After 24 days of action and over 350 individual tournaments, the PokerStars New Year Series is officially in the books. Kicking off in December of last year and stretching into 2025, the series gave all players an opportunity to hit the ground running in the new year, and thousands of them took the operator up on this offer.
Featuring 359 tournaments divided into three buy-in orbits and with $35,000,000 in guaranteed prizes, the New Year Series appealed to everyone, from casual players to hardcore grinders always on the lookout for more action.
Now that it is all over, we look at some interesting facts and numbers to see how PokerStars did with its first MTT series of the year, including most titles won, the biggest single prize, and more.
Players from Brazil Turn Out in Force
Online poker in Brazil has been growing steadily in recent years, and Brazilian players are always a force to be reckoned with when it comes to major PokerStars events and series.
The New Year Series has reminded us of this fact once again, as players from Brazil took by far the most titles. With 67 wins, they were way ahead of the second-place Ukraine (25) and the third-place UK (23).
The biggest single contributor to that number was Renan “Aziz.Mancha” Aziz, a Brazilian online tournament crusher with over $2.8 in online winnings. Aziz won four New Year Series titles, including the very fitting victory in the $530 Copacabana Turbo.
This continues the trend of Brazilian players dominating on PokerStars and it seems other countries have a lot of catching up to do.
Ole Schemion Triumphs in the Main Event
The German high-roller Ole Schemion, or “wizowizo,” as he’s known on PokerStars, triumphed in the high version of the Main Event, picking up the largest prize of the series.
Schemion was the last man standing in the $5k event that attracted 230 entries, and the field, unsurprisingly, featured some of the best poker players alive. It’s interesting to note that Brazil almost added another title to its total score here as Brazil’s Renan “Internett93o” Bruschi finished the runner-up in this one.
For his performance, “wizowizo” bagged $224,425, which was the single biggest payout of the entire series. Monetarily, it’s probably not a huge deal, as Ole has $20.5 million in career tournament winnings, but triumphing in such a tough field is very rewarding in its own right.
Lex & Marle Carrying the Banner for PokerStars
PokerStars ambassadors are always in the spotlight during these big series, and they have to try extra hard to bag a win or two. This time around, Lex Veldhuis and Marle Spragg were successful in that pursuit.
Lex captured his title in a relatively small field of just 41 entries. However, the win came in an NL 5-Card Draw event, and it’s the first mixed game title for Veldhuis, so this one hit a bit differently.
As for Marle Spragg, she managed a win in a $22 6-max Hyper PKO event, picking up over $5,300 for her efforts.
Both players were very active on Twitch during the series, live-streaming their sessions and creating some fun and educational content to treat their followers.
With the New Year Series now in the books, players can take a short rest to recharge their batteries for what’s to come. One thing is certain, though. We won’t have to wait long before PokerStars announces its next big series, and the cycle of chasing big wins starts anew!
