- PokerStars will run a week of tournament promotions to celebrate its 800 millionth online tournament.
- The celebrations will run from Oct 13 to Oct 20 with the grand event held on 20 Oct at 1pm EST.
- Tournament guarantees have been increased during the week and “Big” tournaments on October 20th will have triple guarantees.
- The week could well provide a big boost to PokerStars traffic and create an adverse effect for other operators.
The week of October 13 – 20 should see PokerStars put on its 800 millionth tournament. The world’s biggest site plans to mark the occasion with a week of tournament promotions.
After the success of its “Road to 100 Billion” cash game promotion PokerStars may be feeling that it has neglected its equivalent achievements in putting on online poker tournaments. If so, it will rectify that oversight with a “Carnival of Tournaments” featuring “$2 million in boosted guarantees, $700,000 in added giveaway prizes, and other special tournaments.”
The multi-table tournaments (MTT) will see all guarantees on “Big” tournaments increased by 50% from October 14-18. On October 19, they will be doubled, and on the 20th, all “Big” events will see guarantees tripled.
Additional bubble ticket prizes worth over $100k will also be given away during the week. The 800 millionth tournament will get special treatment. It has been pre-planned to be played on October 20 at 1pm EST. A $1m guarantee will be put up for the $109 buy in event, and for the first two hours, $100k in extra prizes will be given out at random tables.
Sit and go (SNG) tournament players won’t be left behind, as the week will also see the return of “Golden Sit and Go” tournaments. Randomly selected tables will be highlighted as one of three categories of “golden.”
The “Big” SNGs will see the prize pool doubled; “Bigger” SNGs get tripled and the “Biggest” category will see the prize pool quintupled.
The “Road to 100 Billion” finale saw the entire online poker market distorted by the huge traffic boost PokerStars received. On past performance, the week of October 13 – 20 could be a tough one for other operators.
