, what has not been announced to the public was that how would the tournament play out.
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Have Your Say About #PSPC
On August 16, the global giant conducted a feedback survey to seek players’ input for the mega event and asked a series of questions such as what the table size should be, each day’s length, should there be a dinner break, should big-blind ante and/or a shot clock be implemented, and various other questions including the topic of tournament payouts and other aspects of the tournament. The survey was open until August 31 and was accessible to all the players through the PokerStars Blog webpage and social media.
The questionnaire was also sent out via email to all the winners of a Platinum Pass and to those players who had taken part in PokerStars Live events of $5000 or more in the past. However, before the survey was even sent out, it was decided that the $25,000 buy-in event would play out as a five-day freezeout tournament and that there would be no rake or administration fee other than the standard 2% staff deduction. Additionally, the operator also promised to add $1 million to the first-place prize.
After reaching out to hundreds of players and after having discussed the tournament internally with PokerStars LIVE staff members and professional poker players including David Peters, Shaun Deeb, Team Pro Maria Konnikova, the company believes the PSPC “will be an ultimate people’s high-roller”.
This is how the $25,000 PSPC Event will play out:
- The tournament will adopt the Big Blind Ante format and will also implement a Shot Clock/Action Clock from Day 2 or once the tournament is In the Money (ITM).
- Players will start with 60,000 chips (300 big blinds) and starting blinds will be 100/200.
- There will be 60-minute levels for the duration of the tournament.
- The tournament will pay 15% of the field.
- A min-cash will be somewhere between 1.2x ($30,000) and 1.5x ($37,500).
- The event will start nine-handed and move to eight-handed at the start of Day 2.
- Each day will have eight hours of play.
- There will be a dinner break from Day 3.
PSPC and PCA Online Satellites Underway
PokerStars has started running direct satellites and qualifiers for the event at its dot-com international online poker room. Players can qualify for the $25,000 buy-in event for as low as $1.10. The $1.10 buy-in qualifier has one package worth $30,000 added to the prize pool. There will also be Road To Bahamas special Spin & Go tournaments from October 15 which will cost just $10 to buy in. These special Spin & Go tournaments will randomly award $30,000 PSPC packages and also $15,000 PCA Main Event packages.
The PokerStars PSPC event is the company’s attempt to create the biggest event in poker’s history. The company has contributed a staggering $9 million to the prize pool including $1 million added to the first place prize and giving away $8 million worth of free Platinum Passes to hundreds of players through a myriad of paths both live and online.
As of now, close to 180 players have won a Platinum Pass worth $30,000 which include the $25,000 buy-in towards the tournament, six nights’ stay at Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas, and $2000 in travel and on-site expenses.
The majority of the qualifiers have never played a $25,000 buy-in event, so one can be assured that this will be one of the softest high-stakes tournaments in the world.
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure kicks off on January 5, 2019, and runs through January 16. The PokerStars Players Championship event runs from January 6 and will crown the winner on January 10.
