While we are still five and half months away from the start of the PSPC, the outbreak of COVID-19 that has plagued the globe has not caused the cancellation of the monumental poker event despite the virus spreading to hundreds of territories including Spain where the second edition of the PSPC is scheduled to take place in August.
Over 125,000 people across the world have been infected with the coronavirus (now declared to be a pandemic), causing over 4600 deaths since its outbreak in December 2019. While most of the confirmed cases occurred in China, the virus has quickly spread to other countries including many in Southern Europe as well as the United States and the United Kingdom.
At this stage, the PSPC is going forward as planned. We will keep everyone up to speed if anything changes as we progress towards the event.
The outbreak has forced multiple operators to cancel or postpone their live poker events. Already more than a dozen events have been affected including three of the PokerStars’ Road to PSPC global tours that were scheduled to take place in Germany, France, and Spain.
PSPC 2020 Will Go On As Planned
This year, the hugely successful PSPC will take place in August in Barcelona, Spain—one of the countries that recently saw a sharp increase in the number of coronavirus infections. This could put PokerStars in a tough spot if the infection continues to spread.
However, at least for now, PokerStars has clarified that they have no plans to cancel or postpone the PSPC. It will continue to go on as planned, a PokerStars spokesperson told pokerfuse.
“In terms of the PSPC, we are treating all of our events on a case by case basis,” a PokerStars spokesperson commented to pokerfuse. “At this stage, the PSPC is going forward as planned. We will keep everyone up to speed if anything changes as we progress towards the event.”
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But this could change if the situation worsens.
Spain is among eight countries that have reported thousands of cases of COVID-19. The Spanish government has taken stern measures to prevent the infection including banning all public events with an attendance of more than 1000 people.
Over 160 Platinum Passes Already Awarded
Despite the coronavirus crisis, PokerStars is leaving no stone unturned to make the second edition of the PokerStars Players NL Hold’em Championship (PSPC) event even more successful than the first edition.
Like last year, PokerStars has once again committed to giving away more than 320 Platinum Passes —a free entry to the PSPC event (worth nearly $25,000) via various different routes.
The Platinum Pass also includes other perks including:
- Six nights’ accommodation for two at a 5-star hotel in Barcelona
- €1250 in expenses
- Custom PSPC merchandise and special Platinum Pass experiences—totaling approximate value of $30,000 per Pass.
At the time of writing, 165 Platinum Passes have already been awarded by the operator and nearly the same number of Passes will be given away in the next five months.
With at least 320 Platinum Passes to be given away, the total giveaway amounts close to $10 million —$8 million of which will directly go the prize pool of the PSPC event.
PSPC 2020 Interesting Facts
- 165 Platinum Passes already awarded, at least 155 further Passes to be given away
- 62 Passes were awarded in February
- France leads with 41 Platinum Pass winners, followed by 34 Spanish, 12 Great Britain and 9 Germany
- 51% of Passes have been awarded in key markets including Spain, France, Germany
- 68% of Passes have been won online
- 4 players have won Platinum Passes for the second year in a row
In 2019, the PSPC event created a record for the largest $25,000 buy-in event. The tournament drew over 1000 players to generate a prize pool of $26.5 million. This made it the largest $25,000 buy-in in live poker tournament history and the largest ever tournament outside of the WSOP and Triton events.
Those looking to win a Platinum Pass can find a full list of ways on pokerfuse.com. PokerStars is giving away Platinum Passes at live and online poker events, via social media promotions and other ways at PokerStars’ discretion.
