One of the world’s largest online poker operators PokerStars is celebrating its 20th anniversary, bringing us a host of exclusive poker tournaments and promotions to join the celebrations under the name PokerStars Big 20.
Today, the operator has revealed some more details, including a $5.5 million guarantee on the Big 20 Rewind tournament series. While the full schedule is not released, it has confirmed five of these tournaments—plus hinted at big additional prizes on top for winners.
Read our complete guide on the PokerStars Big 20 »
Starting today, PokerStars will start awarding players with boosted Spin ‘n Go and daily cash game leaderboards, setting the stage for the Big Rewind tournaments scheduled later in the month.
PokerStars has also announced a series of The Big 20 Player Awards, which will look to reminisce of the biggest moments in PokerStars history and award players based on community voting, which should be opening on the PokerStars blog shortly.
- Super-charged daily leaderboards starting with November 1 and running through the month, offering boosted prizes
- 20 thematic tournaments celebrating the biggest moments from the PokerStars two-decade history
- $5MM Guaranteed The Big 20 Finale with the buy-in of just $55 and ample opportunity to qualify for free
20 Years in the Making
The Big 20 Rewind was announced as a series of 20 tournaments, happening between November 14 and December 4, each celebrating a year in PokerStars’ memorable history. Every Big Rewind tournament will have a special theme related to the year it is meant to commemorate.
These tournaments will have a combined prize pool of $5.5 million. After it concludes, there will be an epic $5,000,000 event dubbed The Big 20 Finale on December 5.
“We kickstarted our 20th Anniversary with the announcement of our new and improved Rewards program,” said Severin Rasset, Managing Director of Poker at PokerStars, in Monday’s press release. “Now we’d like to thank the PokerStars community with a huge celebratory series, with big guarantees and winning moments.”
“The past 20 years have been an incredible journey, and each tournament has been designed to look back at those special moments and reward our community with some unforgettable prizes,” he added. “We hope our players enjoy the celebration, and we’re looking forward to the next 20 years with them.”
The operator has also revealed that big extra prizes on these tournaments, presumably going to winners of each event. These include an around-the-world holiday, an electric car, luxury watches and a SLAM poker package which offersbuy-ins to some of PokerStars biggest events.
Big Rewind Tournaments Revealed
Each of The Big 20 Rewind tournaments will honor a unique part of PokerStars history and have a different buyin and structure. The events we know about at this time include:
- 2001 – Year of PokerStars: $11 buyin with $100,000 guaranteed
- 2006 – Year of the Sunday Million: $215 buyin with $1,000,000 guaranteed
- 2014 – Year of Spin & Go: $10 buyin with $150,000 guaranteed
- 2018 – Year of the Platinum Pass: $5 buyin with $50,000 guaranteed
- 2019 – Year of the PSPC: $25 buyin with $150,000 guaranteed
The full schedule has not yet been released, but it is clear that PokerStars are aiming to take a serious walk down the memory lane, looking back at events such as the launch of PokerStars in 2001, the introduction of the popular Sunday Million tournament in 2006, and the first ever Spin & Go tournament in 2014.
The tournaments honoring more recent evenst that we know of so far include the 2018 Rewind which will be celebrating the introduction of the Platinum Pass, as well as the 2019 Rewind looking back at the inaugural PSPC event, which should once again be available for live tournament players in the near future.
The Big 20 Finale with $5,000,000 in Prizes
The real celebration comes to PokerStars on December 5, as The Big 20 Finale tournament kicks off. Not only is the $5,000,000 guaranteed prize pool a massive one for an online tournament event, but the low buyin of just $55 means that pretty much any poker player out there will have a chance at taking a bite out of this delicious birthday cake.
Not only is the buyin for The Big 20 Finale set at just $55, but the operator will also give away a huge number of free entries into the event via its Ticket Machine promotion, along with a number of The Big 20 Finale freeroll qualifiers which have been announced to start on November 8.
More details on the entire Big 20 promotion are set to come in the following days, but what is clear is that PokerStars will go above and beyond to celebrate this important landmark in their history, and that millions of dollars will be given away at the tables over the course of the next 35 days.
As well as playing in celebratory tournaments, the PokerStars community can get involved in The Big 20: Players Awards. Be prepared to reminisce as PokerStars shortlists the top moments in poker history. Who wins is up to the community, and voting opens today on the PokerStars Blog.
What’s more, players can expect to see lots of exciting content across PokerStars Twitch channel with a number of PokerStars ambassadors streaming the events, and special edition Poker in the Ears podcasts with guests including Colin Murray, the original voice of the EPT, and poker pro Antonio Esfandiari.
The Big 20 Boost and Ticket Machine
The Big 20 celebrations are set to start on November 1, with The Big 20 Boost promotion kicking in. This part of the celebration will offer the regulars at Spin ‘n Go tournaments, as well as NLH and PLO cash games, a chance at significantly boosted prize pools for the daily leaderboards.
The conditions of participating in the leaderboards should not change much, with all players who opt in for them in their Challenges window eligible for participation.
The current daily leaderboard prize pools stand at $17,500 for Spin ‘n Goes and $20,000 for cash game players. The details of the boost have not yet been released, but we can expect them to be significant.
The Ticket Machine will also be coming back, with random players receiving entry to The Big 20 Finale, the final tournament of the series which will boast a $5,000,000 prize pool with just a $55 buyin.
