Our community will experience more breadth and depth of games, more tournaments with bigger prizes to win, amped-up promotions, and more choices.
PokerStars US has announced that it will combine player pools in Michigan and New Jersey on January 1, 2023, making it the first US online poker operator to offer shared liquidity between these states.
The move will allow poker fans from both states to enjoy more choices, more tournaments, more players, and bigger prizes on the PokerStars platform, the company says.
“Michigan and New Jersey joining forces is great news for our players in these two states, and poker, more generally, as it promises a better experience and even more value, all with the confidence provided by a trusted, licensed operator,” said PokerStars US Managing Director, Severin Rasset.
“Our community will experience more breadth and depth of games, more tournaments with bigger prizes to win, amped-up promotions, and more choices. To kick start, we are offering generous guarantees on our debut multi-state tournaments that will no doubt provide lots of value for those who take to the tables.”
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Michigan became a signatory of the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) in May, joining Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey. It paved the way for online poker operators in two or more MSIGA states to combine players into a single-player pool.
In the seven months since, PokerStars has been working with the regulator to bring its software platforms in line with the regulations of multiple states to gain the necessary approvals to launch.
Now, it looks like it has everything in place — in seven days, the PokerStars US Network will be born, bridging players in MI and NJ into a single multi-state poker pool.
We worked closely with the regulators of New Jersey and Michigan, and we hope that more will follow this great example.
To celebrate the launch of shared liquidity, PokerStars is hosting two special tournaments on New Year’s Day with a total of $150,000 guaranteed.
The first tournament, with a buy-in of $100, will take place at 18:00 ET and feature $100,000 in prize money. The second tournament will have a buy-in of $10 and feature $50,000 in prize money.
There are no more details yet on potential promotions, giveaways, or series to celebrate the new PokerStars US Network.
However, pokerfuse guesses that by the end of January, there will be a big series with guarantees north of $1 million to help promote its unique network and attract players.
Shared liquidity is a revolutionary development for online poker players as it allows them to access a larger pool of opponents and take part in bigger tournaments with larger prize pools. For PokerStars, it will be the very first time it has combined players pools in two regulated North American markets.
The shared liquidity launch follows planned server maintenance that took place on December 12 and 13 to enable the merging of PokerStars NJ and MI player pools. The downtime affected PokerStars Casino and FOX Bet and took over 24 hours to resolve.
Since then, test tournaments in the lobby have been spotted by players. These private tournaments are listed in Michigan and New Jersey and are thought to be the first trials of MI-NJ player pooling.
PokerStars’ decision to combine player pools in Michigan and New Jersey puts it ahead of its competitors, which do not yet offer shared liquidity in these states. BetMGM has made efforts to upgrade its online poker platform, presumably to prepare for sharing liquidity.
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WSOP, on the other hand, has made no signals of progress. It already runs a multi-state online poker network between New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware. But there is a significant disparity between the software in these states and the newer apps in Michigan.
PokerStars US offers a 100% deposit bonus of up to $600 to new players and $50 in free tournament tokens for anyone who plays just one hand.
The launch of the new PokerStars combined player pool on January 1 will be a momentous event for online poker fans in Michigan and New Jersey. With generous guarantees on offer, it should be an excellent opportunity for players to start the new year with a big win on the new network.
In a nod to the potential expansion of MSIGA, Rasset stated PokerStars hoped other states would soon follow suit.
“We worked closely with the regulators of New Jersey and Michigan, and we hope that more will follow this great example,” he added.
Sign up for PokerStars and get ready for the big launch on January 1 or head to our PokerStars US Review for the full 411 on this operator.
