On January 1, 2023, PokerStars MI & PokerStars NJ real money platforms will be joined to create a single player pool in what will be a historic moment for regulated online poker in the United States.
To celebrate the launch of shared liquidity between New Jersey and Michigan, PokerStars US Network will be hosting two special tournaments on New Year’s Day with total guarantees of $150,000.
The first of the two — aptly named the New Year’s Sunday Special Tournament —guarantees a massive $100,000 for a buy-in of $100. The event runs at 6 pm ET on January 1, 2023. It is immediately followed by a second $50,000 guaranteed tournament costing just $10 at 18:30 ET. Registration for both events starts on December 27.
- Play one hand & get $150 in bonus play funds
- Top-quality mobile app
- Best online MTT schedule
On top of the generous guarantees, the operator will be running a special promotion as an added incentive. Any player who plays the $100,000 guaranteed New Year’s Day Sunday Special tournament and gets eliminated at any stage, the operator will credit them with a Casino Bonus of value worth up to $50.
The odds of the Casino Bonus prizes are as follows:
- $2 Casino Bonus — 33%
- $3 Casino Bonus — 33%
- $5 Casino Bonus — 25%
- $10 Casino Bonus — 8.99%
- $50 Casino Bonus — 0.01%
The promotional bonus is valid until January 8, 2023, following which the prize will be automatically withdrawn from their account.
“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 in a recent press release.
“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,” Rasset added.
More Shared Liquidity Promotions Expected
Notably, no tournament series or other promotional giveaways have been announced yet, but pokerfuse predicts that there will be plenty of offers to mark the advent of the PokerStars US Network.
While no further details are available yet, the launch of shared liquidity will undoubtedly attract players over from competitors and help bring new players into the market, given the more attractive offer of the expanded player pool.
As one would expect, the guarantees for the weekly tournament schedule would increase across the board, given that the liquidity will effectively double on both sites. Furthermore, activity in the cash game tables should ramp up sit-and-go tournaments, including Spins, and take less time to load.
- Play one hand & get $150 in bonus play funds
- Top-quality mobile app
- Best online MTT schedule
There will also be increased competition in the market as WSOP will no longer be the only operator to offer a multi-state online poker network in the US. However, it will still lead the market once WSOP MI merges with its existing NJ-NV-DE player pool.
BetMGM would then slip to third place once the markets combined but would remain competitive. Indeed, BetMGM and its partners Borgata & partypoker bested rivals WSOP/888 and PokerStars NJ in terms of generating revenue in New Jersey for November.
PokerStars will launch cross-border shared liquidity combining New Jersey and Michigan online poker player pools on January 1. It will be the first operator to launch interstate online poker involving the Wolverine State. Pennsylvania, the third US state in which PokerStars operates, will continue to function independently as the state has yet to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA).
